Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (later known as Red Hulk) is a character from Marvel Comics. He is an adversary of the Hulk turned military fighter. First appearing in the Universal Studios/Marvel's 2008 film The Incredible Hulk, he returns to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in several follow-ups. He was played by William Hurt until his death from prostate cancer in 2022, later being recast by Harrison Ford.
Thaddeus Ross had approved of a project for Bruce Banner to make soldiers immune to gamma radiation. In actuality, the project was to create a new super soldier serum, which Ross never told Banner. Banner ended up transforming into the Hulk due to his experiments and Ross proceeded to hunt him down to reclaim him stating "As far as I'm concerned that whole man's body is property of the U.S. army".
After his elite soldier, Emil Blosnky, transformed into the Abomination, Ross found himself switching allegiances and allied with Banner to defeat him.
The Consultant
Upon learning that the World Security Council sought to free the Abomination, Sitwell summons Coulson to devise a plan to stop this. They needed someone so annoying and irritating that makes the General not release Blonsky, that someone was Tony Stark.
While Ross was drinking in a bar, Tony arrives and says he needs to talk to him.
After the incident with the Hulk, he became Secretary of State of United States and approved the Sokovia Accords proposed by the United Nations after an incident in Lagos, Nigeria, in which many deaths occurred when Wanda Maximoff accidentally destroyed a building during a mission of the Avengers.
Ross goes to the Avengers facility to present the Sokovia Accords to the heroes. He shows them footage of the destruction and chaos caused by their interventions during missions. He then tells them if they refuse to sign the Accords, they will be forced to retire.
After Bucky Barnes was accused of killing the King of Wakanda, Ross gives Tony Stark 24 hours to find and bring him in. Ross was also in charge of the Raft.
Thaddeus Ross appears in an holographic video call as the Avengers reunite at their HQ. Seeing the fugitive Avengers reunited with the other Avengers, he orders James Rhodes to arrest everyone present, but Rhodes dismisses Ross, since Thanos' impeding invasion of Earth is the more pressing matter. He is one of the victims that disappears when Thanos erases half of the life in the universe.
Since this movie takes place around 2016, during the time Natasha is a fugitive after the events of the Civil War, Thaddeus Ross tries to apprehend her, but fails. This is also the final MCU project to star William Hurt as the character.
Thaddeus Ross appears in three episodes of Season 1, voiced by Mike McGill. He first appears in "What If... The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?", where he witnesses the Hulk being killed by Hank Pym at Culver University, after confronting the Hulk for his actions. Another variant appears in "What If... Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?", where he is depicted as an Air Force officer unlike his other counterparts who appear as members of the US. Army.
Thaddeus Ross appears in this film, now played by Harrison Ford, following William Hurt's death in 2022. Sometime after Sam Wilson accepts the Captain America mantle, Ross asks him to help him rebuild the Avengers, demanding that he does his job as the new Captain America, properly.[1] Sometime later, he becomes Red Hulk and is the aim for an assassination attempt by Isaiah Bradley.
At some point during his military career, General Ross was charged with capturing or destroying the Hulk. When he learned that Hulk is near Las Vegas, he moved his Hulkbuster forces there. Ross was inside the Hulkbuster Command Vehicle monitoring the battle against the Hulk. Ross was enraged when two agents from S.H.I.E.L.D. interfered in his mission.
He recklessly fired the missile on the Hulk while being distracted by twoagents despite direct orders. The Hulk ultimately saved the two from the missile. Everyone in the scene was surprised including Ross. After Hulk also saved the shuttle from crashing, he was captured and taken to the Cube. Ross and his Hulkbuster Unit was ordered to stand down by Nick Fury.
Ross and the Hulkbuster Unit were in motion again when the Hulk left the Avengers. They almost captured him in Northern Canada but were stopped by Hawkeye and were forced to retreat.
To combat the Hulk, Winter Soldier injected a modified version of the Hulk's blood into Ross which turns him into the Red Hulk.
He then began a rampage which heavily damaged the Helicarrier, which attracted the Avengers and brawled with Hulk before leaving under Dell Rusk's orders. A decoy Ross was leading his Hulkbusters in order to protect his secret identity.
Ross then locked Banner in a highly-secured base. But Captain America and Iron Man convinced the President to clear his name and give orders to reluctant Ross to let him go. Somehow, Ross have his own plans, he planted a device on Banner so he could control him which he causes the latter to go Hulk and on the rampage. Seeing as an opportunity to join the Avengers, he showed up as the Red Hulk and took out the Hulk. After the fight, Red Hulk went to Cap and asked him if he can join the Avengers. On TV, he spent a week helping people trying to prove to be a better Hulk while his decoy did his part pretending to hate the Red Hulk on the press conference. Outside the Avengers Mansion, Iron Man gave Red Hulk an Avengers ID Card as a sign of being a new member in an official membership coronation. Cap who wasn't present there and instead was watching the membership coronation on screen, asked J.A.R.V.I.S. to get information about him but was interrupted when Red Hulk entered the room trying to convince him to accept him. After discovering Cap's intentions, Red Hulk have showed his teammates the footage of Cap in Banner's cell and made up a story that Cap's gonna free the Hulk. After they decided to stop Cap, Red Hulk then said "Avengers...assemble."
Red Hulk then led them to the Helicarrier and accused Cap for helping the Hulk not mentioning Wasp who was helping him. The argument quickly led to a brawl between the Hulk and Red Hulk. His true intentions were revealed after Cap removed the device and its remote. Red Hulk was quickly apprehended by being caught in a self-replicating high-density nanite compound implanted in his ID Card Iron Man cooked up just in case if he goes rogue. Red Hulk then reverted back to Ross, which shocks everyone but enrages Hulk who was more than eager to put him out of his misery for good but hesitates thanks to Cap. Ross was then locked up in his prison cell while he still ranting mad about the Hulk.
At the beginning of the series we get a glimpse of Ross as he used to be before becoming the Red Hulk, he reluctantly joins forces with the Hulk sometime after his transformation.
After Skaar arrived on Earth, Red Hulk took him down with a rocket and imprisoned him in an anti-gravity holding chamber. Skaar managed to escape, and Red Hulk took on Annihilus' bugs before being captured and sent to the Negative Zone.
Red Hulk is paired up with Captain America and Iron Fist by the Collector to help Spider-Man in a 'Capture the Flag' game. Spider-Man uses Red Hulk's heating ability to defeat Sandman, causing the Grandmaster to summon Blastaar and Ymir. While they make their way, Red Hulk attempts to thaw out Captain America after being frozen by Ymir only for Captain America to be removed from the game. During the fight at the docks, Red Hulk tries to take on Ymir only to be knocked down by Blastaar. Ymir then steps on Red Hulk, removing him from the game.
Red Hulk was first seen shackled to the ground by the Squadron Supreme. Later, Truman Marsh replaces Hulk with Red Hulk on the Avengers. Red Hulk asks the Avengers what they are going to smash first.
Sam Elliott, who previously played General Ross in the 2003 Hulk film, stated that he would have liked to reprise his role if William Hurt hadn't replaced him in the MCU.[2]
The teaser trailer for Captain America: Brave New World originally showed Isaiah Bradley attempt an assassination on Thaddeus Ross around the time he becomes president of the United States. However, the scene was later removed from the trailer a few months later the real-life assassination attempt on former U.S. president Donald Trump in July of 2024.
