When the news broke out of Harrison Ford joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the Red Hulk, fans couldn’t help but wonder how Kevin Feige convinced him.
But anyways, he did it, and with Ford playing Thunderbolt Ross as a replacement for the late great William Hurt, who passed away when he was signed to become the leader of MCU’s anti-hero team, fans are more than excited.
So, with the new face of the Red Hulk, it is probably the best time to look into the character and discuss who the Red Hulk is and just how strong this red giant is.
Who is the Red Hulk?
First appearing in the Hulk Vol. 2 Issue 1st, the Red Hulk was General Thaddeus E. “Thunderbolt” Ross, the man who would become the most frequent nemesis of the superhuman monster known as the Incredible Hulk.
His size is estimated to be similar to that of the green Hulk, and the Red Hulk came into existence because Ross was obsessed with hunting down Hulk.
Ross had an extreme dislike for Bruce Banner, and the close connection being built between Bruce and Ross’s daughter, Betty Ross, added fuel to his hatred towards Banner.
In his pursuit of hunting down Bruce, Ross committed treason against his country, deceived the military, and joined forces with The Leader and M.O.D.O.K.
Blonsky was recruited by Ross and injected with a variant of Super Soldier Serum, which caused him to transform into a Hulk-sized superhuman, Abomination.
In his efforts to apprehend Hulk, Ross created Abomination, but it just backfired as he lost his daughter to the same monster he had created. In the meantime, Hulk was exiled from Earth by a certain group of superheroes.
With the grief of his daughter’s death, Ross lacked purpose now that there was no hulk to fight, leading Ross to spiral into alcoholism and depression.
Taking advantage of such a situation, the Leader and M.O.D.O.K. approached Ross and, using the radiation siphoned from the Hulk, transformed Ross into Red Hulk.
How strong is Red Hulk? : Strengths and abilities
The Red Hulk might just be another version of the Hulk, but he is a powerful force to be reckoned with. With immense power and abilities, Red Hulk has established himself as one of the strongest in the Marvel universe.
So exactly how strong is this character? Let’s look at some of his powers and abilities to find out.
Powers
Superhuman Strength: Just like any other strong character of the Marvel Universe, Red Hulk possessed immense superhuman strength. Just like his counterpart, the Hulk, the Red Hulk had a massive build, which aided in his superhuman strength.
Also, the exciting part about his supernatural strength was that he could increase it by absorbing radiation. With such powers, he could defeat some of the powerful beings, such as the Watcher and an Elder of the Universe.
Transformation: Another power that the Red Hulk possessed was the power of transformation. He was able to transform into his human and the Hulk form.
However, he could not transform between the forms without consciously willing it. The case was relevant when Hulk knocked him out, and he did not revert for hours even though he was unconscious.
Regenerative Healing: Now, remember when we talked about how Red Hulk was similar to the Hulk? Well, it turns out they are similar in many ways. They not only possessed identical superhuman strength, but they shared a similar healing power as well.
Just like Hulk, the Red Hulk possessed a healing factor. Although it was noticeably less powerful than the Hulk’s, and it took considerable time to actually use it, it was still a handy ability.
Superhuman Leaping: Despite his large physique, Red Hulk was extremely light on his feet as with the help of his overdeveloped legs, Red Hulk could jump over great distances.
Retarded Aging: Red Hulk possessed the healing factor responsible for the regeneration of his cells as he was powered by gamma and cosmic energy. The healing factor caused the regeneration of cells, which in return slowed down the Red Hulk’s aging process.
However, although Red Hulk possessed the healing factor, it was ineffective on Ross as he aged just like any other normal human being.
Superhuman Stamina: Not only did the Red Hulk have superhuman strength and leaping powers, he also had close to unlimited stamina. He was able to constantly fight, run and do other physical activities without losing much energy.
Superhuman Durability: Any attacks or damage that was lethal enough to kill normal humans or less powerful superhumans, Red Hulk quickly took them without any problem. The attacks included powerful blasts, combats, and even atmospheric reentry.
Gamma Radiation Emission: Red Hulk constantly gave off gamma radiation, and the rate of emission increased the angrier he got. While the radiation kept his enemies at bay, it also sometimes burnt Ross himself.
If he emitted too much radiation, he was exposed to the risk of overheating and exploding at immense levels, which could have been extremely dangerous for his opponents.
Superhuman Speed: Red Hulk was swift and able to move at superhuman speed.
Abilities
Along with all these superhuman powers like strength, speed, and even radiation emission, the Red Hulk was a competent hand-to-hand combatant.
Also, prior to being transformed into the Red Hulk, Ross was in the military, which gave his Hulk form the ability of a skilled military tactician.
How strong is he compared to other characters?
Well, looking at his powers and abilities, it is evident that he is one of the strongest characters in the Marvel Universe but what if he was to go against some of the superheroes and villains? Would he be able to fight them off in a one-on-one battle?
Let’s compare him with some of the famous and powerful superheroes from the D.C. and Marvel Universe.
Red Hulk compared to the superheroes
Thor
The God of Thunder, Thor, is one of the most muscular superheroes out there. Being a god already has provided him with immense powers, but along with the God powers, he also possesses superhuman strength, speed, agility, durability, and immunity to most diseases.
Now, even Red Hulk possessed similar powers like that to Thor. During his time as Red Hulk, Ross did go up against Thor and was also able to defeat the mighty god in a one-on-one fight.
In his fight with the Odinforce- powered Thor, Ross could leap past the Earth’s atmosphere, requiring Mjolnir only to cover the rest of the distance to the moon and then leap from the moon back to Earth unaided.
However, because Thor was much more powerful than Red Hulk, he was only defeated because he was unprepared when they fought each other. After returning to Earth, Thor immediately defeats Red Hulk and once again beats him when Red Hulk comes to seek his aid.
Clash with the Eternals
Now, we all know just how strong the Eternals are, and when they went up against the Red Hulk, their powers didn’t seem too powerful enough to go against the Red Man.
It wasn’t all of the Eternals that went against the Red Hulk, but it was Ikaris. When they were trying to test Red Hulk’s worthiness of their trust, Ikaris attacked Hulk when he saw Sersi being threatened.
The fight between Ikaris and Red Hulk didn’t end well, as their fight triggered a volcanic eruption after Ikaris launched a devastating opening blow.
However, Red Hulk punched Ikaris into the ground so hard that it shattered a deposit of cooled magma. So even though the fight ended with no definitive winner, it was evident that Red Hulk was strong enough to go up against a near-god-like being.
Iron Man
Red Hulk and Iron Man went up against each other when Iron Man was investigating Abomination and headed towards Quatermain, where his scanner picked up more gamma residue on the walls.
While searching for answers, he met with the Red Hulk. Their first encounter didn’t go well because as soon as their first mate, Red Hulk, growled at him and started tearing pieces off the helicarrier, trying to smash Iron man with them.
Iron man was undoubtedly taken aback seeing such monstrous behavior from Red Hulk and quickly retreated as the entire helicarrier was about to crash, which just meant one thing Iron man was certainly scared by such a powerful foe.
Superman
While the Red Hulk did go against the Superman version of Marvel, Ikaris, he had never gone against the Superman from the D.C. universe, even though many crossovers between these two universes have taken place in the past.
Red Hulk certainly had powers that negatively affected his health, but they were still a formidable tool to use against mighty opponents.
Superman and Red Hulk had similar powers of absorbing radiations and energies from the surrounding; Red Hulk might have slightly better chances of winning against the Man of Steel in combat. Now, before you come at us, hear us out.
Red Hulk could easily absorb exotic energy sources like gamma radiation and the Power Cosmic, so it’s logical to expect that he could process the simpler solar radiation that powers Superman himself.
Also, fans know just how weak Superman can get if his power reserves were to be drained, leaving him all weak and emaciated.
The Red Hulk also has problems with radiation powers. However, even without his energy absorption abilities, the Red Hulk would be a legitimate threat to Superman as he still had his tools and weapons with him.
Batman
Now, if we are talking about Superman, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if we were to talk about Batman as well.
Just like Superman, Batman hasn’t gone up against Red Hulk, but it would be an exciting battle if it were to occur.
While they both have their strengths and powers, this time, it seems like Batman might have a bit of an upper hand going up against Red Hulk.
Red Hulk is brilliant, which he gets from his human form as he was a general in the military, making him a great tactician. Interestingly, Batman is a great tactician himself.
So, how could Batman win against Red Hulk? Well, if you remember, while he was able to Emmitt radiations from his body, it was also slowly killing him, and on top of that, when Ross was in his Hulk form, the angrier he got, the radiation he emitted, which meant that he might have lost his mind for a while in rage.
Taking advantage of Ross’s raging mode, Batman can defeat him in a battle if they go up against each other.
Compared to the supervillains
Thanos
Known to be one of the strongest villains in the Marvel universe, Thanos would undoubtedly be one strong force to go up against.
While the Red Hulk possessed many superhuman abilities and powers, it was highly doubtful that he would defeat Thanos, as Thanos was a genius with vast knowledge of science that helped him attain even greater power.
Also, through a combination of his mutant–Eternal heritage, bionic amplification, mysticism, and power bestowed by the abstract entity, Death, Thanos was nearly indestructible. His forces had increased beyond their natural limit.
He was so powerful that he could also wield the Infinity Gauntlet. So, even if Red Hulk were a strong being, he wouldn’t hold a candle against Thanos, one of the powerful Eternals.
Kang The Conqueror
Believed to become Marvel’s strongest villain, Kang the Conqueror belonged to the Watchers and didn’t have any powers of his own.
It turns out he was a gifted military strategist and a combatant, more like the Red Hulk. Not only they had similar abilities, but they also had significant weaponry at their disposal.
While Kang had access to extensive weapons from across all eras of history, including the far future, Red Hulk had the military back him up in the field of weaponry.
So, if these two were to go up against each other, Red Hulk would undoubtedly have a difficult time defeating the powerful being as not only was he more powerful, but also his weapons were very advanced than that Red Hulk had.
Michael Korvac
Probably a more significant threat than Thanos, Michael Korvac was one of the greatest villains of all time. He was the one who had secretly stolen some of the Power Cosmic from Galactus, and armed with such Cosmic Powers. He had a ton of impressive abilities at his disposal.
Although Red Hulk had the ability of superhuman levels, he would still have trouble going up against Michael because during the Avenger’s great battle, it was clear how undefeatable he was.
Even though the Avengers called nearly every member they had, they still had a hard time defeating Korvac as they couldn’t come up with a way to beat him.
So, even though all the superheroes like Thor, Vision, Wonder Man, Iron Man, and Guardians of the Galaxy were of no use in defeating Korvac, it is highly doubted that Red Hulk could do it alone.
Compared to other Hulks: Who is the strongest?
While compared to the superheroes and villains, it is clear that Red Hulk is a powerful being who can defeat some heroes and villains but will still have a hard time fighting off some powerful ones.
But how does he compare to his counterparts? As you know, there are many versions of the Hulk within the Marvel universe. So let’s look at how strong or weak he is compared to his kind.
Hulk
We start with the main hero, which inspired his creation, The Hulk. Although similar in form, the Red Hulk was believed to be stronger than the standard green version of the Hulk.
The Red Hulk was made using the radiation siphoned from the Hulk, but he was stronger than Hulk himself. Not only Red Hulk got stronger by absorbing radiation, but his hatred towards the Hulk fueled his powers.
The fact that the Red Hulk was stronger than Bruce’s Hulk was proved by the fact that in a battle, he was able to defeat the mighty God of Thunder, Thor.
However, there were still some weaknesses to the Red Hulk. While Bruce’s Hulk had no apparent liability when he got angry, Red Hulk, on the other hand, got hotter and hotter until he got dizzy due to overheating.
So, although Red Hulk was stronger in his base form than the original Hulk, the Hulk’s upper limit was higher than Red Hulk.
Abomination
While not a hulk, Abomination could still be considered a similar type to that of the Hulks, and the Red Hulk was more like Abomination than the Hulk, in the sense that he was already strong in his base form and was stronger than Hulk.
Keeping this fact in mind, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Red Hulk was actually a lot stronger than Abomination as he was able to defeat the giant beats in a one-to-one fight as revenge for the death of his daughter, Betty Ross.
With his superhuman strength, Red Hulk was easily able to kill Abomination.
She-Hulk
She-Hulk’s incredibly powerful character was Jennifer Walters, the cousin of the original Hulk, Bruce Banner. She had almost all of the Hulk’s standard abilities without Banner’s inability to control his transformation.
She could trigger her transformation at will and retained her intelligence even while transformed, unlike Red Hulk, who lost it all.
However, Red Hulk was still much stronger than She-Hulk, as she lacked the physical strength that the other Hulks’ possessed.
Even in the comics, She-Hulk needed the help of others in trying to apprehend the Red Hulk. So, it wouldn’t be much work for the Red Hulk to defeat the She-Hulk.
Another version of She-Hulk, the Red She-Hulk, was the Red Hulk’s daughter Betty Ross. She first appeared when the Red Hulk gathered a team of mercenaries to hunt down Domino.
Resenting her father, she first saved him from the Wolverine’s attacks but later double-crossed him and plunged Elektra’s stolen sai into his neck. After she pushed him off kicked the Red Hulk off the Empire State Building.
Red Hulk did lose to his daughter, but it was because he trusted her and didn’t think she would be the one to stab him in the back, or should we say, stab him in the neck!
The Maestro Hulk
Among the many versions of the Hulk, the Maestro Hulk was considered one of the most powerful, as he was the future version.
He was the possible future where nuclear devastation had eliminated many, if not all, Earthbound heroes and villains. Because he was the future version, his strengths and powers had also been drastically improved to the point where he could lift twice as much in a calm state as before.
So, not only was Maestro Hulk stronger than the present Hulks, but he was also highly ruthless and intelligent, which could be a problem if Red Hulk was to go up against him.
Orange Hulk
An Orange Hulk was also part of the Black Legion that served the Weapon Omega. While his origin was unknown, he possessed the abilities and powers to go up against the Hulk, which showed his strength.
Also, he had solar radiation-based powers, which weren’t as strong as the Gamma radiation that the Red Hulk emitted. So, even though the Orange Hulk was strong enough to defeat Hulk, he would still have a hard time going up against the Red Hulk.
While not much is known about Orange hulk, he and the Black Legion fought Earth-616 X-Force and the Earth-295 X-Men on one of Apocalypse’s old ships and even killed some people before the surviving X-Men members arrived.
Conclusion
Now that we know what powers the Red Hulk had and comparing him with various powerful characters, Red Hulk is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with, and now with Harrison Ford getting the role, fans are more than excited to see what the Marvel Universe is set to put on the table.
It is also rumored that Red Hulk will probably appear in Captain America: New World Order and a Red Hulk movie, Thunderbolts, which is scheduled for 2024.
