First Appearance of Red Hulk: Hulk #1 (2008) Value

The first appearance of Red Hulk is Hulk #1, the start of the 2008 Hulk series (volume 2), cover-dated January 2008 and created by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness (Wikipedia). Fans called him "Rulk". His identity stayed a mystery until the 2010 "World War Hulks" storyline revealed him as General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross in Hulk #23. Ross himself is much older: he first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962), created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

PriceCharting values for the standard Ed McGuinness cover, retrieved September 25, 2026:

• Ungraded: $34.00
• 4.0: $22.58
• 6.0: $44.07
• 8.0: $78.58
• 9.2: $102.00
• 9.8: $175.00

The ungraded price is above the 4.0 price because most raw copies of a 2008 book are in high grade. PriceCharting also tracks a Wizard World Los Angeles exclusive with a Michael Turner cover, whose CGC 9.8 sales ranged from $92.99 to $325.50. Grading a standard copy only makes sense if it could reach 9.8; see CGC grading cost.

More than one character has been Red Hulk (Wikipedia):

• Thunderbolt Ross: the original, transformed by the villain groups A.I.M. and the Intelligencia
• Robert Maverick: a four-star general who became a version of Red Hulk in U.S.Avengers #1 (2017) through an implanted device called the Hulk Plug-In
• Joe Fixit: the Hulk's Joe Fixit personality gained the ability while in the Below-Place

Separately, Ross's daughter Betty became the Red She-Hulk.

Marvel has no official ranking. The difference Wikipedia describes is how anger works: the green Hulk gets stronger as he gets angrier, while Red Hulk gets hotter instead. In their first fight the heat melted the desert sand into a glass disc dozens of feet across, but at extreme heat Red Hulk becomes vulnerable to being knocked out by the Hulk.

William Hurt played Thunderbolt Ross in Marvel films from 2008 to 2021. Harrison Ford took over the role in Captain America: Brave New World (2025), in which Ross also turns into the Red Hulk (Wikipedia).

Wikipedia calls Northstar the first openly gay character to come out in a Marvel book. He first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #120 (April 1979) and came out in Alpha Flight #106 (1992), an issue that sold out within a week.

• Indicia: the small print on the first page or inside cover gives the title, issue number, date and publisher; reprints and facsimiles say so there.
• Cover price and barcode: a price or barcode that did not exist in the cover year means a later edition.
• Paper: decades-old newsprint tans at the edges; bright white pages on an old date are a warning sign.
• Restoration: color touch, trimmed edges and replaced covers are common on expensive keys; a grading service such as CGC can detect them.

Shoot the front cover flat and straight on in even light, then the indicia and the back cover. Marvel has started several series called Hulk or Incredible Hulk, so capture the indicia, which gives the volume and year; the 2008 #1 is the Red Hulk key. ComicLens reads the title, issue number and cover art from the photo, and there are free scans every day.

Research and drafting were assisted by AI and checked line by line against the sources listed on this page. Prices are the figures shown by the named source on the date given; they change with the market.