New Avengers Star David Harbour Teases Trouble For Red Guardian & Yelena’s Relationship in Doomsday
David Harbour’s Alexei Shostakov, better known as Red Guardian, has quickly become one of the best characters to emerge from the Multiversal Saga. Harbour introduced the boisterous Russian super soldier in 2021’s Black Widow, playing the estranged father figure to Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh). Their bond resurfaced in Thunderbolts*, where the titular team of former assassins and government operatives banded together against the Void (Lewis Pullman) and, by the story’s end, were rebranded as the New Avengers. Harbour is now set to reprise Red Guardian once more in Avengers: Doomsday, marking his third outing as the character and reinforcing his standing within Marvel’s growing ensemble. Ahead of the film’s premiere, the star has begun to tease what lies ahead for his character.
“You know that Yelena Belova and Red Guardian have a connection,” Harbour said during an interview with Deadline. “If you saw Thunderbolts*, you know how much they love each other and how much they’re trying to help each other. And Doomsday will affect that relationship.” While the quote is thin, it already underlines how the New Avengers, and more importantly, Yelena’s family, will be emotionally challenged by the dangers ahead. That’s essential for a great Avengers movie.
Avengers: Doomsday Needs Meaningful Emotional Development to Work
Avengers: Doomsday is shaping up to be the most ambitious project in the MCU’s history. For starters, Robert Downey Jr. returns to the MCU as Doctor Doom, an unexpected villain turn for the actor who launched the franchise as Iron Man. The Russo brothers were also brought back to direct their first Marvel film since Avengers: Endgame. The cast is also stacked, bringing Fox’s X-Men universe into direct contact with the heroes from the Sacred Timeline, with Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, and Channing Tatum reprising their fan-favorite roles. Combined with the New Avengers lineup, Wakanda’s forces, Sam Wilson’s (Anthony Mackie) Avengers, and the Fantastic Four, Doomsday features one of the largest ensembles ever built for a blockbuster movie. That impressive force is needed because the plot deals with crashing timelines and incursions, events that threaten to wipe the entire multiverse. There’s no question Avengers: Doomsday will offer unprecedented spectacle, but a great Marvel movie needs more than that.
Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame remain the best example of how to properly deal with large-scale events in the MCU. Both films paired their spectacle with heroes forced to change, sacrifice, and confront each other, giving audiences a reason to stay invested beyond the action itself. A movie stuffed with dozens of heroes and a multiversal threat always risked becoming a checklist of cameos, which is why Harbour’s comments matter, because it confirms that Doomsday uses the Red Guardian and Yelena dynamic from Thunderbolts* as one of its emotional cores. Given how little plot detail has been released so far, we can’t tell exactly how the emotional beats will mesh with the overarching plot. Still, if Doomsday is worried about the emotional development of Red Guardian and Yelena, we can also expect big things for heavy hitters such as Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers and Chris Hemsworth’s Thor.
Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled for release in theaters on December 18th.
