When Giancarlo Esposito announced that he was going to have a role in Captain America: Brave New World, my first thought was. Oh, great! He’s playing General Reginald Fortean. The role fits in with the Red Hulk storyline and to a larger scale with Marvel’s potential Hulk plans. So far, I haven’t seen many people pick up on this one, I’ve seen names like Scorpio, George Washington Bridge and a handful of others thrown around, but not General Fortean. With Esposito’s recent comment saying “No one has guessed who I’m playing”, I’m going to double down and say that I believe he’ll be playing General Fortean, a role which surprisingly hasn’t been picked up on by a majority of the audience yet.
General Fortean – One of Thunderbolt Ross’s most trusted soldiers. When Ross was assumedly killed at the hands of the Red Hulk, Fortean pledged to track down the Hulk and get revenge, later establishing a re-imagined version of the United States Hulk Operations (Shadowbase). This all fits in with a Red Hulk antagonist line and ties together potential future plans for the MCU. First appearance of General Reginald Fortean came in Hulk 30.1 from the Hulk Vol. 1 run that initially brought us the Red Hulk.
Let’s say that the speculation of Esposito as Fortean pans out, what’s next. Well with Marvel setting up all of the Hulks in a row for some type of epic cinematic event. She-Hulk being introduced and Skaar being a last minute throw in just piles on more Hulk characters for this type of event. Maybe World War Hulks? If this is the case, then my money would also be on Red Hulk II (Robert Maverick) appearing at some point to continue the Red Hulk storyline. I believe Harrison Ford was brought in to wind up the Thunderbolt Ross storyline from the human side and would be surprised if we see him in more than 2 films. Robert Maverick first had a cameo as Red Hulk in Avengers #0 and then his full appearance came in U.S.Avengers #1.
Another spec may be the Redeemer Armor making an appearance, which would give Ross some even footing (on some level) with the Hulk. Now that the Hulk Buster / Stark is no longer in the MCU, this presents an alternative of some sorts…Redeemer Mark I came in Incredible Hulk #343, but has evolved over the years and the version Fortean used in the Hulk run barely resembles the original. However, history as shown that the first appearance of something like this can have traction.
Finally, if the Fortean speculation does pan out and that is who Esposito is playing and we’re looking some time down the road, then I would also be looking for dollar bin copies of Immortal Hulk #18, the issue where he becomes the Abomination. Esposito made comments that his character becomes something much scarier than initially seemed, and if Marvel is setting up an event that is Hulk related, it wouldn’t be too far fetched to see him turn into Abomination as an antagonist to fit the World War Hulks narrative.
Again, this is all speculation on my part, but some of the dots appear to be connecting on this path of storytelling and while the MCU has taken liberties over the past few years with storytelling, the trailers for the latest Captain America along with Deadpool vs Wolverine show us that it looks like they’re trying to get back on track…
