MCU: 10 Fascinating Facts About Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
7. Hawkeye Was Originally Meant To Appear
Before Avengers: Age of Ultron, Jeremy Renner didn't really have much to do as Hawkeye. He had a brief cameo in Thor, an underwhelming bit-part in The Avengers and was (surprisingly) nowhere to be seen in The Winter Soldier. The film is all about S.H.I.E.L.D., and yet Clint Barton was nowhere to be seen.
Apparently, Hawkeye's omission wasn't originally intended. Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely had wanted to include Barton in the film, but scheduling conflicts with Renner forced them to cut him from the script. That, along with the fact that there were already quite a few characters to begin with, even led to a scene where Black Widow and Cap discuss Barton's whereabouts, but that too ended up being scrapped.
The original idea was to have Hawkeye go after Cap after Pierce gives the order. Following his escape from the Triskelion, Barton would've fought Cap in order to give the impression that he was still on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s side, when in actual fact, he would be making the battle look genuine in order to sell Rogers' escape.
However, despite not physically appearing in the film, The Winter Soldier does include a little nod to the character. Black Widow wears an arrow necklace in her civilian clothes, which was apparently Scarlett Johansson's idea to ensure a little bit of Clint was on camera.