Extraction is a bonafide hit on Netflix, with fans raving about it on social media and everyone seemingly checking it out this weekend. After all, it’s the closest thing we have to a summer blockbuster at the moment, but what’s also exciting is that there are a number of MCU alumni involved in the project.
Obviously, there’s Chris Hemsworth as the main star, but we’ve also got the Russos on board, with Joe writing and both brothers producing. Not to mention director Sam Hargrave, who was a stunt coordinator and second-unit director on several Marvel entries including the last two Avengers movies.
But there’s actually a second MCU star in the film as well that hasn’t been talked about as much, as Hemsworth has been stealing most of the spotlight. Yes, if you’ve seen it you’ll know that David Harbour shows up about halfway into Extraction playing a mysterious individual known as Gaspar. He has a history with Tyler (Hemsworth), but his motives for helping him are not what they seem.
Harbour is, of course, playing Alexei Shotakov/Red Guardian in the upcoming Black Widow. A Russian counterpart to our Captain America, Red Guardian’s a father-figure to Natasha Romanoff, but he’s also got a bit more of a personality than Cap. Judging by the trailers for Black Widow, he’s a little out of shape but eager to fight again, and this won’t be just a one-off for the actor, either, as Marvel is planning to use Red Guardian in future MCU films down the road.
The 45-year-old’s been carving out a nice little career for himself after the success of Stranger Things. He was appearing in movies for many years as a “that guy” before landing the role of Hopper and though it looked like he was about to get his own franchise with the Hellboy reboot, that didn’t turn out so well.
Luckily, Marvel came calling and he’s seemingly got a multi-picture deal with the studio now. Good for him, too. He’s put his time in playing shady characters like the one he does in Extraction and he’s kind of perfected that performance at this point. As such, we’re eager to see what he’ll do with an MCU role once Black Widow finally rolls around.