What Marvel did with Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) in Avengers: Endgame has provided the MCU with the perfect setup for a “World War Hulk” story. Marvel has pushed the child-like Hulk persona aside in favor of Smart Hulk, but the classic version of the character could always come roaring back in the future.
One way to use him again on the big screen would be by adapting World War Hulk, a Marvel comic event that saw the titular character come to blows with some of Marvel’s most well-known superheroes, including Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Black Bolt, and more. Hulk’s crusade against these characters started when they engineered a scheme to take him off-world. They believed that Hulk was a disaster waiting to happen and that it would be better to send him somewhere where the Earth would be safe from his destructive potential. Their plan worked, but what they didn’t count on was Hulk finding a way to return. After gathering a number of alien allies, Hulk came roaring back with a fury and began taking revenge on his former friends.
Red Hulk is an alias that is used by two different fictional characters in comic books published by Marvel Comics, U.S. Generals Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross and Robert Maverick.
The first incarnation of Red Hulk (also known as Rulk) first appeared in the Hulk series that debuted in 2008. The 2010 “World War Hulks” storyline reveals that this being is United States Army General Thunderbolt Ross, the father-in-law and longtime nemesis of the original Hulk, Bruce Banner.
The storyline reveals that Ross was given the ability to transform into Red Hulk by the organizations A.I.M. and the Intelligencia, and that he did this in order to better fight the original Hulk.
The origin of the second Red Hulk appears in the 2017 debut issue of U.S.Avengers. Four-star General Robert Maverick is selected for his genetic profile to create a being who is “halfway to a Hulk”.
A device called the Hulk Plug-In, created by Avengers Idea Mechanics (a legitimate technology company created from the remnants of the defunct supervillain organization Advanced Idea Mechanics), is implanted in Maverick’s wrist.
When triggered, it turns him into a variation of the Red Hulk for one hour approximately every day and a half. Unlike the Thunderbolt Ross version of Red Hulk, Maverick retains his mustache in his Hulk form and wears his sunglasses. He joins the U.S. Avengers.
