Harrison Ford officially joining MCU as ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross in Captain America 4

Eleni Thomas
Harrison Ford MCU

Harrison Ford has officially been cast to take on the role of Thunderbolt Ross in the MCU, with his version of the character set to debut in Captain America: New World Order.

When appearing on The Hot Mic Podcast, The Ankler’s Jeff Sneider claimed that Harrison Ford has signed on with the MCU. Ford – who is best known for his work in Stars Wars and Indiana Jones – will reportedly debut as General Thaddeus E. “Thunderbolt” Ross in the upcoming Captain America: New World Order film.

This has since been confirmed by Deadline – however, details of how his version of the character will differ from William Hurt, who passed away in March 2022. While Marvel chose not to recast the role of the Black Panther after Chadwick Boseman’s passing, it appears that Ford will be taking on the role of Ross going forward in the MCU.

The character of General Thaddeus E. “Thunderbolt” Ross has featured throughout the MCU since the beginning. Ross has appeared in the Iron man series, Captain America films, and other various projects. In the comics, the character does go on to become the Red Hulk – a version that is yet to appear in the MCU. 

Sneider reiterated previous claims that the actor was cast in time for Disney’s D23 Expo but that news of Ford’s casting was not announced in order to maintain focus on Indiana Jones 5.

However, with the introduction of She-Hulk and various teasers about a Planet Hulk project coming in the future, there is a good chance that Ross will have a bigger role to play in this storyline moving forward.

While Ford will make his MCU debut as the character in Captain America 4, it’s likely the character will then have a much larger role to play in the 2024 series Thunderbolts.

Thunderbolts will center on a group of anti-hero-like characters, with the show already confirmed to include Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), TaskMaster (Olga Kurylenko), Red Guardian (David Harbour), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), John Walker (Wyatt Russell) and Countessa Valentina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) as the leader of the group.

Related Topics

About The Author

Eleni is a Melbourne-based journalist. Having completed her Bachelor's in communication (Journalism) at RMIT University, Eleni is now a Senior Writer for the Dexerto Australia team. A big Nintendo fan (with a Triforce tattoo to prove it) and a lover of the zombie genre, Eleni covers gaming, entertainment as well as TV and movies for the site. She is also passionate about covering Queer and female representation. Contact Eleni at eleni.thomas@dexerto.com