Thunderbolt Ross

Publication history

Thunderbolt Ross first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962), and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as a nemesis for the Hulk. He was a reappearing character throughout this series. His character origin was revealed in The Incredible Hulk #291. The Red Hulk first appeared in Hulk vol. 1 #1 (January 2008) where he was created by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuiness, but his identity as Ross was not revealed until later. He starred in this full series of 5 volumes. The origin of Red Hulk was revealed in Hulk #23.

Red Hulk began appearing as a regular character in Avengers vol. 4, from issue #7 (January 2011) through its final issue #34 (January 2013). His popularity resulted him starring as a main character in the 2012 Thunderbolts series by Daniel Way and Steve Dillon. He also guest starred in the issues #1-3 of the 2011 series, The Avenging Spider-Man (November 2008) by Zeb Wells and Joe Madureira as a team-up character for the main character Spider-Man.

Fictional character biography

Ross grew up in a military environment with both his father and paternal grandfather in the military.

Ross is a General in the Air Force who is in charge of Bruce Banner's gamma bomb project. His daughter, Betty, takes a liking to the young scientist, a fact which only enhances the dislike the rough Ross has for the "weakling" scientist Banner. After Banner's transformation into the Hulk, Ross spends years chasing the monster, becoming obsessed enough with it to commit treason by allying himself with the Leader, MODOK and the Abomination in order to destroy the Hulk. Dismissed from the military, he shows up at Betty and Bruce's wedding with a gun, and shoots Rick Jones. He is recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Clay Quartermain to merge with the electric creature Zzzax, a process that gives Ross superpowers, but also makes him mentally unstable. He is later restored to human form but retains some residual energy-generating powers.

Finally, a mutant who drains people of their life energy attacks Gamma Base in search for a strong host, in this case the Hulk. After witnessing Rick Jones (who was the Hulk at that time) and Banner heroically engaging the mutant, Ross, realizing that he has been wrong about the Hulk being a mindless monster, saves his daughter from being slain by allowing the mutant to latch onto him, and discharging the energy resources he retained from Zzzax. Giving his blessing to Bruce and Betty, he dies in his daughter's arms.

Ross' body is later stolen by the Leader, who uses the powers of one of his followers to resurrect Ross. He turns him into a mindless replacement for his fallen soldier Redeemer. Ross is eventually recovered and revived by agents of the alien Troyjan, and returns to the Air Force. He would later come up with a more cost-effective method of confronting the Hulk when he is in his childlike stage: active non-resistance. He and his men simply do not fire on or engage the Hulk in any way. The Hulk, confused, does not smash and leaps away.

Ross would make friends with Banner, but when Betty is seemingly killed due to what both Ross and Banner believed to have been Banner's gamma-irradiated DNA interacting with hers, he once more pursues the Hulk with a vendetta.

Around this time, General Ryker takes over the pursuit of the Hulk. Ross is indirectly involved, observing when Ryker mentally tortures Banner to try to figure out how the Hulk works. The Hulk escapes from Ryker's control and after several adventures, is lost in space.

After the Hulk returns from exile and initiates "World War Hulk", General Ross, now wearing the stars of a full general, makes his own return, electing to bring the fight to his nemesis once more after Iron Man is felled by the Goliath. After a failed assault on the Hulk, Ross and his men are captured and placed in chains under the watch of Hulk's Warbound, the army he has brought back from space. The Hulk is eventually defeated via satellite weapons that fire upon him, reverting him to human form.

Military branch

Ross' military affiliation has been inconsistently portrayed in the comics. Many early Hulk stories depicted Ross as an Army general trying to capture or destroy the Hulk with his U.S. Army battalion, called the "Hulkbusters". However, he is also frequently seen in an Air Force uniform, as in his first appearance in Incredible Hulk #1. However, stories about his service during World War II portray him as an Army officer in the U.S. Army Air Corps, as the Air Force was not a separate branch of the Armed Forces until September 18, 1947. In a November 2010 Q&A column, then-Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada clarified that Ross is a member of the U.S. Air Force, and that inconsistencies in his uniform can be explained via the artistic license with which artists attempt to present a more dramatic-looking uniform, and that Ross may be a part of a special unit of the U.S. Air Force, or the Marvel Universe's version of it, which has its own unique dress code.

The Army continuity is also followed in various Hulk adaptations, such as in the original 1966 and 1996–1998 cartoon versions of the Hulk, as well as the 2003 Ang Lee movie, Hulk in which he is portrayed by Sam Elliott, and in the 2008 superhero movie The Incredible Hulk, in which he is played by William Hurt. The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Hulk 2004 issue officially indicates Ross to be a three-star lieutenant general in the U.S. Air Force.

Red Hulk

Red Hulk (also known as Rulk or The IncREDible Hulk) was introduced in 2008 in Hulk #1. The Red Hulk was created to be an uninhibited, tactically intelligent adversary to the Hulk. Although Kenneth Johnson, the creator of the 1970s TV series The Incredible Hulk, had suggested a red Hulk for that adaptation decades earlier, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada proposed the idea for the comics to debut a red version of the character, whose human identity was a secret. Initially, Red Hulk's identity was unknown both to the characters in the story and to the reading audience.

The opening story arc of the Hulk series that premiered in 2008 established that the character is very aggressive, as the Red Hulk murders Hulk foes the Wendigo and Abomination; destroys the Helicarrier of the spy organization S.H.I.E.L.D.; defeats several Marvel heroes and, after causing an earthquake in San Francisco, is finally defeated by the combined efforts of the Hulk and the thunder god Thor. In a subsequent storyline, the Collector teams the character with other villains in a team called the Offenders, an evil version of superhero team the Defenders, in a bid to prevent the original Hulk from reuniting with past love Jarella. In this story Red Hulk siphons the Power Cosmic from the Silver Surfer seemingly killing him, steals his board along with Terrax' cosmic axe, and uses the power to go on a killing spree offing Namor, Tiger Shark, Dr. Strange, Baron Mordo, the Grandmaster and before that Terrax, a time displaced Hulk, and Psycho Man. However, when Red Hulk reveals this to Galactus the deity swiftly takes back the Power Cosmic from him. Subsequently, almost everyone he killed is brought back to life with no memory of the event.

The subsequent "Code Red" story arc made further allusions to Red Hulk's real identity, and introduced a Red She-Hulk character, when Domino identifies Red Hulk before his transformation. This leads Red Hulk to creating a team consisting of Deadpool, Punisher, Elektra and Thundra to hunt down the X-Force. Most of these members will team up with Red Hulk again in Marvel Now! Thunderbolts.

It is later revealed that the Red Hulk was created as part of a Super Soldier program by persons including Doc Samson, and the criminal think tank Intelligencia, headed by the Hulk foe MODOK.

In Fall of the Hulks: Gamma, Red Hulk is related in flashback to have killed General Ross at the behest of Bruce Banner, with whom he has formed an alliance. However, the 2010 "World War Hulks" storyline reveals that Red Hulk is Thunderbolt Ross himself, the Red She-Hulk his daughter Betty, and that the Ross who was "killed" was a Life Model Decoy used to convince the world that he had died. Red Hulk then thwarts the Intelligencia's plan to take over the United States with a Life Model Decoy of Glenn Talbot by destroying the Talbot LMD, and attempts to take over the country himself. He is thwarted by a restored Hulk (in possession of Banner's intelligence) who beats Red Hulk mostly due to Red's exhaustion and from overheating. Hulk tells Red Hulk that it was his idea to fake Ross' death and that he can never again resume that identity. After imprisoning Red Hulk in the Gamma Base, Banner makes arrangements with Captain Steve Rogers for Red Hulk to join the Avengers.

After Captain Steve Rogers recruits Red Hulk, Red Hulk manages to stop Intelligencia's failsafe plan, "Scorched Earth." Although Banner had claimed that he removed Red Hulk's energy-draining ability from him because it was killing Red Hulk, Red Hulk is shown to still possess this ability. After the events of the Scorched Earth program, Red Hulk was paired up with a female Life Model Decoy named Annie. Red Hulk was occasionally assaulted by Thunderbolt Ross' former protege General Reginald Fortean (who used a special gun that caused remote-activated nano-mines to enter Red Hulk's brain that would take action if Red Hulk changed back), Zero/One (a scientist who was exposed to a virus created by MODOK), and Black Fog (a serial killer from India that was empowered by Zero/One).

Red Hulk plays a vital role in the Infinity Gem crisis of the Heroic Age storyline. After being soundly defeated by a Power Gem-wielding Hood, he later helps Namor and Thor reclaim Namor's Time Gem from the ocean, and acquires the Power Gem from the Hood. Red Hulk is then inducted into the Avengers.

During the Fear Itself storyline, Red Hulk attempts unsuccessfully to stop the Thing (in the form of Angrir: Breaker of Souls) from destroying the Avengers Tower, as MODOK Superior and Black Fog converge on both combatants during the fight. Angrir dispatches Red Hulk by knocking him out of the city and into Vermont.

During the "X-Sanction" story arc, Red Hulk fights Cable, who mistakes Red Hulk for "Talbot", as Red Hulk tells him that his true identity is someone that Cable had never fought before. Cable infects Red Hulk with a techno-organic virus, but Red Hulk is able to superheat his body and burn the virus out of his system.

During the Avengers vs. X-Men storyline, Red Hulk fights Colossus, damaging the pillar that held up the X-Men's island headquarters Utopia, and spurring Colossus to forfeit the battle. Considering the Phoenix Five a threat to Earth, Red Hulk invades Utopia to assassinate Cyclops. However, he is confronted by Cyclops and the X-Men, who send Red Hulk back to the Avengers with an "X" carved in his chest. Nevertheless, Red Hulk considers that Cyclops lost the war the moment he spared his life.

As part of the Marvel NOW! relaunch, Red Hulk leads a non-government sponsored version of the Thunderbolts. This incarnation is a strike team that cleans up the messes left by Ross' military career, but the team later decides on a new arrangement where the team will do one mission for Ross, then a mission for a random member.

After Hulk's Doc Green form depowers Rick Jones, Skaar and Betty Ross, Thunderbolt Ross starts monitoring Hulk's moves. He finds Doc Green in San Francisco and engages him in combat as Red Hulk. Doc Green tries to inject Red Hulk with the cure in the middle of the fight, but Red Hulk breaks the needle. After having his arm broken by Red Hulk, Doc Green lures him to a portal to his base, the Beehive. There, Doc Green takes the time to scan Red Hulk for data before teleporting him back elsewhere. The following days, Ross makes the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository his base, so he can be ready and absorb its radiation in case Doc Green found him. Doc Green ultimately finds Ross with the help of Deadpool. He also uses Deadpool's help for another purpose....when Doc Green confronts the Red Hulk, Deadpool shoots Ross' ear with a bullet that delivers a compound that interferes with his ability to absorb energy. After a furious battle, Doc Green is finally able to subdue the Red Hulk and inject him with the cure reverting him to Thunderbolt Ross. The Army is alerted to the confrontation. When they arrive, the Army arrests Ross for deserting his country.

During the Civil War II storyline, it is revealed that Thunderbolt Ross is currently incarcerated in a classified military prison.

Powers and abilities

Thunderbolt Ross is an expert military strategist.

Marvel editor Mark Paniccia has described the Red Hulk as "absolutely uninhibited, tactically intelligent", while writer Jeph Loeb states "The Red Hulk is the kind of Hulk we haven't seen before—a thinking, calculating, brutal weapon-toting kind of Hulk." To further distance the character away from the original: "Everything the Green Hulk isn't, the Red Hulk is. Except, of course, for his powers which are identical. And he looks the same, except he's red. And he's the same size. But other than that, they're complete opposites." The character has abilities almost identical to those of the current Hulk. The character can also emit heat at will from his eyes during non-enraged periods, and can augment power levels by absorbing various types of energy, such as gamma radiation (in one instance causing the Hulk to revert to alter ego Bruce Banner) and the Power Cosmic. When infected with Cable's techno-organic virus during the "X-Sanction" storyline, he was able to control this heat to burn the virus out of his system. Red Hulk was created through a combination of gamma radiation and cosmic rays. The satellites used to revert the Hulk to human form at the end of World War Hulk were used to power the device used to turn Ross into the Red Hulk. Unlike the green Hulk, the Red Hulk does not revert to human form when rendered unconscious, and his blood is a fluorescent yellow instead of green, remaining that color even in human form. Unlike the green Hulk, who gets stronger as his rage increases, Red Hulk's body temperature rises with his anger. Though the heat is intense enough to melt desert sand into glass, it causes him to weaken when it becomes too intense, as his physiology lacks a cooling mechanism to deal with the excess heat. Red Hulk has also been shown to have a weakness to Negative Zone energy, which caused him burning pain and drained him when he attempted to absorb it.

Red Hulk reception

Comics featuring the Red Hulk have sold well, but received mixed reviews. The first five issues of the Hulk title sold out, and second printings featured new covers. Issue #6 was the second best-selling title of September 2008, and issue #10 was sixth in February 2009.

Augie De Blieck Jr. of Comic Book Resources gave the first six issues a positive review, describing it as a "silly fun action romp" and a "popcorn comic". De Blieck liked Loeb's lack of subtlety when giving out clues, saying "this is a book where anytime someone is about reveal the solution to the big mystery, they get knocked out by a slap in the face from the Red Hulk or a machine gun to the gut". His one criticism was that, although he liked the artwork, he would have preferred Dale Keown as the artist.

Red Hulk was listed as #41 on IGN's "Top 50 Avengers". IGN reviewer Jesse Schedeen was generally critical of the series, citing a lack of character development and the emphasis on continuous action sequences over the ongoing question of Red Hulk's identity. Schedeen also derided the treatment of other mainstream Marvel characters within the pages of Hulk, saying about issue #5 "The series has already treated She-Hulk and Iron Man like ragdolls who crumple under the awesome might of Red Hulk. Now it's Thor's turn". Claiming bad dialogue, poor pacing and maltreated characters, Schedeen stated that Ed McGuinness' artwork was the only saving grace for the title.

Other versions

Television

Film

Video games

Other merchandise

Red Hulk has been merchandised in the form of toy action figures and miniature statues.