Warning: Major spoilers from Stranger Things 3 lie ahead.
C'mon,eroticism in black narcisussus Marvel. Let the people of Hawkins mourn in peace.
At San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, David Harbour (aka Chief Hopper of Stranger Things) revealed that he would be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the upcoming Black Widow standalone film as — wait for it — Alexei Shostakov.
Fans still traumatized by the death of the Slurpee-loving scientist Alexei, played by Alec Utgoff, in the finale of Stranger Things 3 were quick to point out the characters' shared name and Russian heritage.
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Harbour's Alexei, also known as Red Guardian, has existed in multiple iterations throughout the comics and was originally created as the retaliatory Soviet equivalent of Captain America.
While it's unclear how Red Guardian will fit into the plot of Black Widow, Harbour, in an interview with Variety, described his character's relationship to the United States following the fall of the USSR as "very complicated."
"He's in a very different place in his life," Harbour said, careful to not spoil anything about the upcoming film. "Initially, when I heard about him and when I heard the pitch, he seemed to me a certain way. And then I was so surprised by these other things that come out in his character.
Still, Stranger fans still mourning the death of sweet baby Alexei, lover of cartoons and '80s Americana, struggled to overcome the coincidence.
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Others did their best to mind-bend and theorize their way into some cross-over universe where Stranger Things Alexei isn't really gone at all — and Harbour's casting somehow proves it.
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While we're not buying any of those theories, we admire their bravery and commitment to Alexei stan culture.
Long live the one, true Alexei. But also, congrats to David Habour.
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