Rumors of Harrison Ford’s Marvel casting as Thaddeus Ross are doing the rounds, and new reports have suggested it was slated to be a D23 announcement.
rumors about Harrison Ford‘s casting as Thaddeus Ross in Marvel’s Lightning strikes film have taken a turn for the worse, with new reports suggesting his upcoming role announcement was not announced at D23 by Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy. Of course, both Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm are Disney subsidiaries, but it seems that with Indiana Jones 5 currently a big focus for the latter, they don’t want a big Marvel announcement to take that movie away.
General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross Made His First MCU Appearance in The Incredible Hulk in 2008, played by the late William Hurt, who reprised the role in multiple MCU films, including his final appearance in Black Widow. Following the actor’s death in March at the age of 71, there have been questions about how his role in Lightning strikes would be handled. Last month, rumors suggested Ford was being considered as a Hurt replacement, and while these have still not been confirmed, there seems to be a reason why no official announcement has been made.
According to The hot microphone podcasts Jeff Sneider, was there a plan for the unveiling of Ford joining the MCU, intended to Lightning strikes announcement at Disney’s D23 Expo, but Lucasfilm president Kennedy reportedly blocked the move so as not to detract from the upcoming finale Indiana Jones movie. sneider said:
“So what I initially heard was that this was a foregone conclusion for D23, that they actually wanted to announce him as a cast member in Thunderbolts on D23, but they didn’t because Kathleen Kennedy put her foot down and said, ‘No. , we’re going to keep the focus on Indiana Jones 5 content, I don’t want this to be Harrison Ford joining the MCU, we’re going to keep the focus on Indy 5 now.”
Thunderbolts announced the lineup last month
Kevin Feige revealed a first look at the Lightning strikes lineup last month including Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier, Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Hannah John-Kamen’s Ghost, Wyatt Russell’s US Agent and Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster. In addition, Julia Louis-Dreyfus will also reprise her role as Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine, but there was always a pending question of where Thaddeus Ross would fit in after Hurt’s death.
With everything pointing to Ford taking over the role, this could just be another way for the Hollywood legend to wind down his career in some of the top franchises ever, after already being in Star Wars and with its final Indiana Jones film that will be a big blockbuster next summer. Since General Ross is the mind behind the Thunderbolts team rather than being involved in the action himself, this could be the perfect role for Ford to slip into and keep him in the company for a few more years.
Lightning strikes is scheduled for release on July 25, 2024, while Indiana Jones 5 will hit theaters on June 30, 2023 after several delays.