While it feels like the MCU will go on forever, its human actors who do not sign away their likenesses and voices to deep-faking are not immune to the ravages of time. Sometimes, they die, and so was the case when William Hurt passed away last year. While gone, his General Thaddeus E. “Thunderbolt” Ross lives on, and some are surprised to see the grumpy Harrison Ford replace him.
For those who are unaware, the now 80-year-old Ford does not exactly have a fondness for the colorful and fantastical genres many of his fans know him best for. Over the years, he has said he prefers Indiana Jones to his Han Solo of Star Wars, has called Han Solo a creation as “dumb as a stump,” and has also said he does not want to give fans things they want to see over the unexpected. Given this, one would think he would not join a genre-heavy project like next year’s Captain America: New World Order (which may be retitled with Brave New World at final release) or the Thunderbolts movie due around the same time. He has also said being on the projects is not “fun,” but given human beings are complicated, he could also just be changing his mind.
Ford began acting in 1966. While the stereotype is people often become more set in their ways as they age, this is not always the case. Reports from The New York Times as recent as 2019 find those with older parents only reported stubbornness around 80 percent of the time, so, Ford could just be an outlier. As well, at this point in his life, he is probably thinking about legacy and what else he has to give on the screen. He alluded to this in a GQ video in 2017 when he said he was going to revisit some of his classic characters and it “feels good,” and he also told The Hollywood Reporter he joined the MCU to be different and please some fans.
Whatever the case, audiences will see just how his mood about the work is reflected on the screen next year when the next Captain America movie premieres in May and his turn as the American president in the Thunderbolts movie follows afterward in July. Before these, Ford will have a final turn as Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny later this month and will also be headlining a comedy-drama on Apple TV Plus titled Shrinking where he will pretend to be a therapist alongside Jason Segel’s Jim.