Although Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross has been part of the MCU since The Incredible Hulk, once it was announced that Harrison Ford was taking over the role from the late William Hurt for Captain America: Brave New World, that kicked off speculation that Red Hulk was coming. However, rather than keep Ross’ transformation into this scarlet behemoth a secret, the first Brave New World trailer confirmed at the very end that Red Hulk would indeed show up. Director Julius Onah explained why it was necessary to reveal this appearance to the public ahead of Brave New World premiering on the 2025 movies schedule, and he makes some good points.
A lot of the marketing for Captain America: Brave New World, which can now be streamed with a Disney+ subscription, focused on the third act fight between Red Hulk and Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson, who embraced the star-spangled mantle at the end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. While some might have preferred most, if not all of this clash be left out of the movie’s marketing, Onah told Empire that this just wasn’t a realistic option, saying:
I don’t think so. When you’re making a movie like this, an announcement goes out that Harrison Ford is going to play Thaddeus Ross, and you have a fandom as massive and as passionate as the MCU fandom is, you’re toast at that point, you know? In a perfect-case scenario, it would have been awesome [if ] that [had been] an in-theatre surprise, but I think it would have been very difficult. Somewhere along the way, a toy would have been found, or somebody would have leaked a trailer. It’s just so hard to keep anything secret in today’s day and age.
If you’re like me and were closely following along with the Captain America: Brave New World news cycle, then frankly, Red Hulk’s appearance shouldn’t have been shocking. Rumors were rampant about his inclusion months ahead of the movie’s release, but from the perspective of an average moviegoer, seeing a tease of Red Hulk was probably a jolting moment. Regardless, I agree that it would have great if Red Hulk had been kept a surprise in Brave New World, just like how I think it would’ve been better if Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’s marketing had avoided showing Doomsday.
But as Julius Onah wisely pointed out, between Harrison Ford being cast as Thaddeus Ross, Marvel Comics fans being well aware how the character has been able to turn into Red Hulk since 2008, and the toys and other merchandise that are released ahead of the movie, there was just no way to keep something like that a secret. Honestly, it probably helped with drumming up interest for Captain America: Brave New World. Since Tim Blake Nelson’s Leader was largely kept out of marketing outside of the odd voice clip, Red Hulk fills in nicely as another visually distinctive adversary to catch people’s attention.
It’s hard to say if we’ll see Harrison Ford in the MCU again, though I feel like it’s a missed opportunity for Red Hulk not to come to blows with Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk someday. However, fans of the new Captain America can look forward to Anthony Mackie reprising him in the upcoming Marvel movies Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
