Red Hulk #1

History

Writer Benjamin Percy has said that when he learned about the One World Under Doom event, his mind went immediately to Thunderbolt Ross — a soldier whose breadth of military, strategic, and gamma-enhanced experience would make him Doom's highest-priority acquisition. Percy proposed Ross being kidnapped and forced into a covert wartime Think Tank, designing the series explicitly as a war book rather than a traditional superhero title. Marvel paired Percy with artist Geoff Shaw, the two having previously collaborated on the 'Sabretooth War' arc in Wolverine (2020) and the Wolverine/Ghost Rider: Weapons of Vengeance crossover, giving the creative team an established working shorthand for brutal, kinetic action. A prelude story by the same team ran in Incredible Hulk (2023) #19 — the milestone 800th issue of the Hulk line — establishing Ross's capture by Doom and seeding the continuity that issue #1 picks up directly.

Trivia · 10 facts

• Published February 26, 2025 (cover-dated April 2025); written by Benjamin Percy with art, inks, and main cover by Geoff Shaw; colored by Bryan Valenza; lettered by VC's Cory Petit; edited by Mark Paniccia; Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski.
• First issue of the first ongoing series ever published under the Red Hulk title, and the first Red Hulk solo series since Jeff Parker's run ended in 2012.
• Tie-in to the One World Under Doom publishing event; Ross's captivity by Doom was established in the prelude story printed in Incredible Hulk (2023) #19, the 800th issue of the Hulk franchise.
• Premise: Doctor Doom imprisons Thunderbolt Ross in a secret Latverian prison complex he calls a 'Think Tank,' coercing Ross and other captives — including Machine Man (Aaron Stack) and Deathlok (Luther Manning, Earth-7484, per the Marvel Database) — to run war-gaming scenarios aimed at sustaining global instability under Doom's rule.
• First appearances in this issue (per the Marvel Database): cartel boss Hugo Perez and professor Li Wan Tang, both introduced as fellow Think Tank prisoners.
• The issue reunites the Red Hulk/Machine Man team that was a cornerstone of Jeff Parker's earlier Hulk run, with Aaron Stack serving as a depowered ally to Ross inside Doom's prison.
• The Deathlok appearing in this series is identified by the Marvel Database as Luther Manning, the Deathlok Prime from Earth-7484, a character primarily associated with X-Force.
• The series ran for 10 issues (February 2025 – November 2025) before concluding, and the first five issues were collected in the trade paperback Red Hulk Vol. 1: Prisoner of War, released October 2025.
• Variant covers for issue #1 were produced by Geoff Shaw (main), Adam Kubert (foil variant), Todd Nauck (Iconic Variant), John Romita Jr., Frank Miller, and others — making it one of the more variant-heavy launches of the One World Under Doom initiative.
• The series launched in direct coordination with the MCU debut of the Red Hulk character in Marvel Studios' Captain America: Brave New World (theatrical release February 14, 2025).

Cast · 5 characters

Full credits

Variants (11)