Red Hulk Arrives In ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ - Origins
Photo from Marvel.com
From Hugh Verheylewegen
On February 14th, Captain America: Brave New World arrives in theaters and will feature Sam Wilson as Captain America pitted against Thunderbolt Ross who has transformed into a Red Hulk. What is the Red Hulk? How did he come to be? What should be expected from this new beast that Sam Wilson will be fighting? Find out more below!
Origin
As with most comic book characters there are multiple origins, identities, incarnations and adaptations of certain characters across comics and various media. For this overview we will be looking at the character’s origins featured in The Incredible Hulk #291 & Hulk #23. General Thaddeus E. Ross was born into a family with a proud tradition of military service. Both his father and his grandfather served heroically in past American wars. As a boy Thaddeus immersed himself in military history, and he learned how to fly by barnstorming at country fairs. When he came of age Ross enlisted in the military, graduating first in his class at West Point. He married Karen Lee, the daughter of his commanding officer at the time. Ross rapidly rose in rank to captain and then major while serving in his first war. Ross made a great reputation as a leader in combat, but after the war, he was stationed at the nuclear research facility at Los Alamos, New Mexico. There he met nuclear physicist Brian Banner, the father of Bruce Banner.
Ross had risen to the rank of colonel by the time he was sent to his next war, during which he became a general in the U.S. Air Force. As he gloried in combat, he was dissatisfied with the "desk jobs" he was given before and after the war. Ross's wife, Karen, bore him only one child, his daughter Betty. Karen died when Betty was in her early teens. General Ross came to command Desert Base, New Mexico - a missile base and nuclear research site. He resented the fact that Bruce Banner, a civilian, was appointed supervisor of the gamma bomb project. Moreover, the general had contempt for the scrawny, intellectual Banner for failing to live up to Ross's own vision of true manhood. Making matters worse was the growing attraction between Banner and Betty, whom Ross hoped would marry a military officer. Banner was transformed into the Hulk as a result of intense radiation exposure during the first test of the gamma bomb. The savage Hulk quickly became a menace, and Ross began his long career of hunting the Hulk. Banner's frequent, unexplained absences made Ross suspect Banner of treasonous activity and of a possible alliance with the Hulk himself. To prove his suspicions, Ross brought Major Glenn Talbot to Desert Base as the new security chief. The Pentagon designated Ross as head of Operation: Hulk.
Even after Banner's dual identity became public knowledge, Ross continued his pursuit of the Hulk, causing Banner to become a fugitive. Ross incorrectly suspected that Banner controlled the Hulk and was thus a menace to national security. Over the years, Ross succeeded in capturing the Hulk or Banner, but the Hulk usually thwarted the general's attempts to permanently put him down. Embittered by these failures, Ross became obsessed with the Hulk. Ross frequently found himself in conflict with other superhuman foes too, most notably the Leader and the Abomination. Invariably these threats were defeated by Banner or the Hulk, forcing the general to regard the Hulk with a grudging respect. When Banner actually did gain control of the Hulk, Ross reluctantly approved of his marriage to Betty. However, the Leader sabotaged the process, transforming Banner back into the savage Hulk before they could be wed. Ross himself was injured in the ensuing conflict. Subsequently, the United States government constructed a special site for operations to kill or capture the Hulk, "Hulkbuster Base", located in the New Mexican desert.
As the man most experienced with directing military operations against the Hulk, General Ross was given command of the base and to the troops assigned to it, known as United States Air Force Mobile Combat Force One, more familiarly called the Hulkbusters. The overall military operation to capture the Hulk was now known as Operation: Greenskin, after the color of the Hulk's body. Neither Ross nor the U.S. government now wished to kill the Hulk; if possible, Operation: Greenskin's mandate was to capture the Hulk and to find a means to cure him, returning Banner permanently to human form. Ross contended that by studying the Hulk, scientists would learn a great deal about the effects of radiation upon the human body, which would bring about major medical breakthroughs for normal human beings as well. Ross' daughter Betty was later killed by the Abomination, and the Hulk was exiled from Earth by a group of superheroes. The grief of his daughter's death, along with lacking a purpose now that there was no Hulk on Earth to fight, led Thaddeus to spiral into alcoholism and depression.
On the night that Captain America was assassinated, Ross was watching the events on a television in a bar when suddenly all of the patrons in the bar except for Ross were launched into a trance, and Ross was approached by the villains M.O.D.O.K. and the Leader. The two interlopers told Ross that the Hulk would return to Earth sometime soon and seek vengeance on those who had exiled him. Using revenge upon the Hulk and a promise that they would bring his daughter back to life as leverage, the two villains eventually convinced Ross to help them with their plans. Thus, when the Hulk eventually did return and initiated the event "World War Hulk," Ross helped fight in the battle against the Hulk while communicating with his new allies. With the help of M.O.D.O.K., the Leader, and a previous friend of the Hulk's named Doc Samson, the quartet used satellites to siphon energy from the Hulk and even recover Bruce Banner's body in the aftermath of the battle using Life-Model Decoys posing as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Transporting Banner's body away to a secret base, Ross' three allies used the body and the energy that they had siphoned from the Hulk to turn Ross into the monstrous Red Hulk—a red-skinned beast with similar size and strength to that of the regular Hulk, but with the ability for Ross to consciously transform between his human form and the Red Hulk at any time he chose.
To avoid suspicion from his disappearance, Ross and his villainous conspirators, who were calling themselves "the Intelligencia", replaced Ross with a Life-Model Decoy of himself to perform his regular life responsibilities. In the meantime, Ross as the Red Hulk went on missions directed by the Intelligencia. The Red Hulk was first officially seen by the public crossing the Canadian wilderness, where he was attacked by and ultimately killed a beastly Wendigo. The government detected the Red Hulk in the Bering Strait when a satellite detected the seismic activity of the Hulk landing on the ground. The Red Hulk made it to Dimitri, Russia, where he murdered the Abomination as vengeance for the death of his daughter. The supposed "Thaddeus Ross" (not known to be a decoy) was one of many experts called to investigate the appearance of the Red Hulk.
From New York, inside a newly commissioned S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, the decoy Ross reluctantly called on the expertise of Bruce Banner to help investigate. Banner developed a report on the Red Hulk, but before he could reach the floating base the Red Hulk attacked the Helicarrier and destroyed it in a crash landing. While onboard, the Red Hulk erased all files on the original Hulk, using a sophisticated computer virus. After this attack, the Red Hulk headed to Gamma Base in Death Valley, Nevada to stop a rogue experiment from his bosses, the Intelligencia, who had turned Rick Jones into a giant, blue-skinned gamma mutate called A-Bomb. After squaring off against A-Bomb, the Red Hulk had to fight a group of robotic imitations of the Harpy as well as the original Hulk who all appeared on the scene. During this fighting, Uatu the Watcher came down to Earth to watch the Hulks battle, but the Red Hulk began pummeling this interlocutor until the green Hulk stopped him.
Superheroes at the site of the Helicarrier crash unsuccessfully tried to figure out the true identity of this new Red Hulk, while meanwhile the Red Hulk defeated the green Hulk in battle and dragged his body to the top of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Boasting of his strength, the Red Hulk was interrupted by Thor who came down to battle him. However, the Red Hulk managed to gain the upper hand, and the two battled all the way to the Moon, where the Red Hulk finally defeated Thor, left his body on the other planet, and leapt back to Earth in one jump. The Red Hulk caused an earthquake in San Francisco with his return impact on Earth, which led the real Hulk, the She-Hulk, A-Bomb, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men to all arrive and investigate. Thor then also returned, stated his anger, and promptly defeated the Red Hulk in a few blows. Thor was about to slay him, but was stopped by A-Bomb, who told him that the Hulk must be the one to defeat the Red Hulk. The green Hulk and the Red Hulk then engaged in combat, and it seemed that the Red Hulk was gaining the upper hand until he suddenly overheated and became very dizzy. This allowed the Hulk to defeat the Red Hulk. As the other heroes left, Doc Samson and Thaddeus Ross' Life-Model Decoy appeared on the scene and kidnapped Rick Jones (just as he transformed back from A-Bomb into his human form) to keep him from nearly revealing the Red Hulk's true identity. They also approached the knocked-out Red Hulk and expressed their disappointment in his inability to kill the original Hulk, informing him that as a result he was no longer supported by the Intelligencia and was on his own from that point on.
The Ross LMD later confronted the Red Hulk whilst wearing Redeemer armor, and was subsequently destroyed, an effort by Banner and the Red Hulk to remove the face of the Intelligencia's planned takeover of America. It was later revealed that the Red Hulk apparently killed General Ross at the behest of Bruce Banner, with whom he had formed an alliance. The Red Hulk made an apparent meeting with General Ross that concluded with the General's death (later revealed to be a ruse) when he showed up in the Redeemer armor, intending to kill the red giant. After the memorial service, the Red Hulk met with his new ally who appeared to have orchestrated Ross' death all along, Bruce Banner. However, when the new Frightful Four attacked the Fantastic Four in the Baxter Building, the Red Hulk came to their rescue. He managed to save everyone inside even though Mister Fantastic was kidnapped. He later went out to help the X-Men but failed at that also. After that he went to the Intelligencia's base and attempted to stop them. He failed when he was defeated by Hulkpool and the Hulked Out Heroes. During this battle, Ross found himself facing off with the Red She-Hulk, where, when reverted to human form, he revealed to be Ross to those present, with the Red She-Hulk quickly being revealed as his daughter Betty. After draining the Leader of his powers, Ross destroyed the LMD of Talbot and, mad with power, took over the White House, leading into a confrontation with his old enemy, the true Incredible Hulk. Ross grappled with Banner and attacked him with the force of a nuclear explosion, but the battle ended when the Hulk knocked Ross out with a thunderclap. After his defeat at the hands of the Hulk, Ross was imprisoned in Gamma Base.
Steve Rogers manages to recruit Ross once his sanity returned and Banner told Ross that they had removed his energy draining ability after discovering that it was killing him. He was released to aid against the Intelligencia's contingency plan; Scorched Earth. During this he discovered that he still possessed his absorption ability, though Banner insisted that he had not been lying when he said that it was killing Ross; in truth, it burned out his ability to transform back into his human form, and now he can only remain as the Red Hulk. Ross assisted the Avengers in their fight against the Hood, who was hunting for the Infinity Gems. Ross himself wound up wielding the Power Gem for a time. Afterwards, Rogers invited him to join the Avengers. His teammates neither trusted him nor knew his identity, but their faith in Rogers was enough for his membership to be uncontested. Ross would continue to operate as Red Hulk in multiple teams over the years including his own team that he founded called the Thunderbolts.
Powers & Weaknesses
Ross originally possessed no superhuman abilities whatsoever, however, he allied himself with M.O.D.O.K., the Leader and Doc Samson to extract the Hulk's energy and his DNA to give himself gamma powers, transforming him into a red-skinned being similar to the Hulk called the Red Hulk. Red Hulk possesses superhuman strength, stamina and durability as well as can regenerate from serious injuries within minutes. When Red Hulk becomes angry, his skin generates intense heat; this heat can also be released through his eyes and is strong enough to melt through Spider-Man's webbing or turn sand into glass. Red Hulk can also absorb energies, notably gamma radiation and even Norrin Radd, AKA Silver Surfer's Power Cosmic. Unlike Banner, Red Hulk does not revert to his human form while unconscious. Ross is a skilled organizer, strategist and leader with familiarity in varieties of weapons, occasionally wielding a S.H.I.E.L.D. handgun whose bullets can pierce even the Hulk's skin. As Ross, he is as vulnerable as any human. However he can overcome this weakness with his will-powered transformation into the Red Hulk. As the Red Hulk, he displays a notable weakness against bladed and sharp objects. The Punisher was able to easily stab him with a knife through his chest causing excessive bleeding, and later Wolverine's cutting him open in the arm, back, chest and across the eyes, weakening and temporarily blinding him. Absorbing energy from the Negative Zone drains him and he is also vulnerable to mental attacks from powerful psychics. But the most crucial weakness is that Red Hulk can overheat himself as the madder he gets, the hotter he gets through the production of gamma radiation resulting in him becoming weaker.
The Journey of Thunderbolt Ross in the MCU so far…
Thunderbolt Ross was first introduced in the MCU, originally played by the late William Hurt, as a U.S. Army General who dedicated himself to capturing the Hulk acting as an adversary in The Incredible Hulk (2008). It all began when Ross met with Dr. Bruce Banner, the colleague and boyfriend of his daughter Betty Ross, regarding an experiment that Ross claims is meant to make humans immune to gamma radiation. In reality, the experiment was an attempt by Ross to recreate the World War II super soldier program that created Captain America. The experiment fails when the exposure to gamma radiation causes Banner to transform into the Hulk resulting in him destroying the lab and surrounding area injuring Ross, Betty, and others. The event causes Banner to become a fugitive from the U.S. military and an enraged Ross, who wants to weaponize the Hulk. Ross spends five years searching for Banner before finally tracking him down in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he sends a special forces team, led by Emil Blonsky, to capture him. Banner transforms into the Hulk and defeats Blonsky's team, with Blonsky surviving.
After Ross explains how Banner became the Hulk, Blonsky agrees to be injected with a small amount of an experimental serum, which gives him enhanced speed, strength, agility, and healing powers but also begins to deform his skeleton and impairs his judgment. Banner returns to Culver University and reunites with Betty but Banner is attacked a second time by Ross and Blonsky's forces, tipped off by Betty's new boyfriend, Dr. Leonard Samson, causing Banner to again transform into the Hulk. The ensuing battle outside the university proves futile for Ross's forces, and they retreat, though Blonsky, whose sanity is faltering, attacks and mocks the Hulk. The Hulk severely injures Blonsky and flees with Betty further enraging Ross. Ross manages to track Banner again in New York City where he was meeting with cellular biologist Dr. Samuel Sterns, who has created a possible antidote to Banner's condition. Ross, his forces and a rapidly recovered Blonsky make a third attempt to take Banner into custody. They succeed, and Banner and Betty are taken away in a helicopter. Blonsky stays behind and orders Sterns to inject him with Banner's blood, as he covets the Hulk's power. The experiment mutates Blonsky into the Abomination, a creature with size and strength surpassing that of the Hulk. He attacks Sterns, who gets some of Banner's blood in a cut on his forehead, causing him to begin mutating as well. The Abomination rampages through Harlem much to the surprise of Ross. Realizing that the Hulk is the only one who can stop the Abomination, Banner convinces Ross to release him. After a battle throughout Harlem, the Hulk defeats the Abomination by nearly strangling him to death with a chain, but spares his life upon hearing Betty's plea and leaves the Abomination for Ross and his forces to arrest. After having a peaceful moment with Betty, the Hulk flees New York. Ross simply allowed Hulk to make his escape, making absolutely no effort to recapture him.
In the aftermath of the battle and the humiliating defeat for Ross, the General drowned all his sorrows in bars, drinking and smoking. In order to try and save face, the World Security Council then informed S.H.I.E.L.D. that they wanted to make Emil Blonsky, who was currently in Ross' custody, part of the Avengers Initiative, blaming Hulk for the Harlem incident and keeping Blonsky's reputation intact. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Phil Coulson and Jasper Sitwell, with knowledge of the events, sent Tony Stark to speak to Ross about the Avengers Initiative, as their patsy to prevent Ross from letting Blonsky join the Avengers. Stark informed Ross that a team was being put together. The talk ended up with Stark annoying Ross so much that Ross then refused to release Blonsky and tried to have Stark removed from the bar. In response, Stark bought the bar and scheduled it for demolition.
By the events of Captain America: Civil War (2016), Ross was already retired from the United States Army but was then swiftly appointed as the United States' Secretary of State by President Matthew Ellis, due to all of Ross' personal experience in dealing with the super-powered and highly dangerous individuals such as Hulk, as well as Abomination, throughout Ross' entire military career. Once the United Nations of the world had begun to sought to impose greater accountability on the activities of super-heroes, including but not limited to the Avengers due to all the devastating events in New York, Washington, D.C., Sokovia and Lagos, Ross took on an active role in trying to ensure the protection of the world from whom he had viewed as being super-powered vigilantes in the wake of their several battles. Ross oversaw the writing of their Sokovia Accords that would limit the actions undertaken by these super-powered individuals.
Accompanied by Tony Stark, Ross had visited the Avengers at their facility to present them with the Sokovia Accords. Ross explained that there were no disagreements among the world's governments about whether the Avengers should all be considered heroes or vigilantes as the unlimited power with which they had operated could have no longer been tolerated since it was almost impossible to control. To prove his point, Ross showed his video footage of the destruction caused by the Avengers during their battle of New York, the battle at the Triskelion, the devastating Ultron Offensive and the attack on the IFID Headquarters, in which Wanda Maximoff had inadvertently sent the bomb activated by Crossbones in a building occupied by several civilians who had died. Ross then explained that since the Battle of Sokovia in which the city of Novi Grad had been completely destroyed, and many people were killed, the United States would sign their Sokovia Accords in order to put the Avengers into line, explaining that many other countries were planning to do the same. Ross explained how these Accords meant that the Avengers would only operate under the direct supervision of the United Nations in order to keep them under their close watch. While Rogers insisted they kept the world safe, Ross noted that they did not even know where Thor and Bruce Banner were, while James Rhodes had asked for more details about the contingency plans that were included with the Accords.
As he left to give the Avengers some time to discuss their reactions to the Accords, Ross was then asked by Natasha Romanoff what would happen if they did not sign and he had simply explained that they would be forced to retire instead. However, when the United Nations had been suddenly attacked with a bomb during the peace meetings regarding the Sokovia Accords, it resulted in the deaths of several innocent people, including King T'Chaka of Wakanda, all seemingly due to the terrorist actions of Winter Soldier. The former assassin was quickly caught and arrested, but broke out of his holding cell and went on the rampage when his programming was activated by Helmut Zemo. In the ensuing chaos, Zemo took the opportunity to escape, whilst Captain America chased down The Winter Soldier. Furious with what happened, Secretary Ross met with Tony Stark to confront him and demand that he bring Rogers, Falcon and Winter Soldier into justice. Upon hearing this, Natasha Romanoff questioned if Ross was willing to kill Captain America to catch Winter Soldier, which Ross noted he was. Stark then promised he would take their fugitives into custody within seventy-two hours, although Ross had still remained somewhat skeptical and gave Stark just thirty-six hours to deliver Rogers, Barnes and Wilson. Later on in the wake of the Battle at Leipzig-Halle Airport, Ross captured the majority of Captain America's team and took them to the Raft where they had been thrown into individual cells. Tony Stark later flew to the Raft and was met by Ross, claiming that Helmut Zemo was to blame for the recent events, although Ross still remained furious about how bad the situation had become and then even threatened to have Stark arrested as well. While Stark went to speak to their prisoners, Ross watched from the CCTV cameras as Stark was insulted by his former friends, with Clint Barton especially angry at the recent betrayal.
While Stark had been speaking to Sam Wilson about the well-being of James Rhodes who had been badly injured, the audio feeds were then suddenly cut out during their conversation, which Ross had blamed on their technical team before realizing that Stark was most likely to blame for it all. Following his meeting with the Avengers, Stark had then prepared to leave the Raft. As Ross walked Stark back to his helicopter, he asked what Wilson told him about Steve Rogers and all his plans, although Stark claimed it was nothing since Wilson had told him to go to hell, noting he was heading back to the Avengers Compound before taking off to investigate the situation further. As he left, Stark told Ross to call him any time, promising he would put Ross on hold. Following Steve Rogers' escape, Ross suspected that Natasha Romanoff had assisted him. He spoke to T'Challa, who did not give a clear answer but left Ross feeling his suspicion of Romanoff was accurate. Ross then arranged a meeting with the World Security Council to ask for resources to capture Romanoff, where he and Hawley discussed Romanoff's history in depth, although Hawley refused to approve his request due to the lack of solid evidence. Ross and his S.W.A.T. team eventually located Romanoff's tracker sending a signal from a train station in Albany and moved in to arrest her.
Once they were inside, Ross was called on the phone by Romanoff. Ross told her to stop running from them as she was alone, since Clint Barton, Sam Wilson and Scott Lang were currently in custody inside the Raft, while Rogers was on the run. However, Ross was then promptly hung up on and discovered that Romanoff had tricked them with the tracker. Despite them having no leads on Natasha Romanoff's location for some time, eventually Ross was alerted to the fact that her tracker had been turned on unexpectedly. As a result, Ross led his unit to track down and arrest Romanoff at her location, where they found her in the middle of a field, surrounded by destruction. However, Romanoff managed to escape from him. In the aftermath of the Avengers Civil War, a couple of weeks after the Battle at the HYDRA Siberian Facility, Steve Rogers successfully broke into the Raft and helped the prisoners on the Raft to escape. Ross was notified of the ongoing escape, and contacted Tony Stark for help, only for Stark to fulfill his earlier promises and put Ross on hold and to ignore him much to his annoyance.
Because of the strain the events of the clash the Avengers put on their own families, Scott Lang and Clint Barton both took deals from Ross that ended up with them being under house arrest, while the others involved with siding with Captain America during their clash still remained at large, despite Ross and his men continuing to hunt them down with the intention of finally bring them all to justice. With the arrival of Thanos' Q-Ships into New York City, as well as the sudden disappearance of Vision during the events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Ross contacted James Rhodes at the Avengers Compound when it was found that Vision was rescued by three wanted criminals; Captain America, Black Widow and Falcon. When he and Rhodes had discussed Vision's disappearance, Rhodes claimed that their former allies had only become known as criminals because of Ross, which Ross had merely scoffed at. As Ross and Rhodes talked, Rhodes noted that he had some second thoughts about the Accords, before revealing that Captain America and his team had arrived with Vision and Wanda Maximoff. Upon seeing their arrival, Ross confronted Rogers who claimed they were there to assist after Tony Stark had vanished. Ross then ordered Rhodes to arrest the fugitives, but Rhodes instead terminated their connection, which earned him Ross' anger and a court-martial as a result. Despite the Avengers' best efforts, Thanos managed to obtain all six of the Infinity Stones and caused the Snap, which killed Ross among trillions of others, including Ross' daughter, Betty. However, in Avengers: Endgame (2019) five years following the Snap, Hulk then caused the Blip and resurrected them. Ross had later attended the funeral of Tony Stark, who had given his life to defeat Thanos, with Ross standing beside Maria Hill, while they had watched Stark's Arc Reactor being set adrift into the lake.
What to expect?
In Captain America: Brave New World, Ross has been elected as the new president of the United States as well as seeks to put aside his differences with Sam Wilson, who has inherited the mantle of Captain America from Steve Rogers, and instead work with him to potentially create a new team of Avengers and lead the US into a brighter as well as secure future together. But an incident caused by mysterious forces seemingly threatens this truce between the two as their two opposing perspectives begin to clash. On top of all this, something happens to Ross that causes him to turn into the iconic Red Hulk from comics and go on a full on rampage that pits him against Sam Wilson in what will likely be the toughest fight of his life since the events of Infinity War & Endgame.
What exactly leads Ross to turn into Red Hulk is currently unknown but it is highly suspected that Samuel Sterns aka Leader is responsible for his transformation given that the marketing has indicated him as the mastermind of the incidents and that he was partly involved in creating Red Hulk in the comics. The future of Ross and his new persona in the MCU is entirely dependent on the events of this film but Harrison Ford has stated he is very much willing to return as the character in future installments and there are multiple directions his character can go. The first potential direction is that Ross as Red Hulk could potentially be a member of the new Avengers line up for both of the upcoming Avengers films given that he served time as a member of the group in comics. Another potential direction is that he could be involved in the MCU’s next film Thunderbolts*, which was a group he founded in comics and is based on his name but it has yet to be confirmed if he is involved or if he even has an important role in this incarnation of the group. The third potential direction is perhaps a new Hulk project in the future involving all of the current Hulk characters in the MCU but it is yet to be determined if there will ever be a new Hulk project given the divisive audience reception of Hulk character projects of the past both inside and outside of the MCU. There are many paths to choose but it will all depend on the fate of Ross by the end of Brave New World.
Captain America: Brave New World hits theaters on February 14th, 2025.
