Seeing the new trailer for Captain America: Brave New World, it is clear that Marvel is beginning to reveal all the Hulks they have in their arsenal. The only difference is that this Hulk might not be dancing. So, let’s start discussing each element one by one, starting with a spoiler alert warning. If you don’t already know, in the comic books, the real identity of Red Hulk is General Thunderbolt Ross. He spent most of his adult life dedicated to capturing or killing the Hulk but, in a strange twist of fate, he ended up becoming what he hated. Let’s dive into the article and find out: Who is the Red Hulk?
The First Appearance of Red Hulk
The Red Hulk first appeared in Hulk #1 in January 2008, created by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness. However, as most of us know, the Red Hulk is none other than General Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross, who was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and first appeared in The Incredible Hulk issue #1 in May 1962. If you know anything about Thunderbolt Ross, you are aware of his deep-seated hatred for Bruce Banner and the Hulk, having been humiliated and vanquished by Banner and/or the Hulk numerous times over the years. This, combined with Ross’s jealousy of the Hulk’s power and his desire for it, creates a fierce rivalry, one of the biggest, if not the biggest, that Hulk has with anyone. Ross has been there since the beginning—I’m referring to issue one of The Incredible Hulk, which made Thunderbolt Ross the ideal candidate to become the Red Hulk. Let’s discover what happened.
Early Life and Military Career
Thaddeus Ross was born into a family with a long-standing military lineage, so when Ross was old enough, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps, which would later become the Air Force. He attended West Point and graduated first in his class. He went on to marry his commanding officer’s daughter, Karen Lee, and shortly after found himself in combat during World War II. During the war, he rose to the rank of major, and the soldiers he commanded said he struck like a thunderbolt, earning him the nickname Thunderbolt Ross. Karen and Ross had a daughter, whom they named Betty Ross. Karen died when Betty was in her early teens.
Ross’s Connection with Bruce Banner
After making the rank of General, Ross was reassigned to the Los Alamos missile base in New Mexico. It was there he met a nuclear physicist named Brian Banner, who would later be committed to a mental institution after killing his wife. Ross took an interest in Brian’s son, Bruce Banner, even providing government aid for his education, hoping to use his brilliance as a weapons developer. When he was old enough, Bruce indeed worked for the government and oversaw the development of a gamma bomb. During that time, Banner and Betty Ross met and hit it off, which frustrated General Ross, who had always hoped Betty would fall for a strong military man, not an unmanly scientist. Then, during the testing of the gamma bomb, a series of events led to Bruce Banner being secretly transformed into the Hulk. This was the beginning of the General’s never-ending hunt for the Hulk.
The Hunt for the Hulk Begins
After the emergence of the Hulk, Ross was placed in command of Operation Greenskin, an operation whose sole purpose was to capture the Hulk. Then, during a period when the Hulk was presumed dead, Ross discovered that Hulk and Bruce Banner were actually one and the same. After numerous failures to capture the Hulk, Ross illegally made a deal with the Abomination to take down the Hulk. The Abomination failed in his attempt, which set in motion a series of events that ended with General Ross being relieved of his command of Project Greenskin and having a nervous breakdown. At a point, the Illuminati get frustrated and decide to send Hulk into space. They launch Hulk into space, where he starts a new life on Sakaar. This is the story of World War Hulk.
Ross’s Alliance with MODOK and Becoming the Red Hulk
He was placed under the care of Doctor Samson for a while. After becoming stable enough to return to active duty, he was appointed as the Pentagon special adviser on the Hulk. But when the Hulk was given a presidential pardon for all of his past deeds, it didn’t sit well with Ross. This led Ross, who still felt the Hulk needed to be dealt with, to resort to a shady approach. He entered into an alliance with MODOK, allowing MODOK to free Abomination from captivity to go after the Hulk. The plan failed, and Ross’s shady actions were exposed. Ashamed of his actions, he considered ending his own life, but instead, he deserted his post and became a drifter, only returning when he got word that his daughter Betty was going to marry Bruce Banner. He returned intent on stopping the wedding but was persuaded by Betty to let it happen.
Transformation into the Red Hulk
Ross would then just be around in the comics. He did a little bit of this and a little bit of that until his daughter, Betty, died of radiation poisoning. Ross, of course, blamed the Hulk for her death. Then, as he was drinking his sorrows away in a bar, he was approached by the Leader and MODOK, who offered him a deal he couldn’t refuse. They offered him the power to defeat the Hulk and promised to use their technology to bring his daughter Betty back to life. Ross had preserved Betty’s body in hopes he could one day revive her. He accepted their offer, and they delivered on their promise. After seizing the opportunity to siphon power from the Hulk, they transferred it into Ross, transforming him into a red version of the Hulk.
The Appearance of Red She-Hulk
In Hulk volume 2, issue 22, the Red Hulk is doing his thing, as The Rock would say, delivering the smackdown on a number of other characters. However, near the end of the issue, the Red She-Hulk appears. That’s correct, there is a Red She-Hulk. But not only did she show up there, she showed up at the exact time, as the Red Hulk is saying to himself, “I push myself too hard, gotta get to Banner,” at which point someone kicks him in the face and he exclaims, “Not now, not her,” as we see Red She-Hulk say, “We took a vote. It is time for you to die.” The two then begin battling, but Red Hulk, having expended most of his energy, is easily defeated by Red She-Hulk. She-Hulk even states, “It’s the one advantage Green Hulk has over you. He grows stronger as he becomes angrier. But not you.
You accumulate all that energy like a reactor, but without a cooling system.” Your body overheats. You didn’t realize that the madder the Red Hulk gets, the hotter he gets. Anyway, she then begins to bash his face against her knee in MMA style, stating, “Let me draw off some of that excess energy. On second thought, I’ll just take it all,” she says as she drains the Red Hulk’s power. Red Hulk then urges, “Do it now. Take my life.” But she looks in his eyes, wide-eyed and shocked, and says, “I can’t,” to which he replies, “Why the hell not?” And on the final page of the issue, she replies, “Because you’re my father,” revealing that the Red She-Hulk is Betty Ross, General Ross’s daughter. She was revived as promised by the Leader but made her Red She-Hulk.
Red Hulk’s Powers and Abilities
Red Hulk’s powers and abilities are largely similar to the Hulk’s, with a few minor changes. For example, as we all know, the Green Hulk grows stronger as he becomes angrier. However, the more radiation the Red Hulk is exposed to or consumes, the stronger he becomes, and he can even absorb a variety of other types of radiation, including cosmic radiation. What’s weird about this is that the Green Hulk is constantly emitting radiation, so when the Red Hulk battles the Green Hulk, he gains strength by absorbing Banner’s radiation. The difficulty is that the Red Hulk has a much larger energy output than the Hulk. So, the more enraged he becomes, the hotter he becomes, which means that if the Red Hulk becomes overly angry and continues to exert himself, he will overheat and eventually pass out. What I mean is, as one of you pointed out in a previous Red Hulk episode, the Red Hulk throttles like a PC with a faulty cooling system.
Another distinction is that, Red Hulk doesn’t go through the amnesia phase. He is fully under General Ross’s control. When he becomes Red Hulk, he is still General Ross and can switch at will. This makes him very powerful because he can execute all his battle experience in a fight as Red Hulk. The Red Hulk is essentially the same as the basic Green Hulk, with a few minor modifications. The argument is that the Red Hulk is extremely powerful; he was able to use his radiation absorption to drain the Odin force from Thor throughout their fight, making himself stronger and Thor weaker. He was also able to drain all of the Power Cosmic from the Silver Surfer, nearly killing him in the process. So you might be thinking, “What, he sounds stronger than the normal Banner Hulk?” And, yes, in the short term or at the base level, he is, but remember that he ultimately overheats, so Green Hulk is still as strong as ever.
The Red Hulk has superhuman strength, stamina, speed, and durability. He has a regenerative healing factor. His aging has been slowed, and he can absorb energy. The Red Hulk consistently emits gamma radiation. The angrier he gets, the more he emits, but if he emits too much radiation, he can overheat. The Red Hulk is a skilled tactician, organizer, and leader.
Red Hulk in the MCU and Future Possibilities
From the MCU perspective, evolving Red Hulk opens up many exciting possibilities. First of all, who will defeat him in Captain America: Brave New World? Please don’t say Sam Wilson will do it. If we look at the posters, we see Red Hulk bending his Vibranium shield, indicating his immense strength. It will be a big deal if he doesn’t defeat Sam Wilson. We only see one shot, so we don’t know if Red Hulk is under General Ross’s control. But if they show his overheating power, we know from the comics that Red Hulk is powerful but not for long. Once he starts to overheat, maybe they will exploit that weakness in the movie.
Given how they have brought Red Hulk into the MCU, it seems that his origin will differ from the comics. One common element in both the comics and movies is the Leader. The Leader has mind manipulation and control powers and, along with MODOK, turns Ross into Red Hulk in the comics. Most probably, he will do the same in the movie. In The Incredible Hulk, we saw him researching Hulk’s blood, and in the synopsis, we see he wants to turn the entire world into gamma monsters.
In the comics, there’s another key moment that could answer many questions in the MCU. When Hulk is going through his amnesiac phase and becomes Professor Hulk, living a civilized life, the Leader arrives and manipulates his personality with his mind, turning him back into Savage Hulk. Maybe the Leader is the key to seeing our old Hulk again. Who knows, maybe the Leader gets frustrated and makes Hulk return to his savage form, or maybe Red Hulk’s terror forces Professor Hulk to return to his old form.