Who is the Rulk?

The Red Hulk (Rulk) has been around since the latest Hulk reboot. A lot of clues have been dropped about his identity but many of them were "red" herrings. The biggest clue was overshadowed by one of those red herrings.

The two most obvious candidates are Leonard Samson and Thunderbolt Ross. At one point they even showed Samson's coat, irradiated with gamma radiation and stretched out as if someone grew while wearing it.

Both Ross and Samson have appeared with the Rulk.

I haven't spotted many other clues but there are a few. He likes guns. He seems to know a lot about SHIELD LMDs (Life Model Decoys). He knows Samson and Ross.

There is one other clue but it's a negative one. Samson vanished for a few issues when they were dropping strong hints that he was Rulk. At the same time he vanished, a crushed body turned up that was quickly identified as SHIELD agent Clay Quartermain. Almost nothing else was said about this.

So, why kill off a character who has been around since 1967? I don't think that they did. I think that Quartermain is the Rulk. He was with Samson at the time that Rulk appeared. Samson was involved, maybe even responsible. A body, or even a fake body, was planted to explain his absence. He even led a team of Hulkbusters at one point. Who better?

I'd say that you heard it here first but a Google search shows that someone else thought of this a few months ago. He also thinks that Quartermain has green hair when he is himself. This is incorrect. Issue 14 shows four people talking together. One has green hair and the other three are wearing caps. We see one of the figures in a cap go into an alley and change into the Rulk. During the change you can see his hat fall off and it is lying on the street when he finishes his change. Later we see that Samson was the one with green hair (and no cap) and Ross was one of the people with a cap.

Next question - who is the red She-Hulk? She quotes military strategy. She could be Betty Ross, back from the grave. That was my first guess. Her father is a general, after all. It seems too easy.

Since Quartermain is a secondary character that they slipped in, I think that the Red She-Hulk is another secondary character, possibly another member of SHIELD. Her torn outfit looks a little like a SHIELD uniform which supports this. I'm guessing Maria Hill, former deputy director of SHIELD.