How General Thaddeus Ross Became Red Hulk

General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross made a career out of hating the Hulk. After overseeing the experimental bomb test that bombarded Bruce Banner with gamma radiation, Ross spent many years hunting the Hulk down. However, Ross' mission to capture the Hulk became an obsession, partly because of Bruce's relationship with his daughter, Betty Ross. 

At his lowest point, Ross made a deal with the Hulk's most dangerous enemies to become the Red Hulk. With the unlimited strength of his rival in his hands, the Red Hulk showed some of Marvel's strongest heroes and villains that the Green Goliath isn't always the strongest one there is. 

Now, let’s take a closer look at General Ross and how he became the Red Hulk. From his heroic adventures with the Avengers and the Thunderbolts to the loss and recovery of his powers, follow General Ross as he smashed his way through the Marvel Universe in these stories found on Marvel Unlimited!

WHO IS GENERAL ROSS?

General "Thunderbolt" Ross debuted alongside the Hulk in THE INCREDIBLE HULK (1962) #1 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. By the time he oversaw the gamma bomb test at the Los Diablos Missile Base, Ross had already grown to dislike Bruce Banner, who he saw as weak and unworthy of his daughter Betty. 

After Banner became the Hulk, Ross quickly began to suspect a link between the scientist and the Jade Giant. The general recruited Major Glenn Talbot to help him capture the Hulk with specialized military units like the Hulkbusters. 

Although Ross tried to stop Banner from marrying his daughter at gunpoint, Ross eventually grew more friendly with the scientist. However, he remained obsessed with capturing the Hulk for study, and his endless hunt took a severe mental toll. Ross even worked with villains like M.O.D.O.K. to take down the Hulk, and he was dismissed or put on leave by the military on a few occasions for this behavior. 

While merged with the living electrical entity Zzzax, Ross sacrificed his life to save his daughter from the mind-eating Nevermind in INCREDIBLE HULK (1962) #330 by Al Milgrom and Todd McFarlane. However, Ross was eventually resurrected by the Leader, who unsuccessfully tried to convert him into one of his followers. 

When Betty died from gamma radiation poisoning, a bitter Ross began hunting the Hulk again. After the Hulk returned to Earth following his exile on the alien world Sakaar, Ross even led a military strike force against him in WORLD WAR HULK (2007). 

HOW GENERAL ROSS BECAME THE RED HULK

The true identity of the Red Hulk remained a lingering mystery for some time after his debut in HULK (2008) #1 by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness. While the Hulk rampaged through space, the Leader and M.O.D.O.K. approached an aimless Ross as he grieved the loss of his daughter and the apparent assassination of Captain America (Steve Rogers). As the villains prepared for the Hulk's inevitable return to Earth, Ross agreed to become a Hulk; in exchange, they would bring Betty back to life. 

When the Hulk attacked Earth and fell in battle, the villains—now known as the Intelligencia—drained gamma energy from the Hulk and used the Cathexis Ray to send it into Ross, as detailed in a sequence in HULK (2008) #23 by Loeb and McGuinness. As the Red Hulk, Ross kept his intelligence, could lift roughly 100 tons, possessed a rapid healing factor, and could absorb energy like gamma radiation. 

On his early missions for the Intelligencia, the Red Hulk performed several impressive feats around the Marvel Universe. The Red Hulk killed the Abomination and a Wendigo, briefly stole the Silver Surfer's board and Power Cosmic, destroyed a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, and caused an earthquake in San Francisco. To keep the Red Hulk's identity a secret, the Intelligencia replaced Ross with a robotic Life Model Decoy, but that LMD was eventually destroyed. 

When he learned that Betty had been revived as the Red She-Hulk, Red Hulk turned against the Intelligencia and stopped their plans to take over the United States. With his energy-absorbing abilities, the Red Hulk depowered the Leader and siphoned off his intelligence. But when the Red Hulk went mad with his extra power, the Hulk stopped him in a one-on-one fight. 

RED HULK AND THE THUNDERBOLTS 

Despite the chaos he caused around the Marvel Universe, the Red Hulk was hesitantly embraced by the Avengers and Marvel's other heroes. After Ross was taken into custody, Captain America recruited the Red Hulk for the Avengers in AVENGERS (2010) #7 by Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr. 

With the Avengers, the Red Hulk helped take down the Hood, briefly wielded an Infinity Stone, and fought the X-Men during AVENGERS VS. X-MEN (2012). Away from the group, the Red Hulk took on threats like Zzzax, M.O.D.O.K., and the planet-destroying Omegex. 

Although he was still not entirely trusted, the Red Hulk took a leadership role on two teams of heroes. While on a mission to hunt down Agent Venom for Captain America, the Red Hulk teamed up with his target, X-23, and Ghost Rider (Alejandra Jones) as the Circle of Four to save Las Vegas from Blackheart in VENOM (2011) #13 by Rick Remender and Tony Moore. 

Shortly after that, the Red Hulk formed a new incarnation of the Thunderbolts with Agent Venom, Deadpool, Punisher, and Elektra in THUNDERBOLTS (2012) #1 by Daniel Way and Steve Dillon. This group proactively went after lingering threats from Ross' time in the military. As it grew to include the Leader and Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), these Thunderbolts began carrying out missions for its other team members as well, until the Leader manipulated the Punisher into attacking his teammates.

HOW GENERAL ROSS LOST HIS POWERS

Red Hulk is just one of several characters given powers through gamma radiation, and the original Hulk eventually saw a problem with that. After exposure to Tony Stark's Extremis nanotechnology, the Hulk developed a brilliant and ruthless new persona called "Doc Green." With Doc Green's intelligence, the Hulk quickly concluded that too many people had powers from gamma radiation, so he developed a serum with energy-absorbing adamantium robots that could depower a target. Although he spared She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters), the Hulk took away the abilities of Rick Jones, Betty Ross, Skaar, and the militaristic Gamma Corps.    

With help from Deadpool, the Hulk targeted Red Hulk and tracked him down in HULK (2014) #14 by Gerry Duggan and Mark Bagley. Although Ross tried to protect himself by setting up a base where he could absorb the radioactive energy of Yucca Mountain, Deadpool shot him with a device that shorted out his energy-absorbing powers. After a brutal battle, the Hulk injected the Red Hulk with his anti-gamma formula. With his powers seemingly drained, Ross was arrested and jailed in a classified prison for his actions as the Red Hulk. 

CAPTAIN AMERICA AND RED HULK 

After spending some time in the background of the Marvel Universe, Ross reestablished himself as a hero and eventually became the Red Hulk again. When an imposter Captain America took over the United States on behalf of Hydra, Ross commanded a heroic resistance cell and was subsequently pardoned for his crimes. 

While General Robert L. Maverick operated as a new Red Hulk, the depowered Ross worked for the government again with groups like the shadowy Power Elite. Using some leftover technology from the now-defunct S.H.I.E.L.D., Ross faked his death using an LMD as he investigated the group's villainous members. When Captain America was suspected of that apparent murder, Ross secretly worked with the Daughters of Liberty to take on Selene and the rest of the Power Elite. 

However, the Power Elite discovered Ross was still alive and had Crossbones, Sin, and Cutthroat capture him. As they tortured him, Ross taunted the villains in CAPTAIN AMERICA (2018) #26 by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Leonard Kirk. Just as Ross began to lose consciousness, he transformed into the Red Hulk once again. With seemingly total control over his transformation, Red Hulk helped Captain America and his allies take down the villains and saluted him at the end of their mission. 

While Ross continued to carry out covert missions, Doctor Doom captured him in a story in INCREDIBLE HULK (2023) #19 by Benjamin Percy and Geoffrey Shaw. As Doom sets his sights on global domination in ONE WORLD UNDER DOOM (2025), the Red Hulk has resurfaced in SAM WILSON, CAPTAIN AMERICA (2025) #1 by Evan Narcisse, Greg Pak, and Eder Messias, where he finds himself at odds with Captain America once again.

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