Black Widow’s David Harbour Recalls Being ‘Beat Up’ During His Big Action Sequence

David Harbour in Black Widow

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After a year of delays, Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is currently in full swing. Cate Shortland’s Black Widow was the first movie to theaters, introducing a slew of new characters including David Harbour’s Red Guardian. And the Stranger Things star recently recalled being “beat up” filming one big action sequence.

David Harbour has had a long career as an actor, but became a household name thanks to his acclaimed work on Stranger Things. He made a strong Marvel debut as Red Guardian, with new interviews and deleted scenes surfacing as Black Widow is available for home purchase. It turns out that filming Alexei’s prison battle resulted in Harbour getting roughed by the various extras. As he put it,

I got so beat up and busted up during that fight. There were 400 extras of all shapes and sizes, all super professional. I mean we would get together and shoot sequences where they were doing really complicated things. These guys were amazing.

Actors: sometimes they’re not like us. Because single-handedly taking on a prison full of extras is an experience that few can say they’ve had. David Harbour is one of them, and that struggle definitely paid off in Black Widow’s theatrical cut. And it looks like that’s just the beginning of his tenure as Red Guardian.

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While Marvel movies are known for thrilling action, actually putting the sequences together is quite different from what we see on the big screen. Black Widow was no exception, and David Harbour’s character was especially heightened as he was the only one with actual superpowers. Although taking on such wild sequences definitely takes its toll.

David Harbour’s quote from the Special Features of Black Widow highlights the difficulty of working on a MCU blockbuster. Still, the Stranger Things icon took the time to praise the hundreds of extras who were battling with him on the big screen. Rather than being a prison full of CGI renderings of prisoners, the ensemble Cate Shortland and company created gave it an extra sense of realism.

While Black Widow marked Scarlett Johansson’s final appearance in the MCU, the rest of Natasha’s chosen family could seemingly appear again. While Florence Pugh’s Yelena quickly became a fan favorite, David Harbour and Rachel Weisz also had killer chemistry. We’ll just have to see what Kevin Feige has up his sleeve.

Black Widow is currently available to purchase at Target stores. Be sure to check out the 2021 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience

Corey Chichizola
Movies Editor

Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.