Harrison Ford still couldn’t care less that he’s in ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ and I pray that will never change

Am I alone in still not quite getting my head around the fact Harrison Ford is now in the Marvel universe? Not too long ago, the notion that the Star Wars and Indiana Jones legend would one day battle Captain America — as the Red Hulk, no less — would’ve been inconceivable. Happening it is, however, in this February’s Captain America: Brave New World, but while MCU fans might be eager to see him in action, Ford himself remains pleasingly and characteristically blasé.

In the incoming fourquel, Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson will face off against an old face — or rather an old face wearing a new face? Let’s face it, it makes no sense. Basically, Ford is playing Thaddeus Ross, previously portrayed by the late William Hurt, who is now President of the United States and also a big crimson rage machine. Director Julius Onah promises the Han Solo star is about to deliver a red-letter performance in the part, even if Ford thinks differently.

Captain America 4 director and Harrison Ford have, like, very different takes on his “mind-blowing” Red Hulk

Now that it’s officially just two months’ away, Brave New World’s helmer Onah was on hand to hype up Ford’s Red Hulk in an interview with Empire. The filmmaker described Ford’s performance as “mind-blowing,” and even threw a little shade on the recent comedic interpretations of Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk and She-Hulk as he praised what makes the Red Hulk so great.

“All of us on set were like, ‘Holy f***ing sh*t, he nailed it,'” Onah recalled. “It’s really great to get back to a Hulk that is just fucking breaking shit, and a rage monster.”

Empire also caught up with Ford to get his own take on what playing Red Hulk was like. His resulting laconic response is so pure Ford that I guarantee you will hear it in his voice as you read it: “Just another day at the office,” he said. He then went on to show up method actors everywhere:

“I tried to understand the ambition of the filmmakers, and to be useful to them,” Ford explained. “I just didn’t sit home at night and say, ‘Oh, what do I want to do when I turn into the Hulk?’ It didn’t seem to me to be a terribly difficult acting proposition.” 

The 82-year-old actor may have done the whole mega-franchise owned by Disney runaround before, but there is an element of humility here as, to be fair to him, his Red Hulk portrayal did involve him mastering a new skill. Bringing an eight-foot gamma-irradiated monster to life obviously required him to do MoCap acting, which typically means an actor has to express and emote bigger than they usually would. And that goes triple for someone this laidback. Guys, we need that behind the scenes footage of Ford beating his chest and yelling while wearing a grey onesie with golfballs on his head, and we need it now.

Despite a troubled road to the screen, Captain America 4 is actually enjoying a positive final sprint into cinemas, as a recent poll determined it to be the most-anticipated 2025 major movie release. I mean, the fact that it is the next 2025 major movie release probably had something to do with that, but recency bias aside, that excitement likely has a lot to do with Ford’s involvement. Let’s hope it proves worthy of the hype come Valentine’s Day. If it doesn’t then Red Hulk won’t be the only one who’s angry.