For better or worse, Thunderbolts may not be quite what we were expecting for the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s next big team-up film; the introduction of cinema legend Harrison Ford into the franchise may be cause for more than a bit of excitement, but the lack of flashy superpowers in the titular team’s collective skillset might be a turn-off for some audiences.
For what the team lacks in superpowers, however, they’ll surely make up for it in personality; from the aloof, wise-cracking Yelena Belova, to U.S. Agent’s penchant for evoking real-life death threats, to whatever Taskmaster might have in store for us, the potential for character tension in Thunderbolts is through the roof.
And where there’s tension, you need alleviation, and we’re sure that David Harbour‘s Red Guardian will have an abundance to spare; the oafish, embarrassing-dad figure was a barrel of laughs in 2021’s Black Widow, and we assume he’ll occupy a similar space in Thunderbolts.
But we also expect the character to go beyond what we were introduced to in Black Widow; a hope that Harbour shares. In an interview with The Playlist, the Stranger Things star remarked how Thunderbolts will be a great opportunity for Red Guardian to show up in a much bigger capacity than he has previously, especially with so many new, electrifying personalities in the room combined with the familiarity the character already has with fellow Thunderbolt Yelena Belova.
“Where does he go? To reconnect with Florence [Pugh] is going to be great as well. And also, I would like to see, because he is an idiot and he is an egomaniac – all that stuff, but he does have this fire in him, and I think he could rise to certain occasions if given the chance.”
And at this rate, rising to an occasion will be the name of the game for the rest of the Multiverse Saga, as Marvel’s sorry introduction to Phase Five puts the rest of the slate in the tough position of steering the franchise back on track.
Thunderbolts will release to theaters on July 26, 2024.