Will Liv Tyler’s Betty Ross Become Red She-Hulk in Captain America: New World Order?

The future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe got a surprising update on Monday, with confirmation that Liv Tyler will be reprising her role as Betty Ross in the forthcoming Captain America: New World Order. This would be Tyler’s first appearance as Betty in over a decade, with her last playing the character in a supporting role in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. In the time since Tyler last appeared onscreen, the franchise around her has taken on a different look, and some of the more absurd elements of Marvel Comics canon have made their way onscreen.

Even if Betty is just in New World Order in a supporting role, her return onscreen is definitely something that fans are eager to see. But given the reports and rumors surrounding New World Order — could Betty take on her most well-known comic-accurate alter-ego of Red She-Hulk?

Who is Marvel’s Red She-Hulk?

While Betty had become a staple of the comics since the 1960s, she did not take on the mantle of Red She-Hulk until 2009’s Hulk #15. In that issue, which was part of the “Fall of the Hulks” storyline, it was revealed that the previously-dead Betty had been resurrected by and experimented on by Samuel Sterns / The Leader and his Intelligencia. Through these gamma experiments and brainwashing, Betty walks away with Hulk abilities, but also a confusion and animosity towards many of her former allies.

Betty then wrestles with her Red She-Hulk persona in the years that follow, something that becomes the subject of her own prolific Red She-Hulk solo series. While things later get complicated when Betty gets turned back into her original evil alter-ego of The Harpy, many Marvel fans still associate her with in the mantle of Red She-Hulk. 

Could Betty Ross become the MCU’s Red She-Hulk?

As New World Order’s cast has begun to be revealed in the past few months, it’s become overwhelmingly apparent that it is dipping into elements of Hulk lore. We know that Tim Blake Nelson will also be reprising his The Incredible Hulk role as The Leader, and Harrison Ford was cast as a new incarnation of Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, who will be operating as the President of the United States. The Leader being in the fold of New World Order, and the Intelligencia being established (albeit in a different way) as Hulk-blood-stealing misogynists in last year’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law series, certainly lay the groundwork for the experiments that lead to Betty becoming Red She-Hulk in the comics.

Plus, there is also the nature of the aforementioned Jennifer Walters / She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany), who made her MCU debut on Disney+ last year, and acclimated audiences to the concept of a female Hulk and the larger Hulk family. (The show even poked fun at the possible “plot twist” of a Red Hulk.) Given the apparent subject matter of New World Order, there has already been speculation that Maslany could reprise her role in the film is some capacity. It would certainly be an interesting dichotomy for Jen’s first possible appearance in an MCU movie to pit her against Betty — not only the ex-girlfriend of her cousin, but a possible superhuman dyad to her. Betty returning in the MCU as Red She-Hulk would not only be a comic-accurate continuation of a narrative thread fifteen years in the making, but it would definitely up the narrative ante of New World Order even more. And come on, imagine all of the fourth-wall breaking we could get?

Do you hope Betty Ross becomes Red She-Hulk in Captain America: New World Order? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Captain America: New World Order is currently scheduled to be released in theaters on May 3, 2024.