Vermis

OP sounds more like a rant about 'this is who I like and who I don't like' rather than a reasoned critique.  If you think Red Hulk's still flat then you'll just been wilfully ignoring Jeff Parker's run on Hulk.  Unlike a lot of fans who are buying the book and enjoying it.  And who's going to deny Betty a bit of superpower  to go leaping around and joining Bruce on his adventures?
On the other hand, Skaar can be easily seen as Greg Pak's cheesy and unoriginal Hulk/Conan hybrid.  With a hefty chunk of Jedi thrown in.  ('Old power?'  Me arse.)  The Warbound aren't too far behind that.  And then Lyra; but I'm warming to her meself.  Her origins and motivations aren't quite as groanworthy as little Brucie Jr.
 
There are too many Hulks, probably, but your confident deliberations on who must be cut ain't exactly the logical voice of the fandom you're writing them as.

Anyone who doesn't like the goofy fun that Red Hulk brings, hates comics.  That's just the way it is.
 
But seriously, all the people complaining about the way he's written: I can understand that under Jeph Loeb's tenure.  But drop all your preconceptions (I know these can be very entrenched in us comic book nerds, so I'm going to have to ask you to concentrate, and push hard), give him another chance, and go read Jeff Parker's 'Scorched Earth' arc.  It's much better, and doesn't portray him as some unstoppable force trampling Marvel's heavy hitters with barely a thought. (Like that wasn't the plot of WWH)  At the very least, go check it out to see Iron Man, Thor, and Namor wail on his ass.
 
At the very very least, he can't be any worse than the concept of a Conan-clone 'Son of Franken...' er,  'Son of the Hulk', surely?

Big Rulk fan here.  Will anyone here think less of me if I say I started buying the Avengers because he was joining?  But excellent post, War Killer.  I've read the first couple of Rulk-inclusive issues and he's really badly shoehorned in.  And barely any more than a few throwaway lines and a slot in a crowd shot.
 
Thunderbolts, now... First off, I feel an immense sense of geeky/perverse pleasure at the thought of Thunderbolt Ross on the Thunderbolts team.  Secondly, he's a supervillain guilty of treason, now under SHIELD custody and supervision in order to redress the damage he's done and to limit further threats from any source.  He's practically a Thunderbolt already.  Thirdly, he's a three-star Air Force general - or was.  I don't know if he's been stripped of that rank.  At any rate, the point is he should have immense experience in working or fighting with a government-sanctioned team.  Fourthly, Jeff Parker's been doing a wonderful job with him on Hulk, and guess which other title he's currently writing?
 
Thing is, there's the same problem as the Avengers.  The Thunderbolts already have Juggy.  Do they need another giant, cranky, ex-military, nigh-unstoppable heavy-hitter?  Probably not.

With all the pro-Pak/WWH stuff I've seen about the internets the last couple of years, this topic's a bit of a surprise.  And a breath of fresh air, even.  I was going to vent my spleen a lot more, but SC already said it all, and more.  The Hulk's been a jerk.  People read Planet Hulk and saw ass-kicking and name-taking; I saw a vindictive Conan/school bully fantasy that came close to resembling the Maestro.  It even seemed to rub off on Hulkless Banner during World War Hulks.
 
When Jeff Parker wrote off Banner's 'super-intelligence' with "I'm a physicist, not a brain surgeon", I grinned.  When I saw Zeus batter the Hulk silly, I loled.  It's thanks to Jeff Parker's run on Hulk and that issue of Pak's Incredible Hulks, that I finally started liking the big green lug again.
 
Now I just need someone to tell me they're going to let Skaar have the Savage Land and seal him up in it.

And as we find out, as much as he tries to be a hero, not every real hero is down with that, or even believes him.  

 Before i felt like an outsider because a lot of people did not like his run on Red Hulk.

Thunderbolt Ross' big red makeover quickly become my favourite Hulk, despite (and partly because of) all the nerd-rage directed at him.  Also partly because I honestly didn't enjoy PH/WWH (another can of worms) and wanted someone to give the jerky jade giant a slap round the chops.  Can't say I followed the WWHS/FotH story too closely in the middle, but I enjoyed the last couple of arcs and the current Jeff Parker reconstruction effort going on in Hulk.
 
(Then I stumbled across Comicvine's video retrospective of the last two years of Red Hulk, and holy moley, there's people on the interwebs who don't mind Rulk.  I think I might stick around.  So... hullo.  Noobie here. )