What are your opinions of Red Guardian in the MCU films and what if tv show?
Commentaires
CASE-902025-11-28 06:00
I’ll watch anything he’s in
kneeco282025-11-28 06:00
[deleted]
One_Annual_31852025-11-28 06:02
I think the movies botched his character. He is pretty annoying and he literally has no feats. He has a small fight scene in thunderbolts of him using some sort of lead to beat up soldiers but his character moves so clunky
InnocentTailor2025-11-28 06:53
To be fair, he and Yelena are effectively rogue from Russia in both the MCU and the comics. Due to current politics though, I doubt we'll get a solid adaption of the Winter Guard - Russia's Avengers, which includes a successor to Red Guardian.
bucketdog492025-11-28 06:00
Ill-Dimension-29962025-11-28 06:02
dude was such a trash dad didn’t deserve nat’s forgiveness but he redeemed himself in thunderbolts with yelena he was main reason yelena recovered from depression
One_Annual_31852025-11-28 06:04
I didn’t like him at all. He just doesn’t do anything. The one fight scene against him and the soldiers his moves are so clunky and he doesn’t even have a shield. Yeah he was a bad dad he knowingly sent two children to the Red Room knowing exactly what would happen to them and he never apologized to Yelena for sending her
life_is_a_burner2025-11-28 06:06
He’s a super soldier. You would think his value would be his kick ass fight scenes. Instead he’s memorable because of his character and humor.
One_Annual_31852025-11-28 06:07
Interesting
kulitchipon2025-11-28 09:32
To be fair, when you have Bucky and the others in the team, it'd be difficult for him to stand out. I'd imagine he'd be slower than Bucky or Walker.
Responsible_Egg75192025-11-28 06:12
I like David Harbour’s performances as him a lot
One_Annual_31852025-11-28 06:13
Nice
kulitchipon2025-11-28 09:30
YES! He could do the ridiculous scenes but his heartfelt interaction with Yelena was amazing.
Miffernator2025-11-28 06:13
I like him. But he should be paying attention to what’s happening in Hawkins.
One_Annual_31852025-11-28 06:14
🤣
justafanboy10102025-11-28 06:31
Watching Hopper doing his thing as we speak!
ConflictResolutioner2025-11-28 06:38
Season 5 starts now.
Miffernator2025-11-28 06:39
Volume 1. It finishing until end of the year.
SWPrequelFan815662025-11-28 06:21
A fascinating character that is at his best when the writers actually take him seriously.
I don't like how he's constantly the butt of the joke.
One_Annual_31852025-11-28 06:22
Agreed
BackgroundEngineer112025-11-28 06:22
Watching Black Widow and Thunderbolts back to back doesn't really justify his ability to help Yelena. He was only her 'father' for about a year and then she was trafficked (which Alexi contributed to) and turned into an assassin for the rest of her life. Maybe she had more interactions with him between films, though she had been snapped.
Really, he is a cause of her trauma and has little right to tell her about the light he sees in her.
One_Annual_31852025-11-28 06:24
I agree. He is a ruthless guy
ConflictResolutioner2025-11-28 06:44
He's repentant, though doesn't ask forgiveness. . .all for Mother Russia?
One_Annual_31852025-11-28 06:47
lol
silverBruise_322025-11-28 06:48
You covered everything I wanted to say. He's a piece of garbage, and I don't know why people like him so much.
DefNotAShark2025-11-28 07:34
Because the projects hes been in don’t really pull any punches about him being garbage, they underline it and his attempts to make up for it are pretty endearing. Under his false bravado it’s clear he knows that he fucked up, which makes it easier to forgive the really horrible thing he did (and Yelena seems to forgive him for it which helps). His character never really asks you to forget what an asshole he was, but rather they remind you the whole time and balance it against his attempts to be better.
Melina is the one I don’t fuck with at all because not only did she help sell the kids into slavery like Alexi, but then she spent her whole life helping Dreykov keep doing it and even developed mind control to make sure it was permanent. Like, that’s fucking wild. She invented the slavery mind control and must have known they used it on Yelena. She didn’t do shit until the literal last possible moment. I guess she tried to atone too, in fairness to her. I just didn’t find it as endearing as Red Guardian. At least he has being a hapless moron as kind of an excuse. Melina is a genius. She chose and embraced that trafficker life completely. And she tortured a pig so fuck her 😡 poor piggy.
I think the biggest thing for me is that Alexi basically chose to do better as soon as his kids came back for him. He talked some shit but you could tell it mattered to him. He did not want to let them down twice. Melina took convincing. She was game to let the Red Room take them all until it was happening and Natasha was looking her in the eyes. To me that was wretched and I couldn’t let it go. She almost sold out Yelena three times. 😔
silverBruise_322025-11-28 07:50
Wow, are you defensive of this character.
They pull a lot of punches. When his betrayal of the girls is brought up, it's brushed off. The audience is asked to treat it as a case of "You're not still mad about that, are you?". We're supposed to think of him as their funny, dopey dad. He never really expresses remorse, and by the end of Black Widow, we're supposed to think of him as the girls' father. You know, the guy who raised them for a few years, and then sold them out to the Red Room. What attempts to be better? He went back to working for the same people until he ended up in prison. And none of it is brought up in Thunderbolts.
She's bad, but the movie is less on her side. And thr fact that that was her only appearance makes her easier to forget. Alexei is "funny", and he's being pushed forward, making him harder to forget. They're both absoulte scum, though. Nothing endearing about either one. They both trafficked kids. One pig doesn't even make a dent in their crimes.
In what way did he choose to do better? He went against the Red Room for vengeance, not to help Natasha and Yelena. He already sold them out once. No, he did not do enough to redeem himself.
Consistent-Flan14452025-11-28 09:31
Tbh my take away from BW was that they both suck (as parents and as people). Neither Melina nor Alexei had really changed, it was just that the circumstances had changed enough for rebelling to benefit both of them. Even though it was played for laughs, the scene in BW where Alexei was talking about how proud he was of “his girls” spoke volumes.
In a sense I actually think Melina was more redeemable in that unlike Alexei she wasn’t directly benefiting from the exploitation of the kids. She’s a fellow victim trying to save her own skin and selling out the kids in the process, whereas Alexei seems to have actually chosen to be involved and continued to do so. His glory as Red Guardian was actively built on the suffering of those kids.
But they’re both really crappy and inherently selfish people no matter how you look at it.
silverBruise_322025-11-28 09:42
I agree with that - they suck, both of them. The issue is that the movie is too forgiving of them, especially of Alexei. The thing is - he ruined their lives. He doesn't get to tell them that he's proud of them. It comes across as condescending at best, and extremely insulting at worst.
That would have been a good angle to explore, with Melina being both a victim of the Red Room, and someone who perpetuates that system. The movie could have explored how cowardice and complacency can be just as bad as actively doing harm. But the writing left much to be desired.
>But they’re both really crappy and inherently selfish people no matter how you look at it.
That's definitely true.
Consistent-Flan14452025-11-28 09:55
I agree. I think the movie could have made a much more meaningful statement than it did.
The thing that sticks with me about Alexei saying that he’s proud of them too is that he doesn’t ask if they’re proud of themselves or if they actually wanted to be anything remotely similar to who they became. He’s proud of them for becoming what HE wanted them to be, not for who they actually are. He’s not proud of Natasha for being a good person, he’s proud of her for getting the glory of being a superhero like he did. Similarly he’s proud of Yelena for being an accomplished assassin, not her strength, adaptability or resilience. He’s proud of them for being like him (as he sees it).
I actually think as a character Melina is more interesting because she refuses to accept any culpability for her actions because she was following orders. She might have created the mind control serum, but she doesn’t feel responsible for Yelena’s experience because she wasn’t the one that injected her with it. She calls herself a hamster running on a wheel, but doesn’t acknowledge that while she couldn’t get off of the wheel, she could simply stop running.
Whereas Alexei seemingly had a normal upbringing and normal opportunities, and yet saw this human trafficking operation and thought it was great.
silverBruise_322025-11-28 10:12
Absolutely. I know it's Disney, so they can't go that deep, but why even go there at all if all you're going to do is scratch the surface?
That's very a good point, and, again, something the movie should have addressed properly. As it is, what he says is treated as a compliment. And since he and Yelena are fully reconciled by Thunderbolts, it was clearly a good thing.
That kind of character is definitely interesting to explore. She was complicit, and yet, she didn't do anything to change things until Natasha and Yelena were literally at her door. She didn't even have to do much - just disappear in the chaos after the collapse of the Soviet Union, or even any time after that.
To be fair, we don't know what his childhood was like, and how he was raised. That still doesn't change things much, though. Melina passively upheld the system over the years. He embraced it wholeheartedly. They're both awful
tangodeep2025-11-28 06:28
i like him and his character. They make him a bit too much of a clown. He doesn’t show his years of experience on the battlefield either.
One_Annual_31852025-11-28 06:28
So true
justafanboy10102025-11-28 06:31
I love him how he is but honestly One day, I hope they use him to his full potential, maybe Doomsday
InnocentTailor2025-11-28 06:52
That is my gripe with him. I don't mind some of the more silly aspects to Red Guardian, but I want to see more menace and heroics to him. He's Russia's super soldier after all - he should act like such a hero when on the clock.
iaro2025-11-28 06:33
I like him but it’s such a random character to give so much focus to. Meanwhile, Moon Knight, Blade, She Hulk, Cersi and the Celestials are just cast aside
_TheNightmanCometh__2025-11-28 06:33
He’s alright but him going to the Russian prison after Hawkins really changed his personality
One_Annual_31852025-11-28 06:34
🤣
AlleRacing2025-11-28 06:35
I love the heartful, answer-the-call attitude, but I hope they dial back the washed-up schlub angle a bit. I hope he's as competent as he was at the beginning of Black Widow.
vampzewolf2025-11-28 06:38
Need him inside me.
ConflictResolutioner2025-11-28 06:40
I hope he never sacrifices himself. . .he's just that type. I like an old-school soviet super-soldier.
kulitchipon2025-11-28 09:35
Ngl, if any of the Thunderbolts has to go, I'd be relieved if it was him
ConflictResolutioner2025-11-28 13:32
Nooooooooooooo, not Alexi!
HumbleKnight142025-11-28 06:40
Me and my whole family cracks up every time he appears. Awesome character. ❤️
Red Guardian: “WE ARE THE THUNDERBOLTS!!!” ⚡
Bucky: “We can't call ourselves that.”
Red Guardian: “Right, right. Sorry.” 🙏
InnocentTailor2025-11-28 06:51
On one hand, I enjoy the charisma that is brought to the role. On the other hand, I wish he had a bit more menace to him - a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass sort of vibe, though it seems like the MCU plays on the former more than the latter.
Maybe we'll possibly get that with another Red Guardian-like hero like Nikolai Krylenko.
One_Annual_31852025-11-28 06:51
That could be interesting
InnocentTailor2025-11-28 06:54
That would mean though we'll have to get an adaption of the Winter Guard, which doesn't seem likely with the current political climate.
...unfortunately.
Remote_Nature_81662025-11-28 06:55
He’s so damn funny! 😂
ricardo510682025-11-28 06:56
He's funny a few times, but it sometimes overstays. He's pretty good when he has those few moments to talk with Yelena. Overall, unlikeable character, alright at best.
shehulud2025-11-28 07:15
Love the character, but Harbour is not a press darling right now and is flirting with being Kang’ed.
rekzkarz2025-11-28 07:17
While I love the actor, imagine the same character except they are USA's super-soldier, a completely washed up moron who is used as comic relief.
So I'll have a better perspective on it when Mackey starts drinking heavily, gets too fat for his (hideous) costume, and professes love for his spy wife who had to be his wife for a secret op.
Always flip the ethnicity/ background to see if the character is a propaganda device.
Better-Snow-71912025-11-28 07:56
Wasn't my favorite in Black Widow, loved him in Thunderbolts.
These_Wish_51012025-11-28 08:34
Should be in jail
wotown2025-11-28 08:46
I think it's pretty terrible that the two major Russian characters in the MCU aren't played by Russian or Eastern-European actors, just Americans with goofy accents.
I understand the Russian elephant in the room but there are plenty of Russian-American actors that would have auditioned for these roles.
Equivalent-Garlic1002025-11-28 08:58
Here's over stayed he's his welcome and he's a piece of trash human being. People just brush over the fact that he's a child trafficker. Literally responsible for Nat and Yelena being sent to Red Room, and Yelena should want nothing to do with him.
Hope he dies in Doomsday. His 'fans' are deeply weird and honestly it's a red flag. Same goes for John Walker. Ugh
jim91622025-11-28 09:00
His character is as one note as the actor is pretentious.
He should probably be killed off in Doomsday to up the stakes.
David Harbour is a self important scumbag that will hopefully stop being given roles.
Aglet_Green2025-11-28 09:01
I like what David Harbour brings to the MCU portrayal of him, but I never liked the underlying character that was originally in the comics-- he was created in the Cold War of the 20th century, and was a very two-dimensional villain.
Harbour himself said this: Shostakov has "tons of cracks all over him. And he's not the heroic, noble man that \[people\] want him to be. He both comically and tragically has a lot of flaws"
marvelstudios-ModTeam2025-11-28 11:21
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Commentaires
I don't like how he's constantly the butt of the joke.
Really, he is a cause of her trauma and has little right to tell her about the light he sees in her.
Melina is the one I don’t fuck with at all because not only did she help sell the kids into slavery like Alexi, but then she spent her whole life helping Dreykov keep doing it and even developed mind control to make sure it was permanent. Like, that’s fucking wild. She invented the slavery mind control and must have known they used it on Yelena. She didn’t do shit until the literal last possible moment. I guess she tried to atone too, in fairness to her. I just didn’t find it as endearing as Red Guardian. At least he has being a hapless moron as kind of an excuse. Melina is a genius. She chose and embraced that trafficker life completely. And she tortured a pig so fuck her 😡 poor piggy.
I think the biggest thing for me is that Alexi basically chose to do better as soon as his kids came back for him. He talked some shit but you could tell it mattered to him. He did not want to let them down twice. Melina took convincing. She was game to let the Red Room take them all until it was happening and Natasha was looking her in the eyes. To me that was wretched and I couldn’t let it go. She almost sold out Yelena three times. 😔
They pull a lot of punches. When his betrayal of the girls is brought up, it's brushed off. The audience is asked to treat it as a case of "You're not still mad about that, are you?". We're supposed to think of him as their funny, dopey dad. He never really expresses remorse, and by the end of Black Widow, we're supposed to think of him as the girls' father. You know, the guy who raised them for a few years, and then sold them out to the Red Room. What attempts to be better? He went back to working for the same people until he ended up in prison. And none of it is brought up in Thunderbolts.
She's bad, but the movie is less on her side. And thr fact that that was her only appearance makes her easier to forget. Alexei is "funny", and he's being pushed forward, making him harder to forget. They're both absoulte scum, though. Nothing endearing about either one. They both trafficked kids. One pig doesn't even make a dent in their crimes.
In what way did he choose to do better? He went against the Red Room for vengeance, not to help Natasha and Yelena. He already sold them out once. No, he did not do enough to redeem himself.
In a sense I actually think Melina was more redeemable in that unlike Alexei she wasn’t directly benefiting from the exploitation of the kids. She’s a fellow victim trying to save her own skin and selling out the kids in the process, whereas Alexei seems to have actually chosen to be involved and continued to do so. His glory as Red Guardian was actively built on the suffering of those kids.
But they’re both really crappy and inherently selfish people no matter how you look at it.
That would have been a good angle to explore, with Melina being both a victim of the Red Room, and someone who perpetuates that system. The movie could have explored how cowardice and complacency can be just as bad as actively doing harm. But the writing left much to be desired.
>But they’re both really crappy and inherently selfish people no matter how you look at it.
That's definitely true.
The thing that sticks with me about Alexei saying that he’s proud of them too is that he doesn’t ask if they’re proud of themselves or if they actually wanted to be anything remotely similar to who they became. He’s proud of them for becoming what HE wanted them to be, not for who they actually are. He’s not proud of Natasha for being a good person, he’s proud of her for getting the glory of being a superhero like he did. Similarly he’s proud of Yelena for being an accomplished assassin, not her strength, adaptability or resilience. He’s proud of them for being like him (as he sees it).
I actually think as a character Melina is more interesting because she refuses to accept any culpability for her actions because she was following orders. She might have created the mind control serum, but she doesn’t feel responsible for Yelena’s experience because she wasn’t the one that injected her with it. She calls herself a hamster running on a wheel, but doesn’t acknowledge that while she couldn’t get off of the wheel, she could simply stop running.
Whereas Alexei seemingly had a normal upbringing and normal opportunities, and yet saw this human trafficking operation and thought it was great.
That's very a good point, and, again, something the movie should have addressed properly. As it is, what he says is treated as a compliment. And since he and Yelena are fully reconciled by Thunderbolts, it was clearly a good thing.
That kind of character is definitely interesting to explore. She was complicit, and yet, she didn't do anything to change things until Natasha and Yelena were literally at her door. She didn't even have to do much - just disappear in the chaos after the collapse of the Soviet Union, or even any time after that.
To be fair, we don't know what his childhood was like, and how he was raised. That still doesn't change things much, though. Melina passively upheld the system over the years. He embraced it wholeheartedly. They're both awful
Red Guardian: “WE ARE THE THUNDERBOLTS!!!” ⚡
Bucky: “We can't call ourselves that.”
Red Guardian: “Right, right. Sorry.” 🙏
Maybe we'll possibly get that with another Red Guardian-like hero like Nikolai Krylenko.
...unfortunately.
So I'll have a better perspective on it when Mackey starts drinking heavily, gets too fat for his (hideous) costume, and professes love for his spy wife who had to be his wife for a secret op.
Always flip the ethnicity/ background to see if the character is a propaganda device.
I understand the Russian elephant in the room but there are plenty of Russian-American actors that would have auditioned for these roles.
Hope he dies in Doomsday. His 'fans' are deeply weird and honestly it's a red flag. Same goes for John Walker. Ugh
He should probably be killed off in Doomsday to up the stakes.
David Harbour is a self important scumbag that will hopefully stop being given roles.
Harbour himself said this: Shostakov has "tons of cracks all over him. And he's not the heroic, noble man that \[people\] want him to be. He both comically and tragically has a lot of flaws"
If you're asking an open-ended question, try to add your own personal answer and the reasoning.