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 Blonsky, 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 as the newly elected President of the United States, 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. Sometime later, he becomes Red Hulk and is the aim for an assassination attempt by Isaiah Bradley. After fighting Sam as Red Hulk, Ross is arrested and accepts his fate in the raft, having resigned as president of the United States.
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.[1]
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, due to the real-life assassination attempt on then-former U.S. president Donald Trump, in July of 2024.
Kevin Feige describes Harrison Ford's portrayal as Thaddeus Ross/Red Hulk as a "pinch yourself" moments for him.[2]
Thaddeus Ross on the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki
Thaddeus Ross (Earth-199999) on Marvel Comics Database
