David Harbour Says He's Had Discussions About Red Guardian's MCU Return

David Harbour talks about the potential for Black Widow's the Red Guardian returning back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in the future. The new solo Marvel film is included in phase 4 of the MCU. Set after Captain America: Civil War and before Avengers: Infinity War, Black Widow follows the title character, also known as Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson). In the prequel, she must face her past if she hopes to defeat a threat that has been brewing for many years.

One of the new characters introduced from Natasha's past is Alexei Shostakov, also known as the Red Guardian. He has super strength and wears a red and white costume. He often acts as the comedic relief throughout Black Widow. While he means well towards those closest to him, the sentiment usually doesn't come out quite as he'd like it to. The Red Guardian is played by Stranger Things and Hellboy actor David Harbour.

In an interview with Collider, Harbour talked about Black Widow and his upcoming performance in Stranger Things season 4. When asked about the multi-picture deals that Marvel tends to have major actors sign, he explained how much they're currently working on. He said that there has been talk about him returning in the role of the Red Guardian in the future of the MCU, but nothing concrete has come up. There's likely more to the story, but see below to read Harbour's statement:

"There is some chatter around certain things. We were pretty focused on just this. They also have a lot of stuff in the pipe that, it seems like in this particular phase, there's a lot of different...there's Eternals, there's different elements to this universe that I think they're branching out at this point until they start to do this [converges hands]. I knew I wasn't involved in that branch. The discussions were, they didn't really give a sense of what was up next. It was more just really focused on this movie, and some speculation of possibilities."

black widow clip red guardian prison escape

In the comic version of the character, he's actually the second person to wear the Red Guardian suit, who's meant to be the Soviet Union's version of Captain America. Perhaps one of the biggest differences being the fact that in the comic book version, he had previously been married to Natasha. He would later become known as an assassin who goes by the name of Ronin. While the MCU version of Red Guardian emphasizes his strength, the comic version highlights his strong fighting skills.

Audiences are very likely to want to see more of Harbour as the Red Guardian. He does a wonderful job with the character and adds a lot of nuance to the role that could be capitalized on in future MCU projects. Even though Harbour says that there was only some speculation for his return, there's likely more to the story that he just isn't able to share quite yet. While a solo film would be particularly fun, it would be nice to see him included in the universe, in general. While Black Widow might signal the end of Johansson's time in the MCU, her film certainly introduced some new characters of interest who can now carry the torch.

Next: Black Widow Makes Natasha’s Infinity War Costume More Meaningful

Source: Collider