Reading the Red Hulk’s best comics should serve as a gateway introduction to the character. Any reader looking to understand the Red Hulk should look no further than this list. Within a few months from now, the Red Hulk is going to officially make his MCU debut.
Thunderbolt Ross has been a presence in the MCU ever since The Incredible Hulk, but he will be transforming into the Red Hulk for the first time in Captain America: Brave New World. As the movie release vastly approaches, audiences unaware of the history surrounding the Red Hulk – not just Thunderbolt’s iteration, but other characters who became Red Hulk – may be curious to learn more. The comics are a good place to start, but with so many Red Hulk comics out there, where to start? Curious readers should use this list as a guide to find their ideal starting point.
The late William Hurt originally played General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in The Incredible Hulk, proceeding to play him for the next 13 years. Upon his passing, he was recast by Harrison Ford, who will play Thunderbolt in
Captain America: Brave New World
and in
The Thunderbolts
.
10 Hulk vol 1: Red Hulk
Hulk #1-6 by Jeph Loeb, Audrey Loeb, Chris Giarrusso, and Ed McGuinness + Wolverine #50 by Jeph Loeb and Simone Bianchi
To best understand the Red Hulk conception, there is no better place to begin first than with his debut. Upon his first introduction, the Red Hulk was shrouded in mystery, with the reveal of his secret identity not coming until years after the fact. For now, though, Hulk #1 starts with a bang in Dimitri, Russia, where Doc Samson recalls to She-Hulk how he watched a Hulk not only fighting The Abomination but killing him with a gun.
With each passing issue, the heroes would learn new details – learning this Hulk is red, for example – and then inevitably, the Avengers get into a physical confrontation with Red Hulk. Before Bruce Banner’s Hulk even comes face to face with this Red Hulk, this new Hulk has been immediately established as a force to be reckoned with.
9 Hulk vol 2 Red & Green
Jeph Loeb’s Hulk #7-9 + King-Size Hulk by Jeph Loeb and Arthur Adams
Jeph Loeb’s Hulk series continues with Red Hulk’s rampage continuing shortly after facing off against the Hulk. Banner’s Hulk put up a good fight, even eating a chunk out of Red Hulk’s gun, but could not falter the Rulk’s rage. Next on the chopping block is She-Hulk, who assembles an entire super-team of women superheroes to combat the Red Hulk. Surprisingly, they prove to pose more of a challenge than even the Hulk did – or do they? Could the Rulk be playing them, and if so, what’s his bigger plan?
This part of his arc, while the mystery behind who this Hulk is under the red remains prevalent, showcases just how much of a surprising mastermind the Red Hulk is. He’s craft, cunning, and most of all, conniving. He’s not a dumb Hulk and he’s smart enough to have a plan at all times, even in the thick of a battle.
8 Code Red
Hulk #14-17 by Jeph Loeb and Ian Churchill
For the most part, after his ordeal with She-Hulk’s Lady Liberators team, Red Hulk was absent from Loeb’s Hulk for a few issues. In his absence, he would recruit a team of his own comprised of himself, Frank Castle’s Punisher, Elektra, Deadpool, Dynamo, and former member of She-Hulk’s Liberators, Thundra. The start of the Code Red storyline begins with an all-out brawl between Red Hulk’s team and the X-Force, at the time comprised of Wolverine, Domino, X-23, Archangel, and Warpath. The fight came about with Red Hulk tracking down Domino, after she learns his secret and watches him transform. Readers don’t see the transformation, so Red Hulk’s identity remains a mystery.
As if the brawl wasn’t enticing enough, a bigger twist arrives that shocks the Red Hulk – a sudden debut of the Red She-Hulk. While the story arc ultimately isn’t necessarily essential reading, it’s fun to watch these two uber-violent teams go head-to-head with each other, while a new She-Hulk helps spice things up.
7 Fall of the Hulks
by Jeph Loeb, Greg Pak, Whilce Portacio, Paul Pelletier, and Danny Miki
In 2010, Marvel launched an expansive crossover storyline that stretches across Hulk, The Incredible Hulk, and several one-shots and mini-series. At the center of this storyline is the Intelligencia, a supervillain squad that readers learn actually gifted the Red Hulk his powers and gifts. Again, it’s too early at this point to reveal who is hiding under the red guise, but readers learn how M.O.D.O.K, The Leader, and Doc Samson all play a part in creating the Red Hulk.
As expansive as this crossover is across multiple series and one-shots, for the sake of focusing on the Red Hulk, it is most essential to read the four-part limited series, Fall of the Hulks: Red Hulk. This series would prove to be a massive step in his story, inching readers closer to discovering his true identity.
6 World War Hulks
by Greg Pak and Jeph Loeb
The “World War Hulks” storylines would be another company-wide crossover, spinning directly out of both “Fall of the Hulks” and “Dark Reign,” where Red Hulk siphoned Bruce Banner’s powers from here. Eventually, Red She-Hulk strolls back into the fray to siphon Red Hulk’s power away from him, forcing Red Hulk to revert back to his true identity – Thunderbolt Ross! After two years of an active comics run, the Red Hulk’s identity had finally been revealed in Hulk #22.
This would be a huge shock to readers at the time, as past storylines and comics featuring the Red Hulk showcased the supposed death of Thunderbolt Ross. Readers are then shown the origins of the Red Hulk, how he became involved with the Intelligencia, and how they built a life model decoy of Thunderbolt Ross to throw off suspicion that he could be Red Hulk. In the same breath, readers would learn that the Red She-Hulk was none other than his daughter, Betty Ross.
5 Red Hulk: Scorched Earth
Hulk #25-30 by Jeff Parker, Gabriel Hardman, Ed McGuinness, and Mark Robinson
At the conclusion of the “World War Hulks” storyline, the Hulk finally defeats the Red Hulk, and does so in decisive fashion at that. In fact, it is kind of embarrassing to see Red Hulk taken out so brutally by comparison to their last fight. Once he’s humbled, that is when Red Hulk first begins to walk down the path of redemption. His first task is to combat The Leader and M.O.D.O.K’s endgame project that was set in motion in the case of their deaths, a plan they called Scorched Earth. “Time to start making up for your sins,” Bruce Banner tells Ross. And so he does.
Now that the Red Hulk’s human form has been revealed, the story takes steps to finally humanize the monster. In doing so, readers get a much more reflective and remorseful Ross. It allows the creative to flesh out both Thunderbolt Ross and, for the first time, Red Hulk as a wider complex and why Ross decided to become the Red Hulk. It’s an utterly fascinating depiction that effectively freshens him up.
4 Hulk of Arabia
Hulk #42-46 by Jeff Parker and Patrick Zircher
Once the secret is out that Red Hulk is actually Thunderbolt Ross and Thaddeus starts to realize the tragedy his transformation spurned, his redemption arc begins. From there, he starts working on special missions for the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director at the time, Steve Rogers. However, things take a turn when Ross discovers that his old friend Colonel William Krugauer was killed in the Middle East under mysterious circumstances. So naturally, Ross goes looking for answers, but as he’s doing so unsupervised, Rogers sends the Secret Avengers to put him down.
At this point, there had been several stories depicting Red Hulk as the protagonist, but this is one of the first stories to showcase how Red Hulk could actually be a hero. Ross committed a lot of bad things since becoming the Red Hulk, but he made it clear that the road to atonement was as genuine as it was personal for him.
3 Red Hulk: Haunted
Hulk: #47-52 by Jeff Parker, Elena Casagrande, and Carlo Pagulayan
A visit to Doctor Strange reveals to watch that when he returned from the dead, an entity attached itself to the Red Hulk, haunting him until a confrontation that was always bound to happen. The ordeals leads Red Hulk to start seeing ghosts, slowly driving him mad before such a confrontation could even happen. This would eventually demand Red Hulk to receive help from supernatural forces like Morbius, Strange, and co., all before Dark Samson – the ghost of Doc Samson – is introduced to haunt Thunderbolt.
Red Hulk is not a character that would make for an obvious fit in a supernatural story, but that’s why this story is so fascinating. It takes a character rooted in science, logic, and a military background, and forces him in a situation that he doesn’t understand, but is forced to use his brainpower to resolve his conflict. It’s like a fish out of water story as it relates to genre, specifically the horror genre.
2 Red Hulk: Mayan Rule
Hulk #54-57 by Jeff Parker and Dale Eaglesham
For context, this was released in 2012, a year when everyone was obsessed with the potential prospect behind the world ending and how it relates to the Mayan culture. That obsession found its way into comics, this one starring the Red Hulk where he and Alpha Flight feast their eyes on the strangest sight: a Mayan temple in the middle of Canada. They’ve incited the wrath of Mayan Gods hoping to feed of enough life force to grant them enough power to rise to prominence once more.
This is very much a storyline that attempted to capitalize on society’s fascination at the time. Still, it does so in a way that creates a timeless fascination of its own by once again placing Red Hulk in unfamiliar territory. It works for the same reason that “Haunted” works so well and shows that the creative team wasn’t afraid to experiment with a new character.
1 U.S.Avengers
by Al Ewing and Paco Medina
Until now, all the storylines listed here centered around Thunderbolt Ross, but some readers may not know that he was not the only character to be the Red Hulk. Al Ewing’s 12-part U.S.Avengers series brings General Robert L. Maverick into the fold. He originally debuts in Ewing and Gerardo Sandoval’s New Avengers #9 for the Avengers’ “Standoff!” story arc, but it is in U.S.Avengers #1 where Robert Maverick debuts as the new Red Hulk. Using a Hulk Plug-In implant that allows him to transform into the Red Hulk for one hour, he effectively becomes the muscle of the new Avengers team.
While it’s easy to get attached to Thunderbolt Ross as a character to the point that it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role of Red Hulk, Maverick brings a different flavor to the role that makes his journey a worthwhile read. Plus, his bombastic character helps round out the team, character-wise. It’s refreshing to see a new Red Hulk.
