Hawkeye star Jeremy Renner has stated that he is not in Avengers: Doomsday, but that the team will probably lose against Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom because they don’t have his marksman on their side.

When asked at a recent Q&A if he is returning for Doomsday, Renner said, “No, no, no, no. Not in that one,” adding, “Doomsday I’m not in, so The Avengers will probably lose, just so you know… they didn’t call me so it’s their fault they’re going to lose.”

When Renner jokes about the Avengers losing without him, one audience member shouted out “again,” seemingly in reference to Avengers: Infinity War, which saw the squad lose to Thanos as he successfully collected all of the Infinity Stones. Renner was absent for Infinity War. Hawkeye played a rather large role in Avengers: Endgame, which saw the super-team defeat the Mad Titan, so Renner’s theory checks out.

Renner’s involvement in Doomsday has been rumoured many times, but the star seems pretty certain that he isn’t returning. Many Marvel fans think he is telling fibs, and that Hawkeye will show up. “He’s definitely lying,” said one fan on Twitter. However, it has been heavily rumoured that Renner will return in Avengers: Secret Wars, which the star confirms as he says “not in that one,” seemingly referring to his part in the sixth Avengers flick over Doomsday.

Alas, despite Doomsday’s stacked cast, co-director Anthony Russo has confirmed that there are still some casting surprises on the way. At an Avengers: Endgame Encore Q&A, Russo added, “the cast is so large, and we’ve announced some of the cast, and we haven’t announced some of the cast.” But even if Renner was involved, he probably wouldn’t be able to confirm it. When asked the same question, Vision star Paul Bettany told Good Morning America that if he answered that he would “get fired.”

Doomsday’s confirmed cast includes Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, the new Fantastic Four, the Thunderbolts, the Wakandans, most of the original Fox-era X-Men, and more.

Avengers: Doomsday hits cinemas on December 18, and December 16 in the UK. For more, check out our guide to the Marvel timeline, and keep up with upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way.