Anthony Mackie Says Jeremy Renner 'Never Looked at Himself as a Victim' After Snowplow Accident (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie.Photo:Disney/Katrina Marcinowski

Disney/Katrina Marcinowski

Anthony Mackieis reflecting on fellow AvengerJeremy Renner’sfrightening 2023 snowplow accident.

In an interview with PEOPLE, Mackie, 46 — who first starred with Renner in 2008’sThe Hurt Lockerbefore they both joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe — says his friend “never looked at himself as a victim” after he nearly died on New Year’s Day two years ago.

At one point when he jumped out of the snowplow he got caught underneath. Renner suffered life-threatening blunt chest trauma, resulting in a collapsed lung, a lacerated liver and more than 30 broken bones.

Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie in 2008.Jeff Vespa/WireImage

Jeff Vespa/WireImage

“Once he started getting back up and around, I would get progress reports from either him or his family once a week. And Renner’s funny. He’s here all broken up and all disheveled, and he is like, ‘Oh, I hate this s—.’ And I’m like, ‘Dude,’ ” continues Mackie.

“It was great to see him keep his spirits and the way he worked through it,” says Mackie. “He’s the pure definition of a strong human being. He never let himself get down. He never looked at himself as a victim."

Anthony Mackie and Jeremy Renner in 2010.Alex Berliner/BEI/Shutterstock

Alex Berliner/BEI/Shutterstock

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“It was really beautiful to see him work through that and become whole again. Now he’s a cyborg. He’s Cyborg Renner!” jokes Mackie.

Months after the accident, Renner, who needed a metal plate in his face to reconstruct his partially collapsed eye socket, as well as a rod in his leg to stabilize broken bones,joked in an Instagram postthat he felt like “the Tin Man."

“I’ve decided to push through the pain of progress (this damn shattered tibia) and take the new parts for a tiny test drive," he wrote. “The body is miraculous…. Even though I feel like the Tin Man, needing oil for all my new joints (hips, knees, ankles, tibia etc.).”

Captain America: Brave New Worldis in theaters Feb. 14.

For more on Anthony Mackie, pick up the new issue of PEOPLE.

source: people.com