In the build up to the release of Captain America: Civil War, it was rumoured on several occasions that Thunderbolt Ross’ angry alter-ego Red Hulk was set to feature in the movie; obviously this turned out to be false, but directors Joe and Anthony Russo have revealed to Comic Book that Red Hulk was considered, but was ultimately dropped to avoid overstuffing.
“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 back story. 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.”
SEE ALSO: The Winter Soldier wields Cap’s shield in deleted scene from Captain America: Civil War
Meanwhile, chatting to EW, the Russos also revealed that if they had been unable to secure the participation of Robert Downey Jr. for a Civil War adaptation, they had tossed around the idea of putting Chris Evans’ Cap up against a zombie-like horde of civilians by incorporating the Madbomb from a classic Jack Kirby story from 1976.
“It was not a given that we were even going to do Civil War when we were talking about the next movie after Winter Soldier. So there was a period of time when we explored possibilities for Cap stories that did not include it… There was a period where we did discuss a third act that revolved around the Madbomb from Cap mythology. It didn’t have anything to do with Civil War, and if we couldn’t get Downey – in the very, very early conversations before we nailed him – somebody pitched the idea of a third-act that revolved around the Madbomb, which makes people crazy. It almost like zombifies them – but not literally.”
“The charm of the Madbomb is that you turn hordes of people into berserkers. That was the physical challenge that Cap and company would have had to face. The notion of the Madbomb would have been Cap having to fight civilians and how he would he handle that. We were always trying to put him into these interesting moral conundrums because of his nature. That would have made a compelling third act because if civilians are the antagonists, how could he stop them without killing them?”
SEE ALSO: Deleted scene and two featurettes for Captain America: Civil War
Are you disappointed that we didn’t get to see Red Hulk in Civil War, and would the Madbomb have made for an interesting plot? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below…
Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War” finds Steve Rogers leading the newly formed team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. But after another incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability, headed by a governing body to oversee and direct the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers, resulting in two camps—one led by Steve Rogers and his desire for the Avengers to remain free to defend humanity without government interference, and the other following Tony Stark’s surprising decision to support government oversight and accountability.
SEE ALSO: Follow all of our Marvel Cinematic Universe coverage here
Captain America: Civil War sees Anthony and Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) directing a cast that includes Marvel Cinematic Universe veterans Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Falcon), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton/Hawkeye), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier), Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch), Paul Bettany (The Vision), Don Cheadle (James Rhondes/War Machine), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang/Ant-Man), Emily VanCamp (Sharon Carter), Frank Grillo (Brock Rumlow/Crossbones) and William Hurt (General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross) alongside new additions Chadwick Boseman (Get on Up) as T’Challa/Black Panther, Daniel Bruhl (Rush) as Baron Zemo, Tom Holland (The Impossible) as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Martin Freeman (Sherlock) as Everett Ross.
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https://youtu.be/b7Ozs5mj5ao?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
Originally published August 25, 2016. Updated November 30, 2022.
