Greetings nerdy list afficionados and welcome back to Top 10 nerd.
Since the release of the black widow teaser trailer on dec 3 2019 fans have had questions
about Red Guardian the character played by David Harbour so since you’re all curious
we have facts for you.
There’s more to know than you’d think.
I’m Sasha and these are the Top 10 Shocking Red Guardian Facts You Need To Know get ready
number 1 is gonna blow your mind.
Unless you’re a level 10 comic book nerd but you won’t know unless you stay tuned.
Number 10 - The golden Age – The first Red Guardian yes the first debuted in the golden
age of comics but only via retcon he was Aleksey Lebedev and debuted in Namor, The Sub-Mariner
Annual #1 in 1991.
This comic would establish him as a hero from that same time period who fought alongside
Captain America.
He appears to have been killed during the purges of the 50s in experiments that led
to his successor the version who had debuted before him.
Sometimes there are retcons just to retcon.
This appears to have been one of them.
Number 9 - here have been 7 – Yup 7 people have gone by this name Legacy character to
the max.
The second person to hold that name Alexei Shostakov
Is arguable the most iconic but people have their faves ok so that’s two who are the
rest so we have Dr. Tania Belinsky Josef Petkus Krassno Granitsky
Anton and Nicolai Krylenko facts now you know the red guardians bounce around too despite
being tied to Captain America they don’t all debut in his comics for example alexi
debuts in the Avengers.
This is one of those characters who is iconic within comics and yet outside of them some
may not know who exactly they are.
There are a lot of characters floating around like that and part of what is driving some
of this fan excitement is the fact that it’s David Harbour.
Who many people are fond of thanks to his work on Stranger Things.
Number 8 - Life Model Decoy these characters tend to have run ins or in the case of one
iteration just be life model decoys or lmds for the hip amongst you.
So Alexi was rendered a life model decoy in the latter part of his existence in the widowmaker
crossover and this lmd was out for blood he was assassinating spies and eventually had
his sights set on Black Widow and mockingbird who were the focus of this teamup crossover.
But let me dial it back some of you may be asking just what is a life model decoy well
a life model decoy is an android in the marvel universe who can mimic all outward aspects
of a real person.
And they’re good most people don’t notice them, it’s always a big plot reveal.
Nick Fury was revealed to be using them all the time at one point.
There was a throwaway joke about them in the Avengers.
Now aside from Alexi one of the Red Guardians was just always an lmd and that one was Anton
the 6th red guardian although it was a weird partial thing.
Number 7 Only 1 Has Powers – Except for one or with rare exceptions or boosts from
tech they don’t have powers it was actually a little odd since when Red Guardian was first
fighting Captian America he told him he had been trained to go against him and could hold
his own with a serumed up Steve so are we just supposed to go with he was trained to
be as strong cause Russia in Soviet Russia serum take you.
The one Red Guardian who has powers is Dr Tania Belinsky.
The others don’t need it they’re powered by their red costumes and Vodka.
Number 6 – Starlight – This is dr tania and she is a bit different than your typical
red guardians in that she adopted a costume similar to them and so was associated with
but really was a bit of a rebel.
She was a neurosurgeon who turned to vigilantism after her father was sent to Serbia as a dissident.
She fought to protect dissidents and attempt social reform so hardly the symbol of the
homeland that they would have liked to be carrying the red guardian mantle.
However she would leave Russia when doctor strange requested her specifically to perform
a brain transplant.
She would stay in America and join the defenders it was after this she would get her powers
and it’s not exactly happy she would be dominated by the presence who would transform
her using a Chernobyl like blast and then manipulate her to his whims.
Her and the presence would eventually find a balance and she would later take on the
name starlight.
Dr Tania was the second red guardian.
Number 5 - Rennaisance Alexi – Red Guardian would emerge out of Marvel’s renaissance
period debuting in The Avengers #43 (August 1967) which saw a burst of new character creations
for the newly named company marvel only changed their name to marvel in 1961 alongside the
release of the fantastic four.
The team that launches their renaissance as commissioned because of the success of the
justice league.
Alexi was an acclaimed world war 2 pilot who was chosen for a super elite special test
flight and because of his highly publicized missions he became a public hero.
And was later recruited as a red guardian essentially captain soviet because Russia
was reacting to Captain America even tho I mean cap was active in world war 2 so why
did it you know what don’t over think it.
He actually really got into his role and believed in the Soviet cause it would drive a wedge
in his marriage but he would ultimately die heroically and epically.
Buried by lava.
What a way to go.
Number 4 - Captain America – So what is the context of his captain America connection
and can he beat him.
Let them fight.
So Red Guardian is as mentioned the Russian equivalent of Captain America and he’s more
than capable of going toe to toe with him he even damaged his shield so it couldn’t
boomerang back to him no shield blasts while fighting the red guardian.
Cap even thinks has captain America met his match I’m more concerned that he’s thinking
about himself in the third person.
I also like that when Cap rallies he calls him a good fella.
The concept of other countries having their own captains has been bandied about before
we’ve got Captain Britain and up here in the great white north we have Captain Canuck,
Yes Captain Canuck he’s he sure exists.
Number 3 - From Russia With Love – One of the Red Guardians is a reference to the 1957
ian fleming spy novel from Russia with love how well let me explain so this red guardian
is the fifth to appear in the canon narratively chronologically from a meta standpoint it
would be a bit different cause of that 1991 reboot issue.
He is named Krassno Granitsky he appears in maverick #10 in 1998 and his name is an homage
to the assassin in that story Donavan Grant it’s actually the russianized version of
that name which is fitting cause Donavan’s moniker was Grant.
Spy references hooray.
Number 2 – Ronin – The Red guardian is yet another character to take on the name
Ronin what will that mean for the MCU it remains to be seen we got to see Hawkeye as Ronin
so we will see what the future holds.
However the Ronin Alexi cause it was Alexi who this happened with cause of course it
was.
He was an the LMD version.
So we don’t have to think of all those bad things he did as our Alexi.
You know red guardian has actually been adapted before like in cartoons and the like it’s
an interesting situation.
Maybe he’ll pop off now he’s all over the outlets people want more Red Guardian
or just more David Harbour not as Hellboy.
Number 1 - Marriage To Natasha – That’s right Black Widow and red guardian were married
he was her husband from early on back when she was still a ballerina.
Their marriage was pretty solid up until the point where he became red guardian and he
would go full gung ho for the mother land but she would become more and more disillusioned.
And their marriage would fall apart after Natasha defected to the united states and
he remained loyal to Russia but she still had a soft spot in her heart for her first
husband.
You think they’ll adapt that I mean it’s the mcu so probably not why acknowledge canon
when you can have the hulk.
Sun’s getting real low!
I’m Sasha and those were some shocking facts about red guardian which one took you aback
the most let me know down below.
Did you know about this character do you love him?