BLACK WIDOW Star David Harbour Explains Why Red Guardian is The Best Character in the MCU

Red Guardian is a character that I’m excited to get to know in Marvel’s upcoming Black Widow film. I love what I’ve seen from him so far in the trailers that have been released. According to David Harbour, the actor who plays Red Guardian in the film, he’s the best character in the MCU and explained in an interview with EW:

“I think I’m biased, but I think it’s the best character in all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I mean, he is a narcissist, so it’s very appropriate that I’m playing him and that I think that. But he’s just got so many layers. On one level, he’s your classic superhero badass character, but then when you meet him, he has this need to be liked, and he wants to be thought of as funny and a big shot — which he isn’t.”

As we’ve seen in the trailers, Red Guardian seems to be used as an element of comic relief. There’s still a lot we don’t know about the character, but I’m excited to see how his story arc plays out. When previously talking about the character, Harbour said that Red Guardian is essentially Russia’s answer to Captain America:

In the Cold War, the Americans developed nuclear weapons, the Russians developed nuclear weapons. And then the Americans developed Captain America and in response, in retaliation, the Soviets developed the Red Guardian. So in that way, he's a foil. He has very complicated feelings about this particular thing. But the Soviet Union fell and a lot of things went down with him in particular, and now he’s in a different place in his life.

Scarlett Johansson reprises her role as Natasha/Black Widow, Florence Pugh stars as Yelena, David Harbour portrays Alexei/The Red Guardian, and Rachel Weisz takes on the role of Melina.

In Marvel’s spy thriller, Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger.

Directed by Cate Shortland and produced by Kevin Feige, Black Widow hits U.S. theatres on May 1, 2020.