The Marvel Cinematic Universe has reportedly grown, with Harrison Ford set to step into the shoes of the late William Hurt and play General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross.
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The report, which initially came from reporter Jeff Sneider but was later confirmed by SlashFilm, noted that Ford will appear in the upcoming Thunderbolts film, which was fully announced during their D23 Expo. Ross — who was played by William Hurt prior to his death in 2022 — has appeared in a variety of MCU films — first in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, then later on in Captain America: Civil War, both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and most recently, Black Widow.
Should the report be true, this would be yet another major franchise Ford has been a major part of. The legendary actor has also appeared in the Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Blade Runner franchises. Up next for him is the fifth installment in the Indiana Jones franchise, which was also shown off at the latest D23 Expo.
During the Marvel Studios’ recent panel at D23, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige finally unveiled the cast for the upcoming Thunderbolts film, which will be a team consisting of mostly supervillains and antiheroes. It includes Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Red Guardian (David Harbour), Ghost (Hannah Jon-Kamen), US Agent (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kerleynko), Yelena Belova/Black Widow (Florence Pugh), and The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan).
The film will be directed by Jake Schreier, whose history as a director isn’t extremely extensive, having only worked on 2012’s Robot & Frank, 2015’s Paper Towns, and the 2021 filmed version of Chance the Rapper’s Magnificent Coloring World Tour.
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The film is currently scheduled to arrive in theaters on July 26, 2024, as part of Phase 5.
