- "KEEP FIRING! DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY!"
"General Ross, withdraw your men. Now."
"This is a secure channel. Who is this?"
"Your superior, tovarisch. Now, back off." - ―General Ross and Black Widow[src]
Thaddeus E. Ross is a rogue four-star general[1] in the U.S. Army, the commanding officer of the Hulkbuster Unit, and one of Hulk's arch nemesis. He later became a mutated superhuman known as the Red Hulk.
Biography[]
General Ross[]
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 the two heroes despite direct orders. The Hulk ultimately saved the two from the missile. Everyone in the scene were 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 the forest region near Canadian border but were stopped by Hawkeye. They were forced to retreat.
Red Hulk[]
The Red Hulk fights against the Hulk
On the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, the Winter Soldier injected a modified version of the Hulk's blood into the real 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. His LMD was leading his Hulkbusters in order to protect his secret identity.
He was with Winter Soldier, Doc Samson and Falcon gathered in Dell Rusk's office, being congratulated in the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
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 a reluctant Ross to let him go. Somehow, Ross had his own plans by planting a device on Banner so he could control him which caused the latter to go Hulk and on the rampage. While the Avengers were fighting the Hulk robot, Ross tells Captain America to stand down because he and his team are taking him in. 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 (to which, he refuses as he was aware of his true nature). On T.V., he spent a week helping people trying to prove to be a better Hulk while his robot doppelgänger did his part pretending to hate the Red Hulk on a press conference. Outside of 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 wasn't present there and instead was watching the membership coronation on screen, asked JARVIS 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 has showed his teammates the footage of Cap in Banner's cell and made up a fake 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 Hydro-Base and accused Cap of 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 control device and discovered itwas remote operated. 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 (as he was also aware that he couldn't blindly trust him in the first place). Red Hulk then reverted back to Ross, which shocked everyone (he was also planning to tear the Avengers apart and replace them) but an enraged Hulk who was more than eager to put him out of his misery for good started to attack him, but Cap tells Hulk to stand down and spare his life. Ross was then locked up in a prison cell for all of his heinous crimes with his android decoy while still ranting madly about the Hulk.
Physical Appearance[]
The Red Hulk
In his human form, he wears a military uniform, has white and grey hair and mustache. As Red Hulk he is almost identical to Hulk, but with red skin, black nails also shorts and a shorter hair style, as well as yellow eyes.
Personality[]
Ross is an obsessive man who has a desire to capture or kill Hulk by any means necessary, even if it may destroy his life and others he loves, other people or maybe his military career and he doesn't know when to move on. He hates Banner and ignores his rights and hates his alter-ego persona Hulk as well. He's losing his sanity as he keeps ranting his hatred of the Hulk.
Despite being part of the military that has sworn to "protect the innocent", he is not above letting people die or shooting at them if it suits his goals, as shown in "Hulk vs. the World" where he shoots at Black Widow and Hawkeye since they are near the Hulk and didn't care if they got killed and "The Deadliest Man Alive" where he threw a boat full of people at Hulk claiming that there were always casualties. He is aggressive, in denial, rude, irredeemable, angry, impulsive and even disobeys orders that deviate from his goals.
Powers and Abilities[]
As human he has no powers, but is a skilled tactician, in leading battles against the Hulk, and leading the Hulkbusters. As the Red Hulk, he has the power to generate fire from his body when he gets mad, the madder he gets, the more fire he generates. He has not shown the ability to project these flames, and he is almost as strong as the Hulk, he can go head-on with him, for a long period of time. But he does not get stronger when he gets mad and as such is not as strong as the Hulk.
- Superhuman Strength: Red Hulk is almost as strong as the Hulk, but he does not get stronger when he gets angier.
- Superhuman Stamina: Red Hulk has far more stamina than a normal human; it allows him to last in a fight for long periods of time.
- Superhuman Durability: Red Hulk can take far more damage than a normal human. However, it is limited in comparison of the Hulk.
- Exothermic Heat Generation: Unlike his arch-enemy, Red Hulk can generate fire from his body when he gets mad.
- Accelerated Healing Factor: Red Hulk can heal faster than a normal human.
- Superhuman Longevity: Possibly due to his healing factor, Red Hulk can live much longer than a normal human.
Background in other media[]
- It is Red Hulk's first animated appearance and Thunderbolt's third.
Appearances[]
- 107. Hulk Versus the World (First appearance)
- 209. Nightmare in Red
- 220. Code Red
- 222. The Deadliest Man Alive
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ "Nightmare in Red". Mark Parsons (writer) & Boyd Kirkland (director). The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. June 24, 2012. No. 9, Season two.
Trivia[]
- He lasted only for one episode on the Avengers team, before he was kicked out, making him the member with the shortest amount of time with the team.