As if Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Blade Runner weren’t enough, now Harrison Ford is lending his talents to that little franchise known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Towards the end of September, it was rumored that Ford was being eyed to take over as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross from the late William Hurt, and just days ago this was seemingly confirmed, prompting fans to share their thoughts about the Han Solo actor joining the MCU. Now it’s been revealed which of the upcoming Marvel movies Ford will first appear in as Ross.
While it had originally been rumored that Harrison Ford would debut as Thunderbolt Ross Thunderbolts, which is now the penultimate movie in the MCU’s Phase 5 since Blade was delayed to September 6, 2024, Deadline reports that the actor will instead first play the character in Captain America: New World Order. That being said, in its own writeup, THR clarified that the plan is still for Ford to appear in Thunderbolts too. Assuming that is indeed the case, then Ford’s incarnation of Ross will star in both of Marvel’s summer 2024 movies.
William Hurt debuted as the MCU’s Thunderbolt Ross in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, which saw the character trying to apprehend Bruce Banner and approving Tim Roth’s Emil Blonsky to be injected with a variant of the Super Soldier Serum. Eight years later, Ross resurfaced in Captain America: Civil War as the Secretary of State and one of the main supporters of the Sokovia Accords. Ross then briefly popped up in Avengers: Infinity War and cameoed at Tony Stark’s funeral in Avengers: Endgame, and in Black Widow, which took place between Civil War and Endgame, he was seen leading the hunt for Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff. Ross was also voiced by Michael Patrick McGill in several episodes of What If… ?, which can be streamed with a Disney+ subscription.
Harrison Ford is the sixth actor to be added to Captain America: New World Order’s cast. Along with Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson leading the charge as the new Star Spangled Avenger following the events of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Danny Ramirez and Carl Lumbly, who also appeared in the Disney+ limited series, will respectively reprise Joaquin Torres and Isaiah Bradley. Additionally, Tim Blake Nelson will return as Samuel Sterns/The Leader for the first time since he debuted in The Incredible Hulk. The only all-new character who’s been announced for New World Order so far is Sabra, who will be played by Shira Haas.
Behind the scenes, Captain America: New World Order is being directed by The Cloverfield Paradox’s Julius Onah off a script written by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier alums Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson. New World Order arrives in theaters on May 3, 2024, but before that, Harrison Ford will make his final appearance as Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones 5, which comes out on June 30, 2023.
