Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Captain America: Brave New WorldAfter years of clamor from Marvel fans, Red Hulk has arrived in the recast role as Thunderbolt Ross, and Marvel finally pulled the trigger on one of the most popular Hulk villains of all time.
Whether you agree that Red Hulk should ever have been used in a movie not actually about Bruce Banner's Hulk is of no consequence here, because Brave New World instead makes the latest Captain America movie a personal tale with Ross at its heart. Recently elected President of the United States on a message of unity, Ross attempts to build his legacy as the man who reformed the Avengers and who brought peace to a world on the brink of conflict over the emergence of Adamantium in the dead Celestial poking out of the Indian Ocean.
That quest for peace and collaboration ultimately ends up with Ross turning into Red Hulk thanks to a fairly complex series of events. And now the dust has settled on his genuinely great dust-up with Anthony Mackie's new Captain America, let's get into the key question of his origin. What happened? Why's he red? How is this different to the comics? Could he be back in one of the announced future MCU movies? All you have to do is ask.
Harrison Ford's Thunderbolt Ross Becomes The Red Hulk Through Gamma Pills
General Ross' last appearance in the MCU came in Black Widow, where it was revealed he'd undergone a second triple by after the first saved his life in the run-up to Captain America: Civil War. Despite the surgical intervention, Ross' heart problems persisted, and in Brave New World, he reveals that he was dying before he turns to Samuel Sterns for a medical solution.
In the wake of The Incredible Hulk's ending, Ross had scapegoated Sterns as the real mastermind behind the Abomination (Tim Roth), and subsequently imprisoned him after the mutation of his brain was discovered. Ross took advantage of Sterns' superpower - genius intellect and a near magical perception of probability - to use him as a personal strategist. In return, Ross offered Sterns his freedom once he became President.
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Clearly aware that Ross was manipulating him on a false promise, and keen for Ross' true nature and his evil acts to be made public, The Leader added gamma radiation (in the form of Thorium) to the miracle pills that kept Ross alive. Gradually increasing the dosage of Thorium in the pills, Sterns built up Ross' levels slowly until he reached a Hulk-out cocktail in his blood.
Sterns then embarked on a campaign designed to enrage Ross enough that he'd transform, despite there being no hint that The Leader added any of the variant super soldier serum that was a key part to Bruce Banner's transformation. In essence, Sterns almost kicks off a third world war over the Celestial because he wants to provoke Ross into Hulking out as part of his agenda to ruin his legacy. It's a pretty petty move by someone who could have just leaked all of his actions, but where's the theatricality in that?
Why Red Hulk Is Red Instead Of Green
Strictly Speaking, Red Hulk Is Nothing Like The Original
Strangely, in Captain America: Brave New World itself, there's no actual answer to why The Leader's "treatment" of Thunderbolt Ross leads to him turning into a red Hulk. There is, of course, the symbolism to consider, because Ross is associated with rage, and both the color red and his heat powers could simply be extrapolations of his human characteristics. But the MCU notably changes Ross' origin to remove the death of his daughter from the timeline, and he's not really the rage-filled thorn in the Avengers side he once was.
The answer to the color change comes from the comics. Marvel originally made Red Hulk the result of "experiments" by villainous groups A.I.M. and The Intelligencia, who transformed Ross in a way I'll come to discuss (because the MCU's changes to that set-up are interesting on their own). Because of how Ross was gifted Hulk's stolen powers, using a mixture of cosmic energy and gamma radiation, unlike Banner, who transformed thanks only to the latter, the signature green color associated with gamma radiation was replaced with his red hue.
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In the MCU, Red Hulk's origin is similarly different, which could for the change in color, There's no cosmic energy involved, but Ross is subject to low levels of gamma infection over time, rather than being bombarded with a more-than-lethal dose, and the lack of super soldier serum could be the key to the color difference.
How Thunderbolt Ross's Red Hulk Origin Is Changed From the Comics
After his explosive debut in Hulk #1 (January 2008) Red Hulk’s true identity was revealed 22 issues later in Hulk #22 (March 2010) to be General Thaddeus Thunderbolt Ross. The comics version of his origin was an age-old tale of trauma and revenge, as Ross willingly underwent gamma radiation and cosmic energy treatment by A.I.M. and the Intelligencia. They had essentially stolen Hulk's powers using cosmic rays previous to this.
Red Hulk was essentially the final gambit of a desperate man, twisted by his burning need to defeat the Hulk. The treatment turned him into an angrier, redder version of Bruce Banner’s original, who still possessed impressive strategic skills and intelligence despite it all. The key differences here are obviously the villains behind the transformation, with The Leader replacing A.I.M. and the Intelligencia and the fact that Ross was a willing participant. In the MCU, Tim Blake Nelson's odd-looking villain gradually poisons him with gamma radiation without his knowledge.
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Completely different versions of both The Intelligencia and A.I.M. have previously appeared in the MCU, rather complicating any way to bring them back. A.I.M. was Aldrich Killian's organization in Iron Man 3 (and the source of Extremis), and The Intelligencia were revealed to be the shady villains in She-Hulk who stole her DNA and created the regrettable chapter in MCU history that was Hulkking.
Is Ross Still Red Hulk In The MCU And When He Could Return
By the end of Captain America: Brave New World, Ross has been calmed down by Sam Wilson in a way that isn't unlike Black Widow's calming of Hulk in Avengers: Age Of Ultron and his rampage ends. He is, somewhat inevitably, imprisoned for his crimes alongside The Leader, but interestingly, the suggestion is that his Hulk powers remain. He's sent to the supervillain prison The Raft in case another "tantrum" - as he calls it - happens.
The tragedy for Ross is that he has to still take the pills to survive, so presumably, he'll have another buildup of gamma that can only end one way (barring a sympathetic interference by Bruce Banner, of course). Either someone fixes his medicine - which was the creation of an unprecedented intellect - or Ross is left to die, or left taking the same pills. That, of course, suggests that Ross could return in either Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars, and the fact that Harrison Ford is the best thing about Captain America: Brave New World makes the case for that all the more compelling.
Captain America: Brave New World
- Release Date
- February 14, 2025
- Runtime
- 118 minutes
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