After helping turn “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” into billion-dollar franchises, Harrison Ford is joining another one.
The Hollywood legend will officially enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Gen. Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in “Captain America: New World Order,” according to Deadline.
“New World Order” will be the fourth stand-alone “Captain America” film and contribute to what Marvel calls “Phase 5” of its cinematic output. The casting of Ford, who will replace William Hurt after the actor’s death at 71 in March, was previously only rumored.
Ford, 80, recently wrapped filming the fifth installment of his beloved “Indiana Jones” franchise.
While Marvel has mostly shrouded the development of “New World Order” in secrecy, it has previously confirmed that Anthony Mackie will reprise his role as Sam Wilson — who succeeded Steve Rogers as Captain America in the Disney+ series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”
Director Julius Onah most recently delivered a movie adaptation of J.C. Lane’s play “Luce” and helmed “The Cloverfield Paradox” for Netflix. Ford will star opposite Tim Blake Nelson, who played a biologist trying to cure Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) in 2008’s “The Incredible Hulk.”
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While that “Hulk” film yielded middling reviews and a weak box office, it introduced Hurt as the high-ranking military baddie. First appearing in the comics in 1962, Ross eventually commands a troupe of anti-heroes called the Thunderbolts.
Hurt went on to portray Ross in four more Marvel films — “Captain America: Civil War,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Avengers: Endgame” and “Black Widow” — but died one week before his 72nd birthday. He had been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in May 2018.
Carl Lumbly and Danny Ramirez will reprise their respective “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” roles as Isaiah Bradley and Joaquin Torres in “New World Order.” That show’s creator, Malcolm Spellman, wrote the film’s screenplay.
“Captain America: New World Order” is set to hit theaters on May 3, 2024.