Fans of David Harbour will get to see the actor’s debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe come May, where he will play the KGB’s answer to Captain America in the MCU’s spy-thriller, Black Widow. Known most recently for his role as the grumpy chief of police Jim Hopper in Netflix’s Stranger Things, Harbour will be ditching 80s “dad shirts” for red and white leather, donning the role of Alexi (sometimes spelled Alexei) Shostakov, AKA the Red Guardian.

While not a particularly high profile character in Marvel Comics, the Red Guardian has a rather complex history. For starters, the name has been passed down to over half a dozen characters. While each has a unique backstory, the general through-line is the same in each incarnation—Russia wanted a national superhero of their own.

The first Red Guardian, Aleksey Lebedev, appeared in the comic Namor the Sub-Mariner Annual #1 in June 1991. Very little is known about Lebedev, but apparently his heroic actions during an industrial accident brought him to the attention of Soviet officials who were eager to create a KGB counterpart to Captain America during WWII.

Having lost most of his family to the Nazi invasion of Russia, Lebedev fought against the forces of Hitler, and actually fought alongside Captain America and Prince Namor at the Potsdam Conference in 1945 shortly after the war’s end. He was later killed in the 1950s after openly opposing his own government’s sadistic super-soldier experiments.

Those experiments would eventually lead to his successors, of which there are many. Soviet neurosurgeon Dr. Tania Belinsky took up the mantle of Red Guardian in The Defenders #35 in 1976. Former USSR operative Josef Petkus served as the Red Guardian on several teams including the Supreme Soviets (later renamed the Winter Guard) and later the People’s Protectorate.

Petkus has even worked with several non-Russian based super teams including the Avengers and Canada’s Alpha Flight. First appearing in Captain America #352 in 1989, he went on to change his codename to Steel Guardian and was subsequently killed in action in Darkstar & the Winter Guard #2 in 2010. It’s worth noting that Josef appeared in the MCU film Captain America: Civil War, played by Jackson Spidell.

Another Russian to take on the role of Red Guardian was Krassno Granitsky, who first appeared in 1989’s Maverick #10 and was later killed in Ed Brubaker’s first issue of Captain America. Another Red Guardian, Anton Ivanov, was a former Crimson Dynamo pilot who first appeared in Jeff Loeb’s Hulk vol. 2 #1 and later in season 4 of Marvel’s Agents of Shield, played by Zachary McGowan

Another Red Guardian to lead the Winter Guard is Nicolai Krylenko, a Russian-born Mutant who was kidnapped by the Soviet government to have his abilities exploited as a super-soldier. He first appeared in Iron Man #109 in 1978 and has also gone by the name Vanguard, and like Captain America, also wields a vibranium shield. While every Red Guardian is special in their own way, Alexi Shostakov is the one David Harbour will be portraying in Black Widow. Known as the second Red Guardian, he was trained and conditioned by the USSR at the height of the Cold War to go toe-to-toe with America’s own flag-themed super patriot. Harbour himself has confirmed this will be his origin in the film.

Once married to superstar Russian ballerina Natasha Romanov, Shostakov built a name for himself as a high-profile maverick pilot, which earned him massive amounts of acclaim in his homeland. Unlike Steve Rogers, who was selected to become Captain America because of his unwavering morality, Shostakov was selected because of his death-defying courage and quick reflexes.

When the USSR decided Shostakov would make an ideal candidate for the mantle of Red Guardian, he was forced to cut all ties with his old life, including his marriage to Romanov. Distraught over the “death” of her husband (she was never informed that it was staged), Natasha was manipulated by the KGB looking to exploit her many talents as their own super spy, eventually molding her into the Black Widow.

The relationship between Shostakov and Romanov will likely be explored in Black Widow, which takes place not long after the events of Captain America: Civil War. Interestingly, Alexi’s first appearance in comics was short lived, first appearing as the Red Guardian in Avengers #43 in 1967 and subsequently dying in the following issue while helping his ex-wife and a wounded Captain America (whom he had been ordered to kill) escape from an active volcano.

However, decades later Alexi makes a shocking return to the land of the living in the 1990 comic book series Black Widow: The Coldest War, having seemingly cheated death under a miraculous set of circumstances. Unfortunately, Russian operatives were using Romanov’s ex-husband to extort her into betraying SHIELD and it is ultimately revealed that the resurrected Alexi was nothing more than an elaborate Life Model Decoy the whole time.

But even that wouldn’t be the last of Alexi Shostakov, who later reappears under the codename Ronan, a former alias of his ex-wife’s romantic partner Hawkeye. In 2011’s comic book crossover series Widowmaker, it is revealed that Shostakov actually did cheat death all along (something he’s apparently very good at) and was the leader of the Dark Ocean Society– using the organization’s resources to force a war between Russia and Japan. Whatever good nature Shostakov once had in previous stories was now gone, as this modern depiction in comics showed him to be methodically cruel and single-minded.

It will be interesting to see how Harbour portrays Alexi Shostakov in Black Widow. While not entirely on Captain America’s level, Romanov has hinted multiple times in comics that he has taken a serum that slows his aging process. It appears as though director Cate Shortland is depicting Shostakov somewhere around middle-age, well past his prime, but still viable in combat.

Alexi mentions a “family reunion” in trailers for Black Widow and previous interviews with Harbour have suggested that Shostakov and Romanov aren’t actually married in the film. This points to more of a father/daughter dynamic than an ex-lovers dynamic. Though different than the source material, the impact of his character on Natasha Romanov could hit all the emotional high notes all the same. Likely, he will have some connection to the other MCU incarnations of Red Guardian already portrayed in Civil War and Agents of SHIELD. 

More: Black Widow Might Feature Flashbacks To Much Younger Natasha