It's official, guys: David Harbour is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the highly-anticipated standalone Black Widow [1] film. After rumours swirled for months, the Stranger Things [2] actor confirmed his participation during a panel at San Diego Comic-Con [3] on July 20, as part of a larger cast reveal. He'll be taking on the role of Alexei the Red Guardian alongside Scarlett Johansson's title character.

"In the Cold War, there was a nuclear arms race and the Americans developed all these armaments, including Captain America," Harbour said of his character during the panel. "The Soviets retaliated by creating their own version, called the Red Guardian. But he's somewhat different than Captain America. He's a very complicated guy, and that's what I love about him." He continued, "Alexei, he's a tremendously flawed guy, and also has tremendous humour and tremendous heart."

DAVID HARBOUR'S CHARACTERS NAME IN THE BLACK WIDOW MOVIE IS ALEXEI. STRANGER THINGS STANS HOW WE FEELING pic.twitter.com/NypCklTdcB [4]

— 𝓙𝓪𝔂𝓷𝓮 ⎊ ‎✵ ‎⧗ ‎✪ ᗢ (@wwidowsbite) July 21, 2019 [5]

Following the exciting announcement, many Stranger Things fans were quick to notice the name similarity between Harbour's new role and a beloved season three character — Alexei, the Slurpee-loving Russian scientist [6]. Given how things ended up for both Alexei and Harbour's character Jim Hopper [7], we hope this MCU character has better luck. For the time being, we'll take any excuse to keep their Hawkins legacy alive.