Summary
The Hulk, or Bruce Banner,is among the most popular Marvel characters. This green Avenger maintains his status as one of the Earth’s staunchest defenders, but beneath his raging exterior is a man struggling to be at peace with himself. While Bruce Banner is one of the smartest people in the Marvel Universe, the gamma-irradiated Hulk will become infamous for his ferocious strength that none seem to be able to contend with.
In fact, such was the Hulk’s sheer physical prowess that he’s considered among the Marvel Multiverse’s strongest heroes. However, fans who are curious about the extent of the Hulk’s physical may be interested in how far other superpowered beings have tested Bruce Banner’s might. Thankfully, the Hulk’s stay in Marvel Comics resulted in some of his flashiest displays of abilities.
Avengers Vol. 5 #24 (2013)
Other Properties
Needed enough power to push a specially-made structure into a rogue planet the size of the Earth
Whilethe Hulk Smash has been associated with the Hulk in video gamesand his film appearances, Bruce Banner’s alter-ego also comes with an impressive physique. Such is his ability to use his strengthened leg muscles to leap great distances, with perhaps his greatest demonstration being the ability to leap from the surface of Red Planet into its orbit in a single bound. For reference, the scale height of Mars' atmosphere is about 10.8 km, which is significantly higher than Earth’s mere 6 km.
Granted, it’s possible that Mars' surface gravity (38% lower than Earth’s) could possibly improve the Hulk’s jumping power. However, perhaps more impressive is what the Hulk did when he did the jump. This event occurred at the time when Tony Stark’s granddaughter Rhodey Stark came to Earth from 3030 to help the Avengers thwart a rogue planet on a collision course with Earth. Doing so would require installing a building-sized device onto the planet as it makes its way to the planet, requiring Hulk to not just time his jump but also pack enough power to push the structure onto an actual planet.
Strong enough to erase an interdimensional monster from existence
One ofGroot’s earliest appearanceswas in a fight with the Hulk, wherein the sentient plant was among six creatures from various dimensions and realms that Hulk had to face as part of his 1976Annual. However, aside from Groot, an interesting enemy that Hulk initially had trouble with was Diablo, a monster from Dimension X that is seemingly invulnerable due to his nature as a being of smoke. Not only can Diablo manipulate his molecular density to be nigh-incorporeal, he can become so dense that he can be hit with the force of a nuclear bomb.
However, the Hulk discovers Diablo’s weakness when a scream of anger starts to affect Diablo’s body. He exploits this by generating shockwaves with his claps that become so strong that they begin to shatter Diablo’s unstable molecular bonds. Such was the strength of the Hulk’s thunderclaps that the issue describes them as air blasts so powerful that they put to shame the strongest hurricanes in history.
Hulk Vol. 3 #1 (2014)
The Hulk had recently transformed moments after recovering from heavy sedation
Among characters in Marvel Comics,Wolverine is infamous to both his allies and enemiesfor his adamantium claws that can tear through almost anything. As such, one knows it’s praise (or terrifying) when Wolverine himself acknowledges even he can’t defeat the Hulk - something indirectly seen in 2014’s “Who Shot The Hulk?” storyline. When Dr. Aaron Carpenter is asked to perform brain surgery on the Hulk, he contemplates killing his former colleague to ensure the Hulk doesn’t become a danger to anyone else. All this is put to a stop when the surgery’s anesthesiologist, a woman saved by the Hulk as a child, pulled the sedatives at the last minute.
This gives Banner enough time to instinctively block Carpenter’s hand, and he instantly transforms into the Hulk. A brief panel even sees the doctors shooting adamantium bullets at the Hulk, barely grazing him. Such is the Hulk’s physical endurance that the only time adamantium is seen as capable of hurting him is during “World War Hulk,” when General Thunderbolt Ross seriously wounds the Hulk with both adamantium bullets and shells via an entire military unit.
Avengers #686 (2016), World War Hulk: X-Men #2 (2007)
Common opponents are among the universe’s strongest, such as Hercules, Wonder Man, and Jane Foster Thor
Among the Hulk’s scariest powers is his strength, especially when combined with the fact that it scales with his rage. When the Hulk gets angry, his strength can potentially become infinite, making it impossible for even the strongest of heroes to stop him. One such fight happened during the events of “No Surrender,” when the Hulk was being manipulated by the Challenger in a bid to claim the title of Grandmaster. In this storyline, the Hulk manages to overpower god-level Hercules, Jane Foster Thor, and even Wonder Man, who hasSentry-level strength.
Another occasion of superheroes fighting the Hulk was during “World War Hulk,” when the Jade Giant managed to fight and fend off some of the X-Men’s heaviest hitters. Among powerhouses in the team included Colossus, whose arms were broken by the Hulk, and the Juggernaut who was often a superhuman commonly compared to the Hulk in terms of strength.
Incredible Hulks #632
Arm’Cheddon can resist Silver Surfer’s blasts at twice the energy output - the kind of energy blasts that are said to be able to destroy galaxies
After Arm’Cheddon assumed control over the Troyjan Empire at a young age, his warrior upbringing helped his clan dominate entire star systems and galaxies. When his son Trauma died, Arm’Cheddon tried to lure the Hulk into powering up a resurrection machine to revive him - only for the Hulk to give so much energy that it incinerated Trauma’s body instead. Arm’Cheddon leaves after swearing revegne, which is an opportunity he soon got when he is brought back to Earth by a wishing well.
When he threatened A-Bomb and She-Hulk as revenge against the Hulk, Arm’Cheddon used his power-absorbing suit to fit the Hulk’s energy signature. The Jade Giant eventually defeats Arm’Cheddon, first by attacking Arm’Cheddon with Hulk’s energy from his arm before disintegrating them. This feat is quite impressive, considering how Arm’Cheddon is said to withstand Silver Surfer’s blasts at twice the energy output - where a single attack can encompass entire galaxies.
Onslaught: Marvel #1
Powerful enough to destroy Onslaught’s physical armor, turning him into a pure psionic entity
When Charles Xavier attempted to mind-wipe Magneto, the evil within the two mutants coalesced into Onslaught, a psionic entity that eventually attained physical form. Inthe Onslaught Saga, the being became gigantically-powerful that even the combined might of the X-Men, the Avengers, and even some of Earth’s villains weren’t able to contend with him.
The odds only managed to get in their favor when the Hulk requested Jean Grey to “turn off” his Banner side. This resulted in a raging Hulk that managed to do enough damage to rip Onslaught’s armor to shreds, forcing him to become a fully-psionic entity. Doing this to Onslaught was quite the feat, considering that the villain at this stage created a second sun on its own and even defeated the Juggernaut in its weaker state.
Hulk Vol. 5 #7 (2022)
Theoretically some of the amount of Gamma Radiation the Hulk contains, with more in reserve
WhileThor’s performance inThor: Love and Thunderremains indicative of his status among the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s strongest Avengers, the comics would continue to test his rivalry with the Hulk for that title. InBanner of War, a raging Hulk’s fight with Thor gets interstellar, with Iron Man directly interfering with a Celestial-empowered Hulkbuster armor specifically designed to drain the Hulk’s energy to ensure they can apprehend him. This plan grievously backfires, as Tony is dumbfounded by the realization that Hulk is still standing even after the armor has just absorbed energy, the equivalent of 100,000 exploding suns.
What’s worse is that the armor’s AI said the Hulk didn’t even get “smaller” (weaker) but is rather steaming with even more gamma radiation. When Thor and Odin (via the Mjolnir) try to hold the Hulk down, an angered Jade Giant unleashes his leftover gamma radiation through an explosion with the force of 3,000 gamma bombs. For reference, only one gamma bomb was enough to turn Bruce Banner into the Hulk.
World War Hulk #5 (2007)
Sentry, whose physical output can reach 1 million supernovas, only managed to force the Hulk to revert to his Bruce Banner persona
Such was the strength of the Sentry that he’s considered the “final” fight of the Jade Giant in the events ofthe “World War Hulk” storyline, where the Sentry himself admitted that this moment with the Hulk was the first time in his entire career where he unleashed his full strength. Reed Richards echoes the Sentry’s sentiments, stating that he’d never seen the Sentry use this much power before. It’s said that the Sentry is capable of unleashing forces that can equate to 1 million supernovas, meaning the Hulk managed to rage enough to reach similar power levels as well.
Sentry may have managed to force Hulk back into his Banner persona, but only at the cost of using his full power to the point of not being able to control it. Not only that, Sentry ends the fight, slumping into unconsciousness, while Banner emerges standing. It also took Banner getting angry moments later to revert back into the Hulk.
Indestructible Hulk Vol. 1 #15 (2013), Defenders Vol.1 #3 (1972)
On separate occasions held together a singularity to protect the Defenders and smash through the space-time continuum to stop the Tomorrow Man’s time-altering plans
When S.H.I.E.L.D. caught wind of a scheme of Zarrko the Tomorrow Man that seems to affect the entirety of the time stream, they sent the Hulk across space-time to stop Zarrko and the chronarchists from disrupting the timeline permanently. In thisLoki-esque time travel story, A depowered Bruce travels to the past and comes face to face with a Hulk that absorbed twice the gamma radiation. When he manages to get his hands on a Chrono-Metal from the chronoarchists, he returns to being the Hulk and goads him to smash the screen from which Zarrko was tempting them from the present. This surprisingly allows the Hulk to “smash” through the space-time barrier, reaching Zarrko in the present time.
In one of the earliest adventures of the Defenders, an attempt to traverse dimensions to get to the Silver Surfer’s planet of Zenn-La brings them to the dangerous Realm of the Nameless One. When a black hole-like singularity threatens to absorb them, the Hulk manages to keep the hole together. He also stopped the team from being absorbed long enough for Namor to grab Silver Surfer’s board and bring them to safety.
The Incredible Hulk #305
A savage Hulk makes contact with the U-Foes, their impact causing the said interdimensional shockwave
Interdimensional travel is perhaps one of the “simpler” abilities inDoctor Strange’s magical arsenal, making it quite a decisive action for the Sorcerer Supreme to transfer a savage Hulk into the dimensional nexus known as the Crossroads to ensure he doesn’t cause any more harm to others. On this trip, the Hulk encounters the vengeful U-Foes, villains whom Bruce Banner stopped from recreating the Fantastic Four’s experiment.
Seeing their reunion at the Crossroads as a chance for revenge, Ironclad leads the U-Foes in an all-out attack against their nemesis. The savage Hulk retaliates with an all-out attack on his own, with the resulting impact causing shockwaves to ripple through the infinite dimensions that the Crossroads is connected to.
