After the Stranger Things 4 teaser dropped the bombshell news that David Harbour‘s Chief Hopper is alive and (somewhat) well in Russia, Twitter went wild with theories connecting the Netflix series to Harbour’s upcoming role as Red Guardian in Marvel’s Black Widow. Granted, the only connection between the two is Red Guardian is Russian and Hopper happens to be in Russia, but that was more than enough for fans to get weird with it and hope for a crossover event.
So…
The Red Guardian is Russian… Jim Hopper is in Russia and they both look vaguely similar…
THEIR THE SAME PERSON #StrangerThings #BlackWidow pic.twitter.com/72NZogQnKG— SEXY SLIMED STEVE CARRELL (@Jeesseessee) February 14, 2020
I’m not saying that Hopper is brainwashed and becomes Red Guardian, but my head canon is going with it. https://t.co/FUzt6aqnG2
— Scott Colesby (@ScottColesby) February 14, 2020
I'm all in for the Hopper Red Guardian Stranger Things Marvel crossover event.
— Dwain (@dcapodice) February 14, 2020
But in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Harbour has some bad news for Twitter theorists, and to his credit, the actor does feel bad for getting everybody’s hopes up thanks to his Russian-themed roles as of late.
“I know, it is a very surprising, annoying coincidence, and I apologize to the entire internet,” Harbour says with a laugh. “There is no rhyme or reason for it, I promise you. There’s no crossover event between Stranger Things and the MCU.
“I mean, I do look very different in them,” he adds. “One of them, I’m 270 pounds and got a beard and thick, long hair, and the other one I’m like 200 pounds and have no hair.”
With the hopes of a Stranger Things and MCU crossover dashed, Harbour was at least gracious enough to offer some new details on Red Guardian. Although, he does make a very bold claim in the process:
“I think I’m biased, but I think it’s the best character in all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe,” Harbour says. “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 of now, Black Widow is still on track for an April 24 release date, so hopefully, fans won’t have to wait long to find out whether or not Harbour delivers the best MCU character ever. He saw how many people were in Avengers: Endgame, right? Just checking.
(Via EW)
