Warning: This article contains spoilers for Black Widow.
After an excruciating two years away from movies for Marvel Studios, fans are flocking to see the MCU's 24th movie Black Widow in theaters and on Disney+. Natasha Romanoff's solo story is providing thrills and surprises for the Marvel faithful as the MCU's original female superhero finds herself going back to her roots to rediscover her true self.
Scarlett Johansson's first MCU solo movie includes an all-star cast of supporting characters like Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova and David Harbour's Red Guardian. While Pugh's place in the MCU is secure with Yelena continuing into projects like Hawkeye on Disney+, it's unclear when heroes like Harbour's Red Guardian will see a return to stories in the future.
Thankfully, Harbour is already picturing how this could become a reality down the road.
DAVID HARBOUR ON RED GUARDIAN'S FUTURE
MCU star David Harbour spoke with Insider about where Red Guardian's story could continue after the events of Black Widow.
One idea Harbour had would focus on Alexei Vostokoff "back in his prime" in a semi-origin story, while the other comes after Natasha Romanoff's death in Avengers: Endgame. He described diving into "the version of the story" where "he hears is that Hawkeye pushed her off (the cliff) or something" and having the Red Guardian want "vengeance for her:"
"I have two ideas. One is seeing Red Guardian back in his prime. That's interesting to me. But the other is going off this story, having this experience with Natasha and having this beautiful end when he takes her hand and says 'I can't even speak to you because I would mess it up.' When he finds out that she was on that cliff with Hawkeye and maybe the version of the story he hears is that Hawkeye pushed her off or something, it's a moment when Red Guardian turns back to the guy he was. He now wants vengeance for her. That I feel would play well."
RED IN RED GUARDIAN'S LEDGER
David Harbour is clearly loving his time in the MCU after only one outing, already formulating ideas for where his next story could develop in Marvel Studios' future.
With plenty of supporting characters getting their due shine in Disney+ outings like WandaVision and Loki, Harbour's Red Guardian could certainly see himself as the star of his own origin story-style show. His character has an entire backstory that's still a mystery, which could largely focus on him gaining superpowers in the first place, and it could even give more depth to the Widows and Red Room as Black Widow did.
On the other end, it would be thrilling to see how scary a vengeance-driven Red Guardian would be after hearing about the death of his surrogate daughter on Vormir.
This story is already going to be exciting for Yelena Belova as she moves from this movie to Hawkeye, especially since nobody knows what Natasha and Clint Barton tried to do for each other in their quest for the Soul Stone. Alexei showed a love for Natasha that ran nearly as deep as Yelena's, and he would certainly hold no punches back trying to get revenge on Hawkeye.
It's still a mystery if Marvel has any definitive plans for the Red Guardian in Phase 4 and beyond, but Harbour has clearly thought through his options regardless.
Black Widow is now in theaters and available to stream on Disney+.
