Thaddeus Ross becomes the President of the United States inCaptain America: Brave New World, and one of theMarvel Cinematic Universe’s most controversial properties may explain his unlikely victory. In his previous appearances inthe MCU timeline, Ross is often an antagonist, pursuing Bruce Banner inThe Incredible Hulkand attempting to regulate The Avengers inCaptain America: Civil War. InBrave New World, Ross arguably takes the role of an anti-villain whose exploitation of Samuel Sterns results in the latter’s revenge-driven schemes and Ross’s transformation intothe MCU’s Red Hulk.
Sterns notes that he helped Ross win the presidency, using his gamma-enhanced abilities and understanding of probability for Ross’s benefit. Even with this in mind, it is arguably difficult to believe that the public would rally behind Ross, given his oppositional history to The Avengers and Bruce Banner in particular – who became a beloved hero in 2012. The events ofSecret Invasionmay provide an additional explanation for Thaddeus Ross’s presidential victory.
In addition to advice from the Leader,Thaddeus Ross most likely also benefited greatly from having an extremely easy opponent: James Ritson– who is the US President inSecret Invasion. During the events of the series, then-President Ritson developed extreme anti-alien sentiment following his manipulation and attempted assassination by Skrull extremists. By theending ofSecret Invasion, Ritson had vowed to kill every Skrull on Earth and presented a bill to Congress that would designate “all off-world born species enemy combatants.”
As shown inMs. Marvel, some attendees of New Jersey AvengersCon are dressed as members of the Guardians of the Galaxy, demonstrating that the general public is aware of the “off-world” team’s existence.
Ritson’s anti-alien extremism would theoretically make him widely unpopular with the American populace. Aside from Skrulls, the beloved founding member of The Avengers – Thor – would become an enemy of the US if Ritson’s bill was passed. In addition to Thor, all other Asgardians living on Earth and most of the Guardians of the Galaxy would be designated enemy combatants, and it is difficult to believe that American voters would support a president who opposes and actively threatens the safety of many of the heroes who helped resurrect the victims of Thanos’s Snap.
Thaddeus Ross Was Warming Up To The MCU’s Heroes While Ritson Was Turning On Them
However genuine Thaddeus Ross might have been about his more positive view of The Avengers,he likely conveyed the image of someone who was changing his mind about the world’s superheroes, especially if he had alluded to his plans to try and rebuild The Avengers during his campaign. Ritson, meanwhile, would be correctly seen as a violent opponent to said heroes. Even with Ross’s questionable past, he almost certainly looked like a more appealing candidate than James Ritson, which would have helped in earning him the presidency byCaptain America: Brave New World.
