The MCU has undergone a couple of shake ups in the last couple of days with some of the bigger news coming today. If you believe Jeff Sneider, who is known for knowing things, then the MCU could be in for an announcement of historic (?) proportions. That was my lame attempt at an Indiana Jones reference because Harrison Ford is rumored to be joining the MCU for Thunderbolts just a day after Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine was confirmed to have been joining the MCU. First I’m going to breakdown what was reported and then I’m going to offer my small take on the whole thing.
First the news. So, Sneider reported on his podcast that Marvel head Kevin Feige had actually approached Ford before D23 Expo 2022 to replace deceased actor William Hurt as General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in the MCU. Hurt had only recently passed away from prostate cancer at the age of 71. This led to Ford agreeing to join the MCU, but then LucasFilm President Kathleen Kennedy stepped in to stop the announcement so they could keep fans focused on the new Indiana Jones film.
In addition to the Ford and Jackman news, it was also announced that the Don Cheadle project Armor Wars would become a cinematic feature instead of a Disney+ show, giving credence to the idea that a major actor has agreed to replace Hurt, thus warranting a major theatrical release. We were also informed that the Blade project that Marvel promised we would have before now has once again been visited by bad news. The film will be looking for a new director following the departure of Bassam Tariq and the news that star Mahershala Ali was annoyed and frustrated with the development of the film, which Sneider (there’s that name again) had said only had TWO action sequences and both were iffy at best.
Here’s where I am going to jump in and speculate. I was at D23 Expo 2022 for the Marvel and LucasFilm presentations. I can promise you there were some things at work that day that I think played a role in what we’re seeing here. First up is the Harrison Ford thing. I know Sneider said that this is something they were looking at before D23 Expo 2022, but Harrison Ford seemed to be genuinely considering retiring that day and was even talking as though Indiana Jones would be his last film. He could barely finish speaking at some points because he was trying to avoid saying the words retirement or quitting.
I know Harrison Ford is an actor and making people believe something is his job, but his emotions seemed very genuine that day and I wonder if he hadn’t shot down the idea before D23 Expo 2022, but maybe had second thoughts during or after. It sure felt like he knew this was his last time at a D23 Expo and that wouldn’t be the case if he took on the role of General Ross, especially with Ross’ role set to expand in the coming phases, hence the need for a recast at all. I don’t know, but those are my thoughts on the Harrison Ford issue.
As for Armor Wars undergoing another announcement, the addition of Ford to the project would definitely necessitate a theatrical release, no doubt about it. Moving Armor Wars up while dialing back on Blade might be the move here. That could be why Tariq is no longer directing Blade. Maybe the two are related and Tariq’s vision was the problem, but that’s not confirmed and I don’t want to trash a fine director. It’s all speculation at this point until we get an interview with someone confirming the details. Either way, the MCU is poised to make major waves with these announcements.
Maybe writing Marvel off as finished was a mistake?