Thunderbolt Ross (Earth-616)

## Thunderbolt Ross

**Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross** was an American general and the father Betty Ross. Thunderbolt was well known for his persuit of the Hulk.

## Biography

### Early Life

Thunderbolt Ross was born in New Hampshire to a long-standing line of military men. Ross himself joined the military and became a general.

Ross also married and had a daughter named Betty.

### The Hulk

In New Mexico, Ross was put in charge of developinga gamma bomb for the army. The scientist in charge of the project was Bruce Banner and his assistant Igor Drenkov. Ross often clashed with Banner as he did not respect Banner (including the fact that Banner often delayed testing) and Betty was in love with him.

The day of the testing of the bomb, Ross was angered by another delay. Bruce explained that he wanted to make sure that every precaution was taken to make sure the bomb was tested safely because of the sheer power the bomb would have. Ross called Bruce a coward, but Ross' daughter Betty defended Bruce and apologized for her father's behavior.

Some time later at his home, Ross noticed that Betty was worried about the appearance of a monster known as the Hulk and that Bruce was clearly affected by something. Ross noticed that Betty seemed worked up and recommended that she take a walk to clear her mind. Betty took her father's advice and took a walk on the outskirts of the base but was confronted by the Hulk but she fainted immediately.

Ross found Betty in the desert and vowed that he would hunt the Hulk to the ends of the earth and destroy him, but Betty couldn't shake the feeling that there was something to the Hulk that made it seem as though he was looking for help.

### The Toad Men

A few weeks after that incident, Betty and her father were looking for Bruce. They found Bruce and Rick Jones leaving to work on a project. While Ross continued to insult Bruce, Betty continued to express her concern for his safety to which Bruce attempted to assuage her fears. Bruce and Rick then left to work on their project.

Later, a spaceship was found and Ross ordered it shot down. The only figure in the ship was Bruce, and Ross had him arrested for treason. Betty argued for his innocence but Ross did not listen to her. As they were speaking, more spaceships arrived in the sky in order to start an invasion. Betty argued that Bruce would be a valuable asset in repelling the invasion. The King of the Toad Men then started communicating with Earth and threatens to raze the Earth if it doesn't surrender, but Ross refuses cowtow to the invaders.

That night, the Hulk attacked Betty at the Ross home, but Ross led his troops to protect his daughter. Ross rammed into the house with a tank and confronted the Hulk. The soldiers were ordered to not fire in fear of shooting Betty, and Rick attempted to calm the Hulk down, but the Hulk knocked him away. The soldiers attempted to pile on the Hulk, but he shook them off before preceeding to take Betty as a hostage.

Later, Bruce having been freed, ame up with a plan to use a gamma gun to counter-act the magnetizing weapons of the Toad Men. Bruce and Rick snuck onto the base and began to power up the gamma gun, when Ross and his soldiers arrived to arrest them. Rick grabed a hose in order to keep them at bay for enough time for the gun to power on and hit the Toad Men's fleet which sent them into deep space. With the Toad Men defeated by Bruce's hand, he was cleared of all charges, however, Ross still disliked Bruce and believed there was a connection between him and the Hulk.

### Sending the Hulk to Space

Ross had a missile/rocket created and wanted to use it to send the Hulk into space and never return. Ross then sent for Rick Jones and tricked him into leading the Hulk into the rocket. Rick then maniplated the control panels and got the Hulk to return to Earth.

### Circus of Crime

Ross later raids the Circus of Crime to capture the Hulk, however the Hulk escaped with Rick Jones.