Harrison Ford to star as General Thunderbolt Ross in Captain America: New World Order

Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
(Image credit: Paramount)

Indiana Jones is officially joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

According to Deadline, Harrison Ford is taking over for the late William Hurt as General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross in Captain America: New World Order.

Hurt played Ross in The Incredible Hulk, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Black Widow before passing away earlier this year.

The fourth Captain America film sees Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson take over as the titular captain, following the events of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The Cloverfield Paradox director Julius Onah will direct a script from Falcon and Winter Soldier writers Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson. Little is known about the film thus far, but Tim Blake Nelson's The Leader – who appeared in 2008's The Incredible Hulk – is set to reprise the role. Top Gun star Danny Ramirez is also set to join the pic.

It was reported just a few days ago that Ford would be portraying Ross, but in Marvel's upcoming Thunderbolts movie – which would make sense given that the character created the Thunderbolts, a team of supervillains not unlike DC's The Suicide Squad. At the end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we saw Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) recruit John Walker (Wyatt Russell) for an unknown mission, before going on to do the same with Yelena (Florence Pugh) in the post-credits scene after Black Widow. Turns out, she was recruiting them for the Thunderbolts.

Ford is also playing Indiana Jones one last time in the currently untitled fifth film in the franchise, set for a June 30, 2023 release.

Captain America: New World Order is slated for a May 3, 2024 release. Get up to date with the MCU with our recap of Marvel Phase 4 and our guide on what's to come in Marvel Phase 6.

Lauren Milici
Senior Writer, Tv & Film

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.