The announcement that William Hurt would return to Marvel, reprising his role as General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, came as quite a surprise since The Incredible Hulk isn't necessarily considered an MCU film. Out of the two recent Generals, Sam Elliot captured the blustery spirit of the comic book character a little more but Hurt is a fine thespian with a great background who brought more humanity to the role. We know very little of the story at this point, but since this was the man tasked with bringing in Hulk, it's entirely possible he's one of the first men the government turns to to try and bring the super heroes under control. That doesn't mean that he and Stark will be working closely together as friends, but probably loose allies who are each striving toward the same goal, though with differing methods of achieving it.