Anthony Mackie has the worst excuse ever for that ‘Captain America 4’ set photo of Harrison Ford

We’re less than a year out from Captain America: Brave New World, and the Anthony Mackie-led blockbuster is shaping up to be one of Phase Five’s nostalgia juggernauts; with Tim Blake Nelson and Liv Tyler set to make their return to the MCU after having last appeared in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, Brave New World looks to be a treat for the more ancient side of the MCU fandom.

Of course, there are more than a few new pieces to look forward to as well; Mackie will be flexing his leading man chops in a feature film this time around, while the illustrious Harrison Ford, perhaps the highest-profile casting in Marvel history, is set to portray Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, taking over from the late William Hurt.

Now, anyone familiar with the comics knows that Thaddeus’ presence could mean the long-awaited debut of Red Hulk, and while there’s no official confirmation of such a thing at present, a recent Instagram post from Mackie may have given the game away.

If one looks closely at the post above, it’s apparent that Ford is sporting a pair of ripped pants not dissimilar from those that the various Hulks of the Marvel mythos wear, leading more than a few folks to believe that Thaddeus will finally be unleashing Red Hulk upon the MCU.

But Mackie was quick to go into damage control mode; in a recent interview with ComicBook.com, the Falcon and the Winter Soldier star assured us all that Ford’s get-up is simply a pair of old pants that Mackie loaned him after the Indiana Jones star lost his luggage.

See, Harrison [Ford] and I go way back. A lot of people don’t know this. This is our second time working together. He came down to Atlanta, they lost his luggage, so I gave him a pair of pants, but those are my work pants from working in the yard. Harrison, he’s a curmudgeon, so he goes, ‘Anthony, just give me the damned pants.’ And I was like, ‘Alright.’ So that’s all that was. He just needed some pants.

We’re not buying it for a second, of course, but props to Mackie for trying to extinguish this particular theory. At the end of the day, we’ll just have to see when and if Ford hulks out when Captain America: Brave New World releases to theaters on July 26, 2024.