The Hulk is a rare superhero who always finds himself at odds with other heroes almost as much as he battles supervillains. Based on classic monster stories like The Wolf-Man, Bruce Banner was a scientist who became a giant green monster with rage issues after a Gamma explosion. When Banner gets angry, he turns into Hulk and ends up either fighting anyone who steps up to him or just battling for his right to be left alone. Since Hulk is considered one of the most powerful Marvel characters in history, he has had several giant battles with Earth’s most powerful heroes, and he is always the one with the advantage.
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From the debut of The Avengers and an early battle with the Fantastic Four to giant fights with Thor, Hercules, and Wolverine, here are the greatest Hulk battles with other superheroes.
7) The Avengers #1
The first villain to force the Avengers to team up was Loki. However, Loki is not a villain who fights superheroes one-on-one. Instead, he manipulates the situation to force heroes to battle great odds while he stays in the background, pulling the strings. In The Avengers #1, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes teamed up for the first time to stop a rampaging Hulk. However, they were unaware that Loki was manipulating the Hulk to appear out of control, as the Hulk was attempting to escape Loki and the public. The Avengers didn’t need to beat Hulk, but instead fought him to a standstill before they all focused on Loki. The Avengers then fought Hulk again two issues later when Doctor Doom manipulated him, and this fight caused Hulk to leave and tell the Avengers not to follow him.
6) The Incredible Hulk #181
One of the most famous Marvel Comics of all time is The Incredible Hulk #181. It also has nothing to do with the Hulk. Instead, this was the first-ever appearance of Wolverine in comics. In this issue, Hulk had crossed over into Canada and was causing damage, as he does. As a result, Canada’s Department H sent out one of their heroes to stop him, and that hero was none other than Wolverine, long before he joined the X-Men. However, Wolverine quickly saw he had to fight both Hulk and the villain Wendigo, so he agreed to team up with Hulk to beat Wendigo. After that, the two continued fighting, but Hulk ended up with the advantage when he grew so angry that Wolverine’s claws could no longer pierce his skin, and Department H had to intervene and finally end the fight.
5) Fantastic Four #12
One of the most popular hero vs. hero fights in Marvel Comics for many years was when Hulk fought Thing of the Fantastic Four. Over the years, Hulk has proven to be the dominant warrior in those battles, but Thing will never give up, and the two have had several great fights over their lifetime. The first came in Fantastic Four #12 when Hulk was blamed for the destruction of a government base, and General Ross asked the Fantastic Four to find and destroy Hulk. While it was a battle with the entire FF, it was Hulk vs. Thing that was the main event, and Hulk was winning before the real villain showed up, and the FF turned their attention to him.
4) Hulk vs. Thor: Banner of War
Thor: Ragnarok had Hulk and Thor battle in a gladiator ring, and Hulk won the fight, although Thor started to get the advantage before The Grandmaster interfered. In Marvel Comics, the two have fought many times. There were the original Avengers stories, and Hulk also showed up to fight Thor in their solo comics. However, their biggest battle in Marvel Comics history came in the series Hulk vs. Thor: Banner of War. This was an event series from 2022, and Thor was planning to kill Hulk after an incident that left several people dead in El Paso, Texas. The two ended up in a gladiatorial ring on another planet, and everything went off the rails when Odin gave Banner the power of Thor while the God of Thunder was infused with gamma energy. Odin helped Hulk, knowing that Bruce was trying to get things under control. In the end, the two stopped fighting with no clear winner after Thor realized the truth about what was going on.
3) Maestro vs. Hulk
Maestro was one of the most powerful versions of Hulk ever to exist. He survived a nuclear apocalypse, and then when he came out of hiding, he took over a city of survivors and became their ruler. He then defeated any hero left alive and ruled with an iron fist. However, before his whole backstory was known, he appeared in Hulk: Future Imperfect #1 in 1992 when Hulk was accidentally sent into the future and ended up on Earth-9200. When Hulk, who had Banner’s brain at the time, realized what his future self did on this Earth, he set out to stop him. However, he had no chance, and Maestro destroyed him when they fought. That said, Hulk finally got the win when he tricked Maestro and used a time travel device to send his future self back to the moment where the gamma explosion turned Banner into Hulk, which seemingly destroyed the villain. He did return in Incredible Hulk #461, but he had no chance in his weakened state and was killed again.
2) Maestro vs. Hercules
The story of Maestro was finally told in the 2020 miniseries Maestro. This series reveals how Hulk survived the nuclear apocalypse and why he ultimately chose the side of evil, becoming Maestro. He then went on to defeat or eliminate anyone who threatened him. When Hercules showed up, it seemed they could become friends, but Maestro turned on him, and the two began a fierce battle. Hercules, as a demigod, seemed impossible for Maestro to beat, but the future Hulk had one key advantage. He was smart. He offered Hercules a woman in Vapor (formerly of the U-Foes), transformed into poison gas, and went into Hercules’ body to kill him. Maestro then ensured Vapor caused no problems by killing her immediately after this.
1) World War Hulk
The best Marvel Comics series that ever showed Hulk battling other heroes came in the pages of World War Hulk. The setup for this story saw the Illuminati betray their friend by shooting him into space, aiming for an unpopulated planet where he could live in peace. They overshot the planet, and he landed on a populated world where he was forced to be a gladiator. Hulk broke free, led a rebellion, became a beloved hero, and got married. His happiness was short-lived when the spacecraft he arrived on exploded, killing his wife. Believing the Illuminati were responsible, he returned to Earth and destroyed Black Bolt, Reed Richards, Iron Man, and others. He even went man-to-man with Sentry, and no one could beat him. The only thing that ended this war was Hulk finally just surrendering after he proved his point.
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Image courtesy of Netflix
