#thaddeus ‘thunderbolt’ ross

[gotham-at-nightfall]

Captain America: Brave New World

[pookiepanda1]

I'm going to say my piece. And then I'm going to head out. The way some of y'all show energy for Bucky's cameo in this movie. And the way y'all inflate the hell out of it because "they're together again". I better see that same energy if Sam appears in the Thunderbolts* movie.

Also, stop tagging Sam Wilson and Anthony Mackie if y'all aren't going to talk about them. I touched on this in my previous post, but I am so sick of going to those tags and all I see is y'all talking about Bucky Barnes and Sebastian Stan. And maybe y'all will throw in a little mention of Sam or Anthony but that's about it. But yet, when I go to Bucky Barnes' or Sebastian Stan's tag, most of the posts rightfully focus or include the character or actor in a meaningful way

I have this same energy for the people who post in the sambucky tag but only or mainly talk about Bucky. Some of y'all talk about Sam like he's an accessory and it's so weird. The way y'all will give the most critical, deep essays and character dives about Bucky and then at the same time act like Sam is this "helper" or therapist to him is so hypocritical it's wild. And don't get me started on the people who picture Sam as this "big and strong" black man. It's straight up fetishization. Not to mention Anthony Mackie is literally shorter and smaller than Sebastian Stan. Y'all have such a warped sense of reality that y'all will make up features in order for them to fit your ideal couple. Nasty.

It makes me feel like some of y'all don't see Sam as a character. Some of y'all see him more like an accessory or a caricature. And if you're offended by this, or you're like "I'm not like that". You're probably way closer to what I'm describing than you think you are.

Anyways, feel free to like, comment, follow, and repost. Also send me a question if y'all want to! Hugs and kisses to all of my supporters and those who take the time to receive my message. Thank you! 😊

[karmaspidr]

[burningfudge]

If Bucky is truly a congressman in Thunderbolts*, let’s take it a step further and make him a presidental candidate. Ross vs Barnes, let’s gooo. The literal Hulk vs a super soldier.

It would still be a better election than whatever the fuck is happening in this year’s election.

[lettherebemonsters]

“How could you do this to me? You knew!”

For Red of course

Hulk stares daggers at the older hulk, he knew he’s always known that one day one that Ross would get to trigger happy with his damn guns. “Wanna explain to me why the safety was off considering we have a borderline cave-hulk-“ he pauses glancing at Skaar “living with us and in reach of dangerous guns?”

‐----------

Red was always careful about his guns. He was busy cleaning out and reloading his weaponry when he got called away for a moment. He had locked his door for fuck's sake!

Yet one of the younger hulks decided JUST THEN to break his lock and....

Red was shaken but military training took over. He was way too calm for how hot headed he was. He remembered his own dad screaming at him.....the drill sergeants....

It never changed...

" I was reloading my guns when you called me! I locked the doors! How the fuck was I gonna know that Conan the Hulk-arian was gonna break into my room and take my gun!"

Red was a lot of things but he'd never put his family in danger, not like this!

@thesakaarson

[gelu-the-babosa-multiversal]

Thank you @shipper-of-many-many-ships for giving me the inspiration to draw them. Referring to this post

Hulk is not that scary compared to Chief

[loppytaffy]

Thunderbolts (2013) #27-#28

Is the braincell out on loan?

Children. Red Hulk works with children.

Red Hulk does not have a praise kink. Noted. (But he did glomp Frank).

*Voldement voice* "I can touch you".

Daddeus comes out again. These two issues really are just Red Hulk and the kids.

Ha. Wade's ass did not clean up that graffiti. He's going to have his Xbox taken off him.

That's...a lube applicator...did...hey did Wade get pegged? Or does he just fail to get Shiklah's motor running? (Both are possible). Also cowardly artist not drawing his skin properly.

[blade-liger-4ever]

Here's an idea for when Bruce Banner is on the run

In the show from the 70s, Bruce was often not just running, but helping people out, most times even as the Hulk. So, if you went that route for the comics or a cartoon, do the same - but have there be mutant kids he helps out as well.

Like some mutant kids are being bullied by normal humans, or other mutants, and he helps them out. Teaches them ways to stand up for themselves, or tutors them when he's not working a lowbrow job to get money to try and go back to being a normal man (heck, have one mutant kid he helps point out the hypocrisy of that, and have the start of Bruce realizing Hulk isn't a curse begin there.)

Or have him find a family with ill mutant children, or mutant street kids who are sick, and let him help them out by nursing them back to health. And in the interim, Bruce teaches some of them first aid and such.

Then have him and one of the other Avengers (or a third party if you'd prefer) be on the run from Ross or HYDRA/SHIELD, and they find some of the kids he helped in the past not just grown, but grateful for his help and going above and beyond to keep them hidden from whomever.

Just, come on.

It'd be so much fun.

[mikecovers]

144. The popcorn buckets for Captain America: Brave New World look awesome, if not ill-fitting.

[eric-coldfire]

Sees a clip of Falcon being punched by Red Hulk, blocking the blow with his wings and Cap's shield, sent flying and bouncing off a pair of a cars.

Honest reaction:

[gotham-at-nightfall]

The Red Hulk unleashes his fury!

The Incredible Hulk #19

[murdercide626]

Just got back from seeing Captain America: Brave New World! And honestly it was pretty damn good!

Like a lot of people, I've been experiencing some superhero fatigue lately, so it's become harder for me to feel enthusiastic about most new superhero flicks. I was honestly on the fence about this film at first, but I was intrigued by the first trailer.

This movie feels so much like a successor to Winter Soldier in terms of tone and general plot, and as someone who loved that film I greatly appreciated that!

Anthony Mackie does a fantastic job as Cap! More than ever it really feels like he's come into the role as the star spangled hero!

Harrison Ford as Thaddeus Ross is really great, too! They did so much with his character in this movie, and Ford really gave it his all in this role!

My personal favorite though was definitely Tim Blake Nelson FINALLY reprising his role as Samuel Sterns (better known as "The Leader"). I was so happy to finally see them tie up that seemingly abandoned plot thread after nearly two decades, lol. They even have a good explanation for where the character has been all these years, which ties into the core of the plot. Nelson put in such a fantastic performance as Sterns in this movie! You can really tell he's been waiting so long to do this character justice, and he definitely succeeded!

The action scenes in this movie are really awesome, too! The fight choreography and special effects are done superbly!

I think the one thing this movie kinda has going against it are the characters and plot points from earlier MCU movies and shows that play central roles, one of those movies being 17 years old! Fortunately though I think the movie gives enough context for these things so that one can still follow the plot without having to do the homework.

But yeah, I was actually pretty surprised by how much I genuinely enjoyed this movie! It was a blast! ^^

[72crowe89]

Is Sam Wilson a Magical Negro?: How Sam's Captain America deserved better

(Naturally, spoilers for Captain America: Brave New World)

First, to get it out there, I actually liked Brave New World. I really like it. There were great performances by Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Carl Lumbly, Giancarlo Esposito, and Danny Ramirez. The action was amazing, and they actually use this movie to address some loose ends from other movies (The big hand and head left sticking out of the Earth at the end of Eternals? They finally address it in this movie.). I was surprised when I discovered that the movie wasn't resonating with people as I thought it would be, and in trying to piece together why that might be, I came to a surprising realization:

Sam isn't the main character of Brave New World: Thaddeus Ross is.

As President of the United States, Ross is trying to prove to the world, but especially his daughter Betty, that he isn't the hotheaded guy from the previous movies who would bulldoze his way through any issue he doesn't understand or agree with, but someone who will work together with others to come up with solutions that benefit everyone. When the aforementioned big head and hand (named Celestial Island) is revealed to contain adamantium (the metal's official introduction in the MCU), he works with other nations to share it, and when he asks Sam to restart the Avengers, he tells them that they would work through any disagreements together.

Ross, however, still struggles with with his anger and especially his ends-justify-the-means attitude. When the United States is accused of stealing adamantium, he responds angrily and immediately sends military to Celestial Island (escalating the tensions between the USA and the other nations). Throughout the movie, as things start spinning out of his control, he gets more angry, stressed, and desperate, which plays right into the villain's hands.

Who is the villain? None other than Dr. Samuel Sterns as his comic book identity, The Leader. Don't remember him? Well, he's the scientist who created the Abomination back in The Incredible Hulk (2008). Because Brave New World is more of a sequel to that movie than it is to any of the previous Captain America or even The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Sterns was made the scapegoat for the Abomination's atrocities, but Ross promises him amnesty if he helped the latter win the presidency. When Ross develops a potentially fatal heart problem (one which could kill him before he has the chance to redeem himself), he doesn't release Sterns like he promised because he needs Sterns to keep him alive. Because of this, Sterns goes out of his way to destroy Ross's legacy, both indirectly (ruining the international accords that he's fighting to bring about) and directly (poisoning him with Gamma radiation to turn him into a monster).

This all culminates into Ross's transformation into the Red Hulk, the physical manifestation of his rage and aggression, the very things he is trying to manage for the sake of his daughter, for the sake of the world. To break free from the Red Hulk's control, he has to confront the anger that has been intrinsic to him for the entire MCU. His journey ends with acknowledging that rage and aggression, accepting that he can change physically and emotionally into a better person, and working to do so with great sacrifice to his own aspirations.

Now, where does Sam fit in all of this? Sam initially gets involved because Isaiah Bradley is remotely controlled to attack Ross, and Sam investigates to exonerate him. That plotline ends pretty quickly once it's really that Isaiah is just a pawn in Sterns's quest to discredit Ross. Sam's plot then becomes stopping a war between the USA and Japan and bringing Ross out of the Red Hulk's control. Although both are important for global security in a general sense, in a specific sense Sam is protecting Ross's legacy and striving to show the latter that he can be the man he wants to be. And here lies the main issue with the movie:

In his own solo movie, Sam's character is in complete service to Ross's.

This would be bad enough, but the fact that Sam, a Black man who is already burdened with being a legacy character for a White man, has his entire story revolve around the character development of another White man, is a bitter pill to swallow. Sam barely has a storyline of his own; there's not much of a personal journey he's going through, most of his personal interactions are surface level (some of which require watching the Falcon and the Winter Soldier to even understand), and there's very little exploration of him as Captain America. Sam could have been replaced with any other hero, and the movie would pretty much be the same.

It bring to mind the magical negro stereotype, where a Black character exist solely to motivate the White protagonists, whether through their wisdom or their plight. They have no storyline, relationships, or even personality outside of this role, making said magical negro less of a character and more of a plot device to push the story of the main, usually White characters.

Now, Sam is a better developed character than the stereotypical magical negro with both a decent personality and good relationships (especially his mentorship of Joaquin Torres in this movie and, even with its lack of focus, his own mentorship with Isaiah Bradley). He also has his own struggles with feeling inadequate as the inheritor of the Captain America, explored thoroughly in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and briefly in a poignant scene with Bucky in this movie.

But briefness is the tale of the day with Sam in this movie. Sam's job in this movie is to facilitate Ross's story, not have one of his own.

The sad thing is that if people complain about Captain America: Brave New World, Disney will blame it on having Sam be Captain America in the first place. That people were so used to Steve being Captain America that they just can't accept a non-Steve Cap, so Sam shouldn't be Cap at all.

But Sam is a great Captain America. He is one of the few heroes in the MCU who doesn't have superpowers, high intelligence, highly specialized training, or a combination of the three. In spite of that, he stands side-by-side with those heroes with skills that any real-life soldier with his training can. Those are the aspects that the movie should have leaned into to make a movie about Sam.

At the end of the movie, Joaquin says that Steve is who he looks up to, but Sam is who he aspires to be. They could have made the entire movie about how Sam being Captain America shows that anybody can be Captain America in a way that blonde-haired, blue-eyed Steve couldn't. Earlier drafts of the movie had Amadeus Cho and Eli Bradley as characters; they could have shown how Sam inspired them in different ways to be heroes.

Alternately, Isaiah's manipulation and attack could have been used to discredit Sam himself rather than Ross, that every Captain America/Super Soldier after Steve (Isaiah, Bucky, John Walker) has been a menace, and Sam will end up the same way. Then Sam would be fighting for his own legacy, not Ross's.

Alternately, they could have adapted one of Sam's stories from the comics and made a movie about that. And even if they didn't want to do one of Sam's stories (a lot of his stories as Falcon and Captain America deal with racism), there are nearly 90 years of Captain America stories that the can pull from. Just replace Steve with Sam. And if they are uncomfortable with that, make an original story that focuses on Sam.

Sam should be the main character of his own story.

[lettherebemonsters]

" Sterns just had to raw dog me in front of the entire press meeting, didn't he...."

[gelu-the-babosa-multiversal]

With the idea of a TFRB x AEMH crossover. It came to the idea that maybe Charlie and Ross could have been friends...

As in the military, they both meet and were partnered together in some activities and become friends, but over time, Ross started to show those sights of aggression and discrimination so Charlie had to decide if ignore or leave his friend.

He chose to leave...

But when he heard that Ross's wife had died Charlie had a moment of remorse and thought that his friend might have opened his eyes, but then the Hulk came to Griffin Rock and Charlie lost his marbles...

¨General Thaddeus E. Thunderbolt Ross, I request a private meeting in my quarter. Now, right now¨

Also, did you guys knew that Ross full name is Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross???

Morocco? Doctor Thaddeus Morocco? Do you wanna tell us something???