David Harbour Teases Red Guardian's Surprising Thunderbolts

Stranger Things star David Harbour teases Red Guardian’s surprising character development for when he returns in the upcoming Thunderbolts film.

Stranger Things megastar David Harbour teases sudden person development for his return as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian inside the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s upcoming Thunderbolts movie. Harbour made his first and up to now handiest look in the MCU as Red Guardian in 2021’s Black Widow, where his man or woman acted as a incorrect father-determine toward Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff and Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova. Although Black Widow kicks off Phase 4 of the MCU, the activities and conclusion of the movie take location well before the give up of Phase 3, and therefore at this modern-day factor inside the MCU, visitors do no longer yet recognise wherein Red Guardian has been considering his final look.

In a latest interview with Total Film (via GamesRadar+), Harbour discusses his upcoming appearance in Thunderbolts, teasing the improvement his person will go through in the MCU. He pointers that there are ways to hold the individual’s story and develop him in a way that would be unexpected. Check out the entire quote underneath:

“I do. I love Red Guardian. I can’t wait to pull back the layers. The great thing about him is that he’s not very well-defined in the comics, like some of the other Marvel superheroes. So we can play with him in a different way, and be surprising and unexpected.”

How Thunderbolts Can Build Upon Red Guardian’s Black Widow Story

Harbour’s feedback seem to intend that Red Guardian’s subsequent appearances inside the MCU will try to show more layers to the individual, and that he intends to play him in a way that might be extra unexpected. He highlights the fact that the comics model of Red Guardian is much less defined and therefore does not provide as many hints on how the man or woman need to be in comparison to other Marvel characters, which gives Harbour and the writers extra room to bring some thing new together with his portrayal. These feedback are interesting when looking at wherein Red Guardian turned into left at the give up of Black Widow, because the individual spent plenty of the movie behaving in a comedic however delusional way. However, by means of the final act, the man or woman reputedly desires to make up for how he has been within the beyond, and Harbour’s phrases now seem to affirm that that is the direction Marvel plans to take him in.

Based on the Thunderbolts team in the comics and the cutting-edge roster introduced for the movie, it appears that the story will as a minimum rather lean into the idea of characters seeking out both a brand new route or redemption. Although Black Widow’s ending teased this because the logical continuation of Red Guardian’s character arc, it might be exciting to peer how a long way Thunderbolts or other MCU initiatives discover the man or woman’s intensity. With his man or woman being closely utilized as comedic comfort within the previous film, and the MCU’s tendency to relegate positive characters into that role, it is able to be tough to image Red Guardian receiving compelling person development going ahead, particularly with out his courting with Natasha to assist ground him. That being said, with Yelena also acting in Thunderbolts, there’ll possibly be different opportunities to explore the relationship between those two characters and apprehend greater about them as a result.

It remains to be visible what position Red Guardian will play in Thunderbolts, however audiences can desire that the movie and the relaxation of the MCU keeps to flesh his character out in a meaningful manner. Based at the man or woman’s backstory and his state at the start of Black Widow, there is simply more to him than what audiences have visible up to now, and with Harbour’s ability as a dramatic actor, it’d be a disgrace no longer to explore it. However, it seems that Marvel fanatics have yet to fully see at the back of the layers of what the MCU has deliberate for Red Guardian, and it’ll actually be thrilling after they ultimately do.