The superhero genre has been dominating the entertainment industry for well over a decade. And as such, lots of killer talent has joined a cinematic universe or two. Stranger Things breakout star David Harbour has had peaks and valleys doing this, and recently talked about how playing Red Guardians in Black Widow helped make up for Hellboy flopping. As they say, that’s show business.
After Stranger Things became a bonafide sensation, the cast quickly started picking up high profile gigs. David Harbour was cast as the title character in the Hellboy remake, but it was unfortunately a critical and box office bomb. He had far better luck with the Black Widow movie, and spoke to THR about the juxtaposition between those two experiences. As he put it,
I don’t know that your palate is ever really cleansed. Life is a series of failures and successes, both of which stay with you, but the failures, mainly, lodge themselves deep into your core and remain there forever. So [Red Guardian] cleansed as much of my palate as possible.
Well, that was honest. Filming movies is a notoriously grueling process, and David Harbour put in months of work and countless hours in the make-up chair for the ill-fated 2019 Hellboy movie. Seeing the burgeoning franchise fizzle out was no doubt a big let down, although he was able to get back into the comic book genre as Red Guardian in the MCU. What’s more, there are already plans for him to reprise that role.
David Harbour’s comments to THR come as he’s been promoting his action holiday comedy Violent Night, where he plays a deadly version of Santa Claus. Eventually the conversation turned to his other action-heavy roles in Black Widow and Hellboy. And it sounds like the latter project being such a box office failure was a huge disappointment. After all, he was likely expecting to appear in multiple movies of the franchise.
While David Harbour’s time as Hellboy might have been cut short, he’s seemingly just getting started as Red Guardian in the MCU. Following his debut in Black Widow, it was confirmed that he’ll be part of the villain-centric ensemble cast of Thunderbolts. The movie will reunite him with Florence Pugh’s Yelena, and will include other returning characters like Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), U.S. Agnent (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) and Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis Drefyus). The great Harrison Ford will also be inheriting the role of Thaddeus Ross from the late William Hurt.
It should be fascinating to see where David Harbour’s character goes next, especially since he’s one of the stronger members of the Thunderbolts cast. I’m also eager to see how his relationship with Yelena will continue, thanks to their familial bond and shared trauma. What’s more, they should be able to grieve for Natasha together.
Thunderbolts is currently expected to arrive in theaters on July 26th, 2024. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your trips to the theater in the New Year. And 2023 will offer new updates on the TV and film side of the behemoth shared universe.
