The rumor that Jensen was up for the role of Hawkeye/turned down the role of Hawkeye is DEBUNKED.
I was going to write up a post in the format of @messier51 's Media Journalism is a Giant Game of Telephone, but I'm up to 9+ single spaced pages in a Google Doc so here's the TL;DR version in a format inspired by @fandomdebunker
Today I did a Google search with the terms "Jensen Ackles" "Hawkeye" and took a cap of the top hits:
Letâs play follow the source on those hits:
The Things (Charr 2020) â Indie Wire (Sharf 2018) â Screen Rant (Ocasio 2014) â IGN (Goldman 2014)
Indie Wire (Sharf 2018) â Screen Rant (Ocasio 2014) â IGN (Goldman 2014)
Showbiz Cheat Sheet (Greg Brian 2020) â Indie Wire (Sharf 2018) â Screen Rant (Ocasio 2014) â IGN (Goldman 2014)
CBR (Curovic 2017)Â â no source (clickbait listicle)
Indie Wire (Sharf 2018) â Screen Rant (Ocasio 2014) â IGN (Goldman 2014)
Warped Factor (Geek Dave 2014) â Collider (Goldberg 2010) â THR's Heat Vision Blog (Kit 2010)
Looper (Boone 2016) â Screen Rant (Ocasio 2014) â IGN (Goldman 2014)
CBR (Curovic 2017)Â â no source (clickbait listicle)
Popsugar (Prahl 2019) â Screen Rant (Ocasio 2014) â IGN (Goldman 2014)
All roads lead back to Screen Rant (Ocasio 2014):
Ackles is rumored to have given up the role of Hawkeye in The Avengers, and Marvel Studios continues to remind him of its interest in bringing him in to its ever-growing Cinematic Universe. On top of that, Ackles' current relationship with Warner Bros. (through Warner Bros. television) is likely to have DC interested as well, as they know exactly how strong â not to mention valuable â he his as an actor.
The Screen Rant tag for "The Avengers" is not a source, it is a time limited pile of clickbait and even using an archived link from January 24, 2014 I found nothing. Am I supposed to click back to 2010 to attempt to find a source? (Yes.) I'm guessing Browne 2010, Keyes 2010a, and Keyes 2010b are supposed to be the sources, not that there is a single word about Hawkeye?Â
Oh, and sure to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the Screen Rant (Ocasio 2014)Â piece where youâll see a link to Goldman 2014:Â Ocasio 2014 is basically a copy/paste of this article.Â
Here's the complete text of Goldman 2014:
The last show left to originally air on The WB, Supernatural has had an impressively long life, and is now in Season 9. The show not only continues to be one of the strongest performers on The CW, but its ratings have been up this season from the previous year. Still, just how much longer could the series go?
Asked that question at the TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour today, CW's president, Mark Pedowitz, essentially said the show could go on indefinitely - as long as the ratings continue to hold up and the Supernatural team wants to continue.
Said Pedowitz, "As a fan of the show, whoâs seen every episode, as long as Iâm here and those numbers hold, God bless them. They can go as long as they want."
As for the potential Supernatural spinoff, which will be set up in a backdoor pilot this season, Pedowitz was asked if that was still in play and he replied, "Yes, very much so. It's set in Chicago. Hunters, monsters... The script just came in."
As for whether any of the main Supernatural characters would appear in the spinoff, which will be centered around new characters, Pedowitz said, "In the spinoff episode, they'd be in it. Whether they're in the series... For me, for spinoffs to work, you have to stand them on their own two legs, so you can only do those crossovers when the time is right, like we did with The Originals. We didn't see Michael Trevino's character, Tyler, until the seventh or eighth episode. By that time, the show was standing up on its own two legs."
So where the hell did (Ocasio 2014) get the Hawkeye bit from? I'm going to speculate it was an internet created rumor stemming from either a dodgy publicist planting the rumor or fan casting back in 2010 becoming lore.
Last night I DM'ed Jules Wilkinson (SupernaturalWiki admin) and she said her "Jensen expert" friend didn't remember him ever mentioning it at a Con or otherwise. Jules thinks it may be an internet created rumor, possibility originating from a publicist: "It's an easy way to get press for a movie without actually confirming anything, and its unlikely an actor will straight out deny being mentioned in relation to a high profile project (although sometimes they do years later)".
Another possibility is fan casting back in 2010 became lore when a writer included it in their articles:
"If Ackles can't be cast in Captain America, can he pretty, pretty please be cast as Hawkeye in the upcoming Avengers film?" (Saucedo 2010a)Â
"While the Supernatural geek in me would have preferred Jensen Ackles in the role, I have to say Renner is a nice addition to the cast â really complimenting the caliber of actors Marvel has recruited to don leather costumes and punch each other." (Saucedo 2010b)Â
Finally, maybe the dude just made it up for hits.
I do not consider the speculative content in Ocasio 2014 to be a reliable source; therefore, I'm classifying this rumor as DEBUNKED.
Boone, Brian. (2016, November 28 / 2018, April 23). Actors who were almost cast as an Avenger. Looper. Retrieved from https://www.looper.com/27858/actors-almost-cast-avenger/
Browne, Niall. (2010, February 24). Who Will Be Captain America? Now We (Sort of) Know... Screen Rant. Retrieved from https://screenrant.com/captain-america-mcasting-picks/
Chaar, Michael. (2020, August 7). 'Supernatural' Star Jensen Ackles Turned Down The Chance To Be An Avenger. The Things. Retrieved from https://www.thethings.com/supernatural-star-jensen-ackles-turned-down-the-chance-to-be-an-avenger/
Curovic, Irina. (2017, September 29). "15 Actors Who Turned Down MCU". CBR. Retrieved from https://www.cbr.com/actors-who-turned-down-the-mcu/
Geek Dave. (2014, July 24). The Actors Who Could've Been The Avengers. Warped Factor. [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20140808121212/http://www.warpedfactor.com/2014/07/the-actors-who-couldve-been-avengers_21.html
Goldberg, Matt. (2010, February 24). The First Avenger: Captain America Short-List Includes John Krasinski, Scott Porter, Garrett Hedlund, Jensen Ackles. Collider. Retrieved from https://collider.com/the-first-avenger-captain-america-short-list-includes-john-krasinski-scott-porter-garrett-hedlund-jensen-ackles-and-others/
Goldman, Eric. (2014, January 15). The CW President on How Much Longer Supernatural Can Go and the Status of the Spinoff. IGN. Retrieved from https://www.ign.com/articles/2014/01/15/the-cw-president-on-how-much-longer-supernatural-can-go-and-the-status-of-the-spinoffÂ
Greg Brian. (2020, July 23). 'The Avengers': Hawkeye Was Almost Played by a Lead 'Supernatural' Actor. Showbiz Cheat Sheet. Retrieved from https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/the-avengers-hawkeye-was-almost-played-by-a-lead-supernatural-actor.html/
Keyes, Rob. (2010a, February 13). Could Chris Pine Be Captain America? Screen Rant. Retrieved from https://screenrant.com/could-chris-pine-be-captain-america/
Keyes, Rob. (2010b, March 5). Captain America Casting Updates. Screen Rant. Retrieved from https://screenrant.com/captain-america-casting-updates-neal-bledsoe/
Kit, Borys. (2010, February 24). Captain America contenders: Krasinski, Crawford, Vogel, more. The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog. [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20100227045124/http://www.heatvisionblog.com/2010/02/captain-america-contenders-krasinski-cassidy-vogel-fluger-more.html
Light, Jeff. (2019, May 9). Why was Jensen Ackles offered so many Marvel movie roles? Quora. [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/Why-was-Jensen-Ackles-offered-so-many-Marvel-movie-roles
messier51. (2014, July 2014). Media Journalism is a Giant Game of Telephone. [Tumblr post]. Retrieved from https://messier51.tumblr.com/post/92751093562/media-journalism-is-a-giant-game-of-telephone
Ocasio, Anthony. (2014, January 17). 'Supernatural' Season 10, 11 (& More) Will Happen if Ratings Hold. Screen Rant. Retrieved from  http://screenrant.com/supernatural-season-10-11-renewal-cw/ [archived link: https://web.archive.org/web/20140124075455/http://screenrant.com/supernatural-season-10-11-renewal-cw/]
paul rudd. [philsadelphia]. (2018, December 24). sometimes i think about the fact that jensen ackles was offered the role of hawkeye but he was busy with supernatural so he turned it down and now we have j*remy r*nner instead and i get ....... SO bitter [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/philsadelphia/status/1077401977657675776
 Prahl, Amanda. (2019, November 26). 15 Actors Who Were Almost Cast as Your Favorite Avengers. Popsugar. Retrieved from https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/photo-gallery/46952214/image/46952318/Jensen-Ackles-as-Hawkeye
Saucedo, Robert. (2010a, February 25). The Office star Among Contenders to Wield America's Shield. Inside Pulse. Retrieved from https://insidepulse.com/2010/02/25/the-office-star-among-contenders-to-wield-americas-shield/
Saucedo, Robert. (2010b, July 26). Jeremy Renner Confirmed as Hawkeye in The Avengers Movie. Inside Pulse. Retrieved from https://insidepulse.com/2010/07/26/jeremy-renner-confirmed-as-hawkeye-in-the-avengers-movie/Â
Sharf, Zack. (2018, May 3). 13 Actors Who Almost Became Avengers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Indie Wire. Retrieved from https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/actors-turned-down-marvel-cinematic-universe/
Singer, Matt. (2018, March 29). Please Stop Sharing Bad Articles. Screencrush. Retrieved from https://screencrush.com/why-you-should-never-share-bad-articles/
Wilkinson, Jules. (2021, January 1). Personal communication.