Marvel Reveals Harrison Ford’s Shocking And Powerful New Role
Harrison Ford's Marvel character Thunderbolt Ross will be U.S. President in his next appearance.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has a new President of the United States: Harrison Ford. In an in-depth EW interview that covered much of the future of the MCU, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige revealed that when Harrison Ford takes over the role of Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in Captain America: New World Order, the character has become the U.S. President. While we knew that Ford would be an important part of the fourth Captain America movie, this is new information about his character status upgrade.
In addition to starring in Captain America: New World Order, the Marvel Cinematic Universe will get a dose of Harrison Ford in the upcoming Thunderbolts movie. The Indiana Jones actor’s role was previously played by the late William Hurt, who portrayed the character in The Incredible Hulk, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Black Widow (as well as a Marvel One-Shot short film via archival footage). While Marvel Studios has been recasting actors as far back as Iron Man 2, locking down Harrison Ford for Ross is unquestionably one of its biggest gets ever.
Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige also suggested that audiences are used to associating Harrison Ford with the U.S. Presidency due to movies like Air Force One and the Tom Clancy adaptation Clear and Present Danger. At the very least, it is undeniable that the actor and aviation enthusiast has the gravitas and grouchiness to convincingly play Thunderbolt Ross, a character that has long been defined in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by his tense relationship with the Avengers and other heroes.
When Thunderbolt Ross was introduced in The Incredible Hulk, he held the rank of U.S. Army General, and by Captain America: Civil War, he had risen to Secretary of State, so clearly, this is an ambitious man. As Feige also noted in the interview, Ross has a history with Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), the new Captain America, so it will be interesting to see what the dynamic between the two is now that Marvel has Harrison Ford to pit against him. It will be equally interesting to see Ford face off against Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Sebastian Stan, and all the other rogues confirmed to appear in Thunderbolts.
In addition to joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Harrison Ford is continuing to team up with Lucasfilm, another branch of the mighty Walt Disney Company. Despite general antipathy to the last installment of the franchise, Ford will star in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which will reportedly be his final turn as the iconic character. The movie will also star a returning John Rhys-Davies as Indy’s old Egypt buddy Sallah and Phoebe Waller-Bridge as a new character who is reportedly the archaeologist’s goddaughter.
Since Harrison Ford has (probably) finally put Han Solo to rest in the Star Wars universe and is about to hang up Indiana Jones’s hat, it makes sense that he would look to a new franchise to make his home. At least in this one, he will have a nice office.
