Every MCU Weapon Used to Fight The Hulk, Ranked by Power

Marvel Studios and the Marvel Cinematic Universe have a problem: The Hulk is just too powerful. To their credit, they know this. It’s why the character has often been sidelined, where narrative reasons have been concocted to take him off the board (see: him flying away at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron, only to reappear on another planet in Thor: Ragnarok). Even the Hulk‘s fight against Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War was given to push the problem of the strongest Avenger to the side so as not to address how easily things could be solved with his mere presence.

Despite these attempts to push the big green hero to the side, The Hulk still has plenty of noteworthy appearances in the MCU, and just as many where someone tries to take him out. Through his feature film appearances, the Hulk has gone up against a lot of foes who have used a variety of weapons, but only a handful are more than just an irritant to him, and only one was really worth going up against him at all. It is worth noting that the Helicarrier Detention Cell, despite being designed for use on The Hulk, was never actually used on The Hulk. If it were, you’d probably find it here, at the bottom, as its effectiveness seems suspect at a glance.

10) Black Ops Team

With all due respect to the soldiers put in harm’s way, this is clearly the bottom of the list. The first real expression of the Hulk’s power in the Marvel Cinematic Universe comes early in The Incredible Hulk when a military team is sent in the dead of night to apprehend Banner in Brazil. As you can imagine, some regular guys with regular guns goes over about as well as a piece of paper could stop a bowling ball. Though it is an easy victory for the Hulk, and just fodder to escalate the military’s weapons against him, it is done with some style by director Louis Leterrier.

9) Chitauri Blasters

The weapons being used by the Chitauri in The Avengers seem to be the equivalent of a Super Soaker on big green. They do get some points for at least making the Hulk actually notice that they’re firing at him, but it’s just enough attention that he can turn and crush the one who pulled the trigger after they’ve done it. In truth, these weapons may need to be at the bottom of the list; they don’t seem to even cause any casualties to non-Hulks in the Battle for New York.

8) Stark Sonic Cannons

After a team of soldiers fails to bring down The Hulk, the government deploys some new weapons from Tony Stark to get it done. To their credit, they actually work. These discs weaponize sound waves and actually manage to render the Hulk immobile when focused on him directly. The trouble, of course, is that the Hulk is able to outsmart them. Using debris from the rest of the fight happening around him, the Hulk manages to destroy one and then simply escapes from the other. A good weapon in practice but not in execution.

7) F-35 Lightning II

After Banner hulks out on the SHIELD helicarrier, there’s not much that can be done to stop him. Thor does his best to defeat the beast, but that doesn’t mean other forces don’t make an attempt on their own. The F-35 Lightning II jet seen in the film opens fire on the Hulk while still inside the helicarrier, and largely only manages to accomplish one thing: making him even more mad. Marvel fans know that this only leads to the Hulk getting stronger, which is demonstrated when he leaps onto the jet and begins to dismantle it piece by piece. Props for being powerful enough to get his attention, but it does explode in the end.

6) Leviathans

One part alien beast, but deployed as a weapon by Loki’s Chitauri forces, the Leviathans pack a major punch; as Marvel fans know, though, the Hulk packs a bigger one when he delivers a green knuckle sandwich right into one. Unlike the other weapons found here, Leviathans actually manage to be useful, transporting Chitauri troops across the battlefield and causing plenty of destruction to Manhattan along the way. Not only is Hulk able to knock one out of commission with one punch, but he also sends another to the ground with the help of Thor. Levtiathans are pretty effective, but not when you have a Hulk.

5) Fenris

Hela has a few weapons at her disposal as she attempts to destroy Asgard, but the biggest and most brutal is Finris, the giant wolf in Thor: Ragnarok. The power of Fenris isn’t seen just in its size, but in how it manages to completely brush off a blow from Valkyrie’s ship without a second thought. From there, the beast engages the Hulk in what is absolutely one of the Marvel hero’s longest fights in the entire MCU, which puts it this high on the list. The fracas between the two carries on from the rainbow bridge to the waters below Asgard and concludes with Hulk tossing him into the void of space. It could have just as very well ended the other way.

4) Mjolnir

The Hulk has no more frequent sparring partner in the Marvel Cinematic Universe than the second strongest Avenger, Thor. Upon their first meeting in The Avengers, the two immediately come to blows. There is a reason that Mjolnir doesn’t top the list, though.

Despite one clear upper cut from the Asgardian hammer sending Hulk flying into the air, the hit from the hammer doesn’t actually have a lasting effect on him at all. Hulk not only manages to brush off the blow, get back up, and continue fighting, but tussles with Thor afterward as he attempts to bring him down by wrapping Mjolnir around his neck. Even that doesn’t seem to faze the Hulk either, as he quickly gets distracted by the fighter jet mentioned above.

3) Sakaaran War Hammer

This is a special one because the Sakaaran War Hammer seen in Thor: Ragnarok begins the fight as Hulk’s own weapon. The god of thunder manages to take it from him and, while using it, starts to make the case for why he might actually be the strongest Avenger. Thor gets a number of major hits on Hulk with the hammer and absolutely has him in a position to win the fight by using the Hammer (along with his own powers). His victory is disrupted by the Grandmaster, but the Sakaaran War Hammer clearly does a number on Hulk in its brief appearance.

2) Wanda’s Chaos Magic

Avengers: Age of Ultron has a pivotal scene in South Africa where Wanda Maximoff uses her chaos magic to almost completely destroy the Avengers themselves, poisoning their minds and sending them into a stupor over their fears. In order to ensure their escape, she pulls her greatest trick, using her magic on Banner to send the Hulk into one of his most significant rages in the entire MCU. While under the influence of the magic, Banner destroys huge buildings in Johannesburg and causes tons of damage.

The only reason it doesn’t take the top spot here is because at one point it seems like the Hulk is able to full shake off the effects of the magic, coming out of his stupor, and even to what few senses the Hulk actually had at that point. That, and the next on the list…

1) Hulkbuster Armor

As Marvel fans know, the Hulkbuster armor was constructed by Tony for the sole purpose of putting it behind a metaphorical “Break glass in case of emergency.” When that time comes, the armor upgrade for Iron Man does the job, mostly. Using the Hulkbuster armor, Tony is able to actually go toe-to-toe with the green beast, though he does contribute to the larger problem of extreme property damage and reputational destruction on the part of the team.

In the end, the Hulkbuster armor gets the final blow that fully pulls Hulk out of his daze and brings him back to Earth. Though plenty of other weapons in the MCU have managed to stun the Hulk, only Tony Stark’s Hulkbuster armor was able to fully end a fight and raise its hand as the winner (without counting the pure shellacking Thanos puts on him in Avengers: Infinity War).

Every Animated Version of The Hulk, Ranked by Power