Harrison Ford Says Avoiding Marvel Roles Is ‘Silly’ When MCU Films Provide ‘Good Experiences for an Audience,’ Calls the Death of Movie Stars ‘Rubbish’

Harrison Ford is no stranger to blockbuster Hollywood franchises, having played Han Solo and Indiana Jones across decades. And now, the 82-year-old actor is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross / Red Hulk in next year’s “Captain America: Brave New World.” Speaking to GQ magazine, Ford said it would be “silly” to avoid Marvel when it’s something moviegoers have clearly responded to for years now.

“I mean, this is the Marvel universe and I’m just there on a weekend pass. I’m a sailor new to this town,” Ford said about his MCU debut. “I understand the appeal of other kinds of films besides the kind we made in the ’80s and ’90s. I don’t have anything general to say about it. It’s the condition our condition is in, and things change and morph and go on. We’re silly if we sit around regretting the change and don’t participate. I’m participating in a new part of the business that, for me at least, I think is really producing some good experiences for an audience. I enjoy that.”

Some directors like Quentin Tarantino have claimed that the rise of Marvel has contributed to the death of the movie star, as actors like Chris Evans are more associated with their superhero characters than they are as movie stars. Asked about the death of Hollywood movie stars, Ford said: “Oh, I think it’s rubbish.”

“I don’t think the question is whether or not there are any movie stars. There’s wonderful actors coming up every day,” Ford told GQ. “Whether or not they become movie stars is really not the point. If movies need stars, they will find them. I’ve never fucking understood being a movie star. I’m an actor. I tell stories. I’m part of a group of people who work together, collaborate on telling stories. I’m an assistant storyteller. That’s what I am.”

Ford also views himself as a comedian. The actor has been making the press rounds this month in support of his role on the Apple TV+ comedy series “Shrinking,” which returns for Season 2 on Oct. 16. Ford has been acting for 60 years and has appeared in well over five dozen films, and he recently made a surprising admission to Vanity Fair: “As far as I’m concerned, everything I’ve ever done is comedy.” That comes as a surprise considering he’s appeared in intense dramas like “Blade Runner,” “The Mosquito Coast” and “Witness,” the latter of which earned him an Oscar nomination for best actor. He maintains there’s comedy to all of them.

“In a way, yes, because the jokes really are the surprise in everything, in a serious movie or in a streaming comedy,” Ford said. “Finding the humor in the moment is what makes it survivable for us most of the time. I do like to invest characters that I play with their own personal sense of humor. I think everybody has one, even if they’re not funny.”

“I always enjoyed humor. I loved jokes. I loved the construction of jokes,” Ford added. “My father was a joke teller. The wordsmithing and the ideas that lay behind a joke have always interested me. When I was thinking about becoming an actor, I was ambitious for both kinds of work — serious drama and comedy. I found myself doing both and not really distinguishing much between them. I think with the same actor’s head about a joke as I do about a serious or emotional scene.”

“Captain America: Brave New World” opens in theaters Feb. 14, 2025.