Harrison Ford Reveals His Reason To Join The Marvel Cinematic Universe
Harrison Ford is joining the MCU as General Thunderbolt Ross for a simple reason: A superhero movie is something he has never done before.
Harrison Ford has done it all, from Star Wars to Indiana Jones to Blade Runner, but more recently he has joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Colonel Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in Thunderbolts and Captain America: New World Order. The superstar opened up to The Playlist about how he wanted to join the Disney-owned superhero studio because it’s something he’s never done before. He is replacing the late William Hurt, who passed away earlier this year after a long battle with cancer.
The interview was part of a review of another recent project the actor stars in, the Yellowstone prequel 1923. The role of Jacob Dutton is another first for Harrison Ford aside from his Marvel appearance, as it represents the first time he has been in a television production rather than a feature film. The actor chatted with interviewers Mike DeAngelo and Rodrigo Perez about the Taylor Sheridan Western epic, but the pair couldn’t resist asking questions about Thunderbolt Ross.
“Hey, look, I’ve done a lot of things. I now want to do some of the things I haven’t done,” Harrison Ford told them when asked why he wanted to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is true that the actor has played a wide variety of roles, including Han Solo, Indiana Jones, executive Jack Trainer in Working Girl, film noir detective Rick Deckard in the Blade Runner movies, Jack Ryan in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, and even the President in Air Force One. While he has played many heroic figures in his long and storied career, he has never played in a superhero movie until joining the MCU.
He was a little more tight-lipped about whether the Red Hulk would be making an appearance in the upcoming movies. Harrison Ford’s Marvel character, Thunderbolt Ross, transforms into the Red Hulk in the comics, but when asked if he had to do the motion capture filming to adapt the character to the big screen, he only made a zipping motion across his lips in response. Motion capture filming is something else that the actor has never done, which indicates that his demure answer hints strongly at an affirmative.
“Hey, look, I’ve done a lot of things. I now want to do some of the things I haven’t done,” Harrison Ford told them when asked why he wanted to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Harrison Ford will be playing Thunderbolt Ross in at least two Marvel Studios movies, both due for a 2024 release. Thunderbolts tells the story of a group of perceived villains, such as Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier, Yelena Belova/Black Widow, and Ava Starr/Ghost, who are assembled to work for the government to fight other superpowered villains. The movie is directly related to future MCU productions, most notably Captain America: New World Order, where a fight between Red Hulk and the new Captain America has been long-awaited by fans of the comics.
After a long and iconic career in film, Harrison Ford joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe represents a new horizon for the actor. It should be a lot of fun for fans to see the actor they recognize from other long-standing franchises not only make his mark in a new one, but also as a villain, a role we are not used to seeing him in. Captain America: New World Order is due out on May 3, 2024, and Thunderbolts follows on July 26, 2024.
Currently, viewers can catch Harrison Ford outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe alongside Helen Mirren, James Badge Dale, Marley Shelton, and Jerome Flynn on 1923 on Paramount Plus and the Paramount Network, with new installments of the eight-episode series releasing on Sundays. The Indiana Jones franchise is also on Paramount Plus, and all things Star Wars, including all the appearances of Han Solo, are on Disney+.
