There’s a huge number of actors in Hollywood that have played two (or more) comic book characters, and in many instances there tends to be a huge gulf in popularity between them, something David Harbour knows all too well.
Just like Deadpool helped Ryan Reynolds wash away the stench of Green Lantern, and Josh Brolin’s turn as Thanos more than made up for the disastrous Jonah Hex, the Stranger Things veteran is confident his recurring role as Red Guardian in the Marvel Cinematic Universe will allow people to forget that he was the man under the makeup in the awful Hellboy reboot.
Not only was the movie panned by critics while simultaneously dying a death at the box office, but fans were extra pissed off because the decision was made to recast and reinvent the property at the expense of allowing Guillermo del Toro to close out his trilogy. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Harbour admitted he finds Alexei Shostakov to be a “cleanse” of sorts.
“I mean, I don’t know that your palate is ever really cleansed. Life is a series of failures and successes, both of which stay with you, but the failures, mainly, lodge themselves deep into your core and remain there forever. So [Red Guardian] cleansed as much of my palate as possible. “
Having won plenty of praise for his debut in Black Widow, Harbour will be back as the belligerent Russian super soldier in 2024’s Thunderbolts, which will additionally see him reunited with onscreen adoptive daughter Yelena Belova, as played by internet darling Florence Pugh. Hopefully, we might just be able to forgive Harbour for Hellboy in the long run.