Marvel’s latest film in their cinematic universe, Captain America: Civil War, had a large roster of superheroes. The only two OG Avengers to not show up to the party were Thor and Hulk, who will be teaming up in Thor: Ragnarok next winter.
In the comics, however, Bruce Banner isn’t the only gamma irradiated superhero. General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, who does appear in Civil War as Secretary of State, is actually a Hulk himself in the comics. Deciding that he can be the only one to take down the Hulk, good old Thaddeus douses himself with gamma radiation and turns into the Red Hulk – who was apparently considered for Civil War.
In an interview with Comicbook.com promoting Civil War’s home video release, director Joe Russo talked about how he almost appeared in the film.
"We had so many characters in that movie as it was. We consider everything, obviously, but with so many characters in that movie as it was, to try and entertain adding another character and to get to the Red Hulk, you have to add a backstory. You have to substantiate the narrative to get to that. [Thaddeus Ross], on our list of priorities, he was there sort of as the government’s agenda and not to add another complicated super powered character to the mix."
As cool as it would have been to see William Hurt realized as Ross’s alter ego, I agree with the Russo’s assessment that adding that backstory wouldn't have brought much to the overall plot. There would have been no point to bring Red Hulk in, since he's designed to go toe-to-toe with good old fashioned green Hulk. Without Banner in the film, there’s no motivation to add that character.
The Russo brother also touches on the Iron Spider suit, a high-tech costume Tony Stark designed for Spider-Man in the comics during Civil War. Of course in the film, Spidey’s regular old red and blue outfit is a Tony Stark creation.
"We had a board when we started this process of the movies with these Avengers characters that have ever graced the screen in a Marvel film, and a list of characters that we have at our disposal that haven’t graced the screen. We spent the last six to eight months crafting stories around the cornucopia of characters at our disposal so anything is possible."
Russo went on to say that Iron Spider falls into that category of anything being possible. If Peter Parker is going to fare in Infinity War, he’s going to need a healthy upgrade.
Maybe we’ll see the Iron Spider suit when the third Avengers movie drops on May 4th 2018.
