Icarus, finally ready to have feathers attached, played the hero (7)
I believe the answer is:
starred
'icarus finally ready to have feathers' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'attached played the hero' is the wordplay.
'attached' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'played' becomes 'red' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'the hero' becomes 'star' (as in the star of a film).
'red' put after 'star' is 'STARRED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for starred that I've seen before include "took the lead part" , "Took leading role" , "Took the lead role" , "featured prominently" .)