In the closing moments of Captain America: Brave New World, Red Hulk reverts to his human form as President Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross and is later imprisoned in The Raft. However, having taken account for his past actions, Ross is finally reunited with his estranged daughter, Betty.
A recent leak claimed that the movie originally ended with the world believing the President had died. However, a post-credits scene was set to reveal that Red Hulk was still out there and watching over Betty.
Talking to Variety, Captain America: Brave New World director Julius Onah was asked outright if Ross ever died in an earlier version of the movie.
"There was never a version where he explicitly died, but there were certainly versions of it where maybe the public didn’t know what his fate was after what happens towards the end of the film," he confirmed. "But I think you’re introducing such a massive fan favorite character, and, as we all know, it’s not very easy for a Hulk to perish."
Pushed on whether Marvel Studios ever considered revealing the Vice President's identity - after all, they're the MCU's Commander in Chief now - Onah played coy.
"Those conversations happen from time to time. But when you’re telling a story like this, you don’t want to throw 900 characters at the audience. Ultimately, we decided, let’s not delve into that. It wasn’t too pertinent to how this story was being told from an emotional, thematic standpoint."
As for whether their identity was ever officially decided, the filmmaker laughed and said, "Let’s see where that’s going to go as we as we advance in this crazy universe of the MCU."
Red Hulk's fate wasn't the only thing that changed as Onah also revealed that Liv Tyler's Betty Ross showed up "earlier in the movie" at points. However, he pointed out, "It was very, very important to me that she arrived at the end of the film, because you have to think about what Ross is being deprived of."
"He is so desperate to reconnect with his daughter, so keeping her out of the story, having her be a presence hovering around the edges of the film, would make that sense of longing that Ross was having feel more potent," the director concluded.
Unfortunately, Onah wasn't asked about the funeral scene Tyler and Anthony Mackie were spotted shooting, though we can piece together enough to figure out that it was likely meant to be Ross' send-off in an earlier version of the story.
With Ross contained within The Raft, there's always a chance he can be broken out and fight alongside - or even against - The Avengers. Rumour has it Harrison Ford has already signed up to return and only time will tell whether that's for Doomsday or the long-rumoured World War Hulk.