Rumors of Harrison Ford joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a recast of General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross has taken a step up with new reports suggesting the deal has been done, and Ford will allegedly make his debut in Captain America: New World Order. This comes on the heels of reports of Ford being tapped to take over the William Hurt role in the upcoming Thunderbolts movie, and seems to be as close to a confirmation as you can get until Marvel makes it official.

The character of Thaddeus Ross was first played by William Hurt in the 2008 movie The Incredible Hulk, and until the return of Tim Roth’s Emil Blonsky in She-Hulk, he went on to be the only returning actor from the movie to appear in other Marvel films. Hurt’s last appearance in the role was in Black Widow, and with the actor’s passing in March 2022, there was a question hanging over how a project like Thunderbolts would be dealt with without Ross. Now it seems that the answer has been given, with Ford set to take over the role and carry Ross into the future, which may or may not result in the possible appearance of Red Hulk.

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The news that Ford is now said to definitely have been cast in the role and will appear in Anthony Mackie’s first Captain America movie came via Jeff Sneider on The Hot Mic podcast, and in addition /Flim also provided their own confirmation of the news.

Captain America’s Inclusion of Thaddeus Ross Makes Perfect Sense

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While the Thunderbolts movie was an obvious entry point for Ford to make his debut as Thaddeus Ross, the news that he will instead be potentially making an earlier appearance in Captain America: New World Order makes sense for a couple of reasons. First, while there have been little post-credits teasers of Jennifer Louise Dreyfuss’ Val rounding up a collection of potential anti-heroes throughout phase four of the MCU, Ross has not so far been connected to any of this. An appearance in the new Captain America movie would allow Ross’s connection to the group to be established.

In addition to this, Captain America: New World Order will also see Tim Blake Nelson reprising his own The Incredible Hulk role of Samuel Sterns, aka The Leader, which would potentially also lean into a connection with Ross. While there are very few details currently known about Mackies’ first Captain America story but the cast list has been stacking up, and with the movie heading to cinemas in 2024, it is expected to start filming early next year. The film stars Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Captain America, Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley, and Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres, who, in Marvel Comics, eventually becomes Falcon.

Marvel has always been known to play the long game in their storytelling, and while at the time of The Incredible Hulk’s release, Marvel Studios was potentially still not going to be a viable future hit-maker, it seems that some of the threads started in that mostly isolated movie are now starting to pull together in surprising ways.

Captain America: New World Order is currently scheduled to hit theaters on May 3, 2024.