"THUNDERBOLT" ROSS (General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, aka The Red Hulk)
Created By: Stan Lee & Jack Kirby (Ross)
First Appearance: The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962)
Role: The Rival (to The Hulk)
Group Affiliations: The Hulkbusters, The U.S. Army, The Avengers (?)
Avengers Grade: D-Level (just kinda joined)
PL 8 (76)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3
Skills:
Deception 5 (+8)
Expertise (Military) 10 (+12)
Insight 3 (+5)
Intimidation 3 (+6)
Investigation 3 (+5)
Perception 5 (+7)
Technology 4 (+6)
Vehicles 3 (+5)
Advantages:
Benefit 2 (General), Equipment 3 (Guns), Improved Critical (Guns), Ranged Attack 8
Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Guns +10 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +4
Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +3, Fortitude +3, Will +8
Complications:
Obsession (Stopping the Hulk)
Enemy (The Hulk, Everyone Else)- During his early stint as the Red Hulk, Ross kicked nearly every powerful hero's ass. Now that his big run is over, except every one of them to come for payback.
Responsibility (Daughter- Betty Banner)
Temper- Ross is easily-enraged, and will not hesitate to attack something he percieves as a threat.
Total: Abilities: 36 / Skills: 36--18 / Advantages: 14 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 8 (76)
-General "Thunderbolt" Ross debuted alongside the Hulk, and has proved to be the longest-running thorn in his side as well. In a character type that also shows up frequently on M*A*S*H and other anti-war shows, he's your typical Ball-Busting Asshole Military Man, showing that the guys in charge are usually rotten bastards, to contrast the innocent, almost saintly men under their command (M*A*S*H used this one a LOT). However, in a typically-Marvel wrinkle (though Breaking Bad did just as funny a thing, defining the main character's Brother-In-Law as an officer with the DEA), he was the father of Bruce Banner's girlfriend Betty. So we had an Overprotective Dad on top of the Jerk-Ass General.
-And Ross was INSANE AS BALLS in the comics. Despite being in the American Military, he allies with super-villains and megalomaniacs like The Leader, M.O.D.O.K. and the Abomination in order to bring down ol' Jade Jaws. Christ, he even shows up at Bruce & Betty's wedding with a gun, shooting Rick Jones. He then temporarily gets merged with Zzzax and gains literal "thunderbolt" powers, even after the merger ends. It's only YEARS later that Ross, after witnessing Rick & Bruce selflessly risk their lives to save Gamma Base that Ross realizes the error in his ways, and he dies in the typically-Marvel way, sacrificing his life to stop the villain.
-However, he is resurrected quickly, as the series kind of REQUIRES his type of character (a representative of "The Man"). The Leader brings him back under his own control, but he soon breaks free and is a bit friendlier to Bruce. That is, until Betty dies of Gamma-poisoning, which turns Ross against Bruce once more.
-Ross is a tolerable General (in the Air Force, it was apparently decided, though don't expect the artist to ever get the uniform right, or the writers to keep it consistent), and pretty good in a scrap, but is way below the level of a Comic Book Soldier-type.
Like I was gonna use another picture.
THE RED HULK (General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross)
Created By: Stan Lee & Jack Kirby (Ross), Jeph Loeb & Ed McGuiness (Red Hulk)
First Appearance: The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962- Ross), Hulk #1 (vol. 2) (Jan. 2008)
Role: The Villain Sue, The Rival (to The Hulk)
Group Affiliations: The Hulkbusters, The U.S. Army, The Avengers (?)
Avengers Grade: D-Level (just kinda joined)
PL 14 (288)
STRENGTH 16 STAMINA 13 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 4/8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3
Skills:
Deception 5 (+8)
Expertise (Military) 10 (+12)
Insight 3 (+5)
Intimidation 5 (+8)
Investigation 3 (+5)
Perception 5 (+7)
Technology 4 (+6)
Vehicles 3 (+5)
Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Benefit 2 (General), Equipment 6 (Giant Guns), Improved Critical (Guns), Improved Initiative, Ranged Attack 8, Startle
Powers:
"Villain Sue"
Power Lifting 5 (50,000 tons) [5]
Leaping 11 (4 miles) [11]
Protection 2 (Extras: Impervious 13) [15]
Immunity 16 (Heat, Cold, Radiation, Pressure, Poison, Disease, Radiation Effects) [16]
Regeneration 8 (Feats: Regrowth) [9]
"The Hottest One There Is" Heat Aura 8 [32]
Enhanced Fighting 4 [8]
Enhanced Advantages 11: Chokehold, Close Attack 3, Diehard, Extraordinary Effort, Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Hold, Power Attack, Withstand Damage (Trade Defenses For Toughness)[11]
"Natural Size" Growth 2 (Str & Sta +2, +2 Mass, +1 Intimidation, -1 Dodge/Parry, -2 Stealth) -- (10 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [5]
"Super-Strength Feats"
"Thunderclap" Dazzle Hearing 12 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Burst +2) (Flaws: Touch Range, Distracting) (24) -- [29]
- AE: "Groundstrike" Affliction 12 (Dodge; Hindered/Prone) (Extras: Area- 120ft. Burst +3) (Flaws: Limited Degree, Instant Recovery, Limited to Ground) Linked to Damage 12 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (Flaws: Limited to Objects) (22)
- AE: "Groundstrike Line" Affliction 12 (Dodge; Hindered/Prone) (Extras: Area- 120ft. Line +3) (Flaws: Limited Degree, Instant Recovery, Limited to Ground) Linked to Damage 10 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (Flaws: Limited to Objects) (22)
- AE: "Shockwave" Damage 12 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Burst +2) (Flaws: Both Grounded) (24)
- AE: "Super-Breath" Move Object 12 (Extras: Area- 120ft. Cone +2) (Flaws: Limited to One Direction) (24)
- AE: Penetrating Strength Damage 13 (13)
Enhanced Heat Aura 7 (Flaws: Uncontrolled- Must be Angry, Side-Effect- Fatigue) [21]
Equipment:
"Killer Giant Guns" Blast 10 (Extras: Multiattack) (30)
Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+16 Damage, DC 31)
Heat Aura +11 (+8 Damage, DC 25)
Raging Aura +11 (+15 Damage, DC 30)
Assorted Strength Feats +12 Area (+12 Damage/Affliction, DC 22)
Giant Guns +10 (+10 Ranged Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +4
Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +15 (+7 Impervious), Fortitude +15, Will +8
Complications:
Secret (Thunderbolt Ross Identity)
Obsession (Stopping the Hulk)
Enemy (The Hulk, Everyone Else)- During his early stint as the Red Hulk, Ross kicked nearly every powerful hero's ass. Now that his big run is over, except every one of them to come for payback.
Responsibility (Daughter- Betty Banner)
Temper- Ross is easily-enraged, and will not hesitate to attack something he percieves as a threat.
Total: Abilities: 76 / Skills: 38--19 / Advantages: 17 / Powers: 160 / Defenses: 16 (288)
The Red Hulk: The Ultimate Villain Sue:
-And of course here's the Red Hulk- the villain that exploded onto the scene and sent a bunch of nerds into a tizzie. Well really, the whole thing (invented by Joe Quesada at a meeting) was kinda amusing to watch, as I cared little about the Hulk-verse, but I find huge attempts at Mary Sues funny, so long as they only embarrass characters I don't care about. Essentially, the Red Hulk comes across as Jeph Loeb getting his jollies off by writing a power-fantasy character to run amok on the Marvel U, and kicking everyone's ass. He went through She-Hulk, Iron Man, The Hulk, a Wendigo, THOR, and then took the Silver Surfer's Board and went flying around space to kick the Grandmaster or the Watcher's ass or something. Now, comics has always been somewhat subject to immature writers' fantasies (Claremont and his X-Women, Englehart & his Mantis), but this was almost TOO much. It reads literally like a giant bag of bad Fan Fiction- that lowest of all creative industries. Loeb was writing a villain whose sole purpose was to kick ass, and it's both amateurish and embarrassing to read. But also funny. I'm actually happy they created him for this reason.
-And it was "Thunderbolt" Ross this whole time, which is kind of an un-reveal (to the point where fans IMMEDIATELY guessed it). But really, they had driven the Ross/Banner thing into the ground centuries ago, and it gave them a new dynamic. Big secrets like that tend to be disappointing let-downs anyways. This whole concept is so Pro Wrestling it's not even funny- a hot new "Monster Heel" debuts, "Squashes" all the prior top names in one-sided matches that seem to "Bury" them (the Abomination was badly beaten and then executed, for example). By "Putting Him Over", the victims devalue their own names, and the internet Smart Marks cry foul, calling for the head of this guy being "Over-Pushed". Once his "Push" ends and he loses the big-time rematch at the end of their Series, he starts "Giving Back His Wins" that he had amassed before, losing to many of the same guys. For example, he's since jobbed to The Hulk, Thor, a super-powerful Ben Grimm, and the X-Men, and during a more heroic turn in which he tries to make up for past misdeeds, he's become more or less a traditional hero, prone to struggling to overcome many situations (like against the Mayan Gods).
-The Red Hulk's origins turn out to be the result of The Intelligencia (some Hulk foes, led by M.O.D.O.K.) gathering together and empowering a rival Hulk, by the way. Ross eventually turns on them and attempts to take over the world for himself, but is defeated by the Hulk thanks to Rulk overheating. And this is the story that gets the Avengers to recruit him.
Post-Villainous Rulk:
-Ross as the Red Hulk continues to appear in various comics- despite the Fanboy Rage hurled his way, his appearances sell like gangbusters, which puts him both on the Avengers, a starring role in the Hulk's book, and even Marvel's Agents of S.M.A.S.H., a Hulk-based cartoon show! And so his "Face Turn" was more or less preordained, despite it being COMPLETELY INSANE that anyone would trust such an amoral, obsessive, vindictive person with that kind of power. But sure enough, the guy starts farting around with the Thunderbolts (humorously drawn by the late Steve Dillon as a man with real-life human proportions instead of the Gigantic Monster literally every other artist draws "Hulks" as), teaming with the Avengers against some Infinity Gem-wielders, and fighting the Thing when he's under the power of The Serpent (this leads to an idiot statement- Bendis speaking through his characters- that this was the "bravest thing" Edwin Jarvis had ever seen, despite him seeing WAY more worthy things than just "Fighting someone more powerful than you". Eventually, Ross is found and defeated by the "Doc Green" Hulk, who depowers him permanently with some nano-compound thingie, and Ross is arrested for desertion (which is, really, quite accurate).
The Red Hulk's Stats:
-I think I've got a pretty good handle of this guy- this is what I got off of Wikipedia and copying others' builds, plus that arc with the Mayan Gods that I've read. Plus his appearances in other books. He's as strong as the baseline Hulk, but a much better fighter, has nifty giant guns, and gets super, SUPER hot, doing massive damage with an Aura Effect. He's of high PL, equivalent to Thor or The Hulk, which accounts for his "New Villain Stink" putting him ahead of both of them in early fights. He used to have an Energy Absorption power- Nullifying all Energy Powers (or Afflicting them), but it's been taken away. Other than that, he's just a more vicious, craftier, militaristic Hulk- a fight between him and Banner could go either way.