Harrison Ford has joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The legendary actor who has been a part of multiple franchises including Star Wars, Indiana Jones, the 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, who was previously played by William Hurt who passed away earlier this year.
Ford joins a list of great actors like Robert Redford, Glenn Close, Harry Dean Stanton, and Tony Leung to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yet casting a performer as iconic as Harrison Ford in a role that was not only played by another actor, but one that has been a supporting character at best and many times a glorified cameo (he doesn’t even get a line in Avengers: Endgame) has certainly raised a lot of eyebrows. Why recast General Ross in the first place? What about the character was so important he needed to be recast instead of retiring the character after Hurt’s passing and having another military figure from the comics fill his role?
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It appears that Marvel Studios might have big plans for the character in the MCU and casting an actor as beloved as Harrison Ford might indicate where the franchise is going. While it seems odd that Marvel Studios would be investing a big long-term plan in an 80-year-old actor, and it could just be a case of the studio hiring a big-name actor for a small supporting role to lend a sense of gravitas to the various projects in the pipeline, there are factors which hint that something major is coming. Take a look and see what Harrison Ford’s casting means for the MCU.
Captain America 4 is Turning Into Incredible Hulk 2
Marvel / DisneyWarner Bros.
Captain America: New World Order is two years away, but the details audiences do know about it our interesting. The film will continue the story laid out in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, seeing Sam Wilson as the new Captain America and will see the return of Carl Lumbly as Isiah Bradley. However, it appears the film might also be a stealth sequel to The Incredible Hulk, as the upcoming Captain America movie is filling up with Hulk-supporting characters.
Harrison Ford’s Thunderbolt Ross will first appear in Captain America: New World Order and given the two characters’ military background, and the fact that Ross locked up Sam Wilson during Captain America: Civil War it makes a certain amount of sense there would be some overlap.
However, the film’s main villain is The Leader, played by Tim Blake Nelson reprising his role from 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. The film also will see 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 might be the key hence why the studio recast the role with Harrison Ford.
Dark Past of Super Solider Serum Comes To Light
Marvel Studios
Captain America: New World Order seems to be an intersection between the Captain America film storylines and the Hulk storylines, indicating the film will be about the super soldier serum. 2008’s The Incredible Hulk established that both Bruce Banner’s transformation into the Hulk, as well as Emil Blonsky turning into the Abomination, were attempts at recreating the super soldier serum that created Captain America.
This shared connection was touched upon twice in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law where Blonsky comments how he thought he was going to be the next Captain America, and then when She-Hulk herself indicates that the stealing of Hulk blood is easily similar to stealing super solider serum storyline from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier also made a big reveal in terms of the super soldier history which may put a new light on the entire universe. Isaiah Bradley reveals he was given 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 captive scientists from the army as well as S.H.I.E.L.D/HYDRA were forcibly taking his blood. This strongly implies that the various other attempts at making new super soldiers in the MCU were done with blood forcibly taken by Isaiah Bradley, who was a political prisoner. That doesn’t mean scientists like Bruce Banner knew this while working on his project, but the government did and that might indicate someone in charge (like Harrison Ford’s Thaddeus Ross) did know.
This indicates that Captain America: New World Order might deal with Sam Wilson and the rest of the MCU has to grapple with this fact, all while The Leader might be attempting to create his own army of super soldiers using the stolen bloodwork of a former political prisoner. Given Thunderbolt Ross’ history of trying to create his own super soldier as well as his own close call with death he alluded to in Captain America: Civil War, Ross might inject himself with a form of a serum giving turning himself into his comic book alter ego, The Red Hulk.
The Arrival of the Red Hulk in the MCU
Marvel Comics
General Ross is the Hulk’s longest-running foe in the comics, appearing in The Incredible Hulk #1 in 1962. In 2008, a mysterious new character known as Red Hulk showed up, and his identity was kept a mystery for two years until 2010. It was then revealed that General Ross was the Red Hulk and was created by the organization Intelligencia, a group of the top evil scientist in the Marvel Universe including the Leader.
Intelligencia made their MCU debut in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law but the series shifted them from being a criminal think tank to instead being an angry online message board run by sad angry men. However, The Leader could still be responsible for turning Ross into the Red Hulk, either for a big climactic action scene at the end of Captain America: New World Order or in an after-credit scene laying the groundwork for the next MCU film: Thunderbolts.
Is Ross the Villain in Thunderbolts?
Captain America: New World Order comes out two months before Thunderbolts (although that release date can always change as seen with recent delays to the MCU). Thunderbolts will be a team of villains/anti-heroes and feature both Bucky Barnes and John Walker’s US Agent who were major characters in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. That means that two MCU projects being released close to each other in 2024 are sequels to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
The name Thunderbolts led many to believe the group would be named after Thunderbolt Ross, and following the passing of William Hurt, it felt like the franchise’s way of honoring the character and retiring the role. However, casting a new actor in the role of Ross might indicate the character has a bigger role. Ross’ Red Hulk led his own version of the Thunderbolts in the comics, and while it is possible the character could still be part of the film’s lineup and just withheld from the announcement at D23, it could also indicate that Ross in his Red Hulk form could be the primary villain of Thunderbolts. With the Thunderbolts team already consisting of three super soldiers (Bucky, Walker, and Red Guardian), Thunderbolts could be continuing the storyline set up in Captain America: New World Order with the team sent to take out a rogue agent/super soldier Red Hulk.
World War Hulks
Marvel / Disney
While being a major supporting character throughout The Infinity Saga, it appears during the Multiverse Saga that The Hulk is set to be a major character. She-Hulk: Attorney At Law introduced not only Jennifer Walters (aka She-Hulk) into the MCU but also The Hulk’s son Skaar. With the return of Abomination, the Leader, and General Ross to upcoming projects Marvel Studios might be positioning for a Hulk-centric story: World War Hulks (possibly as a Disney+ series since Universal Pictures still owns distribution rights for Hulk films).
While World War Hulk was a famous storyline published in 2007 that saw the Hulk return to Earth to wage war on the superheroes after Planet Hulk, World War Hulks was published in 2010 and health with the emergence of various other Hulks over the world. The MCU already has Hulk, She-Hulk, Skaar, and possibly Harrison Ford stepping into Red Hulk.
This could also feature the introduction of Red She-Hulk, who in the comics is Betty Ross, the daughter of Thunderbolt Ross and who has not appeared in the MCU since 2008’s The Incredible Hulk played by Liv Tyler. Similar to Secret Invasion, a popular event comic turned into a Disney+ series, World War Hulks could feature the various Hulk plot threads converging. Harrison Ford’s involvement in the MCU might be the first step in a larger story arc in the MCU and may come face to face with an all-out Hulk war.
