Jeremy Renner recounts snowplow accident on 'Kimmel'

In his first late-night talk-show appearance since his nearly fatal snowplow accident on New Year's Day, Marvel Cinematic Universe star Jeremy Renner cheerfully entered the stage at "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Monday, using a cane but nonetheless standing on his own two feet and even making a small dance-like move before sitting down.

"Now if there was any question as to who the toughest Avenger was," joked Kimmel, 55, "that's settled now, right?"

"Scarlett Johansson," Renner, 52, immediately responded, referring to the actor who played Natasha Romanoff/The Black Widow, in the superhero team, which also includes fellow stars Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man) and Chris Hemsworth (Thor).

Kimmel, undeterred, insisted, "Forget Downey, forget Hemsworth, forget these guys — it's you! You're the guy!"

Renner, who plays Clint Barton/Hawkeye, gave in, saying, "Yeah, I guess so."

Notably more lighthearted and less somber than in his ABC News interview with Diane Sawyer that aired Thursday, the two-time Academy Award nominee briefly reiterated that he and his adult nephew, Alex Fries, had been attempting to pull a Ford Raptor truck out of snow at Renner's house in the Nevada mountains. Renner, stepping out of his snowplow's cab to check that Fries was safe, neglected to set the parking brake, and the vehicle began rolling forward.

"I tried to jump back on it to stop it from running him over," Renner told Kimmel, "and then I got eaten up under the tracks. … That was a very, very bad way to start the year."

He is still unsure of how many bones were broken when the 14,300-pound PistenBully snow groomer from German manufacturer Kässbohrer ran over him. Approximating it was "35 or so," Renner said that, "We kept discovering them as [the doctors] were going along … and then six weeks later finding another break and another break and another break."

His mother, Renner said, had read aloud to him during his hospitalization. "She thought that the sound of her voice reading would be soothing," he said, adding, to audience laughter, "My mom's reading me a story like I'm going to bed, or going to bed for one last time." Her choice of book, he said, was suspect. "And she starts reading to me and I overhear, like, 'Mom, that's Stephen King!' It's called 'Fairy Tale,' but it's by Stephen King! And she's reading me this bedtime story, the last story I'll probably ever hear in my life. I'm on life support at this point!" he quipped.

Renner also described hospital visits from his MCU colleagues and other friends, including "Ant-Man" star Paul Rudd, who additionally sent a comical get-well video that Kimmel showed.

Renner said his "first conscious thought" after awakening from the initial surgery "was, like ... 'My calendar is freed up for the rest of the year!' … My year was pretty jammed up until I got crushed." he explained. "Now I'm, like, 'No one can mess with me! I'm free!' "

He has taken the opportunity, he said, to lose 20 pounds and quit smoking.