One of Marvel Comics’ most popular and longest-lasting characters is a gamma mutate. This is, of course, the Hulk, one of the company’s first superheroes and a monster who shares the archetype with the Wolfman from classic horror movies. Being a gamma mutate makes Hulk one of the most powerful characters in Marvel Comics, so the company knew it had to create powerful enemies and allies to match him. This came in a variety of ways, but in today’s Marvel Comics Universe, there are countless gamma heroes and villains, although not all are anywhere near as powerful as the Hulk.
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Here is a look at the gamma-powered characters in Marvel Comics, from heroes to villains, and everyone in between, ranked by their power levels.
10) Sasquatch
Possibly because he isn’t green, it is often hard to remember that Sasquatch is a gamma-powered character. An original member of Alpha Flight when it was still Canada’s superhero team, Walter Langkowski was a scientist in the form of The Beast, someone who pushed science often past its moral limits. Walter knew Bruce Banner from college and studied everything he could about the Hulk after learning about the accident that turned Banner into the Hulk. Walter decided to try to create new Hulks, but ones who could control their powers, bombarded himself with gamma rays, opened the Green Door to the Below-Place, and became Sasquatch. Unlike Hulk, Walter could transform into Sasquatch at will and had superhuman strength, speed, stamina, and durability. Sasquatch has since died, and Walter took over Doc Samson’s body.
9) Brawn
Amadeus Cho was a sidekick for much of his time in Marvel Comics, first with Hulk and then with Hercules. However, everything changed when Hulk had to save New York City and absorbed a lethal amount of energy before losing his powers. Cho used nanites to absorb Hulk’s powers and turned into the Totally Awesome Hulk. Over time, he evolved and became the hero Brawn, joining the Champions and the Agents of Atlas. He later added more nanobots to his body, which caused him to slim down and become a smaller, less powerful version of Hulk, although he can still shake the earth with his blows.
8) Skaar
When the Hulk was living a peaceful life on Sakaar, he married Caiera, and the two were expecting a child. After a terrorist explosion killed a pregnant Caiera and many of Hulk’s friends, he left angry and returned to Earth for revenge. However, Caiera and Hulk’s baby was born, and left alone in Sakaar, where Old Sam raised him after the Shadow People tortured him. Believing his father abandoned him, he went to Earth for revenge before realizing the truth and becoming an antihero. Skaar is very powerful thanks to his father’s gamma powers and his mother’s Shadow People Physiology. He is stronger than most gamma-powered mutates thanks to his ability to use the Old Power. He can also connect to and manipulate the earth and stone, including lava, and even turn his body into those forms.
7) Red Harpy
Red Harpy is Betty Ross, and this is her second gamma-powered form after previously serving as the Red She-Hulk. Of course, she was Bruce Banner’s long-time girlfriend and the main reason General Ross hated Hulk so much. For most of her life, she was a human, but this changed when she died from gamma radiation poisoning and ended up resurrected as Red She-Hulk thanks to the Green Door. She ended up depowered but was assassinated by Bushwacker once again. Betty again returned, thanks to the Green Door, this time as Red Harpy, which made her vicious in her resentment of the world and Bruce Banner. She has superhuman strength and can fly, but is not as powerful as Hulk or even Skaar. However, her talons can cut through even Hulk’s flesh, and she can shoot out hellbots from her hands that can also hurt Hulk.
6) Abomination
When it comes to gamma-mutates who match up the best to Hulk over the years, Abomination rises to the top of the list. Abomination is Emil Blonsky, a former Russian spy who had infiltrated a military base where Bruce Banner was working on his gamma research. After the Stranger tried to use Hulk to destroy humanity, Banner planned to use massive amounts of gamma energy to die by suicide, but military personnel stopped him. Instead, Blonsky activated it, not knowing any better, and turned into Abomination. Unlike Hulk, Blonsky can’t turn back into a human, and while his strength is greater than Hulk’s, he doesn’t get stronger with rage, so Hulk eventually grows stronger than him as the battles wage on.
5) The Leader
Power does not necessarily mean strength. The best enemies for powerful superheroes are brilliant villains. In the same way that Lex Luthor is one of Superman’s most powerful villains, Leader serves the same position for Hulk. When the Hulk gained his powers, he became incredibly strong. When Leader got his powers, his brain grew to unimaginable levels, and he became one of Earth’s most brilliant individuals. He could master every subject in the world and even adopt concepts foreign to his environment. He could also predict probable outcomes with almost perfect accuracy. This made him nearly impossible to defeat. He is so smart that he mastered the Hell-dimension and took over the Below-Place for a short time.
4) She-Hulk
She-Hulk got her powers after a criminal shot her, and her cousin Bruce Banner gave her a blood transfusion. This allowed her to transform into the She-Hulk. However, unlike her cousin, she maintained complete control after her transformation. While Banner has alters that cause Hulk and Banner to be two different people in his mind, She-Hulk did not have the same childhood trauma as Bruce and remained in control. There were times later in her life when she did start to lose control, and in those instances, she became almost as strong as the Hulk. Even the Beyonder said that her strength is approaching the level of the Hulk, meaning she is becoming increasingly powerful as the years go by.
3) Red-Hulk
The Red Hulk is almost as powerful as the Hulk, but he has one significant weakness. The Red Hulk is General Ross, and this is a particularly ironic instance, as he has hated gamma-mutates his entire life, only to become one himself. His powers are very similar to those of the Hulk and She-Hulk, as he possesses their strength levels, but mostly retains his intelligence and military cunning, making him extremely dangerous. He can also absorb energy to increase his power. However, he has a vulnerability to sharp weapons. With that said, his biggest weakness is that the angrier he gets, the more he starts to overheat and can burn himself out in the middle of a fight. It is the opposite of Hulk, who gets stronger when he gets angrier.
2) Hulk
Hulk is the strongest gamma-mutate on Earth-616, and no one else is even close. He was the first to appear in Marvel Comics, and as the years pass, his power levels increase. Hulk has no limit to how strong he can get; as his strength increases, the angrier he gets. The only thing holding him back is his brain, and as he showed in the Onslaught crossover series, when he has his Banner side shut down and goes savage, there is no one the Hulk can’t beat. He has even been shown to survive to the end of the Earth, as the last living being after everyone else has died.
1) Maestro
Arguably, the most powerful version of the Hulk is Maestro, making him the strongest gamma mutate in Marvel Comics. While he is a variant of the Hulk, he has also fought the Hulk, and he was the only person who had a chance to stop this despot from the future. However, as Future Imperfect showed, not even Hulk could beat Maestro, and he had to settle for tricking his more powerful future self to stop him. Maestro possesses the same powers as the Hulk, but he is also powerful and has evolved into a ruthless and brutal dictator, exhibiting tactical brilliance and cunning, while retaining Banner’s genius-level intellect intact. He schemed to kill Hercules as his greatest show of strength.
Who is your favorite gamma-powered character in Marvel Comics? Let us know your pick in the comments below.
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Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
