Thunderbolts' Concept Artist Shares Alternative Suit For David Harbour's Red Guardian, And I Really Dig It: 'Less Santa Claus And More Spec Ops'

Whenever new Marvel movies come out, they are the result of years of collaboration between all sorts of departments in filmmaking, and it’s always interesting to learn about what changes happen over time. Well, a concept artist for Thunderbolts* has shared an alternate suit for David Harbour’s Red Guardian, and while it’s quite different, I really like it.

It’s kind of running joke that Red Guardian has kept his old suit from many years ago and brings it out to play when it’s time to save the day, which has been in Black Widow and Thunderbolts* thus far. However, as the movie’s Aleksi Briclot shared on Instagram, he was toying with a new look for Harbour’s character. Check it:

Oooh, black looks good on Alexei! The concept artist, who has also worked on a load of Marvel movies over the years, including Black Widow, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Avengers: Infinity War, shared that he initially thought Alexei might need a “darker vibe” for Thunderbolts* that involved less red and more dark to go with the “tone of the movie.” He described it as “less Santa Claus and more Spec Ops.”

While I think there’s something really fun about Alexei using his good old suit over and over, it’s hard not to see how slick this version of Red Guardian’s suit looks. Check out what the fans had to say in the Instagram comment section:

• “Probably the best superhero suit that i've seen in my life, amazing!!” @edward_willenberg
• “I really like this! I appreciate the comic accuracy of the suit and wish they had gone this route! Though, I think the design they used makes sense for Red Guardian's role/story in the film” - @isaacgrah13
• “That looks like a good upgrade for Red Guardian in Doomsday and Secret Wars as the Avengerz #1 super soldier mascot! 🔥” - @vbgear
• “Honestly, I would've preferred this suit to the one we got 🔥” - @udofian.ink
• “What the heck!!?!?! This suit should've been in the film” - @twincastx

Yeah, it’s a winner. Opinions are kind of divided regarding whether it should have been in the movie or not, but more often than not, people are dealing with some FOMO over Red Guardian’s darker suit not making it in the movie. But as one fan pointed out, it would be a good idea (and make sense story-wise) for Red Guardian to get a suit upgrade specifically for Avengers: Doomsday. Because by then, he’ll be a real Avenger, and one would assume there’s a bit of a budget for the character to get a new suit.

As we learned through the viral chair announcement, David Harbour will be part of the Avengers: Doomsday movie alongside the rest of the Thunderbolts team, who were named the New Avengers at the end of the movie. He’ll also be joined by characters he’s never interacted with before, like the X-Men, Anthony Mackie’s Captain America, Thor and Shang-Chi. Red Guardian is going to be over the moon.

While we wait for Doomsday, which isn’t coming until December 2026, check out David Harbour meeting Red Guardian at Disneyland and our thoughts on the Thunderbolts* ending. The next MCU movie is The Fantastic Four: First Steps, coming out on July 25.