Black Widow Trailer Confirms Thunderbolt Ross Appearance

Marvel Studios today released the first trailer for Black Widow. The film kicks off the fourth phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The new trailer confirms that William Hurt will reprise his role as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in the film. Photos captured Hurt on the Black Widow set in October. The new trailer confirms that he appears in the film, at least as it stands now. Ross is the Secretary of State of the United States. He was at the fore of the push for superhero registration following the Lagos Catastrophe in Captain America: Civil War. Black Widow takes place not long after the events of that film. Ross and Romanoff were not on good terms then. Black Widow had defected from Ross’ side of the conflict to allow Captain America and the Winter Soldier to escape.

It may seem like an odd choice to begin the fourth phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with a film set years in the past. Marvel Studios’ head Kevin Feige has asked fans to trust him on this.

“There’s a method to the madness,” Feige said in June. “There’s always a method and doing things in an unexpected way is something we find fun. There are ways to do prequels that are less informative or answer questions you didn’t necessarily have, and then there are ways to do prequels where you learn all sorts of things you never knew before.”

Black Widow is directed by Cate Shortland. The film stars Johansson returning as Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow, David Harbour as Alexei aka The Red Guardian, Florence Pugh as Yelena, O-T Fagbenle as Mason, and Rachel Weisz as Melina.

Are you excited about Black Widow? How do you feel about the return of William Hurt as “Thunderbolt” Ross? Let us know in the comments. Black Widow opens in theaters on May 1, 2020.

Other upcoming Marvel Studios projects include The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in fall 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in spring 2021, Loki in spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, Spider-Man 3 on July 16, 2021, What If? In summer 2021, Hawkeye in fall 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022. Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk are also in the works for Disney+.