Summary
Captain America: Brave New Worldhas brought a few new big names into the Marvel Cinematic Universe for its big political thriller plot, and the most prominent new addition reveals a detail about his casting that fans will absolutely love.
Captain America: Brave New Worldis the MCU’s first theatrical salvo of the new year and the most important project in the franchise’s more recent history. With the heavy task of replacing the franchise’s First Avenger with Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson and a mandate to bring a more grounded conflict to the space-crazed MCU, the film needed a lot of help to get things rolling. This included some blockbuster additions to the cast of the project, with legendary actors like Giancarlo Esposito and Harrison Ford taking on prominent roles in the film. Ford, whose role asThunderbolt Ross got a massive upgrade ahead of Captain America 4, is particularly important to the film’s plot.
Actors of Ford’s caliber are often very selective about what roles they take on, and many fans have wondered about how the MCU made the cut. WhileFord already gave a hilariously cool answer concerning taking on a role in the MCUin interviews around the time of his casting, the Hollywood legend has shared an even more shocking detail about the casting in the leadup to the release ofCaptain America: Brave New World.In a recent interview withThe Wall Street Journalthat touches on many parts of his legendary career, Ford revealed that he took on the MCU role without even so much as looking at the script for the project. “-No script.” he expressed. “Why not? I saw enough Marvels to see actors that I admired having a good time.” Furthermore, he confirmed that thanks to this audacious decision, he was totally unaware of one of the character’s most important moments going into the production. “I didn’t really know that at the end, I would turn into the Red Hulk,” Ford admits, musing that, “-it’s like life; you only get so far in the kit until the last page of the instructions is missing.”
While it would certainly have been a treat to see Ford find out mid-production that his character would be Hulking out in the final act of the film, it’s even more humorous that he didn’t so much as skim the script once through. Usually, every star involved in a project reads the script through once or more to really get a grasp on the role and what it’ll require. It’s pretty badass that Ford doesn’t need to do that, thanks in no small part to his decades of experience being the Man, but it’s still surprising to hear that from a consummate professional. However, this isn’t all that surprising for Ford himself, as he’s taken on roles without reading scripts before, notably on more recent projects likeShrinkingand1923.Furthermore, taking into account Ford’s unique attitude to the business, it’s not all that unthinkable either. Ford has previouslyadmitted to not initially seeing himself as a leading manduring an interview forIndiana Jones 5and has consequently developed a great appreciation for the career he’s had. These days, the iconic actor is really just signing on for interesting projects that he believes he’ll have fun with.
It’s a real testament to the work environment at Marvel Studios, if nothing else, that Ford was convinced to sign on based on the positive experiences of other stars he’s seen in MCU projects. With Ford’s Ross being an integralpart of a recently revealed plotline fromCaptain America 4that could have effects on the MCU for years to come, fans might just get to see the iconic actor a lot more than we all deserve in the coming phase of the MCU. With the odds pretty high now that Ford won’t be reading the scripts in advance, there’s no telling what sort of cool stuff they’ll be able to get him to do as the first Gamma-empowered President of the United States before he hangs up his hat.
Captain America: Brave New Worldis set for theatrical release on 22 July 2025.
Captain America: Brave New World
Captain America: Brave New World (formerly titledNew World Order)marks Sam Wilson’s first MCU big-screen appearance as Steve Rogers' successor after receiving the suit and shield in Phase 4’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Anthony Mackie returns as the titular Avenger alongside Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres, Carl Lumby as Isaiah Bradley, and Tim Blake Nelson as The Incredible Hulk’s former ally Samuel Sterns. Harrison Ford makes his MCU debut replacing the late William Hurt as Thaddeus Ross.
