Characters / MCU: Thaddeus Ross

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Spoilers for all works set prior to the end of Avengers: Endgame are unmarked.

Secretary of State Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross

"In the past four years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate."

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): US Army (formerly), DOS

Portrayed By: William Hurt (2008–2021), Harrison Ford (2025–onwards)

Voiced By: Juan Carlos Tinoco [The Incredible Hulk], Óscar Gómez [Captain America: Civil War onwards] (Latin-American Spanish dub)

Appearances: The Incredible Hulk | The Consultant ^note Archive footage from The Incredible Hulk | Captain America: Civil War | Avengers: Infinity War | Avengers: Endgame | Black Widow | Captain America Brave New World

"Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now? 'Cause you can bet if I misplaced a couple of 30-megaton warheads, there'd be consequences."

A US Army General who hunts down Bruce Banner claiming him to be a threat — in truth, he's after Banner's blood in order to perfect a new Super-Soldier serum. Following a heart attack and retirement from the Army, he has become the United States Secretary of State.

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A-K

• Adaptation Personality Change: Comic Ross is much more prone to pyrotechnics, letting lose antiquated cusses at the drop of a hat. Film Ross is more outwardly calmer, but more personally repugnant in compensation.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the comics, Ross considers the Hulk a threat, and hunts him in order to stop him. In The Incredible Hulk, he is indirectly responsible for Bruce turning into the Hulk by lying about what the experiment was about, and afterwards knows perfectly well that Banner would prefer not to fight, but wants the Hulk to make more Super-Soldier serum. However, Civil War seems to rerail him to his comic book incarnation, who believes that super-powered beings are threats and he's doing all he can to protect the world from them.
• Adaptational Wimp: In the comics, General Ross eventually becomes the Red Hulk, a powerful villain with a level of Super-Strength comparable to Hulk's own. In the MCU, Ross has appeared in no less than five films and so far, he has remained a normal human being.
• Advertised Extra: Despite being featured in several trailers for Black Widow (2021), Ross is ultimately a very minor character in the film who only appears in one scene at the beginning and isn't seen again until a brief moment at the end. He was originally supposed to have more scenes (notably a subplot in which he captures Rick Mason to track down Natasha), but most of them, unfortunately, ended up being cut from the final product.
• Alternate Self: Ross has four alternate counterparts, one of whom is dead and another who's a zombie.
• Antagonist in Mourning: In Avengers Endgame, he is shown to be grief-stricken over Tony Stark's Heroic Sacrifice (though how upset he actually is might be up for interpretation).
• Armor-Piercing Question: When he informs the Avengers about the Sokovia Accords, Steve argues that the Avengers can still yield reliable results when going out in the field. Ross then asks him about Thor and Hulk's whereabouts, to which Steve has no answer. Ross then adds that if he himself lost two nuclear warheads, then of course there would be consequences.
• Back from the Dead: He's one of the victims of Thanos's Badass Fingersnap in Infinity War before he is, quite ironically, revived by Bruce Banner in Endgame.
• Bait the Dog: In Civil War, he pretends to Take a Level in Kindness towards the Avengers to get them to sign the Sokovia Accords for his own selfish ends.
• Big Bad Ensemble: With Emil Blonsky in The Incredible Hulk. The entirety of the conflict is because Ross wants to dissect Bruce, and all the soldiers attacking Bruce answer to him. However, Blonsky’s betrayal and transformation into the Abomination turns him into a far greater threat than Ross by the climax.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Although he's a big threat, he's never the most dangerous:
  • While he initiates the conflict of The Incredible Hulk, he's overshadowed by Blonsky becoming the Abomination and has to form an Enemy Mine with Banner.
  • Following the revelation of Ross not having changed his morals one bit in Civil War and Infinity War, it seemed Ross all along intended to abuse his authority as State Secretary and use the Sokovia Accords to get the Avengers to bend to his whim by having them under a tight governmental leash. However, he is overshadowed by the actual threats like Zemo and Thanos.
  • He acts as a minor antagonist trying to arrest the titular heroine in Black Widow, but Natasha doesn't take him very seriously and he's clearly little more than a nuisance compared to the Red Room.
• Big "NO!":
  • He shouts two in a row out of frustration when Hulk manages to escape from his soldiers in Brazil.
    General Ross: No! NO!!
  • Later, he yells a distraught "NOOO!" when he believes that Betty has been killed by the explosion of a crashed helicopter during the battle at Culver University.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: When we see him once again in Civil War he seems to be sincere in his admission to the Avengers that the world owes them a debt and that they have done some good, and presents the Sokovia Accords as a compromise that'll allow them to continue to operate; suggesting he's soften somewhat since The Incredible Hulk. However, it becomes clear that his initial genial attitude was just a front, as he later focuses more on imprisoning those Avengers that defy him than going after the real threats like Zemo, or even an alien invasion in Infinity War, and threatens even those that signed the Accords with the same should they fail or step out of line.
• Blatant Lies: During his conversation with Leonard Samson, Ross affirms that the safety of his daughter is more important to him than capturing Hulk. However, Samson can recognize when someone is lying, so he doesn't believe him for one second and states that this is a lie. Ross doesn't even try to contradict him.
• Broken Pedestal: To Rhodey, who's heavily implied to have looked up to him because of how much he's accomplished in his career and was very supportive of the Sokovia Accords Ross explained to The Avengers. Two years later, Rhodey's grown tired of his self-righteous and disrespectful attitude and outright disobeys his order to arrest the Anti-Accords Avengers when they come to the Avengers Facility knowing full-well it will get him court-martialled.
• The Bus Came Back: While he was never really put on a bus to begin with due to The Incredible Hulk never receiving a sequel (one could say the whole franchise was Put on a Bus), his return in Captain America: Civil War marks one of the longest gaps between appearances by a character in the MCU, at 8 years.
• The Cameo:
  • He briefly appears via hologram in Infinity War where he orders Rhodes to arrest the fugitive Avengers only to get cut off by Rhodey.
  • He appears as one of the attendees at Tony Stark's funeral in Endgame.
• The Cavalry Arrives Late: In Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff's plan was to be taken to the Red Room Headquarters and activate her tracker once there so that Ross would locate her and come with his soldiers to deal with the Red Room. However, in the end Ross and his men arrive only after Natasha and her allies have already taken care of the Red Room by themselves.
• Celebrity Paradox:
  • Star Wars has been referenced again and again by MCU installments. Ross's second actor, Harrison Ford, played Han Solo, one of the Star Wars characters.
  • Indiana Jones was also mentioned alongside Star Wars by Riri Williams in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The titular character is Ford's most popular role in his acting career, only rivaled by Han Solo.
  • Anchorman was mentioned in an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Ford portrayed Mack Tannen in the sequel.
• Characterization Marches On: Ross starts out as an angry and embittered General Ripper chasing Bruce Banner. By the time of his later appearance, he is a much more refined and slick political animal who can easily make the Avengers' lives more difficult.
• Cigar Chomper: Is often seen smoking a cigar in his first appearance. He seems to have dropped the habit by the time he became Secretary of State.
• Composite Character: Besides his comics depiction, his characterization has several elements:
  • The Incredible Hulk, his desire to capture and dissect the Hulk echoes that of General John Ryker.
  • In Captain America: Civil War, he essentially gets Maria Hill's role as the government representative trying to force the Avengers into registration (though Maria still exists as a separate character).
  • He also shares many traits with Henry Peter Gyrich and James Murch, the US government's liaisons with the Avengers in the comics (at different times). Like Gyrich, he's an Obstructive Bureaucrat whose prejudice against heroes and Jerkass tendencies make it harder for the heroes to do their job. Like Murch, he has facial hair.
• Demoted to Extra: Ross's screen time and role importance seems to diminish with each of his appearances:
  • After having been a major character in The Incredible Hulk, Ross only shows up for a few scenes in his next appearance in Civil War, though at least his role is still quite important to the overall story.
  • Chronologically speaking, his following appearance is in Black Widow, in which he only has two scenes and a fairly minor subplot (more scenes with him were shot, but almost all of them were ultimately deleted).
  • Ross returns in Infinity War, but as a minor character who has little effect on the plot and is only present during one scene.
  • In Endgame, he only makes a very brief appearance among a crowd of people at the end, and doesn't even have a single line of dialogue.
• Determinator: For better or worse, he does not know when to give up.
• Didn't Think This Through: In Infinity War, he orders Rhodey to arrest Cap, Natasha, Sam, and Wanda while Vision is in the room. Best case scenario: that's a four-on-two fight, Rhodey is not currently wearing his War Machine armour, Vision is visibly wounded, and the rogue Avengers know that Rhodey is paraplegic without his leg braces, which Natasha or Wanda could easily disable. And all of this assumes that Rhodey and Vision are actually willing to arrest their friends when the world's on fire.
• Did You Actually Believe...?:
  • Ross says a variant of this when Tony Stark goes to the Raft after the arrest of most of Captain America's followers to try to convince him that they were right that someone else is responsible for Bucky's supposed crimes.
    Secretary Ross: You seriously think I'm going to listen to you after that fiasco in Leipzig? You're lucky you're not in one of these cells.
  • In Infinity War he also says something similar when the fugitive Captain America and his team come to offer their help against Thanos' invasion.
    Secretary Ross: The world's on fire, and you think all's forgiven?
• Disowned Parent: Betty is furious with her father for causing Bruce Banner's transformation into the Hulk by lying to them about what the experiment they were conducting was for, refusing to take responsibility for it, and leading a manhunt against Bruce in order to perfect the Super-Soldier serum. When she finally confronts him about it, Betty outright tells him that she will never forgive him for ruining Bruce's life and tells him to never to speak to her as his daughter again.
• Drowning My Sorrows: During the ending of The Incredible Hulk after he had a really rough day: his star soldier Blonsky went psycho and became the Abomination, his daughter severed her ties with him, and he was forced to release Banner to defeat Blonsky. As The Consultant reveals, his day will only get worse.
• Enemy Mine: He temporarily releases Banner from custody and allows him to become the Hulk in order to fight off the Abomination and save the city.
• Entitled Bastard: Acts as one towards Tony Stark in Civil War. Despite insulting, looking down on, and threatening to throw him in jail, he still expects Tony to assist him the second he asks.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: For all his shortsightedness and disrespect towards other people, especially towards heroes, he does genuinely love his daughter Betty. However, it’s the same love for her that drove her away from him. Eventually, his overprotectiveness and irresponsibility leads to Betty disowning him. It's telling that him not talking to her for years shows that he respects her wishes.
• Even Evil Has Standards: As loathsome as he may be, there are things that even Ross won't stand for.
  • When he goes to New York to apprehend Bruce Banner, Ross strictly forbids his men to directly engage with him as he doesn't want to take the risk that he'll turn into the Hulk in a populated area and endanger civilians, as shown in a deleted scene.
  • Ross is visibly horrified when he sees the Abomination's rampage through Harlem at the end of the film.
  • After capturing Rick Mason in a deleted scene of Black Widow (2021), Ross makes it clear that he has nothing but disdain for people like him who smuggle things on the black market.
  • Also, when he discovers that the Red Room was still in operation in another deleted scene, he seems concerned and worries about all the damage they may have done.
• Evil Is Petty: In Civil War, if the encounter between him and Stark on "The Raft" is any indication, Ross gets an opportunity to get the last laugh on Stark following their last encounter The Incredible Hulk with the turning point in the trust between the Avengers and the public being at a low point in Ross's favor. Then it's implied he intends to have Rhodey court-martialed for disobeying Ross's orders to arrest Steve, Natasha and Sam in Infinity War.
• Evil Old Folks: When he makes his return to the MCU, Ross clearly has aged during those eight years prior to Civil War as he has gray hair in contrast to his blond hair in The Incredible Hulk and is noticeably slender than his past burly physique. However, his weight loss might have something to do with his recovery from his heart attack that required him to drop some pounds for the sake of his health. He doesn't truly become Older and Wiser until after Tony's Heroic Sacrifice, if at all.
• Evil Sounds Deep: With William Hurt, who has a deep, husky voice, this is a given.
• Evilutionary Biologist: Of a sort. While he claims to be hunting down the Hulk just for the public's safety, he's more interested in dissecting Banner in order to discover the Captain America formula.
• Evil Versus Evil: During the climax of The Incredible Hulk, General Ross helps Hulk in his fight against the rampaging Abomination.
• Expy: In The Incredible Hulk, Hurt based Thunderbolt Ross on Captain Ahab from Moby-Dick due to their obsessions during their hunts. His Fantastic Racism, abuse of his official position, and even had tried to dissect a superhero however makes him the closest to the MCU's depiction of William Stryker from X-Men. Word of Godinvoked has directly compared his role in Civil War to Colin Powell, being a military general turned Secretary of State.
• Failed a Spot Check: After Ross has arrested Natasha and placed her in the back of his truck during a deleted scene from Black Widow (2021), she manages to free herself from her handcuffs and open a door to escape while Ross is so busy talking and driving that he doesn't realize anything until she's already gone.
• Fallen Hero: Was a decorated Vietnam War veteran before becoming The Neidermeyer General Ripper then an Obstructive Bureaucrat. For this moral degradation, he is viewed as a disgrace to the uniform by fellow military servicemen Steve, Sam and eventually Rhodey, who initially respected Ross for his distinguished military career until realizing his true colors. Despite this, he had enough respect for Tony that he showed up at his funeral.
• Fantastic Racism: He sees superheroes less as people and more as weapons who happen to be alive.
• Feeling Their Age: Ross is way past his prime and he knows it. He suffered from a heart attack a few years ago and has needed several triple bypass surgeries, and he's shown having to use a cane to walk at the time of Phase Four. Natasha Romanoff even taunts him about it during the beginning of Black Widow (2021) by pointing out that he looks quite exhausted after having to undergo another surgery.
• General Ripper: His obsession with capturing Banner leads him to create violent and unnecessary situations, such as bringing helicopters to a college that, until that point, was not experiencing Hulk problems. When he becomes Secretary of State he also doesn't cares about doing what is right or reasonable for the sake of doing his sworn duty to protect the country (and the world) but wastes very necessary time trying to get rid of perceived threats.
• Glory Hound: It's implied the reason he was in charge of the Super-Soldier project following the origins of Captain America in The Incredible Hulk and tried to enforce the Sokovia Accords onto the Avengers in Civil War and Infinity War was to selfishly take credit for the superheroes' heroic actions, while also discrediting them to make himself look good.
• Godzilla Threshold: He's willing to use an uncompleted serum on his star soldier in order to take down the Hulk. When that goes wrong, he sets Banner free to become the Hulk in order to save Harlem from the Abomination.
  • Defied in Infinity War. The moment the fugitive Avengers arrive to HQ to see how they can help, Ross instantly orders War Machine to arrest them and flat-out tells Rogers that it doesn't matters the sky is literally on fire and the universe is about to see untold amounts of destruction, he and his allies are still criminals and he will not allow their actions to remain unpunished.
• Hated by All: Absolutely no one in the MCU seems to like this guy. Both heroes like Captain America, and villains like the Abomination who were forced to work with/under him show nothing but contempt towards him. That being said, he believes his actions against Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk, and the Avengers in both Civil War and Infinity War are one hundred percent justified. Special mention goes to how in Civil War, Rhodey, as a fellow military man, was respectful of Ross for his military achievements, and supportive of the Sokovia Accords. By Infinity War, two years of working with the man has deeply soured Rhodey's outlook of both Ross personally and the Accords in general.
• Hate Sink: In all his appearances, he's made to be as thoroughly unlikeable and despicable as possible. The fact that he is a General Ripper, The Neidermeyer, Obstructive Bureaucrat and Inspector Javert all rolled into one is already bad enough, but the fact that he's supposed to be on the side of the heroes makes this even worse. He wants to hunt down Banner and use him for experimentation despite being partially responsible for what happened to him. While he does ultimately let Banner go after seeing the bigger threat, any goodwill he might have earned dissipates by the time he returns. He repeatedly calls the Avengers out for their inability to mitigate damage control, while refusing to take accountability for his own faults. He also obstructs the heroes from doing their job; as best seen when Stark tries to deal with Zemo, and orders Rhodey to arrest the fugitive Avengers despite them being the only hope of stopping Thanos. While Zemo and Thanos are the main threat, they at least have sympathetic qualities that make it hard for audiences to root against. Thus, Ross is made the perfect punching bag for audiences to jeer at. He loses this trope in Avengers: Endgame by gaining some sympathy points, as by the time of that film, the Sokovia Accords no longer take effect, and he also attends the funeral of Tony Stark.
• Head-in-the-Sand Management: In Infinity War, it's shown that Secretary Ross and the Sokovia Accord-mandated council overseeing the Avengers have become this following Thanos' attack on New York and Tony Stark's subsequent disappearance into space. Rather than pushing forward on a mission to counter the alien forces, Ross spends his time arguing with the one remaining Avenger at the compound, Rhodey, over his and fellow Avenger Vision's loyalty to the accords. When the Secret Avengers come out of hiding to offer a truce and their services, Ross instead orders their arrest, which Rhodey ignores.
• Hero Antagonist: Subverted. In Civil War, it seems that he's aware of the potential danger the Avengers are to society and lays out the Sokovia Accords to keep them in check. However, it becomes clear that he just wants to be in control of them and will not hesitate to arrest them for any reason and imprison them in "The Raft."
• Hidden Depths: During his first scene in Civil War, he mentions in passing that he used to play golf before his heart attack.
• Hypocrite: He chastises the Avengers for all the collateral damage that happens in their fights while showing them footage of it, and wants them to be held accountable for their actions. Yet conveniently (or perhaps deliberately) never brings up the the battle in Harlem, New York between the Hulk and Abomination, which he was responsible for and refuses to be held accountable for it. He also criticizes Bruce's actions when the only reason Bruce was infected was because he lied to Bruce about what they were doing. To put a finer point on it, he even goes to the trouble of making a snarky comment about Cap and the Avengers losing track of Bruce, when he himself has been guilty of this very thing in the past and apparently suffered zero consequences.
• Inspector Javert: An outside observer would see a general tracking a defector/monster in order to bring him in to custody. Also in Civil War, he believes that super-powered beings are threats that should be keep an eye on to protect the world. By Infinity War he showcases all of the absolute worst parts of this trope by ordering Rhodes to arrest Steve Rogers and the other fugitive Avengers when they arrive to HQ looking to see what they can do to help stop Thanos, bluntly telling Rogers that it doesn't matters that the sky is literally on fire, he is still a fugitive and will not be forgiven for his crimes no matter what. Rhodes declines to do the arrest and Rogers tells Ross to take a hike.
  • He once again acts as this in Black Widow, relentlessly chasing Natasha Romanoff throughout the film to arrest her for violating the Sokovia Accords.
• It's All About Me: In the end, there’s no one Ross cares more about than himself. Even if he sincerely loves his daughter and is a patriot to his country, it is actually selfish love towards either of them due to his shortsightedness.
• Jerkass Ball: In The Incredible Hulk, in response to Betty calling him out on his actions and disowning him, he tells her he'd have her arrested as Bruce's accomplice if she weren't his daughter.
• Jerkass Has a Point: During Civil War he rhetorically asks Captain America where Hulk and Thor are now and brings up that if he lost two nuclear warheads, he would surely not get away without consequences. Subverted in that he himself lost track of Banner for five years and lost control of Blonsky and was never reprimanded. Indeed, if anything, he's way better off in Civil War than he was at the end of The Incredible Hulk, his incompetence during the latter apparently having done nothing to prevent him from going from a general in the army to Secretary of State.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite the below, Ross clearly held a degree of respect of Tony Stark despite their animosity, given that he attends Stark's funeral.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk:
  • When Ross makes his reappearance in Civil War, he initially interacts with the Avengers by casually telling them a story of his heart attack during a round of golf and undergoing a triple bypass, seemingly appearing to have Took a Level in Kindness in contrast to the last time we saw him in The Incredible Hulk. He also appears to be more rational as when he lays out the Accords, he brings up good reasons behind them like the damage the Avengers caused during their missions. However, notably during his briefing, he dosn't bring up his own mistake back in Harlem. Also, when he assigns Tony to arrest Captain America and Bucky, he gives out a short deadline, otherwise he would have Stark prosecuted for his failure, and promises to send a kill squad after Cap. Even after Bucky is proven innocent for the bombing, Ross refuses to listen to Stark to release the anti-Accords Avengers due to Stark's failure to arrest Steve and Bucky. Despite have better manners and being more subtle in attitude, Ross has not changed his mindset one bit. Even though Ross sincerely loves his country and daughter, it is actually out of selfish love.
  • Infinity War shows that not even an alien attack and impending universal doom will make him see eye-to-eye with Steve Rogers. He instead orders Team Cap's (and everyone with him) arrest, causing Rhodey — his last remaining supporter who was still present on Earth — to turn on Ross and the Accords for the sake of the planet.
• Karma Houdini: Despite being behind the experiment that turned Bruce into Hulk and being responsible for Harlem being torn apart it doesn't hamper his career and he eventually ends up as Secretary of State. Of course, his relationship with his beloved daughter has been extinguished. However considering Leonard Samson commented that Ross cared more for capturing the Hulk than his own daughter, something that Ross did not even bother to deny, Ross may have viewed the loss of that relationship as acceptable collateral damage.
  • To put more of a sting on this, Ross was one of the millions of people on Earth to get erased by Thanos and he (along with the others mind you) gets brought back to life by none other than Bruce Banner. In other words, the closest he got to getting his comeuppance was undone by the one person whose life he's ruined.
• Killed Offscreen: He was one of the victims of Thanos' Badass Fingersnap in Avengers: Infinity War, where he also briefly appears in. He's later resurrected offscreen by Bruce Banner in Endgame and is later seen attending Tony Stark's funeral.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Downplayed with Ross, but he's very genial in his conversation with Cap (likely to due him being a fellow military combat vet and the fact Cap's origins is what inspired Ross to start his own Super-Soldier program in The Incredible Hulk). However, the feeling isn't mutual.
• Knight Templar: Ross is unwavering in his beliefs, despite claiming at one point to have gained "perspective". As noted by Samson, despite what Ross himself thinks, he's a bigger threat to Betty's safety than the Hulk.
• Knight Templar Parent: One of his other reasons for tracking Banner; Betty was injured during Bruce's first-ever Hulk Out.

L-Y

• Large and in Charge: He's 6'2" and he was a former General in the Army.
• Loud of War: He deploys sonic cannons to subdue the Hulk during their confrontation at Culver University. The result is unsuccessful.
• Make an Example of Them: He intends to make an example with Natasha Romanoff of what happens to those who transgress the Sokovia Accords. He even says this trope almost word-for-word when he orders his men to go after her.
  Secretary Ross: Natasha Romanoff is in violation of the Sokovia Accords. She assaulted the king of Wakanda. Make an example out of her.
• Malicious Misnaming: As shown in Black Widow, Ross didn't even bother to remember Scott Lang's name after arresting him and simply calls him "the incredible shrinking convict".
• Manipulative Bastard: In The Incredible Hulk, he tries to get his daughter to side with him with lies until she discovers the truth.
• Manly Facial Hair: Like in the comics, Ross is a tough-as-nails general who has been in the military for most of his life and firmly believes that the use of force is always the better option, and he sports a thick moustache that emphasizes his manliness.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: Invoked during his conversation with Natasha Romanoff in the opening act of Black Widow (2021) when he's referring to Ant-Man. Justified as he likely did not know Scott Lang prior to the Leipzig Airport battle.
  Ross: We got Barton, we got Wilson and that other guy, the incredible shrinking convict.
• The Neidermeyer: As a General Ripper Jerkass in The Incredible Hulk who deliberately turned Banner into the Hulk just to dissect to start his own Super-Soldier program to further his own military career. Even fellow American military servicemen Steve, Sam and eventually Rhodey see him as a disgrace to the uniform for his despicable arrogance and incompetent decision making.
• Never My Fault:
  • The experiment that turned Bruce into the Hulk was headed by him, but he refuses to take responsibility for what happened to him or his daughter. He didn't even tell them what they were actually doing, creating a new Super Soldier instead of radiation resistance. Betty calls him out on it.
    Betty: I will never forgive you for what you've done to him.
    General Ross: He's a fugitive...
    Betty: You made him a fugitive, to cover your failures and to protect your career. Don't ever speak to me as your daughter again.
  • In Civil War, he claims Tony Stark's behavior at Leipzig proves he can't be objective about Steve Rogers, managing to completely overlook the part where Tony's actions were because Ross wanted to send a killsquad after his friend and co-worker.
  • Also in the same movie, he blames Steve, Sam and Natasha for HYDRA rebuilding itself inside S.H.I.E.L.D., despite the fact that he's part of the government that funded S.H.I.E.L.D. when HYDRA was under the radar. Granted, neither of them knew that HYDRA was hiding all this time, but it makes it seem like he just wants to blame the Avengers while making himself look good. However, this is subverted as at the time of HYDRA's corruption of S.H.I.E.L.D., Ross was still at the time temporarily retired to recover from his heart surgery and wasn't promoted to State Secretary and actively working fo the government again until after HYDRA's deception was revealed, so Ross for that was technically innocent despite misblaming the Avengers for it.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: By giving Blonsky the prototype remade Super-Soldier serum, he essentially created the Abomination by proxy. He's essentially responsible for creating the kind of violent, rampaging beast he considers Bruce to be. The only reason Bruce was transformed in the first place was because he lied to Bruce about what they were doing. Had he been more honest Bruce probably would never have become the Hulk.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: His rude and disrespectful personality eventually leads to all Pro-Accords heroes to stop allying with him and supporting the Sokovia Accords, with some even defecting to the Anti-Accords team.
• No Body Left Behind: He was Reduced to Dust offscreen by Thanos and later revived by Bruce Banner five years later.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Despite serving as the main antagonist for most of The Incredible Hulk (before being upstaged by the Abomination in the end), General Ross never directly takes part in the action and is usually content to command his troops from afar. Considering he's an old man and his enemy is none other than Hulk, his position is quite understandable.
• Not Me This Time: When Natasha Romanoff is attacked by Taskmaster for the first time in Black Widow, she initially assumes this must be an agent sent by Secretary Ross to capture her. However, she soon realizes that Taskmaster has nothing to do with Ross, and didn't even come for her.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: In Civil War, when he is promoted to Secretary of State and lays out the Accords to place a strict eye on the superheroes. This grows even worse in Infinity War where even the planet being at risk along with the universe does not have him ease up on the superheroes, even as they are trying to save everyone. However, by the end of Endgame, he decided to attend Tony's funeral, showing he had some degree of respect for Iron Man.
• Old Soldier: Ross spent more than 40 years in the military and served in numerous conflicts, including the Vietnam War. Despite his old age, he continues to take part in some important missions, like the chase of the fugitive Black Widow.
• One-Steve Limit: He shares a surname with Everett Ross, and both of them appeared in Civil War together. No relation.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In Endgame, he is seen at Tony Stark's funeral, and instead of ordering Captain America and everyone who disobeyed him arrested and being disgusted by his presence, he's just about as withdrawn as everyone in attendance over the loss of Tony Stark (though it could also be that even he's smart enough not to press the issue when the odds are so firmly against him).
• Out-Gambitted: At the beginning of Black Widow, Ross uses a tracker to locate Natasha Romanoff and sends his men into the building she is in, thinking he has her cornered. However, it turns out that Natasha knew about the tracker all along and used it to lure him to the wrong place while she was far away.
• Papa Wolf: Endangering his daughter Betty is never a good idea.
• Parents as People: He focuses so much of his time on getting the Hulk/Bruce Banner that it damages his relationship with his daughter.
• Pet the Dog:
  • He assists the Hulk in his fight against the Abomination and actually lets him go after he has beaten and subdued Blonsky.
  • He was willing to make a deal with Hawkeye and Ant-Man to allow them to still be with their families, on the condition that they would also be under house arrest.
  • In Endgame, he attends the funeral of Tony Stark out of respect, and is seemingly willing to overlook the renegade Avengers in attendance, Banner included.
• Race Against the Clock:
  • In Civil War, Ross gives Tony Stark 36 hours to bring back Captain America's renegade team by himself, before armed forces get involved.
  • During a deleted scene of Black Widow, he also tells a captured Rick Mason that he has five minutes to help him locate Natasha Romanoff if he wants to negotiate a plea deal.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: At first, in The Incredible Hulk he was willing to put his hatred aside in stopping the Abomination. But Subverted in Civil War where he seems to have softened up since his heart attack, but when the chips are down it's clear his beliefs haven't shifted much. Even though it's eventually proven that Zemo bombed the UN building and framed Bucky for it in order to tear the Avengers apart, he still keeps those heroes who hampered Bucky's arrest locked up in the Raft. By Infinity War it's become averted — he's more concerned about being a Head-in-the-Sand Management or ordering the fugitive Avengers arrested than the fact the situation is a textbook example of the Godzilla Threshold. However, it's played straight in Endgame when he attends Stark's funeral and chooses not to arrest the Avengers present.
• Red Baron: He's primarily known as "Thunderbolt" to the extent that his real first name is rarely used.
• Reduced to Dust: He was among the billions turned to ashes by Thanos' Badass Fingersnap and resurrected by Bruce Banner five years later.
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant: In the comics, General Ross is primarily an enemy of The Incredible Hulk. In the MCU, he starts out as this in Phase One, but during Phase Three he becomes more of an antagonist for the Avengers team as a whole (with Hulk being ironically one of the few Avengers members that he never bothers). In the first film of Phase Four, he mostly acts as an enemy of Black Widow, of all people.
• Scientist vs. Soldier: General Ross is a proud military man and has a low opinion of scientists like Bruce Banner, whom he deems incapable of realizing that using force is the best course of action, as he explains to Captain Blonsky.
  General Ross: He’s a scientist. He is NOT one of us.
• Skewed Priorities: Even an alien invasion isn’t enough for him to get along with Team Cap. He even orders Rhodes to arrest them, even though they’re the best chance the Earth's got right now. That clearly makes everyone wanna punch the guy in the face many times. However, he clearly had enough respect for Tony that he came to the latter's funeral.
• Slimeball: There's hardly a better word to describe Ross, who makes out like he's humanity's watchdog as a military general and later State Secretary who calls the shots to persecute any superhero to seek his own glory. He couldn't give a rat's butt about anyone but himself and his own goals.
• Smug Snake: In The Incredible Hulk, he believes that his Super-Soldier program would further his military career, ignoring the consequences that could happen and then leads the manhunt of the Hulk out of desire to be hailed a hero (which he seemingly succeeded at in the Viral Marketing for Civil War, which announces his promotion to a job at the White House dues to his experience in Harlem) and earning Betty's love (which he failed to do). Then in Civil War, when meeting with Stark at "The Raft," he gloats at not having to listen to the latter and intimidating him with the Accords due to Stark's failure to arrest Rogers and Barnes.
• Suddenly Shouting: Does this during a conversation with Major Sparr after they discovered that Bruce Banner is trying to find a way to get rid of the Hulk in a deleted scene.
  General Ross: He wants to neutralize whatever powers the transformation.
  Major Sparr: That's not a good thing.
  General Ross: No, it's not a good thing, Major. But I don't want Banner anyway. GOD DAMN IT! I WANT WHAT'S INSIDE OF HIM!
• Suspect Is Hatless: After finding out that Banner is hiding in Rio de Janeiro, Ross tells his agents to be on the lookout for "a white man" in the soda factory he works at. No other description is given, even though it'd be really helpful considering that Rio has millions of people matching that description.
• There Are Two Kinds of People in the World: He says something like this when he explains to Blonsky why Banner chose to flee rather than let the U.S. army have the Hulk in a deleted scene.
  General Ross: There are people who grasp that peace and freedom derive from power... and people who don't. He doesn't.
• They Would Cut You Up: This is essentially what he's planning to do with the Hulk once he successfully captures him, since he needs his blood to perfect his Super-Soldier serum and create an army of super-strong soldiers, as he explains to Blonsky in a deleted scene
  General Ross: [Banner] is the data! He escaped before I could get him on a table and get it out of him!
• Took a Level in Kindness: Downplayed and subverted. When he comes back in Civil War, he's mellowed out since his last appearance, but it’s later revealed that his beliefs never truly changed. In Infinity War, his polite façade is gone and he’s back to being the Jerkass he was 10 years ago. Conversely, showing up at Tony's funeral after his Heroic Sacrifice possibly proves that he has indeed become a better person, unlike before.
• Two First Names: His first name is "Thaddeus", and his last name is "Ross", which can also be used as a first name.
• Underestimating Badassery: When hunting down Natasha Romanoff in Black Widow, Ross seems to think she should be easy to capture since she can't be helped by the Avengers anymore. Apparently, he doesn't realize that Romanoff was a master spy with plenty of resources and connections even before joining the Avengers.
• Unrelated in the Adaptation: In the comics, Thaddeus Ross is the nephew-by-marriage of Jeffrey Mace. In the MCU, such a relationship is never discussed but considering that Jeffrey Mace is much younger than his comics couterpart, it seems pretty unlikely to be the case.
• The Vietnam Vet: He's a decorated combat vet of the Battle of Khe Sanh.
• Villainous Underdog: Despite all the military resources at his disposal, General Ross is still a non-powered old man going against the freakin' Hulk. Predictably, most of his attempts to capture him end with most of his soldiers dying and Hulk escaping.
  • Surprisingly enough, he is also this against Black Widow in her 2021 solo film. While she's a normal human with little resources compared to him, she still effortlessly plays him like a fiddle throughout the movie, with him never coming close to get her. Even when he eventually arrests her at the end of the film, he only succeeds because she allowed him to, and she quickly escapes him without any difficulty.
• Villain Respect: When he comes to arrest Natasha in a deleted scene of Black Widow (2021), Ross can't help but be impressed that she managed to take down the Red Room while the U.S. government wasn't even aware they were still active.
• Villain with Good Publicity: He is portrayed as this in Viral Marketing for Civil War when news reports of President Ellis' announcement to promote him as Secretary of State and mentioning his experience with the Hulk in Harlem in a positive portrayal as a solution to such incidents rather than being the cause of this one that led to his new diplomatic position. While not specified, it was also implied he'd taken all credit of stopping the Abomination's rampage rather than Bruce.
• War Hero: He was The Vietnam Vet of the Battle of Khe Sanh who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, but by the time of his appearances in the MCU, he stooped down to a despicable Fallen Hero for his selfish and heartless actions and The Neidermeyer attitude.
• Weak Boss, Strong Underlings: Due to his old age, General Ross isn't much of a physical threat for any of the heroes. Which is why he has to rely on his soldiers, especially Emil Blonsky, who was a skilled fighter even before he took the Super-Soldier serum.
• What the Hell, Hero?: He's been on both ends of this. When he receives them, he never listens.
• Wild Card: Although Ross usually acts as an antagonist towards the heroes in most of the films he appears in, it's made clear that he hates most of the other villains, like Abomination, Thanos, or the Red Room, just as much as they do, therefore he can either be an enemy or an ally depending on the situation. Lampshaded in a deleted scene of Black Widow (2021), when Ross tells Natasha that it's difficult to know whose side she's on, and she notes that this is something they have in common.
• Written-In Absence: He's first shown on-screen in Civil War relating an anecdote about the heart attack and triple bypass he had "five years ago" during a round of golf, keeping him out of active service while he recuperated and later relegating him to a larger role behind the front lines.
• You Got Guts: Says a variant of this trope when Captain America and his team of fugitives come to the Avengers Headquarters on their own initiative in Infinity War.
  Secretary Ross: You got some nerves, I'll give you that.
• You're Not My Father: Betty disowns him as her father after finding out of his involvement in ruining Bruce's life by turning him into the Hulk.

Variants

King Loki's Thaddeus Ross

General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross

Species: Human

Voiced By: Michael Patrick McGill

Appearances: What If...?

The Thaddeus Ross of Earth-51825, who attacks Hulk at Culver University like in the Sacred Timeline, only this time with much more explosive consequences.

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• Everyone Has Standards: While he's still trying to ruthlessly capture Bruce Banner / The Hulk for his own twisted reasons, Ross is incredibly pissed when he thinks that someone opened fire on the man without his consent.
• Shooting Superman: He unloads a pistol on Hulk close-up despite seeing him shrugging off any of his army's attempts to hurt him.

Zombie Apocalypse Thaddeus Ross

Secretary of State Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross

Species: Zombified human

Voiced By: N/A

Appearances: What If...?

The Thaddeus Ross of Earth-89521, who becomes zombified.

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• The Cameo: His sole appearance in this episode is a Freeze-Frame Bonus of him amongst several other zombies trying to attack our heroes in Camp Lehigh.
• Dead Alternate Counterpart: He ends up dying and becoming a zombie in this timeline.
• Death by Adaptation: He's infected by the Quantum Virus and turned into a zombie.
• Eye Scream: He's missing his right eye for some reason.
• Noodle Incident: How he became a zombie and ended up in Camp Lehigh is left unexplained.
• The Undead: He's a flesh-eating zombie.
• Undeathly Pallor: As a zombie, he has pallid, blue-tinged skin.

King Killmonger's Thaddeus Ross

Lieutenant General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross

Species: Human

Affiliation(s): USAF

Voiced By: Michael Patrick McGill

Appearances: What If...?

On Earth-32928, Ross plans to wage war on Wakanda.

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• Adaptational Job Change: This variant of Ross is in the Air Force rather than the Army like his Sacred Timeline counterpart.
• Blood Knight: The deaths of Tony Stark and James Rhodes inflame Ross enough to immediately seize control over Tony and Erik's drones and use them to launch a full-scale invasion of Wakanda.
• Unwitting Pawn: He's one of many people that Killmonger manipulates to get himself to where he wants to be. Ross in particular believes Killmonger to be an honest, upstanding soldier, and not the sociopathic power-hungry murderer he really is.

Infinity Ultron's Thaddeus Ross

General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross

Species: Human

Voiced By: N/A

Appearances: What If...?

On Earth-29929, Thaddeus Ross died alongside most of humanity when Ultron activated all of the world's nuclear codes.

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• Alas, Poor Villain: Given how this earth's canon diverged in Avengers: Age of Ultron, this Ross is pretty much the same bastard as he was before. Still, the scene where he watches in horror as the world is getting bombed and he realizes he's going to die is played very tragically.
• The Cameo: He briefly appears in the beginning of the episode watching in horror as Ultron destroys the world by activating its nuclear codes.
• Dead Alternate Counterpart: He was killed by Ultron activating all the world's nukes.
• Death by Adaptation: He's killed alongside most of the world by Ultron activating the world's nuclear weapons.
• Killed Offscreen: Like most of the world's population, he got murdered by Ultron activating every nuclear weapon on Earth but is never seen dying.
• Oh, Crap!: The look on his face when he sees that Ultron gained the world's nuclear codes and is in the process of bombing the entire planet.
• The Voiceless: He has no lines.

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"The world's on fire, and you think all's forgiven?"