Disney Made David Harbour A Big Promise About Red Guardian's Appearance In Thunderbolts

During the D23 Expo (imagine SDCC but it's only Disney), Marvel announced the primary lineup for the upcoming film "Thunderbolts," a team of morally gray, begrudging heroes, who sometimes are just straight-up villains. Amongst those named was Alexei Alanovich Shostakov (David Harbour) aka the Red Guardian, a character who was introduced to the world in "Black Widow" as the hilariously terrible and terribly hilarious sort-of parent of Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh). 

At the time of this writing, "Thunderbolts" will be the Red Guardian's second appearance in the MCU. Granted, the film is slated to close out Phase 5 in July 2024, and there are plenty of movies that will release before that time, so it's possible that we as the audience will get to see Harbour sooner than that — but if that's the case, it's currently a secret. 

Harbour, for his part, is thrilled about his return, regardless of the wait. In fact, he seems to enjoy the smaller things about being a Marvel character, like getting a cool wardrobe, something Marvel is apparently happy to oblige. 

According to David Harbour, Marvel promised him that he would get a new and improved Red Guardian costume. At the D23 Expo, Harbour said, "I was told I would get a new suit. And I don't want to say the 'F' word, but I am really psyched about that. You watch Captain America and you see him in all of these different movies, and you see him ... the white star and the black star ... I just want a full closet's worth of suits, and I'm well on my way" (via Instagram). 

It's funny that Harbour references the different suits worn by Captain America because his character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is equally enthralled by Steve Rogers (Chris Evans). In "Black Widow," the Red Guardian talks ad nauseam about his (almost definitely fabricated) adventures with Captain America in the sort of tone that indicates a deep, unabashed reverence. But it's hard to blame him for using Rogers' wardrobe as the golden standard — his version of Captain America wore a different costume in every single movie.