Credit: The Incredible Hulk
A very underrated character from the Marvel Cinematic Universe is General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, played so brilliantly by the late William Hurt. Some fans may have forgotten, but he was actually one of the first MCU characters. This character debuted in the 2008 The Incredible Hulk movie with Edward Norton. As we MCU fans know by now, it only took one Marvel movie for Norton to be replaced by Mark Ruffalo. All of that drama that occurred behind the scenes is enough to turn into a short documentary, and that will sadly be the legacy of The Incredible Hulk. Up until recently, it looked like Marvel wanted to put that movie behind them. Tim Roth has returned to reprise his role as Emil Blonsky, otherwise known as The Abomination, in the She-Hulk series. As of now, that is the biggest sign Marvel intends to keep The Incredible Hulk canon.
But hold on, The Abomination isn’t the only character Marvel brought back. The 2016 Captain America: Civil War movie brought back William Hurt to play Thunderbolt Ross again. This time around, Ross was no longer in the military and found a respectable position in the United States government as Secretary of State. He was an adamant supporter of the Sokovia Accords and remained very critical of those with superhuman abilities. This made him a recurring supporting antagonist throughout his time in the MCU. The last we saw of Thunderbolt Ross, he made a short appearance at Tony Stark’s funeral. It was a rather unexpected but heartwarming cameo because, despite Ross’ disdain of the Avengers, he recognized Iron Man as a hero who gave his life for the planet and paid his respects.
Plans for the Character
Now that William Hurt has passed, it makes us wonder what Marvel intends to do with the character. We wonder about this now more than before because Marvel has announced that they are developing a Thunderbolt movie. If you’re not a Marvel nut, you might not be too familiar with this team. Think of them as Marvel’s Suicide Squad, but the two teams aren’t completely interchangeable. This lesser-known Marvel team began as C-lister villains who were recruited by Helmut Zemo to pose as heroes. This scheme backfired on Zemo, as the fake heroes actually enjoyed pretending to be heroes rather than continuing to be villains. From that point on, the original Thunderbolts team worked to better themselves and turn away from Zemo’s influence.
The new Thunderbolts would eventually become the team of villains forced to work for the government during the Civil War event. Now that this team is being formed in the MCU, Thunderbolt Ross could very well be at the center of their formation. But how exactly will that work without William Hurt? Marvel could very well let another influential character with a powerful status recruit the members of the team. Other than Thunderbolt Ross, there are several other characters who are capable of doing so. Similar to the Chadwick Boseman and T’Challa situation, Marvel could kill off the character and not recast him out of respect for William Hurt. No one would blame them if they did that, but a Thunderbolts movie could really demand the presence of Thunderbolt Ross. The hint is literally in the name.
There’s little question about it; Thunderbolt Ross probably should be in the Thunderbolts movie. Now if Marvel does plan on killing off the character, the movie could use his influence to name the team after his famous nickname. Given his history and contentious nature with superhumans, the creation of the team would be a suitable legacy for him. It could work, but according to some reports, it looks like Marvel might be considering recasting the character after all.
Credit: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
A New Opportunity for Harrison Ford
Guess who’s the runner-up? According to the reports, the man himself, Harrison Ford, just might be stepping in to play Thunderbolt Ross. Now, this is unexpected, but if there is some fire to this smoke, I think many Marvel fans would jump on this. First of all, we cannot possibly say no to Harrison Ford joining the MCU. That is just something we wouldn’t think the man would do. Do you know how many times he said he wanted to be done with Star Wars? Why would he be interested in joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe if he was so adamant about putting Han Solo behind him? Maybe this would be a different situation in his eyes because he’d be playing a supporting role, so there’s far less commitment.
Well, guess what, fans of Marvel and Harrison Ford? There is fire to this smoke, after all. New reports have confirmed that Harrison Ford will indeed be stepping to play Thunderbolt Ross. Boy, oh boy, how do we comprehend this? The head-turning rumors turned out to be true and now we have a new actor playing a very underrated supporting Marvel character. Is this entirely unexpected? Honestly, it shouldn’t be. Again, the main reason is the Thunderbolts movie, and Thunderbolt Ross is a character who should be vital to that story.
As far as Harrison Ford’s reason for agreeing to play Thunderbolt Ross, I think it just boils down to Marvel paying him whatever he asked for. I mean, come on, he’s Harrison Ford. The man can ask for literally anything, and any studio would probably oblige. Let’s just be excited that Harrison Ford actually said yes and will be officially joining the MCU. Seriously, it’s still wild to sink in. Was this the right move on Marvel’s part? Some fans may call this hypocritical due to their decision not to recast T’Challa after the passing of Chadwick Boseman, and they wouldn’t be wrong to think so. However, I believe Marvel has their reasons and who knows? Maybe we will actually see another actor playing T’Challa in the near future.
Only Time Will Tell
Credit: Air Force One
The thing about Thunderbolt Ross is that he’s more than just the ruthless military commander sending soldiers to do his dirty work. We Marvel fans know that with all these different Hulks coming to the MCU, it would be crazy for them to not include Red Hulk. There was very little chance that William Hurt was going to suit up in motion capture to play the Red Hulk due to his age, and if you’re thinking the same about Harrison Ford, don’t forget, he’s still playing Indiana Jones. If he can do that one last time, he’ll probably do the motion capture for Red Hulk. Again, it’s Harrison Ford. Never doubt this man.
How do you feel about this, Marvel fans? Are you excited to see Harrison Ford join the MCU? Do you think it’s the right decision? I believe there is still a story to tell for Thunderbolt Ross, so I think we should give Marvel the benefit of the doubt.
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