One crazy Red Hulk moment did not make the final cut of Marvel Studios' Captain America: Brave New World, which some fans feel may have been a mistake to cut. Harrison Ford's Red Hulk played a pivotal role in Captain America 4 after taking over the Thunderbolt Ross character from the late William Hurt, but with a short runtime, he only had a limited chance to fully shine.
Captain America 4 director Julius Onah revealed a fun scene with Harrison Ford's Thunderbolt Ross (aka Red Hulk) that was removed from the final cut of the movie. Going into details on what cut with Ford's legacy character, who became the Red Hulk on screen for the first time in the Phase 5 sequel, the director gave fans something they wished they had seen come to fruition.
Speaking with JoBlo Celebrity Access, Onah touched on filming with Ford, describing him as "an incredibly self-aware person" who knows how much fun he and the team get to have on set:
"It is. It's a quick pinch, because you're also like, 'We got this much time, we have this much work to do, so we got to go.' And that's the thing about it. You have these moments where you're like, 'I can't believe this is happening.' But filmmaking is always up against the clock. So as much as you want to just be like, 'Wow, oh my God,' you then just have to get to work. But that was really cool that he was game for that. Harrison is an incredibly self-aware person so he also knows how much fun it is for us to be seeing him and he loves to play into it. The way he's coming in and playing around with..."
Later, he addressed a moment in the movie with "Harrison shooting as Red Hulk with a gun," calling it a moment he could not believe he got to experience.
"There was a point in time, actually, it didn't make the movie, where Red Hulk, arcing back to publishing, wielded a gun and it just didn't feel quite right for the actual movie. But we did have a moment with Harrison shooting as Red Hulk with a gun and that was one of those moments of like, 'I can't believe this is happening right now.' And he plays into it in a way that's really fun, because he knows we're geeking out."
Unfortunately, this moment was removed from the final cut of Captain America 4, which only showed the Red Hulk engaging in a physical battle with Captain America rather than using firearms. The Red Hulk often wielded powerful firearms in the comics, which tie back to his background as a military general. This would have given the Hulk-based character something fresh for the MCU, which many fans feel they missed out on with this scene being cut.
Onah also spoke on whether it was tough to give Ford direction, noting that it was not a challenge since "an actor can't see themselves" and "still needs to trust that a director is gonna help guide and protect a performance:"
"No, because an actor can’t see themselves. As experienced and as skilled and as capable as he is, he still needs to trust that a director is gonna help guide and protect a performance. I come from the theater, that was what my first degree was in, so its something I try to be very conscientious of in terms of being there for the cast."
Later, Onah touched on the topic of other moments he had to cut from Captain America 4, including one moment with Sam Wilson utilizing the Captain America shield after a flip in a high-speed shot.
This moment was supposed to be a "tease and a predecessor of a flip that he does later on" when he slices a car in half in the fight against Red Hulk. He described that as another moment he wished he could have kept in the movie, being a fan of "visual callbacks" and "moments where things are in communication with each other across the movie:"
"You know, with every movie, you kill a few darlings, right? Because, whether it’s just pace or story or clarity, whatever the case may be, I would say there are a couple of action beats that I really miss. You know, in that hallway fight, there was a high-speed shot where Sam had done a flip and landed on the shield, sort of knocking somebody out, that, in some ways, becomes a sort of tease and a predecessor of a flip that he does later on in the movie when he slices the car. And I love those kind of visual callbacks and those moments where things are in communication with each other across the movie. We had cut that one that was earlier in the film, and it probably should have stayed, because I thought that was a cool moment."
In the end, Ford only had a short amount of screen time as the Red Hulk, fighting Sam Wilson in Captain America 4's climactic ending battle. The former U.S. President was then sent to the Raft for his actions, stepping down from his office and accepting the punishment for his crimes before reuniting with his daughter, Liv Tyler's Betty Ross.
Captain America 4, which will debut on Disney+ on Wednesday, May 28, brings Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson back to the MCU for his first solo movie after accepting the mantle of Captain America. He is featured alongside Danny Ramirez (Joaquin Torres), Shira Haas (Ruth Bat-Setaph), Tim Blake Nelson (The Leader), and more as Sam is tasked to rebuild the Avengers before a new power threatens the country and the world.
Will Harrison Ford's Red Hulk Return After Captain America 4?
With Harrison Ford now embracing the role of Thunderbolt Ross, the real question is if and when fans will see him or his red, angry alter-ego again in the MCU.
Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be seen in Marvel Studios' most recent theatrical movie, Thunderbolts*, which features a team often named after him in Marvel Comics. Instead, they were named after Yelena Belova's Little League softball team after she mentioned them in an off-handed comment, taking Thunderbolt Ross' influence out of the story completely.
Moving forward, Ross is one of over half a dozen Marvel characters being held prisoner in the Raft, giving him the chance to atone for his sins, even though he was largely manipulated by the Leader. This puts his future as the Red Hulk in question, largely since he is not depicted as somebody who wants to embrace that side of himself.
With fans hoping for more Hulk-related content in the MCU's future (as seen with widespread but untrue rumors about a World War Hulk movie), Red Hulk should still be on the table for Marvel to revisit at some point. However, when that will happen is difficult to nail down due to the the difficulties in bringing Hulk-centric characters into Marvel Studios projects.
