Thunderbolt Ross

Revision as of 09:04, 15 December 2018

General Ross with his daughter in Savage Hulk v2 #1.

Thunderbolt Ross is a male character that features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Origin

From a young age, he learnt to be a pilot where he first flew solo when he was 10 years old. When he was 13 years old, he flew his first aerial show and when he was 16 years old he began to conduct such performances in three towns leading to him earning well for his acts. This was until one day when his bi-plane crashed and he was badly wounded with him having to be pulled out of the wreckage. A carnival doctor examined him and pronounced him dead on the spot though the young Ross regained consciousness in the ambulance where it was discovered that he had broken his back in three places where the diagnosis was he would never walk again. For the next year, he was in a body cast on braces and crutches where through sheer force of will he made himself walk as well as recover. (Hulk v2 #23)

To free a Rigellian Recorder, Howard Stark assembled the Stark Seven that consisted of Jimmy Woo, the Bear, Nessa the Kitten, Dum Dum Dugan and Thunderbolt Ross. Together, they helped free the Recorder from his captivity in a Grey crime family. (Iron Man v5 #10)

Hulkbuster

Red Hulk

The Red Hulk v1 #1.

During the Civil War, Ross came to see discontent and chaos ravage his country which was when he was approached by the Leader and M.O.D.O.K. who warned on the Hulk's return. The Leader offered to even resurrect Ross's daughter Betty with improvements to his technology. As they had warned, the Hulk did return from his exile where the Jade Giant initiated the events of World War Hulk with General Ross participating in the fight against him. It was the work of the Intelligencia that secretly helped in the defeat of the Hulk where L.M.D.s disguised as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were responsible for taking away the Jade Giant. He was then taken to Gamma Base that was under the control of the Leader with General Ross and Doc Samson working with him. Sterns made use of siphoned energy from the Hulk in experiments that transformed Thunderbolt Ross into the Red Hulk along with the promise of resurrecting his daughter in exchange for him working for the Intelligencia as their operative. (Hulk v2 #23) He then went to Dimitri, Russia where the Red Hulk ambushed the Abomination who was brutally beaten before being executed with a specially made gamma pistol. Ross in his normal form then arrived to investigate the sighting of the mysterious new Red Hulk. (Hulk v2 #1) The Red Hulk then struck at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier in a seemingly mindless assault that was actually tactically planned to allow him to use a sophisticated virus to erase the agency's files on the Hulk. The copy of General Ross was present on the ship that was used to keep the Red Hulk's identity a mystery to his enemies. (Hulk v2 #2) The Red Hulk then arrived back near Gamma Base where he attacked the passing Rick Jones who transformed into a gamma-powered A-Bomb with the two battling. Despite A-Bomb's power, he was swiftly and easily defeated by the Red Hulk with their battle being interrupted by the original Hulk who emerged from the damage to the Gamma Base. (Hulk v2 #3) The Watcher came to witness the event with the Red Hulk attacking him before he resumed his battle with the Hulk. Despite the Hulk's rage, the Red Hulk managed to get a tactical advantage over his foe and broke his arm. He then made sure that the Hulk did not fall unconscious and revert to Banner as he intended to publically execute his foe above the Golden Gate Bridge using his special gun. The Hulk bit off the weapon and their fight was interrupted by the arrival of Thor who prepared to fight the Red Hulk. (Hulk v2 #4) Despite the Asgardian's skill, he was effortlessly beaten by the Red Hulk who left him defeated on the Moon. (Hulk v2 #5) He survived a return from the Moon to Earth's surface where he battled Hulk once again and got an advantage over his foe only to be struck by Thor. The Hulk decided to battle the Red Hulk on his own and managed to defeat his foe. The Red Hulk managed to evade capture but was informed by Doc Samson that he was now on his own for his failure. (Hulk v2 #6) He was next at a bar at the top of Mount Rushmore when he came under attack from She-Hulk, Thundra and Valkyrie with him overpowering his pursuers with apparent ease. (Hulk v2 #7) The pair were able to use trickery to get the advantage over him and freed She-Hulk whereupon they received aid from other female superheroes to battle the Red Hulk. (Hulk v2 #8) He fought the various female superheroes only to be defeated and rendered unconscious. The heroes waited to see him revert to his true identity but the Rulk was only pretending to be knocked out. He bidded his time before knocking out the two flyers and taking Thundra hostage when he escaped. However, he revealed to Thundra that he had no intention of killing her but simply wanted to recruit her for a mission in the future as she showed the desre to kill him. He then departed and left her unharmed allowing him to evade capture. (Hulk v2 #9)

He was next taken by the Collector who desired the Red Hulk to be his champion in a contest against his fellow Elder of the Universe the Grandmaster. The Red Hulk was allowed to bring together a team of fellow warriors consisting of Terrax, Tiger Shark and Baron Mordo who formed the Offenders to battle the Grandmaster’s champions who were the Defenders. Rulk fought against the Hulk in the city of Atlantis where he seemingly got the upper hand over the Jade Giant. (Hulk v2 #11) After killing the Hulk, Rulk proceeded with arriving at the battlefields of his team mates where he killed both his allies and their foes. This saw him also steal the Power Cosmic from Terrax and the Silver Surfer before confronting Galactus over Zenn-La. Galactus easily overpowered the Red Hulk and from his mind learnt that the Elders were responsible for the events where the World Devourer stated he would next target Earth before he confronted those cosmic beings. This led to Grandmaster and Collector calling off their game with them restoring the participants who were all returned to their respective times. The Red Hulk was angered at this and attacked the Grandmaster as a result. He then brutally murdered the Grandmaster but was then was stopped by the Hulk who demanded from the Collector that his love Jarella be restored with the Elder only bringing her back as she died. Upon seeing this, Rulk was pleased at seeing his foe in a heartbroken state and departed the area. (Hulk v2 #12)

He went to the offices of Nelson and Murdock in San Francisco as he confronted Matt Murdock who he believed was the Hulk's lawyer and who the Jade Giant had just visited. Ross wanted the location of the Hulk but came to realise that the encounter was a trap set up by his quarry with the Hulk arriving on the scene in order to forcibly depower him. This led to a battle as Ross became the Red Hulk and came to battle the Hulk who was operating under a new personality called Doc Green. Doc Green had attempted to use a syringe to remove the power of the Red Hulk from Ross but he was prepared with him wounding the Hulk who attempted to escape through a teleportation door back to his base. Red Hulk pursued him and they next battled him within Doc Green's headquarters in the Beehive where he continued to badly wound his opponent until Hulk's allies used a teleportation door to drop Ross above a volcano thus giving them a reprieve from further fighting. (Hulk v3 #10)

Return

After being depowered, he was kept arrested at a classified military prison where he learnt that the Hulk was killed in the events of Civil War II. His daughter came to visit him where Ross expressed that he was glad that the Hulk was slain as he was a monster. (Civil War II: The Fallen v1 #1) During the Secret Empire, Ross led a resistance cell against Hydra where afterwards he was paroled with him being given a clean slate allowing his return to the military. (Captain America v9 #1) He later met with Captain America where he expressed the dissatisfaction the American government had over Steve Rogers and the Avengers close ties with the Wakandan government. This led to him concluding that the Avengers were not looking after U.S. interests and thus he called on the expertise of the Agent who had brought together the Squadron Supreme of America as the nation's own superhuman team. (Avengers v8 #10)

Overview

Personality and attributes

After his transformation by the Intelligencia, he came to take the identity of the Red Hulk. (Hulk v2 #23) S.H.I.E.L.D. was known to had given a code name to this form as the Rulk. (Hulk v2 #7)

From his teenage years, he suffered injuries where multiple doctors stated that he would never walk again. However, through sheer force of will, he managed to recover and make himself walk once more. Since that time, he earned what he described as a healthy amount of disrespect for any individual that was a doctor. (Hulk v2 #23)

Something he never admitted to anyone was that during his first encounter with the Hulk that he came to covet the sheer raw destructive power of the creature. (Hulk v2 #23)

Powers and abilities

Through the experiments of the Intelligencia, he came to be artificially transformed into a creature similar to the Hulk with a distinctive red skin. (Hulk v2 #23)

He was shown to had survived a sword through his chest which he pulled out without any issue. (Hulk v2 #8) A unique trait for the Red Hulk was that the angrier he got then he could radiate heat around his body. (Hulk v2 #6) Though he primarily absorbed Gamma energy, he was also able to take cosmic energy as well such as those of the Power Cosmic. (Hulk v2 #12)

Notes

• Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby where he made his first appearance in the Incredible Hulk v1 #1 (May, 1962).
• The character was turned into the Red Hulk by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuiness where he made his first appearance in this identity in Hulk v2 #1 (March 2008).
• In a Cup O' Q&A, Joe Quesada noted in response about conflicting variations of Ross's military uniform that, "In the case of Ross, he has to be over the top, so as an artist, I would look at what was the official uniform and I’d elaborate on that to make it a Marvel U version of what this Hulkbusting General would look like. Also, one could argue that Ross belongs to a unit of the Air Force that has it’s own special dress code and uniforms."

Alternate Versions

• In Future Imperfect (2015), one version of Ross appeared on Battleworld where he was Dystopia's version of the Thing. His past was shown where he was an astronaut with fellow pilot John Talbot who were exposed to cosmic rays before crashing back to the surface. Talbot was killed and Ross was transformed into the rock-like Thing where he became an enemy of Baron Maestro.

In other media

Television

• In The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Thunderbolt Ross made a number of appearances where he was voiced by actor Keith Ferguson whilst actor Fred Tatasciore voiced him in his Red Hulk persona.
• In Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., Thunderbolt Ross as the Red Hulk appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Clancy Brown.

Films

• In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thunderbolt Ross made a number of appearances in the shared live-action setting.
  • In Captain America: Civil War, Thunderbolt Ross made an appearance in the live-action film where he was portrayed by actor William Hurt.

Video games

• In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Thunderbolt Ross as the Red Hulk appeared as an unlockable character in the Facebook video game.
• In Marvel: Contest of Champions, Thunderbolt Ross as the Red Hulk appeared as a playable character in the mobile phone game.
• In Marvel: Future Fight, Thunderbolt Ross as the Red Hulk appeared as a playable character in the mobile phone game.

Appearances

• Incredible Hulk v1:
• Hulk v2:
• Red Hulk:
• Thunderbolts:
• Hulk v3:
• Captain America:
• Avengers v8:

External Links

• Wikipedia Entry

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