The Captain America: Brave New World trailer brought some exciting stuff for the fans of the MCU, as it introduces us to new characters and villains on top of already established ones. This includes the Red Hulk, who is now officially joining the MCU. Judging by all the appearances, however, it would seem that Harrison Ford’s now-President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross is the one who transforms into the very thing he hated most in his life, just like he does in the comics.
Of course, there’s still time for Marvel to take some creative liberties with the source material, and the MCU likely will do just that, so we’ll take the opportunity to revisit the Red Hulk’s origin story from the comics and see how General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross fits into the incredible universe of Hulk, She-Hulk, and the Abomination, and how it might affect the MCU’s Hulk going forward. So, let’s dive right in.
Thadeus “Thunderbolt” Ross was introduced along with Bruce Banner in 1962’s Incredible Hulk #1 and remains the Hulk’s and Bruce Banner’s oldest enemy, obsessed with obtaining, controlling, or at least destroying, the limitless power of the World Breaker. In-universe, Ross was born into a family with a proud tradition of military service and had studied military history as a boy. He later attended the U.S. Military Academy, did well following graduation, and was stationed stateside. Sometime later, he married Karen Lee, the daughter of his commanding officer.
Then World War II came, and Ross rapidly rose in rank and gained a reputation as a leader in combat where he earned his nickname. He had become a major by the end of his service. Sometime after the war, he was recruited by Control, a group of military higher-ups and industrialists who sought to direct the future of the world by manipulating America’s superhumans. Later, in the late 1970s/early 1980s, he became interested in Bruce Banner after he had disarmed a bomb that was built and planted by the formative version of the Hulk.
Since Hulk took over Bruce’s body to make and deploy the device, it was basically Banner’s fault for the attempted bombing. Ross helped Bruce avoid jail time, proposing that the military invest in Bruce’s education in hopes that he would become a great weapons designer for the military. That didn’t turn out exactly as Ross had hoped, and Bruce was, by all counts, a disappointment in the general’s eyes. Following the Gamma Bomb incident that turned Bruce Banner into the Hulk, Ross began his long career of hunting the green menace, initially not aware of its true identity.
After years of hunting the Hulk, Banner learned to retain his own personality, intelligence, and memory as he transformed. He was pardoned by the President of the U.S. and succeeded in winning Ross’s approval for his intention to marry Ross’ daughter, Betty. The two clashed afterward, leading to the events of Hulk being exiled off Earth and Betty being killed by Abomination. With his daughter dead and lacking a purpose now that Hulk is off-world, Ross spiraled into alcoholism.
However, he was approached by MODOK and the Leader, who had promised him that the Hulk would return to Earth to exact his revenge — which did happen, triggering the World War Hulk storyline. The three, with the help of Hulk’s previous friend, Doc Samson, used satellites to siphon the energy from the Hulk and use it to turn Ross into the monstrous Red Hulk, but with the ability to consciously transform with his personality and intellect intact. This led to the formation of the villainous organization known as the Intelligencia.
He used his newfound powers to find and kill the Abomination as vengeance for the death of his daughter. The Life-Model Decoy version of Thaddeus Ross was deployed to perform his regular life responsibilities, which now included identifying the Red Hulk, so he called in Bruce Banner. An epic battle ensued, which eventually resulted in Thaddeus Ross being imprisoned by the Avengers. By that time, he had lost his ability to transform back into his human form. He later became an Avenger himself.
Later on, he led the new version of Thunderbolts, whose purpose was dealing with the ramifications of Ross’ own military career, while he still continued to operate as the Red Hulk. He eventually regained the ability to transform back into his human form. However, the question of what part of Ross’ story is being adapted in the upcoming movie remains, as there’s plenty of material to choose from.
Considering that the upcoming movie will feature the villainous Leader as well as the fact that She-Hulk’s blood was synthesized in a serum in the MCU, it’s really not that difficult to imagine Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross being turned into a Red Hulk, along with the gray hair and mustache he featured in the comics. Though there’s also a possibility of Robert Maverick being the Red Hulk, avenging the supposed death of Thaddeus Ross, that’s a whole different discussion.