Harrison Ford has joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The legendary actor who was part of multiple franchises including Star Wars, Indiana Jonesthe Jack Ryan series, and The expendables, is now set to join the MCU. Ford has been cast to play the role of General Thunderbolt Ross, previously played by William Hurt who passed away earlier this year.
Ford joins a roster of great actors like Robert Redford, Glenn Close, Harry Dean Stanton and Tony Leung to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But casting a performer as iconic as Harrison Ford in a role that was not only played by another actor, but one that was a supporting character at best and often a glorified cameo (he doesn’t even get a line in Avengers: Endgame) certainly raised a lot of eyebrows. Why reshuffle General Ross in the first place? What about the character who was so important that he had to be recast instead of having the character retire after Hurt’s death and have another military figure from the comics fill his part?
It looks like Marvel Studios has big plans for the character in the MCU, and casting an actor as beloved as Harrison Ford could signal where the franchise is headed. While it seems odd that Marvel Studios would invest a major long-term plan in an 80-year-old actor, and it just might be that the studio hires a big-name actor for a small supporting role to give a sense of gravitas for the different projects in the pipeline, there are factors that indicate that something important is coming. Check out what Harrison Ford’s casting means for the MCU.
Captain America 4 turns into Incredible Hulk 2
Warner Bros.
Captain America: New World Order is two years away, but the details that the public does know about it are interesting. The film continues the story described in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, see Sam Wilson as the new Captain America and we see the return of Carl Lumbly as Isiah Bradley. However, it looks like the movie could also be a stealth sequel to The Incredible Hulkas the upcoming Captain America movie fills up with Hulk supporting characters.
Harrison Ford’s Thunderbolt Ross makes its first appearance in Captain America: New World Order and given the military backgrounds of the two characters, and the fact that Ross locked up Sam Wilson during… Captain America: Civil War it makes sense that there is some overlap.
However, the main villain of the film is The Leader, played by Tim Blake Nelson who reprises his role from 2008. The Incredible Hulk. The film will also feature the debut of Israeli superhero Sabra who made her debut in an issue of Incredible Hulk. With so many Hulk characters in this Captain America sequel, it certainly raises some interesting questions and Ross could be the key, which is why the studio recast the role with Harrison Ford.
Dark Past of Super Solider Serum Comes to Light
Captain America: New World Order seems to be a cross between the storylines of the Captain America movie and the storylines of the Hulk, indicating that the movie will be about the super soldier serum. 2008’s The Incredible Hulk determined that both Bruce Banner’s transformation into the Hulk, and Emil Blonsky’s transformation into the Abomination, were attempts to recreate the super soldier serum that Captain America created.
This shared connection has been ticked twice in She-Hulk: Lawyer where Blonsky remarks on how he thought he would become the next Captain America, and then She-Hulk herself points out that stealing Hulk blood is easily comparable to stealing a supersolid serum storyline from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier also made a big reveal in terms of the history of super soldiers that can shed new light on the entire universe. Isaiah Bradley reveals that he got the super soldier serum after Captain America, and even fought the Winter Soldier in the Korean War. He was then imprisoned for 30 years while imprisoned scientists from the military and SHIELD/HYDRA forcibly took his blood. This strongly implies that the various other attempts to create new super soldiers in the MCU were made with blood forcibly taken by Isaiah Bradley, who was a political prisoner. That doesn’t mean scientists like Bruce Banner knew this when they were working on his project, but the government did and that might indicate that someone in charge (like Thaddeus Ross of Harrison Ford) did.
This indicates that Captain America: New World Order could deal with Sam Wilson and the rest of the MCU must grapple with this fact, while The Leader may be trying to create his own army of super soldiers using the stolen blood of a former political prisoner. Given Thunderbolt Ross’ history of trying to create his own super soldier, as well as his own close call to death he alluded to in Captain America: Civil WarRoss could inject himself with a form of serum that would turn himself into his comic book alter ego, The Red Hulk.
The arrival of the Red Hulk in the MCU
General Ross is the Hulk’s longest-running enemy in the comics, appearing in 1962 in The Incredible Hulk #1. In 2008, a mysterious new character known as Red Hulk appeared, and his identity was kept a mystery for two years until 2010. Then it was revealed that General Ross was the Red Hulk and was created by the organization Intelligencia, a group of the best evil scientist in the Marvel universe, including the leader.
Intelligencia made their MCU debut in She-Hulk: Lawyer but the series turned them from a criminal think tank to an angry online bulletin board run by sad angry men. However, the leader could still be responsible for turning Ross into the Red Hulk, either for a big action sequence at the end of the game. Captain America: New World Order or in a post-credits scene that lays the groundwork for the next MCU movie: Lightning strikes.
Is Ross the villain in Thunderbolts?
Captain America: New World Order comes out two months early Lightning strikes (although that release date can always change, as seen with recent delays in the MCU). Thunderbolts will be a team of villains/anti-heroes and will consist of both Bucky Barnes and John Walker’s American agent, who were main characters in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. That means two MCU projects released close to each other in 2024 are a sequel to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
The name Thunderbolts led many to believe that the group would be named after Thunderbolt Ross, and after William Hurt’s passing, it felt like the franchise’s way of honoring the character and laying down the role. However, casting a new actor in the role of Ross may indicate that the character has a bigger role. Ross’ Red Hulk led his own version of the Thunderbolts in the comics, and while it’s possible the character is still part of the film’s lineup and was just remembered from the announcement at D23, it could also be on there. may indicate that Ross in his Red Hulk form could be the primary villain of Lightning strikes. With the Thunderbolts team already consisting of three super soldiers (Bucky, Walker and Red Guardian), Lightning strikes could continue the storyline set up in Captain America: New World Order sent with the team to take out a rogue agent/super soldier Red Hulk.
World War Hulks
While a key supporting character in The Infinity Saga, it seems during the Multiverse Saga that The Hulk will be a key character. She-Hulk: Lawyer Not only did it introduce Jennifer Walters (aka She-Hulk) to the MCU, but also The Hulk’s son, Skaar. With the return of Abomination, the Leader, and General Ross in upcoming projects Marvel Studios may be positioning for a Hulk-centric story: World War Hulks (possibly as a Disney+ series as Universal Pictures still owns the distribution rights to Hulk movies).
While Hulk from the World War was a famous storyline published in 2007 in which the Hulk returned to Earth to wage war against the superheroes Planet Hulk, World War Hulks was published in 2010 and health with the rise of several other Hulks around the world. The MCU already has Hulk, She-Hulk, Skaar, and possibly Harrison Ford stepping into Red Hulk.
This could also be the introduction of Red She-Hulk, who in the comics is Betty Ross, Thunderbolt Ross’ daughter and who hasn’t appeared in the MCU since 2008. The Incredible Hulk played by Liv Tyler. Equivalent to Secret Invasiona popular event comic that was turned into a Disney+ series, World War Hulks could be the different Hulk plot threads coming together. Harrison Ford’s involvement in the MCU could be the first step in a larger storyline in the MCU and could come face to face with an all-out Hulk war.