Thunderbolt Ross

Origin

“We’ve plumb run out of time! I want that blasted spy caught… And I want him caught now!! The security of this entire missile command… Of this entire nation… May be at stake! If I don’t get results, I’ll take it out of your hides!! I’ll break every one of you…!! Do I make myself clear??! Now get going!! You have your orders! Obey them!! Bring me that spy!!” — Thunderbolt Ross

Born and raised in a military family, the young Thaddeus Ross spent much of his early life planning to join the Army, as had his father and his grandfather before him. However, the death of a close friend caused Ross to choose the Air Force instead. He attended West Point and came top of his class, and served bravely in several battles. He met and married Karen Lee, the daughter of his then-commanding officer. The couple had one daughter, Betty, and Ross used his influence to give the child a stable upbringing. However, Karen died of cancer when Betty was young teen, which caused Ross to grow distant with her. He rose quickly through the ranks, eventually obtaining the rank of general. He was assigned to command Desert Base, New Mexico, where Dr Bruce Banner’s gamma ray experiments were carried out. He was in control of the base when the accident that caused Banner to become the Hulk occurred.

Creation

General Ross was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 (1962). Red Hulk was created by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness and first appeared in The Hulk #1 (2008).

Major Story Arcs

Hunting the Hulk

Following the creation of the Hulk, Ross became involved in hunting the monster down. Simultaneously, he begins to suspect that Banner, who he has always disliked, is engaged in treason due to his frequent unexplained absences. After Banner’s identity as the Hulk is revealed, Ross continues to pursue him ruthlessly for years, though his attempts to capture the Hulk are universally unsuccessful. He was later given control of Operation: Greenskin, which was intended to capture and cure the Hulk. During one operation to capture the Hulk Ross is taken prisoner in Russia. After he is rescued, he is relieved of command and placed on leave. Despite this, he maintains his involvement in searching for the Hulk, culminating in a nervous breakdown that is brought on by Moonstone. Soon after his return from his nervous breakdown, the Hulk is pardoned for all his crimes. Gripped by his obsessive desire to destroy the Hulk, Ross forms an alliance with Abomination and MODOK to kill the Hulk. Following this plan’s failure and the discovery of his treason by Betty, Ross drops out of his life and is dishonourably discharged from the military. He reappears when Betty and Banner prepare to marry, and attempts to interrupt their wedding. He is prevented from doing so, and hospitalized. Sometime later he participates in an experiment that is designed to give him the powers of Zzzax, but goes badly wrong, resulting in Zzzax absorbing Ross’ consciousness. Realizing he has become a monster like the one that he so loathes, the hybrid creature flees, and Ross’ consciousness returns to his body, retaining some residual energy powers. He later sacrifices himself to end the threat posed by the mutant Nevermind.

Redeemer

Ross’ body is stolen by the Leader, who has Soul Man resurrect Ross’ body but not his mind. He uses the mindless husk to act as the new pilot for the Redeemer armour. His body was rescued by the Troyjans, who help to restore his memories and personality to his body. He is returned to the Air Force, and soon reinstated. After his return he encouraged passive non-reaction in dealing with the Hulk, in order to minimize the monetary and human cost of interactions with the Hulk.

World War Hulk and Red Hulk

General Ross played a key-role in the defense of New York City when the Hulk returned to earth and wanted vengeance against the superheroes that had send him off to space. General Ross was the commander of the U.S. forces in the events that would become known as World War Hulk. In the aftermath of these events, it seemed that Bruce Banner was ridden of his Hulk alter ego. However, some weeks after, a mysterious figure identified as Red Hulk emerged, hurting several characters and baffling those who where sent to hunt him. He was ultimately defeated by Thor and the green Hulk working together, though he managed to escape before his identity is revealed. He continued to weather attacks from heroic forces, but his identity remained secret. Later he was contacted by the Collector, who induced him to form a team, dubbed the Offenders, who battled the heroic Defenders. Red Hulk managed to kill the Hulk, and quickly turns on his own team, killing most of the participants in the fight. All of the dead are resurrected by the Grandmaster, who Red Hulk then kills. The Collector ends the battle.

Uncovering the Truth

She-Hulk attempts to uncover the Red Hulk’s identity, and discovers at an AIM facility that he was created by MODOK with the help of Ross. Red Hulk attacks the group that is infiltrating the facility, fighting Ben Urich and Spider-Man before being confronted by the Hulk. During their ensuing fight the Red Hulk absorbs all of the Hulk’s radiation, preventing him from transforming into the Hulk. Red Hulk possibly has his identity compromised by Domino. He pursues her, eventually acquiring a team, known as Code Red, with which to track her down. The team’s pursuit of Domino leads to a confrontation with X-Force, which in turn leads to the arrival of Red She-Hulk, who saves Red Hulk but later attempts to kill him. He is betrayed by his employers, the Intelligencia, who set him up to have his identity exposed in order to humble him.

Fall of the Hulks

Facing off against Ross, Red Hulk appears to kill the general. It is revealed that the Ross who has died is actually a Life Model Decoy, and his apparent death is part of a plot by Red Hulk and Bruce Banner to take down the Intelligencia. He spends a great deal of time attempting to thwart various Intelligencia operations, coming to the rescue of the Fantastic Four, and attempting to rescue T’Challa and Beast, though he is interrupted by the arrival of the X-Men. He confronts members of the Intelligencia on their Hellcarrier, but accidentally aids them when they use his energy to create an army of Hulks. He battles them, but the loss of his energy forces him to revert to his de-powered state, revealing his identity to be Ross. He is attacked by Cosmic Hulk, who accidentally transfers enough energy to Ross to allow him to transform back into Red Hulk. In this form he travels to the White House and destroys a Life Model Decoy of Glenn Talbot, announcing himself to be in charge. He is attacked by Hulk, who defeats him and impels him to remain in his Hulk body before imprisoning him. He then makes arrangements for Red Hulk to join the Avengers.

Scorched Earth

Having had his ability to drain energy from others taken away due to its detrimental effects on his health, specifically stopping him from becoming human again, Red Hulk joins the Avengers. With them he again becomes involved in opposing the Intelligencia, this time dealing with their mysterious Scorched Earth plan. Ultimately, he is able to defeat the Scorched Earth plans by destroying a MODOK supercomputer, though unbeknownst to him he fails to prevent the creation of MODOK Superior

Joining the Avengers and Fear Itself

Red Hulk joined the Avengers in searching for the Infinity Gems and opposing the Hood. He works with Namor and Thor to locate the Time Gem, and later also acquires the Power Gem. After his actions during the quest, he is formally inducted into the Avengers. Although many of the Avengers felt resentment against the Red Hulk joining them, Thunderbolt Ross accepted the position and became the newest member of the Avengers team. Some weeks later the events of Fear Itself occurred. It was in this time that the Asgardian Serpent God was freed and gave mystical Hammers to some superhumans to become his avatars of destruction. When the Thing acquires a Hammer and became Angrir, Red Hulk defended Avengers Tower against him. The battle was extremely vicious, and Red Hulk sustained some serious injuries, but refrained from using his energy draining abilities. Because of this, he was unable to prevent the Thing from destroying the Tower, the collapse of which seriously injured and trapped him. He was nearly killed by Black Fog, but saved by MODOK, who in turn accidentally drew the attention of the Thing away from Red Hulk. Red Hulk was later located, half-dead, in a crater in Vermont.

The Omegex Saga

Ross is attacked by Omegex, and the pair engage in a lengthy battle. It is briefly halted by the intervention of Zero/One, who inspects Red Hulk’s life in the hopes of understanding him. At Red Hulk’s insistence he is returned to the fight, but his attempt to drain Omegex’s energy fails, and he is again removed from the field of battle. He is returned a third time and, resigned to his death, transforms into Ross, so that he can die as a man. At this, Omegex dissipates, having taken his transformation as indicative of the death of the Red Hulk, which was his mission.

Hulk of Arabia

Ross travels to Qatar after learning that a close friend had died there. The Secret Avengers attempt to bring him home from the war zone, but he resists them. Eventually, the group decides to allow him to remain in Qatar to deal with an arms dealer, Dagan Shah. He and Machine Man infiltrate Shah’s headquarters, and Red Hulk is poisoned, forcing him to revert to Ross. He and Machine Man are then captured by Shah, who had been masquerading as the Arabian Knight. They manage to escape, and engage in a fight with Shah before being forced to leave the area due to his city being recognized as an independent nation.

Circle of Four

Red Hulk travels to Las Vegas to hunt down Venom, who has escaped. There, he forms an alliance with Venom, X-23 and Ghost Rider to fight Blackheart. He is killed during the fighting by the Evangelist. In Hell, Mephisto offers to give him and his allies their lives back if they manage to defeat Blackheart. Returning to Earth, Red Hulk bonds with the symbiote and the Spirit of Vengeance in order to fight Blackheart. They manage to defeat him, and Red Hulk returns the symbiote and Spirit to their owners. At the arrival of the Secret Avengers, he argues in favour of Flash Thompson keeping control of the symbiote.

Haunted

Red Hulk becomes haunted by all those who he is responsible for allowing to die. He travels to the Penance Pool to rid himself of these spirits, which brings him into brief conflict with a clan of vampires called The Forgiven. He later becomes involved in confrontations with a variety of monsters in the Monster Metropolis that leads to the revelation that he is still haunted by Leonard Samson. With the assistance of the monsters, he is able to rid himself of this final ghost.

Avengers vs X-Men

Red Hulk fights on the side of the Avengers against the X-Men, taking on such foes as Colossus, Iceman, and Kid Gladiator.

Thunderbolts

Ross later formed his own team of Thunderbolts, made up of lone anti heroes who are all willing to kill when the need arises. This team consisted of Ross himself, Punisher, Deadpool, Elektra, and Flash Thompson. He managed to gian their loyalty by telling the team-members they would each help one another with a different mission that was close to the heart of it’ teammembers. The group had numerous missiosn together, with Ross acting as supervisor to the strange band of mercenaries. Eventually the team disbands after the Punisher starts targeting his former teammates.

Loss of powers

After being injected with the Extremis serum, Banner undergoes a new transformation and becomes Doc Green, a smarter, more arrogant personality. Doc Green sets out to rid the world of Gamma-powered heroes and villains, and develops a cure to rob them of their abilities. After depowering A-Bomb and Red She-Hulk, and exiling Lyra into another dimension, he sets his sight on the Red Hulk.

With help from Deadpool, Doc Green sets an elaborate trap for Ross, forcing him into a confrontation. After a heated, epic battle, he manages to inject Ross with the cure. Now powerless, Ross is arrested by the U.S. military and charged with deserting his country.

Presidential Appointment

Ross got paroled for leading resisters against Hydra during the events of Secret Empire. The new president appointed him to look over the increasing number of Hydra nostalgics protesting across the country, leading him to cross paths with Captain America.

Personality

Ross has a bit of a gruff, tough exterior, and has shown to be very sarcastic (especially when he became the Red Hulk.) He usually sees Hulk as a threat, and will stop at nothing to eliminate him. Despite all this, he is a good man inside with good intentions, and he does what he does to protect his country and his loved ones, although his view on Hulk is often highly misguided (that’s the case for many, though.)

Powers

As a Human

Much as like Bruce Banner, Thaddeus Ross is relatively normal whilst in base human form. However, he possesses a decent amount of strength, speed and agility for a standard human, most likely a result of regular exercise and training. He is also incredibly militarily skilled from his years in the Army and is a master tactician and strategist. He is also very skilled at flying military and commercial planes and is adept at multiple forms of guns and melee weaponry (ex. chains, swords, hunting knives etc.).

Prior to his battle with the Omegex, Ross was also able to absorb external energy forces in order to trigger an immediate transformation event at times of extreme peril and weakness. He was also able to generate high electrical impulses as a side effect of his mental binding with the Zzax creature. This bond remained for a long period of time, and he was able to use it in Red Hulk form to force Zzax to retaliate against MODOK Superior. This ability, as with the energy absorption, has seemingly been nullified ever since.

As Red Hulk/Rulk

After Intelligencia made their experiment on Ross by his request, he gained the ability to turn into the behemoth in the form of Red Hulk giving him massive levels of physical strength, durability and healing factor. One of the differences between Red Hulk and Green Hulk is that Ross doesn’t turn into Red Hulk when he gets angry but only by willing it. Another difference is that Red Hulk won’t turn back to Ross when he gets KOed but his transformation from his human for to Red Hulk for and vice versa is totally based on his will to transform.

Superhuman Berserker Strength

In Red Hulk form, Ross displays an incredible amount of strength. As with The Hulk, Red Hulk can lift with incredible ease more than 100 metric tons and have a strength threshold far beyond what has been currently seen, although his strength is hampered by his heat generation and lack of a similar strength building mechanism as his green ancestor.

While as the Green Hulk can build upon his strength through gamma generation in his cellular structure to even greater levels, Red Hulk has, so far, been seen as being unable to perform a similar feat, most likely due to the complex radioactive and cosmic cocktail that helped create him in the first place. However, he did display prominently an ability to forcibly drain the energy out of an enemy though physical contact (or even close proximity to his body) and use it to magnify his already huge power level.

The most impressive showing of his strength is holding his own against warious Marvel Powerhouses like Green Hulk, Thor and Angrir (The Thing amped by Asgardian Magic and Uru Hammer) as well as easily overpowering the likes of She-Hulk, Abomination and A-Bomb.

Durability

Red Hulk has an incredibly durable body, and has physically been able to withstand a direct blow to the face with Thor’s hammer Mjolinir, only to laugh it off with only an “X” caved into his face. He has also taken on multiple super-humans at one time, effectively shaking them off and decisively beating them multiple times. Though Powerhouses Such as Hulk, Thor, Angrir and Iron-man still damage him, and in time it may result in a KO.

His skin and muscle, being as thick and dense as it is, allows for Rulk to survive deep sea depth equal to those seen in the Marianas Trench with no ill physical effects outside of the need for oxygen. He can also withstand direct contact with molten lava and can operate in a fiery environment with little worry of external damage. His body is tough enough to survive the conditions of space itself, at one point not only jumping to the moon while dragging Thor behind him, but also leaping back to Earth and surviving unscathed a deep crater-forming impact.

However, unlike the other Hulk, the Red Hulk in particular has a weakness to sharp objects. Characters such as Wolverine and Punisher managed to pierce the Red Hulk’s hide.

Stamina

Rulk has an almost unending supply of stamina, able to theoretically fight for days on end without stopping. He can also force himself to stay awake for several months, functioning solely of adrenaline and lingering stamina. He can also recuperate immensely quickly lost stamina; he’d be able to jump back into the fray of battle, even after being impaled, gutted etc.

Regeneration and Possible “Immortality”

As with the Green Hulk, Red Hulk possesses an incredibly fast hearing factor. However, while his counterpart is able to regenerate more and more with anger, this isn’t possible for Rulk as his strength levels cannot increase in rage. This does not mean that he has a less potent healing factor. It just means that it cannot be accelerated as fast as that of The Incredible Hulk.

He is also seen to have a weakness for bladed objects, but this may be due to the fact that Red Hulk is attacked more often with stakes and swords than his counter-part, who often deals more in physical or energy attacks. Despite these very minor differences, Red Hulk can still repair wounds normally permanently debilitating for humans (ex. regenerate new eyes after having them cut open by Wolverine’s claws). This regeneration also helps to keep Red Hulk in a semi-permanent mature state. Though it should be remarked that the Green Hulk would have healed the eye slash far quicker than Red Hulk, which seems to imply that though Red Hulks Healing powers are strong, they are not stronger than the Original Hulks.

This means that Red Hulk cannot physically age as a standard human can. For him to start resembling someone of old age, he’s have to be in Red Hulk form permanently for over a century. However in his human form Ross still ages like a Normal Human. His body continually regenerates damaged tissue, meaning he is immune to most known diseases, including the Techno-organic Virus (of which he managed to “sweat out” by increasing his body temperature to destroy the virus.) It is also possible that this regeneration has also caused him to reverse the aging process, essentially making himself physically younger than his real age intends. If Red Hulk does end up surviving all the threats on his person, there is the possibility that he will remain alive for essentially eternity.

Self Sustenance

Red Hulk can function for extended periods within intake of food, oxygen and water. However, it is seen that he oftentimes eats whole carcasses of cooked animals (ex. deer, cows etc.) and might signify an energy balance factor seen primarily in shrew-like animals, where to maintain an extremely high body temperature and subsequent physical energy, the body requires immense intake of protein. However, as he is not seen to eat in bulk often, it is unsure whether this is the case or not for Red Hulk, or even the Green Hulk for that matter.

Mega Heat Generation

While Green Hulk increases his strength with his rage, Red Hulk unleashed high temperatues and heat from his body which is hotter and hotter the more inraged he is. A significant downside that Red Hulk has compared to the green Hulk is that his body cannot support the intense heat he generates if his temper flares out of control. Unlike most creatures that would normally just sweat it out, the heat is so intense that every liquid would most likely evaporate instantaneously, essentially baking Red Hulk from the inside-out. This in turn makes him very dizzy, lose conscious control of his body and cause intense pain if allowed to increase further.

Energy absorption

Rulk cannot, as stated above, build strength the same way as the Incredible Hulk can. However, he was able to build his immense strength levels further by draining power from enemies and applying it to his own force. Similarly to the way Rogue’s absorption abilities work, except that a brush of the skin, unless intentional, does not harm unintended victims and he cannot gain never before seen abilities as she can.

Red Hulk can also release the stored collected energy in his body all at once in an fire-like way, knocking back enemies as well as burning them. He can also, at times, light himself on fire with this same energy when in a rage, seemingly breathing fire as he snarls animalistically at his enemies.

But when Red hulk absorbs too much energy, he overloads, the Red She-Hulk even described Rulk as a ” Reactor without a cooling system’, there for too much energy makes Hulk very tired and dizzy.

He is also shown to have a severe reaction to Negative Energy when absorbed, causing intense pain beyond the threshold for a hulk and possibly generate an allergic reaction within his physiognomy. He is also weak to mental attack, mainly because his rage does not envelop his mind entirely like it does when the Hulk goes into rage mode. But with the help of a mental helmet to block psychic attack, this problem hasn’t been much of a problem lately (outside of a brief skirmish with Emma Frost during the Avengers vs. X-men arc.)

Although this ability has seemingly been short-circuited in an attempt to drain the Omegex, it is unclear whether he still retains the increased power level from his energy vampirism or if it was a temporary injection of force.

Former Powers

While energy absorption appears to be a “former” ability, Red Hulk had held multiple different abilities at one point. During the combined Venom story-arc of Circle of Four, Red Hulk becomes exposed to both the Venom Symbiote and the Spirit of Vengeance. The result is a huge hulking skeleton wrapped in black and red fiery torn musculature and tendrils, edged out with thick toe claws, elongated black nails and angler fish-like set of massive criss-crossing barbed yellow fangs. In this combined Hulked-Out Symbiote of Vengeance, Rulk had, not only all the abilities he possessed as only in Hulk-form, but also those of Venom and Ghost Rider, at one pint web swinging and conducting a Penance Stare at Blackheart (son of Mephisto) at the same time.

Alternate Versions

Age of Apocalypse

Ross appears as a member of the Human High Council.

Heroes Reborn

Ross is present during the Second World War, and does not agree with Captain America’s protest about the atomic bomb. He is later responsible for assigning Nick Fury to head SHIELD, and eventually becomes Chief of Staff for the military.

Amalgam

Ross is the head of Project Cadmus who adopts the clone Spider-Boy and raises him. He is killed by a mugger, spurring Spider-Boy to become a hero.

Ultimate Marvel

Ross is the head of SHIELD. He later works as a liaison between the Fantastic Four and the government.

Mini Marvels

Ross appears as a kinder character who is friends with the Hulk

1602: New World

Ross is an admiral in the Royal Navy, and is sent to Roanoke to attack the Witchbreed.

newuniversal

Ross is Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and authorizes the use of nuclear weapons on superhumans. This draws some criticism.

Other Media

Animation

The Incredible Hulk

Ross appears as an antagonist in the 1982 series. He is voiced by Robert Ridgely.

The Incredible Hulk

Ross appears as a recurring antagonist in this 1996 show. He is voiced by John Vernon.

Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes

Ross makes a cameo appearance in the episode “Hard Knocks”.

Iron Man: Armored Adventures

Ross appears in the episode “Heavy Mettle,” voiced by Eric Bauza.

The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes

Ross appears in several episodes as both Ross and Red Hulk. Ross is voiced by Keith Ferguson, while Red Hulk is voiced by Fred Tatasciore.

In Season 2, Episode 9 “Nightmare in Red”, General Ross is seen having a meeting with Maria Hill and Doc Samson regarding the possibility of using a sample of the Hulk’s blood to create super powered gamma soldiers for the military. Doc Samson is very opposed to this, claiming the events that led to his creation and the creation of the Hulk cannot be replicated and any experimentation would only result in uncontrollable monsters. Maria Hill states she will consider the request. However we see the Winter Soldier secretly breaking into the vault where the sample is being stored and is successfull in stealing it. He then takes the sample to Ross and injects it in his arm, creating the Red Hulk. Ross then goes on a rampage in the Hellicarrier and easily overpowers the SHIELD agents, after which Captain America and the Wasp arrive but are also defeated easily as they are no match for his strength and also fire emanation. It’s also shown that Ross as the Red Hulk has a device implanted in his ear which an unknown person is communicating orders to him and upon any disobedience, causes a full body electrical shock to Ross causing him great pain. The Red Hulk then leaves the Hellicarrier in search for Bruce Banner.

Ross breaks into the Avengers Mansion and kidnaps Bruce Banner and takes him to a shipping yard where he demands he turn into the Hulk and fight him. Bruce however is unable to transform due to being shot by an adrenaline inhibitor prior to his kidnapping. However Ross forces him to turn by hurting Hawkeye while Banner is forced to watch. Banner then turns into the Hulk and the two start fighting, with Bruce having the upper hand at the beginning and ultimately winning due to help from Captain America, Wasp and Hawkeye. After realizing he cannot win, Red Hulk jumps away leaving the battle.

Ultimate Spider-Man

Android copies of the Red Hulk appear in “Game Over” as part of Arcade‘s Murderworld video game.

Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.

Red Hulk appears as one of the main characters in the series, voiced by Clancy Brown. He is shown as hot tempered, cynical, and arrogant, and joins the Agents of Smash in order to regain the respect he had as a general he lost when he became a Hulk. He and Hulk still have a strong dislike of each other, but more as hated siblings rather than deadly enemies. He is shown to be a decent tactician and proficient in most weapons, though he often takes every situation head on. He has also shown to grow hot when he gets angry.

Avengers Assemble

Red Hulk cameos in the episode “Avengers Underground”, where he is seen as one of the heroes defeated by Squadron Supreme. He returns as part of an arc in the third season, where he is made a member of the Avengers after being forced onto the team by Truman Marsh.

Red Hulk butts heads with his teammates, who dislike his violent demeanor and resent him for replacing their comrade. He is eventually manipulated into a trap by the Leader, who blasts him with an additional dose of gamma radiation. This causes Red Hulk to lose his mind and transform into a bigger, more violent form (resembling his comic incarnation). He is eventually defeated by the Hulk.

He returns in the four-part “Civil War” arc, where he becomes part of the new, government-sponsored team of Avengers (dubbed the “Mighty Avengers”) after the original Avengers disband. The Mighty Avengers eventually clash with the original Avengers over the issue of Inhuman registration, but unite after realizing they’ve been manipulated by Ultron. Despite this, he is not asked to join Black Panther‘s new team of Avengers in the fourth season.

Clancy Brown reprised his role.

What If…?

Ross appears in several episodes of the show, voiced by Mike McGill.

Film

Hulk (2003)

Ross appears as a general who was previously responsible for imprisoning Banner’s father due to his dangerous experiments, and distrusts Banner’s current work. He is played by Sam Elliott.

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Ross appears as one of the main antagonists, this time played by William Hurt. In the film, he is the one behind the gamma projects that accidentally transformed Banner into the Hulk. Though Banner believed the experiments weren’t for military use, Ross was secretly hoping to use the research to create Super Soldiers.

Ross tasks Emil Blonsky with capturing the Hulk, and provides him with a prototype sample of Professor Erskine‘s Super Soldier Serum. The plan goes awry when the Serum causes Blonsky to slowly go insane, which later results in him forcing Samuel Sterns to further his transformation, creating the Abomination.

At the close of the film, a disgraced Ross is shown drinking in a bar, where he is approached by Tony Stark.

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

William Hurt reprises his role in the movie. In the film, Ross has now been promoted to the position of U.S. Secretary of State. He plays a major role in the Sokovia Accords, a series of laws designed to regulate the Avengers. He also unveils the Raft, a submersible prison for dangerous threats. When Captain America and the other Avengers opposed to the Accords go on the run, Ross gives Tony Starkand his team 36 hours to bring them in. Once most of the Anti-Accords heroes are captured, Ross has them imprisoned in the Raft. At the close of the movie, he is shown calling Iron Man for backup when Captain America attacks the prison to spring his friends, but Iron Man puts him on hold.

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

William Hurt reprises his role as Ross in Avengers: Infinity War in a hologram communication with Rhodey, the last legal Avenger after Iron Man leaves Earth on Ebony Maw’s spaceship.

Avengers: Endgame

William Hurt reprises the role of Ross in a funeral scene at the end of the movie. It is famous for having the most Marvel actors on set for that particular scene.

Black Widow

Taking place between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, Nat goes on the run after helping Captain America and Bucky escape the pro-Sokovia Accord Avengers team. William Hurt reprises his role in a few scenes following up on leads trying to find Nat. This would be Hurt’s final role as General Ross since he passed away on March 13th, 2022 after a long struggle with prostate cancer.

Video Games

Hulk

Ross makes a cameo in this game based on the film of the same name.

The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction

Ross appears as an antagonist in this game. He is voiced by Dave Thomas.

The Incredible Hulk

Ross appears in this game. Red Hulk appears as a bonus playable character. He is voiced by William Hurt.

Marvel Super Hero Squad Online

Red Hulk appears as a playable character.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

Red Hulk is available as an alternate skin for the Hulk. The same is true for Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, Marvel Super Hero Squad, and Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet.

Marvel Avengers Alliance

Red Hulk appears as a playable character.

Lego Marvel Super Heroes

Red Hulk and Thunderbolt Ross both appear as playable characters.

Lego Marvel’s The Avengers

Ross and Red Hulk appear as playable characters.

Merchandise

• Sideshow Collectibles released a Red Hulk statue.
• Diamond Select released a Red Hulk figure for the Marvel Select line.
• Hasbro released a Red Hulk figure for Marvel Universe line.
• Hasbro released several Red Hulk figures, including one based on his Agents of S.M.A.S.H. outfit.
• Hasbro released a Red Hulk Build-a-Figure wave for the Marvel Legends line.
• Another Red Hulk figure was released by Hasbro for Marvel Universe line of figures. It is a part of Heroic Age Heroes three pack that came with Thor and Iron-man.
• Red Hulk Hands were released for the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. line by Hasbro.
• Hasbro released a Red Hulk figure in the Marvel Legends line as a Target exclusive.