How quickly the world forgets about the new kids in town. The New Avengers are set to play a major role in Avengers: Doomsday, with Black Widow and Bucky Barnes getting plenty of attention in the movie's marketing campaign. However, the rest of the team, including US Agent and Ghost, are afterthoughts in all the trailers and teasers. Not even Red Guardian seems to have a path to playing time. At least a piece of Doomsday merchandise is throwing him a bone as it reveals a major upgrade for him.
Action figure manufacturer ZD Toys is working on a line of Doomsday figures that should hit shelves in the near future. X user @I__Love__Heroes posted renders of several of the toys, including Red Guardian's. His iconic red-and-white color scheme is missing from the image. But what the render lacks in vibrancy, it makes up for with accessories, namely a shield with a Soviet star on it.
Alexei Shostakov is no stranger to taking a shield into battle. In his debut movie, Black Widow, he picked up a Red Guardian figure that had its own shield, seemingly confirming that he had a similar one when he served as the Soviet Union's answer to Captain America. He lost track of it when he went to prison and never found it again after he escaped and turned over a new leaf.
Red Guardian's variants went the extra mile, though. In What If..?, he used his shield in a battle with the Winter Soldier. It also made an appearance when Alexei faced off against an undead Captain America in Marvel Zombies. Steve's corpse got its hands on the weapon and hit his opponent square in the face with it. However, Red Guardian got the last laugh when he crushed zombie Cap, killing him for good.
When Steve and Alexei finally cross paths in Doomsday, they're unlikely to come to blows. After all, there are much bigger fish to fry. And those fish are going to push not only Red Guardian but the rest of the movie's heroes to pull out all the stops because it's going to be impossible to fight with even one hand tied behind their backs.
Red Guardian's Upgrade Is Another in a Long Line of Avengers: Doomsday Power Boosts
The first Doomsday trailer paints an ominous picture. Thor, a god who's over one thousand years old, tells his fellow heroes that the threat they're facing is the most terrifying he's ever come across. It's unclear whether he's talking about the incursions or Doctor Doom himself. Either way, the odds are not in the Avengers' favor, nor the X-Men's or Fantastic Four's. As Thor so bluntly puts it, the forces of good are going to need a "miracle" to win.
As everyone waits for that to arrive, though, they can take steps to make their lives easier. Thor is doing his part by wielding both Mjolnir and Stormbreaker in the highly anticipated movie. Steve is going to get in some swings with the hammer as well, which should come as no surprise after he proved himself worthy in Avengers: Endgame.
And it's not just the Avengers that are coming to play. Nightcrawler, who didn't really enjoy fighting in his live-action debut in X2: X-Men United, is putting on his game face and wielding a pair of swords, following in the footsteps of his animated counterpart from X-Men '97.
If ZD Toys' merchandise is anything to go by, Red Guardian is planning to take a page out of Nightcrawler's book and utilize his shield on the big screen. Where and when that happens is anyone's guess. So far, Doomsday's marketing has shown him only in his ridiculous blue-orange-and-red "New Avengerz" jumpsuit, which looks far from battle-ready.
A wardrobe change is sure to be in his future, as David Harbour has already confirmed a run-in with Doctor Doom for his character. When asked by Variety to provide one Doomsday line out of context, he said, "You... are Tony Stark." Clearly, Harbour is teasing that Red Guardian will see Doom's real face and recognize him as Earth-616 Iron Man's doppelganger.
It remains to be seen how Doom will use his face to his advantage in Doomsday. But the prevailing theory is that the heroes will take him at his word at first because he looks like an old friend. Once the jig is up, it won't matter what he looks like, as he'll have the combined powers of three superhero teams trying to bring him down.
Red Guardian will be among those trying to put Doom in his place. He's not going to last long if he comes at him with nothing but fists, though. That's where the shield comes in, as it'll at least give the super-soldier a way to defend himself against what's sure to be the greatest power he's ever come up against.
