Rumors of Harrison Ford’s casting as Thaddeus Ross in Marvel’s Thunderbolts movie have taken a twist, with new reports suggesting that the announcement of his upcoming role was blocked from being announced at D23 by Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy. Of course, both Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm are subsidiaries of Disney but it seems that with Indiana Jones 5 currently a big focus for the latter, they don’t want a big Marvel announcement to take away from that movie.
General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross made his first MCU appearance in The Incredible Hulk back in 2008, played by the late William Hurt, who reprised the role across multiple MCU movies including his final appearance in Black Widow. Following the death of the actor in March at the age of 71, there have been questions about how his role in Thunderbolts would be handled. Last month rumors suggested that Ford was being considered as a replacement for Hurt, and although these have still not been confirmed there seems to be a reason why no official announcement has been made.
According to The Hot Mic podcast’s Jeff Sneider, there had been a plan for the reveal of Ford joining the MCU was meant to accompany the Thunderbolts announcement at Disney’s D23 Expo, but Lucasfilm president Kennedy reportedly blocked the move so as not to detract from the upcoming final Indiana Jones movie. Sneider said:
“So what I initially heard is that this was a done deal for D23, that they actually wanted to announce him as a cast member in Thunderbolts at D23 but that they didn't because Kathleen Kennedy put her foot down and said, 'No, we're going to keep the focus on Indiana Jones 5 content, I don't want this to become Harrison Ford joining the MCU, we're going to keep the focus on Indy 5 right now.”
Thunderbolts Announced Its Line-Up Last Month
Kevin Feige revealed a first look at the Thunderbolts line-up last month, which includes Sebastian Stan's Winter Soldier, Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova, Hannah John-Kamen's Ghost, Wyatt Russell's US Agent and Olga Kurylenko's Taskmaster. In addition to this, Julia Louis-Dreyfus will also be reprising her role as Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine, but there was always a hanging question over where Thaddeus Ross would fit into this following the death of Hurt.
With everything now pointing to Ford taking over the role, this could be just another way for the Hollywood legend to close out his career in some of the top franchises ever, having already appeared in Star Wars and with his final Indiana Jones movie set to be a big box office smash next summer. With General Ross being the mind behind the Thunderbolts team rather than being involved in the action himself, it could be the perfect role for Ford to slip into, and will keep him in the business for another few years.
Thunderbolts is set for release on July 25, 2024, while Indiana Jones 5 will be arriving in cinemas on June 30, 2023, after a number of delays.