Red Hulk Explained: Who Is the Surprise Villain of Captain America: Brave New World?

Warning: This article contains plot spoilers for Captain America: Brave New World!

Captain America: Brave New World is the first MCU movie hitting theaters in 2025. And while Marvel has yet to release any footage to the general public (there were clips screened at CinemaCon), we’ve just learned a major new detail about the movie thanks to a McDonald’s Happy Meal leak: Red Hulk will appear as one of the major villains in the fourth Captain America movie.

For those familiar with Harrison Ford’s character, General Thunderbolt Ross, this isn’t exactly surprising news. His transformation into Red Hulk was inevitable. But for those who haven’t kept up with Marvel’s Incredible Hulk comics, here’s what you need to know about Ross’ super-strong alter-ego and why he’s being positioned as the villain of a Captain America movie.

Red Hulk: Who Is Harrison Ford’s Marvel Villain?

General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross is one of Hulk’s oldest enemies, dating all the way back to 1962’s The Incredible Hulk #1. For most of that time, Ross has been a military man and a constant thorn in the side of the wayward Bruce Banner. But there was a period where Ross transformed himself into the very thing he despises most.

Marvel's 2008 Hulk series first introduced Red Hulk. Like Hulk himself, this villain possesses incredible strength and durability. Unlike Hulk, Red Hulk retains his intelligence when transformed and possesses other handy abilities like energy absorption. However, anger is his true weakness. Whereas Hulk grows stronger the angrier he gets, rage causes Red Hulk’s body to overheat with excess gamma radiation.

Red Hulk’s true identity remained a mystery for nearly two years before finally being revealed in the pages of Hulk. Readers finally learned that Red Hulk is none other than Thunderbolt Ross, with Ross relying on a Life Model Decoy to fake his own death as part of the ruse. However, being a Hulk has the unexpected effect of making Ross more sympathetic to Bruce Banner’s plight, and he eventually helps bring down the cabal of super-intelligent villains known as the Intelligencia.

With his human persona dead and buried, Red Hulk has little choice at that point but to accept Steve Rogers’ offer to join the Avengers. Red Hulk serves as a member of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and later spearheads his own version of the Thunderbolts. 

Eventually, however, his powers are drained when Banner sets about ridding the world of excess Hulks (including Ross’ daughter Betty, who became Red She-Hulk). This dooms Ross to a miserable existence inside a military prison, and he’s later killed as part of a plot to frame Captain America. But with Red Hulk set to make his MCU debut soon, we may see Ross return to life and Hulk out once more in the comics.

How Red Hulk and Thunderbolt Ross Fit Into Captain America 4

Captain America: Brave New World features what may be the biggest MCU role yet for Thunderbolt Ross. That role was previously played by the late William Hurt in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, 2016’s Captain America: Civil War and other films. Now Harrison Ford is taking over the Ross role following Hurt’s death.

Ross is apparently moving up in the world during the Multiverse Saga, as he’s become the new U.S. president following the chaos of 2023’s Secret Invasion. In a world still recovering from the Snap and increasingly fearful of alien shape-shifters hiding in plain sight, we can infer that there exists a real desire for a leader with Ross’ decorated record and experience with superhuman affairs. 

Ford’s Ross doesn’t appear to be openly antagonistic to Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson and other heroes. The footage screened at CinemaCon shows Ross thanking Cap for his role in recovering a valuable material from a Japanese mining site and imploring him to reform the Avengers. That material is described as “the find of the millennium,” and a popular fan theory suggests it’s adamantium (the unbreakable metal that covers Wolverine’s bones). 

We suspect the conflict in Captain America 4 hinges on the search for more of this invaluable metal, with Ross seeing it as a tool to develop bigger and better weapons to safeguard his country. Just as Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers rebelled against S.H.I.E.L.D. in 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Sam may not agree with Ross’ militaristic views. 

At some point, Ross’ obsession with protecting his country may lead to him undergoing the procedure to become Red Hulk. This Captain Ahab-like figure may find himself becoming the very thing he always hated most. Can Cap and Danny Ramirez’s Joaquin Torres/Falcon stand up to a Hulk unleashed? Will Cap’s unbreakable shield withstand the wrath of Red Hulk? 

It’s probably safe to assume that Tim Blake Nelson’s The Leader has a central hand in creating the Red Hulk, as he did in the comics. The Leader is likely the true villain of Captain America 4, with Red Hulk being a useful pawn he can manipulate into conflict with Captain America and Falcon. 

There’s also the question of what role, if any, Ford’s character will play in 2025’s Thunderbolts. How closely does Captain America 4 set up that film? Are the Thunderbolts specifically named in honor of the general-turned-president-turned-Hulk? Could Red Hulk find himself becoming a member of the Thunderbolts after falling from grace in Brave New World? These are questions worth pondering as we wait for the next wave of MCU movies after Deadpool & Wolverine.

For more on the future of the MCU, brush up on what to expect from Marvel in 2024 and see every Marvel movie and show in development.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.