'You've got to give us a chance': David Harbour hits back at Marvel fan criticisms of Thunderbolts*

David Harbour has pleaded with Marvel fans to give 'Thunderbolts*' "a chance" following the online backlash against the film.

The 49-year-old actor stars in the upcoming blockbuster opposite Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell and Lewis Pullman and has told fans who have been berating the flick online to watch it before disparaging it.

Speaking to ComicBook.com, Harbour said: " Making a movie, you can't really look outside for critiques because everybody, everybody sees the poster and they have an opinion. You're like, 'just watch the two hour movie and if you still hate it. Great. Love it? Great.' But, like, you've got to give us a chance.

"I think all the speculation in the world is like my fantasies about dying or what. I mean, it's like you can fantasise about horrific things or whatever until you actually see the thing."

The 'Stranger Things' star – who will be reprising his role as the Red Guardian in the movie – insisted the flick was accurate to its comic book source material, though teased the blockbuster would include some "surprising" new elements too.

He said: "We are very comic book true, which I was pleased about.

"I think there might be some speculation of what people understand about the comics as opposed to people that have actually read the comics. I think there's a lot of experts out there that get very annoyed at things. And if you go back and you actually look at it, you might see something different.

"I think that we're very into that idea, and yet it is, of course, very surprising because, you know, I don't think Red Guardian is in any of the Thunderbolts stuff. So they are adding things like they are adding and surprising you with things.

"But, you know, there's a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff that we've done to make it comic accurate as well."

Harbour emphasised he was "very proud" of his work on the picture – which is slated for release on 2 May 2025 - and added he was "excited" for fans to see what was coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

He said: "I'm very proud of this movie, what we shot. I hear it's playing well internally and I'm excited for people to see it. I think it's going to really surprise people.

"I think people have seen from the trailer, from the shots. I think it's a pretty cool direction of the MCU's sort of making now. And I'm excited to be a part of that."