Who is Red Hulk, the main villain of Captain America: Brave New World?

The first trailer for ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ has restored hope to fans, and there is already talk of a worthy successor to ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, one of the most beloved films by MCU fans. However,as is to be expected, several questions have arisen beyond the mysterious role of Giancarlo Esposito, and one of them is who that red Hulk that makes an appearance at the end of the trailer could be.

Who is Red Hulk?

In ‘Captain America: Brave New World’, Harrison Ford plays Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, an American Sergeant who has had a hand in many of the events that take place in the Marvel universe, including the scientific project in which Bruce Banner ended up being exposed to gamma rays, thus becoming the Hulk. During the process, Banner and Betty Ross end up falling in love, forming a couple that Ross is more or less happy with until he discovers that Banner is the monster. Betty was played in ‘The Hulk’ (2003) and ‘The Incredible Hulk’ (2008) by Jennifer Connelly and Liv Tyler respectively, with the former being the one that is currently canon of the MCU and will reappear in ‘Captain America: Brave New World’.

“Thunderbolt” Ross’s obsession with ending the Hulk even leads him to betray the US military by allying himself with The Leader and MODOK, and after many battles and chaos he disappears. It’s only until Bruce and Betty’s wedding that he reappears, shooting one of Banner’s trusted friends, Rick Jones. Ross is arrested and subsequently comes to establish a positive relationship with his son-in-law, since Banner, according to the comics’ story, is able to keep the wildest version of the Hulk under control.

However, this would be the first step into his spiraling completely out of control: Ross, recruited by Clay Quartermain - a SHIELD agent - is subjected to an experiment that fuses his consciousness with a creature called Zzzax, thus gaining his electric powers. His real body is left catatonic during this, but when he is defeated by Hulk and Rick Jones he goes back into his human body with still remnants of the power in time to be attacked by a new gamma mutant creature.

Along the way he dies and is resurrected by the Intelligencia, a supervillain group that wants to destroy Hulk and other Gamma creatures, and they use Hulk radiation to transform Ross into the Red Hulk. As strong as the regular Hulk, the main differences besides his color and an ability to absorb energy to become stronger is that Ross is able to transform into the beast at will, and viceversa, being able to stay in his Hulk state even when knocked unconscious. At the same time he maintains his intelligence and consciousness, which means that unlike Bruce Banner his transformation is not an alter ego, making him much more dangerous and devious.

But is he a villain or an anti-hero? A little bit of both really, but in the comics his arc goes hand in hand with the World War Hulk storyline. Eventually he betrays his captors, fights a Life-Model Decoy version of himself, makes his own version of the Thunderbolts, and even goes to hell, obtaining the powers of both the Venom Symbiote and the Ghost Rider’s Spirit of Vengeance. Currently he’s been marked by Mephisto as a candidate to become one a Hell Lord, and has even entered a new phase of his career as a rogue anti-hero.

Even so, nothing seemed to indicate that the appearance of Red Hulk in the MCU was so early, causing Sam Wilson to have to face more than one villain in ‘Captain America: Brave New World’, which premieres next February 14, 2025.

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