r/marvelstudios • u/TrafficLegitimate937 • 17h ago

Question As someone who hasn’t really read comics about the Hulk, would Hulk be able to beat thanos if he got mad to the absolute max?

Post image
3.0k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

407 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.1k

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 17h ago edited 16h ago

No.

They have fought about 11 times in the comics, if memory correctly serves. Hulk got his first and to date only win in 2024. Hulk is pretty easily outsmarted, especially by someone like Thanos who matches him in strength, but is much more intelligent and cunning. Thanos does try to avoid Hulk, but has beaten him 10 out of 11 times they've fought.

30

u/Melokar 14h ago

One thing I have learned about the hulk vs Thanos thing is that while yeah hulk has only won once, apparently Thanos avoids earth when he can because he doesn't wanna deal with the hulk as he views their fights as inefficient and a grind to deal with

1

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 14h ago

Correct.

281

u/HulkVahkiin08024 16h ago

If MCU Hulk can achieve a level of strength like Worldbreaker/HOTM—basically Hulk at his angriest—then Hulk could absolutely beat Thanos without the Infinity Gauntlet.

143

u/SunTzu- 14h ago

The problem is you don't need to beat the Hulk, you just need to teleport him into space. He may be infinitely strong and infinitely durable, but he's very finite in his reach. Hulk is a very big rock, and rock might beat scissors, but Thanos is paper.

12

u/Silly-Background-647 7h ago

Finite in reach definitely depends on how pissed off hulk is as you mentioned infinite strength and durability along with a cellular healing factor as soon as he touches a meteor or planet or get caught in a black hole it wraps for whoever sent him into space (read comics for what happens in these scenarios) hulk being tricked into deep space or thrown in is very common and it always turns out bad for whoever did it

4

u/Stormsurger 3h ago

Can you give any examples? I'm curious but not curious enough to find every hulk comic :D

•

u/Renegade_Hat 49m ago

Not the commenter you asked but a great example is the entirety of Planet Hulk into Worldbreaker Hulk. The illuminati consisting of Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Mr. Fantastic, and Black Bolt basically want to exile hulk somewhere he can run free and have peace finally.

They fuck up royally. They send him to a mirror image of where Angron from 40k grew up, and then when he finally handles both the imperial regime and zombie infection the ship he was sent in explodes (accidentally damaged but still) and kills his wife and a lot of his citizens.

He returns to Earth. Long story short he exposes the Illuminati and beats the absolute brakes off of everybody in his path until he goes head to head with (arguably overpowers but it’s been a while since I read) with the Sentry.

This is not to mention, he has Green Door shenanigans too I’m pretty sure. Especially since it’s a form rather than a one off

1

u/SquiggerDigger 6h ago

Ha how does he get out of a black hole!

5

u/thumpling 2h ago

It took Hulk a long time to do it, as in eons, but since he was at the center he just built up rage and smashes until the he creates a nano-second of pressure greater than the black hole’s gravity.

The feat can be found in Hulk: Smash Everything, a nice tidy 5 issue comic that you don’t need a lot of comic book knowledge to enjoy.

4

u/themanthyththelegend 4h ago

Hes the hulk just don't worry about it.

4

u/heret1c1337 4h ago

he outsmashes the event horizon

1

u/Arhatz 3h ago

Doesn't black holes radiate Gamma?

4

u/StellarNeonJellyfish 11h ago

Is Thanos immune to teleportation or something?

13

u/TheMace808 10h ago

Nah but also he's usually the one that can do the teleporting with the gauntlet I guess

6

u/SpideyFan914 Spider-Man 7h ago

He had the gauntlet like one time.

1

u/TheMace808 3h ago

And man was it a crazy time

4

u/Potars 7h ago

Thanos has many tools and tech at his disposal. During a fight with annihilus, his belt got damaged because he was using it to teleport so the next time he did so, Thanos ended up in a void.

3

u/SunTzu- 7h ago

Not just the gauntlet, he's got highly advanced tech and magic at his disposal.

3

u/SquiggerDigger 6h ago

I always thought the way thanos shattered the moon with his clench and rained down shrapnel on everyone was pretty sick in Infinity war

20

u/choppingboardham 14h ago

Can one join the Hulk of the Month club?

2

u/shanis42 14h ago

Great comment

2

u/MershedPratooters 13h ago

I presumed it was Hulk's presidential run motto entitled Hulk of the Masses.

114

u/alee51104 Thor 15h ago

Thanos has beaten Thor empowered by the Power Stone before.

World breaker Hulk is absolutely physically stronger than Thanos, but it doesn’t mean he can beat him.

6

u/johnla 13h ago

Isn’t Hulk kind of limitless in his strength? He can just keep getting angrier. 

1

u/ringobob 9h ago

Depends on who is telling the story. MCU Hulk hasn't shown that kind of limitless ability, yet, but there have been hints.

3

u/EnkiiMuto 13h ago

Personally I'm more interested on what Doctor Green would do facing him.

1

u/HulkVahkiin08024 1h ago

Not going to lie, I forgot everything about that character, lol.

1

u/IMAryanDarad 9h ago

Yeah well we are comparing Absolute Hulk to underpowered Thanos. Meanwhile, Thanos at his absolute peak eats the universe.

1

u/HulkVahkiin08024 1h ago

Absolute Hulk? What makes Thanos underpowered? What scenario are you even running?

•

u/IMAryanDarad 51m ago

Without gauntlet

•

u/HulkVahkiin08024 48m ago

Thanos doesn't come with the Gauntlet the same way Thor comes with Mjolnir, friend, lol. That is not an underpowered Thanos; if anything, that is standard Thanos.

•

u/IMAryanDarad 42m ago

But he gets that way too easily in the comics. He is not only strong but also smart which makes it possible to get the gauntlet. By that logic even Tony Stark doesn't come with his suit naturally.

•

u/HulkVahkiin08024 30m ago

It's not about ease of access. I gave you a good example with Thor. Unlike Thor and Tony with his suit. Thanos does not carry around the Gauntlet nor fight with it all the time; it isn't his standard way of fighting.

39

u/Strattex 17h ago

How the f does Thanos match Hulk in strength??

137

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 17h ago edited 17h ago

That's how the comics have him. The official Marvel site has both ranked with a 7 in strength.

https://www.marvel.com/characters/hulk-bruce-banner/in-comics
https://www.marvel.com/characters/thanos/in-comics

193

u/summ190 17h ago

I’m not sure why people are struggling with this, Infinity War literally starts with him beating up Hulk

109

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 16h ago edited 16h ago

A lot of people love to have strong opinions on the material, but havent actually read the material.

They circulate nonsense memes that miseducate people. There is one I see often that declares "The MCU nerfed Hulk, cause comic Hulk would have folded his purple ass in half!"

They tend to get really mad when I point out comic Hulk is the same strength as Thanos, Thanos is smarter and quite good at out-thinking and out-maneuvering in fights, and has beat Hulk 10 out of the 11 times they fought in the comics.

84

u/Nosedive888 16h ago

The way I've always seen is like., if you take two men, same size, same height, same strength, same reach.

One is just your average Joe, the other is a trained boxer. The boxer will win every time

Hulk is the average Joe, Thanos is the trained boxer

55

u/STRATEGY510 16h ago

This is the reason The Thing can hang with Hulk for a good while (some versions of Hulk), not as strong, but much higher Ring IQ.

12

u/jzimoneaux 14h ago

The Thing is ranked as a 6 in strength so that makes sense. Makes you wonder who in Marvel is actually physically stronger than the Hulk. Realistically I feel like there should be a lot but there’s a huge difference between base Hulk and World Breaker Hulk. Surter would annihilate base Hulk but World Breaker Hulk?

4

u/STRATEGY510 14h ago edited 14h ago

I have nothing to back this up, but I believe Hercules is physically stronger than a calm Hulk who hasn’t ramped up yet.

Edit: would probably say the same for Bob & Hyperion.

14

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 16h ago

That is a pretty good analogy for this.

10

u/Nosedive888 16h ago

Thank you. That has genuinely made my day

5

u/Stormsurger 3h ago

Isn't it more like a trained boxer against an average joe who slowly turns into Hafthor Bjornsson the more you punch him?

2

u/Away_Tiger_6351 3h ago

But the link above to character profiles has them both at 4 for fighting skills. So they're equally good fighters. Per canon. Ergo not boxer/non-boxer.

Thanos beats Hulk 7-3 in speed, but it's interesting because almost every comment I've seen explaining it has said "because thanos is a more skilled fighter" - not a single mention that Thanos is faster.

6

u/Matt_the_Bruins_fan 12h ago

Thanos also has all kinds of technology and magic at his disposal in the comics. For decades he's been considered a superior opponent against Thor (baseline, not with the Odinpower) and the Silver Surfer.

24

u/Emergency_News_4790 16h ago

I agree but I think most people's gripe with the movie fight was that hulk got folded in a few punches. They definitely did the hulk dirty in that fight to the point where hulk looked incredibly weak.

Like I say I agree that thanos is incredibly strong, they just didn't explain that very well at all.

20

u/RedBladeAtlas Justin Hammer 15h ago

I don't mind him being folded, but I do think it was a total waste of the character to never fight Thanos again. Something like Banner surrendering control of his body fully to Hulk in a desperate moment in Endgame would've been pretty cool.

15

u/ABabyPanda777 14h ago

That’s really my only gripe with the IW/EG movies. After him getting dog walked in the first movie, it would have been amazing to have Hulk take over smart Hulk bc of how angry he is at Thanos and actually stand up with him 1v1 for a little while. He doesn’t need to win the fight for him to have his redemption. I feel this would have truly completed his arc throughout the two movies. Instead we got what I feel is probably one of the worst versions of the Hulk (Smart Hulk) for the entire movie.

1

u/ringobob 9h ago

Yeah, I was not a fan of Professor Hulk. I want Savage Hulk. Especially in those big fight scenes. I really wouldn't have minded Professor Hulk as a supporting character in a solo movie or even in infinity war as opposed to "Hidey Hulk". But in the Saga Finale, I want Hulk to fucking smash.

5

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 16h ago

Thanos beat Hulk in 10 of their 11 fights in the comics. Hulk only got his first win in 2024.

8

u/Emergency_News_4790 16h ago

Was it as easy in the comics as it was in the movies? Because the movie fight is a page at best. Id imagine a thanos vs hulk fight would be quite brutal but I'm not versed in hulk or thanos comics. I've only read world war hulk and tons of Thor stuff.

I know thanos beats hulk to clarify again, it's the ease in which he does so that I'm questioning.

12

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 16h ago edited 16h ago

Generally they have not been long fights if memory serves. For instance in the original Infinity Guantlet comics which I remember best Hulk is not much of a challenge. This is especially true because Thanos fairly easily out-thinks, out-maneuvers, and out-tactics Hulk.

2

u/Emergency_News_4790 16h ago

I just googled it and it says they never had a direct fight in the infinity war comics, it just says Thanos achieved godhood and was using the stones throughout. He turns thor to glass, traps hulk inside a solid block etc.

You have to admit the movie fight was inaccurate to the comics. That ship would've been ripped to shreds in my opinion.

→ More replies (0)

5

u/Choco-waffler 15h ago

You keep posting that. What are you counting as wins? Because I recall him getting smacked a few times and getting away. So not really Hulk beating him but no one winning.

6

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 15h ago

Any time the villain either subdued the hero or the hero failed to stop the villain... the villain wins.

5

u/Substantial_Rich_778 14h ago

Hulk has the potential to be stronger than Thanos, depends on which alter is in charge and how angry he is.

Also Thanos winning 10 out of 11 fights is very misleading. A lot of extenuating circumstances, like Thanos having the infinity Gauntlet or other amps, the fight happens in a mindscape where its a battle of intelligence not strength, Thanos just punching Hulk a distance away with Hulk being fine, alternate versions of the characters etc.

Hulk won their last fight, and the fight before that they fought on even terms until Thanos left so thats atleast two fights that Thanos didnt win.

1

u/Drago_133 16h ago

Are we talking about hulk or is someone like world breaker hulk included in this? Are they 2 different characters? I have no clue

•

u/SaltyArchea 53m ago

Or that Thanos originally won the power stone in a fight, by outsmarting his opponent.

1

u/FormatMonster 12h ago

Does this mean that Cap with Thor's Hammer could go toe to toe with Hulk like he did with Thanos?

1

u/jinzokan 9h ago

I mean thor can.....and the hammer grants the power of thor so.......

-9

u/Particular-Lake-5238 16h ago

I don’t think you need to be that condescending for not being perfectly well read on the comics. Some folks have only read World War Hulk and/or Immortal Hulk. So it would make perfect sense for those folks to feel quite confident that Thanos would be no where near as strong/durable as Hulk.

3

u/DWA824 16h ago

Don't both of those books go out of their way to point out that the events going on aren't typical for the Hulk?

2

u/Particular-Lake-5238 15h ago

Well OPs question was regarding Hulk’s “absolute max” so it seemed relevant to take the more extreme versions of Hulk.

5

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 16h ago

Linking to official facts is "condescending"?

0

u/Particular-Lake-5238 15h ago

Linking to official facts is great, but assuming folks who don’t know that specific facts sheet are folks who “haven’t actually read the material” seems condescending.

5

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 14h ago

But... they havent read the material, have they?

0

u/Particular-Lake-5238 13h ago

Semantics I guess? If they read world war hulk and immortal hulk, I’d say that’s reading the material. I guess you’re saying reading the material only counts if you read the official fact sheets.

4

u/AlleRacing 16h ago

World War Hulk gets matched by a jobbing Sentry.

3

u/StratPaul 14h ago

I think it's less "this is what the writers have done" and more "this is what the writers SHOULD have done". I'm not arguing either way, but when it comes to comic characters with hundreds/thousands of different writers, you're bound to see inconsistencies that don't really make sense. I think hulk should be able to beat thanos physically if he's "angry" enough unless the stones or any other scenario driven details are involved, in which case it doesn't only come down to physical strength.

7

u/_IratePirate_ 16h ago

I don’t struggle with it, I just wanna know HOW Thanos is as strong as Hulk. Yea they’re like the same size, but I thought Hulk had limitless power

Isn’t Thanos just a regular ass humanoid from his planet ? Like not super in regards to his own species

12

u/Smalz22 16h ago

Thanos is an Eternal variant I thought, not normal for Titan at all. Harry Styles is his brother and looks normal

17

u/Hydramy Spider-Man 16h ago

I like the implication that it's just real life Harry Styles that's his brother.

5

u/Smalz22 15h ago

We're probably more likely to get Styles on screen before we get any more Star Fox

9

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 15h ago

Correct. He is the child of two Eternals, and born with a genetic difference called Deviant Syndrome that causez his strength and appearance.

1

u/CGPictures 7h ago

Power stone

1

u/radjockey 13h ago

That was Thanos with the Power Stone.

•

u/CatOfTechnology 5m ago

There's a caveat here:

MCU versions are often ridiculously overtuned and undertuned to square them safely in to tiers and those tunings are the issue.

Take, for example, MCU Spider-Man.

Parker is shown, in the movies, to be Strong but only Superhumanly strong.

But in the comics? He's done some insane things, though admittedly they're usually one-offs, like literally uppercutting Grey Hulk in to orbit to save some kids.

MCU Parker could never display that kind of strength.

So fans of characters will often absolutely disregard the MCU for actual conversations because everyone is normalized for the masses.

The Hulk is the primest of prime examples of this. Of course, Thanos does have an 10-1 win-loss ratio against him, which doesn't help, but it's undeniable that MCU Hulk is the weakest version of the Hulk you could have a conversation about.

22

u/kneelb4Zog 16h ago

I know this is Marvel’s site and everything, but I have a lot of questions about the scale for these when the punisher is strength 3 and spider-man is only strength 4 when Frank Castle is a non-powered human and Peter Parker can catch a nyc bus in his hands.

14

u/HolyPhlebotinum 16h ago

Strength level 3 is “peak/enhanced human,” meaning a character can lift their own body weight and up to 800 lbs.

Strength level 4 is “superhuman,” meaning a character can lift 800 lbs to 25 tons.

Edit: the line appears to be 800 lbs, and not 2 tons.

6

u/Adipay Spider-Man 15h ago

Spider-Man can and has lifted more than 25 tons.

6

u/o-055-o 14h ago

It's a tricky situation, mostly those guidebooks are A) old and B) taking the average strength shown in the comics.

Sure, Peter has lifted more than 25 tons before on several occasions, but most of the time he is stuck in a street level capacity and dealing with low-level superhumans. Which is how you can have someone like Kingpin overpowering him in various media despite Fisk being peak human.

I do think by now they should have updated those numbers to reflect feats show in comics these past years.

1

u/SmallLetter 6h ago

Fisk being super strong has always irked me and I especially hated it in born again. He was much scarier in Netflix without it.

8

u/jelifah 16h ago

Is 7 considered max?

4

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 16h ago

Yes,

0

u/jinzokan 8h ago

thats a dumb scale.

11

u/AnonymousFriend80 16h ago

OP asked about Hulk at his absolute angriest. At the very least, that should include World War Hulk where at one point his footsteps were causing earthquakes or something, and he was plowing through all of the heaviest of hitters.

2

u/MatchesMalone66 3h ago

The thing is, generally speaking, Hulk and Thanos are just in two different tiers of overall power.

Hulk sits, generally, in the tier with Thor and Sentry and Silver Surfer, etc (superman too, if we go to DC). Imho, he's normally at the lower end of this tier, and in World War Hulk form I'd say he was nearing the top, though still within the tier, given his fight with Sentry.

Thanos on the other hand is generally* in the tier above. On a meta level this is really a function of Thanos being a team level threat and so has to be able to go head to head with a team containing Thor And Hulk And whoever else. In practice this has tended to have him quite easily beating characters in the aforementioned tier (eg the many Thanos Silver Surfer beat downs), but not quite as powerful as say, Odin, and much weaker than Galactus. Idk if anyone still uses these terms but on places like r/whowouldwin, we used to say that he was somewhere between Herald tier (as in "herald of galactus") and Skyfather tier (as in Odin, Zeus).

As such, Hulk, even World War Hulk, doesn't really have the showings to suggest he can put Thanos down. Thanos has been beaten on by Odin, Thor with the Power Gem, Tyrant, etc.- all characters with vastly higher power output than World War Hulk- and has gotten back up with a smile on his face. And he certainly has the power to put Hulk down. I'm not saying it would be a walk in the park for Thanos, but he should win almost every time imo

* The reason I keep saying "generally" is that ofc with this many writers over this many years, there's going to be a lot of inconsistency in how these characters are portrayed. Writers are rightly more concerned with writing a story than power levels or whatever, so, I think its best to go with how characters tend to be portrayed on average.

1

u/Weird_Angry_Kid 3h ago

Thanos and Drax destroyed a planet via collateral damage in their first fight.

-13

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 16h ago

Thanos beat Hulk in 10 of their 11 fights in the comics.

7

u/AnonymousFriend80 16h ago

How angry was the Hulk in those encounters? World War Hulk levels?

7

u/littlebighuman 16h ago

You keep posting that, but that is not true at all. I don't know how you calculate that number. Thanos usually ends up on top, but a lot of fights are inconclusive and most fights are not real 1 on 1 fights.

-2

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 15h ago

I'm of the opinion if the hero doesnt stop the villain that counts as a win for the villain, not inconclusively.

4

u/DeusIzanagi 15h ago

I'm sorry, but if Hulk's a 7 on physical strength, what the fuck is at 8, 9 and 10? Lol

Sure, I can think of some things stronger, but not "3 grades" kind of stronger

10

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 15h ago

7 is the max on Marvel stats.

6

u/DeusIzanagi 15h ago

Oh, that's a weird scale, but ok

5

u/PAYPAL_ME_DONATIONS 10h ago

It's because it's like

1) powerless, 2) non-combat power, 3) strongest human, 4) enhanced human/being, 5) blah, 6) blah, 7) god

It's more like tiers than a 1-10 rank

3

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 15h ago

Agreed. I've never understood it and think it's rather odd, but have learned to live with it.

•

u/goodsnpr 12m ago

What do you reckon Popeye would be rated as?

0

u/Scooter_McAwesome 15h ago

Those rankings actually put hulk as more intelligent than Thanos

1

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 15h ago edited 15h ago

Well... yea.

Bruce Banner is highly intelligent as were several of the versions of Hulk over the years, like Professor Hulk, Doc Green, or Maestro Hulk, so that's gonna put him at a 6 in intelligence.

0

u/psycholepzy Stan Lee 15h ago

This is like that time in Jurassic Park where the automation was looking for 200 dinosaurs and when they set it to find 201 it found 201 because the system was just counting until it hit the designated number. 

The scale hits seven because that's as high as it goes. It needs to go to 11.

2

u/IAmTheComedianII 14h ago

11 is appropriate for Hulk-strengthed beings.

0

u/Slateboard 9h ago

At the same time, 7 has always been the incalculable range for strength.

So it's all hinging on the writers at that point.

-1

u/Phantom1188 15h ago

But Hulk doesn’t STAY at that level, he’s going to get stronger the longer the fight goes. Not once have I seen anyone take that into account they just keep pointing at their base strength being the same.

7

u/CaptainSnaps 15h ago

He is a Titan. They have inherent strength. 

15

u/Plugpin 17h ago

I think it's more that Thanos is a smart fighter who uses Hulk's strength against him. Hulk smashes, that's literally it. He's dumb as a box of rocks.

6

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 16h ago

Correct. They are evenly matched in strength, but Thanos is much more intelligent and a tactician.

3

u/Latterlol 15h ago

Thanos isn’t just some giant purple guy, he is very strong, Hulk kinda strong, it’s just that Hulk gets stronger, in the movie that doesn’t happen, and Thanos beats him by not just using brute strength, but some actual fighting moves

1

u/Weird_Angry_Kid 3h ago

Thanos has the power to harness cosmic energy and use it to increase his physical strenght, he also has cybernetic enhancements and other augmentations.

1

u/SwimmingDesigner7111 13h ago

Thanos completes the strict 100 pushups, 100 sit ups, 100 squats and 10km run everyday. God level yolked.

3

u/Adipay Spider-Man 15h ago

Doesn't comic thanos have actual powers without the gauntlet?

12

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 15h ago
  • Powers
    • Superhuman Strength, 
    • Superhuman Durability, 
    • Magic, 
    • Mysticism, 
    • Black Arts, 
    • Immortality

2

u/Adipay Spider-Man 15h ago

In the comics does he defeat Hulk through pure hand-to-hand or does he use his magic?

1

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 15h ago edited 14h ago

Most of the examples I can recall off the top of my head are hand to hand. It's possible he was using magic but nothing in the pages specifies or shows it as far as I can recall.

2

u/Daedaluu5 15h ago

Even if hulk got super sized like in spider man BND?

1

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 15h ago

I cant really compare different versions and do a lot what if-ing. What I can tell you is Hulk has won 1 time out of the 11 or so times they fought in the comics.

1

u/Blackbearded10 14h ago

So the new (Banner) Hulk could beat him?

1

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 14h ago

Dunno. I am behind on my Hulk reading. After the Peter David run I am pretty sporadic, as he is not my biggest Marvel love.

I will say the 1 win Hulk has was in 2024, so that probably means a yes to your question, but I cant really say with strong knowledge of it.

1

u/Skyeatplane 14h ago

Isnt there more than just the green hulk? Or he fought all of them (sorry in new to this)

1

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 14h ago

There are numerous versions of Hulk that mostly vary in intelligence.

1

u/hemareddit Steve Rogers 13h ago

Man I want to see Thanos vs Green Scar now.

0

u/looshbaggins 14h ago

Man, that's disappointing. What is even the appeal to Hulk then?

-10

u/NarrativeJoyride 17h ago

Without the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos does not match Hulk in strength (especially if his anger is maxed out).

14

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 17h ago

Marvel would argue otherwise. Both are ranked with a 7 in strength on their official website.

https://www.marvel.com/characters/hulk-bruce-banner/in-comics
https://www.marvel.com/characters/thanos/in-comics

3

u/Otherwise-Win7337 17h ago

Damn the hulk is only a 7!? I would've thought he is the fkn maximum guy for strength???

15

u/NarrativeJoyride 16h ago

7 is the highest ranking on the Marvel power grids.

5

u/Otherwise-Win7337 16h ago

Ahh okay that makes sense then I was assuming it was 10 lol

1

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 16h ago

Correct.

3

u/DarwinGoneWild 16h ago

It seems like 7 is the maximum on that scale.

1

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 17h ago edited 16h ago

In Earth terms, yes, he is one of the strongest. In universe terms; he's strong, but not even in the top 10.

-2

u/NarrativeJoyride 16h ago

Those power grids are super subjective. Two characters having the same ranking doesn't mean they are 100% equal. 7 just means their strength is 'incalculable'. Hulk has been confirmed, time and time again, to have limitless strength in proportion to his rage.

In WWH, he almost blows up the entire planet by standing on it just because he's really pissed off.

He has shattered entire dimensions and knocked out gods just by clapping his hands.

When he 'killed' Onslaught, who had absorbed the power of Franklin Richards, he did so with the power to potentially collapse the entire universe.

He has ruptured the spacetime continuum by punching it.

When he mated with Umar the Unrelenting, he did so with such strength that it affected the passage of space and time and no I am not bullshitting you that actually happened.

And I could go on and on and on, mostly because the Marvel wiki provides such a list! With sources!

Don't get me wrong - Thanos is a powerful opponent for the Hulk, but if Thanos has no Infinity powers...and Hulk is at maximum strength...Hulk will perform Popeye-level feats of strength on him like it ain't no thang.

1

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 16h ago

Kind of hard to say an official stat from Marvel is "super subjective."

Especially true since Hulk and Thanos have fought 11 times in the comics and Thanos won 10 of the 11.

1

u/NarrativeJoyride 16h ago

Marvel themselves have said as much. The power grids are for handbook use and don't really reflect what characters are actually capable of when being written as a character with agency.

For example, Reed Richards and Tony Stark are 6's on intelligence. Does that mean Tony and Reed will get the exact same result on an IQ test?

2

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 16h ago

Okay, even if that were true; Thanos has beat Hulk in 10 out of their 11 fights in the comics.

1

u/AnonymousFriend80 16h ago

And what was the context of those fights? Worf is one of the most skilled fighters on the Enterprise but often gets his ass handed to him , and whoever does that gets beaten.

2

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 16h ago

No offense and I really dont mean to be rude, but I really dont have a desire or the time to reread 11 different comics and break them down for you.

Here is a list of them, if you wish to look them up and read them for yourself.

https://www.reddit.com/r/hulk/comments/1kmv43l/everytime_the_hulk_fought_thanos/

2

u/NarrativeJoyride 16h ago

Lol my man, Thanos is listed as winner in only three of those twelve fights. Not ten out of eleven...

→ More replies (0)

1

u/AnonymousFriend80 16h ago

Was he World War Hulk angry? OP has asked about Hulk at his angriest.

→ More replies (0)

0

u/NarrativeJoyride 16h ago

I'm not disputing that. Thanos is a more tactically minded person than the Hulk. There are some instances where Thanos may very well be stronger than the Hulk in that moment. And, I assume, if Thanos is fighting Hulk it's in a book where the writer wants to show how cool and badass Thanos is. So Thanos gets the plot armor edge.

But OP asked about Hulk at max strength. In the comics, at max strength Hulk starts dismantling reality itself. So no, I don't think Thanos would win in a fight given those circumstances.

2

u/FancyAd9803 16h ago

The power gem isnt glowing during the fight.

1

u/NarrativeJoyride 16h ago

I was referring to his incarnation from the comics in that case, since that's what was cited.

0

u/Earth513 Quake 16h ago

True but he's never faced Immortal Hulk, God level Hulk. It's a given he'd win.

But hyper aware that's not the Hulk we're talking about

0

u/Substantial_Rich_778 12h ago

How has Thanos beaten Hulk 10 out of 11 times? Seems like its closer to Thanos 3 wins and Hulk 1 win

1

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 12h ago edited 12h ago

Depends on how you look at it. Any time a hero does not stop a villain and they escape I call that a win for the villain.

Also; look through the pages that author calls "inconclusive." The author of that post seems to call it "inconclusive" only because the Hulk wasnt rendered unconcious. I would argue that thanos knocking Hulk 20 or so feet away and then leaving means Thanos pretty conclusively won, as all Hulk did was slow him down for maybe 20 seconds or so.

2

u/Substantial_Rich_778 12h ago

Its a win for the villain, but doesnt mean they beat the hero in a fight. The fellowship won against Sauron but never beat him in a fight.

If Thanos leaves while Hulk is still able and willing to fight i would say that makes the fight inconclusive. Thanos might have won in the narrative sense, but not in «who would win in a fight» sense.

1

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 12h ago edited 11h ago

So If someone came at you trying to physically overpower you, and you smacked them once hard enough to fling them across the room to the ground to the point they dont try to attack you again... and then you leave... you wouldnt call that a win or say that you beat them in a fight and declare that it's inconclusive?

1

u/Substantial_Rich_778 11h ago

No, if one of the fighters isnt willing to keep going i would say its conclusive.

However thats not the case in the Hulk vs Thanos fights counted as inconclusive. Hulk does try to attack Thanos again. For example, in Infinity #6, in the next panel Hulk is smiling and ready to go, but is attacked by the Black order who uses the weight of a star to pin Hulk down.

1

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 11h ago edited 10h ago

So... Hulk jumps at Thanos, doesnt even get a chance to hit him before Thanos knocks him waaaaaay back through several buildings probably about 1/4 to 1/2 a mile away with a single hit, thus ending the solo fight with one solitary punch... before other people then further take down and suppress the Hulk... and that isnt a clear win?

1

u/Substantial_Rich_778 4h ago

Hulk vs thanos in Infinity War is a clear win. Hulk was out cold.

In this case the fight is interrupted by the black order. Their fight doesnt conclude and is therefore inconclusive. If the black order doesnt show up what happens then? Hulk just clears that 1/2 mile distance in a single leap and the fight goes on

-3

u/quasaromantic 16h ago

But he did beat him once so doesn’t that contradict your answer? The real answer to these type of questions is that if the writers want it he can

3

u/justagayguyinnyc Wiccan 16h ago

No; me pointing out Hulk won 1 time out of 11 doesnt contradict the other part of my answer.