superman vs hulk
DESCRIPTION
One of the most anticipated superhero battles consists of superman vs the Incredible Hulk. This details the range of superpowers wielded by each hero and how the battle would probably turn out.TRANSCRIPT
SUPERMAN VS. INCREDIBLE HULK SUPERHERO BATTLE
Kal takes on the Big Green Machine
On comic book message boards all across the vastness of cyberspace, you can find one of the
favorite pastimes of true comic fans: superhero battles.
Using the official – and semi-official when it suits them – range of powers available to their favorite
characters, Marvel and DC fanatics alike engage in hypothetical battles between the most powerful
or most intriguing heroes from the respective universes.
The most common battles hinge on power levels, and how they’re measured in the different
universes. We saw what transpired in the greatest battle in all of comic-dom with Superman vs
Doomsday, which gave us an idea of same-universe battles between beings with end-of-the-
spectrum power. For example, is Superman stronger than Thor? How about the Man of Steel vs. the
gamma-irradiated green machine known as the Incredible Hulk? Well let’s find out about the latter.
Superman vs the Incredible Hulk
You wouldn't like me angry...
When nuclear physicist Dr. Bruce Banner turns into the Incredible Hulk, it is widely acknowledged
that there isn’t a stronger humanoid creature in the Marvel universe – although there might be some
competition for that moniker from an Infinity Gem-enabled Drax the Destroyer.
But Hulk, nonetheless, is the antihero most singularly presented as unstoppable. Not only is his
baseline strength immense enough to prove insurmountably troublesome for Thor the God of
Thunder, but the Hulk actually gets significantly stronger as he gets angrier.
This was made no more apparent than in the World War Hulk storyline, when Hulk reached untold
anger levels.
Some of his legendary feats have included being able to pick up Thor’s mystic hammer Mjolnir –
which has an Odinforce enchantment that forbids anyone but Thor or the “worthy” from picking it up.
The Hulk’s strength has reached such levels that it was able to break the powerful magic that bound
the hammer.
In his bout with the apocalyptic Onslaught, the Phoenix Force pushed the Hulk to the highest levels
of anger by separating his human side from the gamma, which enabled him to cause a rupture in the
mind-beast's otherwise impenetrable armor.
In another storyline, the Incredible Hulk held a billion-ton mountain aloft to keep it from falling on the
Avengers and innocents.
Comparably, he also held together the both sides of a drifting continent in order to save the
inhabitants. With feats such as these, a Hulk Superman encounter would be terrifying, indeed. Who's physically stronger?
55% Hulk
45% Superman
679 people have voted in this poll.
Hulk's Rage vs Superman's Power
If you know anything about the Incredible Hulk, it's that his already monstrous baseline strength
increases as he gets angrier. Therefore, in a Hulk vs Superman bout, the stakes become greater as
the battle wears on against the tireless ultra-monster.
Fans of Hulk maintain that he will become angry enough to surpass Superman in strength if the
battle wages on for too long. It's a very good point, and it forces Kal to strategize instead of choosing
simply to pummel his opponent into submission. But does Superman have a natural answer for
Hulk's increasing rage and strength?
Yes, he does. Superman has almost boundless super-speed and is far faster than the very quick
Hulk. In an effort to always be mindful of the lives of innocents around, Clark constantly holds his
true power in check - he's also worried about destroying the Earth!
We can look to Supes first trying to get the battle to a remote island or region, the same way he did
against the Kryptonian super-soldier Doomsday, when he picked him up and slammed him far into a
distant mountain range at several hundred miles per hour.
So perhaps it is Hulk that should be worried about ending the fight before Superman decides to take
it elsewhere, to a place where the Man of Steel can feel comfortable unleashing his true power.
Regardless, Superman can always add to his baseline strength by using his super-speed to
drastically increase his power. Against most enemies, he throws punches at a normal pace; but,
against a raging Hulk, he can ratchet up his power for each level Hulk reaches, given that
Superman's capable of near-light velocities. It can be argued that no matter how angry Hulk gets,
Superman always has an answer in the power department. Even though he must remain conscious
of the setting sun, his reserves are truly vast and twilight by no means signals the end of the bout.
Superman Hulk Comparison
Is Superman's Power Enough to Counteract Hulk's Rage?
34% No
54% Yes
12% We'll just have to see, won't we!?
109 people have voted in this poll.
The Hulk's healing factor and incredible durability
In addition to his world-bending strength, the Hulk has astounding physical attributes like a healing
factor and unbelievable stamina.
In fact, he has more than a healing factor: he can regenerate limbs and complex body parts like eyes
and organs. The only other beings in the Marvel universe who rival this ability to recover (from what
would be devastating injuries to other heroes) are Deadpool and Wolverine.
Because you get tired as a result of lactic acid poisons building up in your body after vigorous
exertion, the Hulk is immune to fatigue, which makes a Superman versus Hulk battle much more
intriguing than merely one mega-strong creature against another.
It might take a long time, but without the sun, the Man of Steel can actually tire. The question is
whether or not he'd be able to end the battle before that happens, given his otherworldly offensive -
and defensive, in fact - weapons. Truly, this bout between super-powered titans is one of the handful
of superhero battles to top all battles.
Effectively, the Hulk's incredible healing factor makes his endurance virtually incalculable – he may
be able to exert himself at full capacity for weeks on end. The only way to realistically get him tired
would be to pit him against another immensely powerful being, such that the Hulk has to exert
himself at terrific levels just to engage the being; this wouldn’t give his healing factor enough time to
dump the toxins and he would slowly wear down over time. In a Hulk versus Superman bout, would
Kal-El's nuclear holocaust heat vision be just the thing that's needed? It would be one heckuva fight.
If Earth was under attack, who would you want on your side?
35% The Incredible Hulk
65% Superman
460 people have voted in this poll.
How long can he keep this up....
In addition to his world-bending strength, the Hulk has astounding physical attributes like a healing
factor and unbelievable stamina. In fact, he has more than a healing factor: he can regenerate limbs
and complex body parts like eyes and organs.
The only other beings in the Marvel universe who rival this ability to recover (from what would be
devastating injuries to other heroes) are Deadpool and Wolverine.
Because normal humans get tired as a result of lactic acid poisons building up in your body after
vigorous exertion, the Hulk is immune to getting tired. Effectively, his incredible healing factor makes
his endurance virtually incalculable – he may be able to exert himself at full capacity for weeks on
end; except there aren’t too many beings that could sustain the kind of damage he could render for
that long.
The only way to realistically get him tired would be to pit him against another immensely powerful
being, such that Hulk has to exert himself at terrific levels just to engage the being; this wouldn’t give
his healing factor enough time to dump the toxins and he would slowly wear down over time. In a
superhero battle with an excessively quick opponent like Superman, the damage may mount faster
than Hulk could heal.
The Hulk shoots energy beams?
People don’t usually think of the Hulk as having any projectile abilities; however, he does have a
thunderclap move that is more devastating than even the energy beams of some lesser characters.
Using his immense strength, the Hulk can clap his hands in front of him and thereby ravage the air in
front of an opponent, resulting in a concussive blast of significant force. He can also slam the ground
in front of him to cause a forward-driving fissure and earthquake.
Despite his bulk, he is very fast – though he doesn’t move at a velocity one would consider to be
superspeed. This poses a bit of a problem in a Hulk Superman encounter; to a charged and
motivated Man of Tomorrow, the Incredible Hulk would appear to be moving in molasses.
In fact, the Hulk may be able to take almost everything superman could throw at him (for awhile at
least), but this lack of speed may very well make it an extremely one-sided bout. Supes is
very, very fast. And with his great strength, amplified by his speed to even greater power (a weak
punch at high speed generates a lot of power; how about a very strong punch at high speed?!), Hulk
had better be in top form and angry as hell.
Do you think Hulk hits harder than Doomsday?
19% No. Regardless of how angry Hulk is.
39% Yes. Hulk Smash!
11% About the same.
31% Depends on Hulk's mental state.
281 people have voted in this poll.
Superman - too powerful even for the Hulk?
How about Superman? DC’s representative superhero has strength levels that take a backseat to
few characters – and none that are humanoid. To find beings as strong – or stronger – than
Superman Man of Steel, you have to go up the chain of command to celestial entities.
His quickness is surpassed only by the Flash – and just barely. He has all manner of distance
attacks, from his lethal heat vision, to his freeze-breath and gale-force winds.
Presumably, he is strong enough by far to execute a thunderclap using his hands, or create a
directional earthquake by striking the ground with his hands. Of course, with his vaunted heat vision,
he already has a distance attack extraordinaire - it's capable of razing a battlefield full of
metahumans, or reducing a forest to a blazing inferno too hot to approach.
He can fly with the best of them, and circle the earth in minutes without unduly taxing his vast
reserves of energy. He heals fast with the aid of the sun, but far more significant than the moderate
healing factor the Man of Steel possesses, is his outright invulnerability.
Superman takes direct hits from nuclear strikes and only misses a beat for his troubles. Against the
Incredible Hulk, he simply has too many weapons to be beaten – although it might take him a whole
day to put down the green machine because of the latter’s regenerative abilities.
More importantly, the battle doesn’t even have to happen unless Clark wants it to – given that
Banner can only jump very high and far, compared to Kal-El’s powers of interstellar and atmospheric
flight.
The Incredible Hulk's best chance against the Man of Steel might be to try and fight him at night, so
he can at least rob Superman of his solar energy-inspired regenerative healing abilities. It would still
be tricky, because Kal can still fly and up over the horizon at night to meet the sun and perform the
Kryptonian version of a "systems reboot."
Hulk would have to cause so much damage that the mountain-mover becomes too wasted to fly -
and that would be a mighty feat, indeed - as well as a first. There's little doubt that Hulk would make
one heckuva impression on Superman - the green machine is mega-strong, very durable, and
regenerates even better than the Wolverine.
The biggest problem for Superman when fighting the Incredible Hulk is the latter's regenerative
abilities and seemingly limitless powers of exertion.
As long as the sun shines, Kal can probably match or surpass one or both of these, but the fall of
darkness should represent a tolling bell - Hulk can keep this up all night whereas Superman relies on
solar energy.
Thus, the Man of Steel has something slightly north of 14 hours to put down Mr. Gamma Ray if they
start the fight at dawn. Otherwise, he might want to consider flying away...
The problems for the Hulk may be insurmountable when facing the Kryptonian. I've always felt that
no opponent, no matter how strong or durable (within "reason"; if such a thing can be applied to
fiction) can stand against a motivated and unleashed Superman without possessing superspeed or
ultra-fast reflexes. Hulk, to put it mildly, is too slow for Clark in a battle that takes into account all
their powers.
This is a huge problem for someone with so much strength; and even if we take their respective
strengths to be equal or close, the power added by superspeed puts Kal-El clearly over the top. The
heat vision is another problem, because it represents an extremely powerful distance attack -
although I doubt it could put Hulk down, it'll give him something to think about.
Every physicist knows that if you really want to break something - even resilient material like fire-
proof glass, etc., you apply heat and then quickly douse it with cold. Perhaps heat vision followed by
an ice-storm would start to tax the Incredible Hulk's healing factor, enough for superspeed and
superstrength to start wearing Hulk down faster than he could recover. Something to think about....
Verdict: the Incredible Hulk can probably hit Superman harder than anyone not named Doomsday
ever has…but Superman can probably take the punch.
Superman might want to avoid THIS Hulk!
World Breaker Hulk - wow!!
World War Hulk Definitely Wants to Avoid Superman Prime!
Superman Prime Again
Superman lived in the sun for a million years after Lois died. And emerged a god.
Who do you think wins a fight between Superman and Hulk?
16% Hulk
53% Superman
31% World War Hulk (most enraged version ever)
441 people have voted in this poll.
Hulk versus Superman - Hulk's Anger
This is the pivotal ability of the green gamma monster. Because Hulk's strength is tied to his
emotional state, it is often regarded as incalculable - the angrier he gets, the greater his strength.
Fans of the Hulk Superman fight scenario often tout this as the one major advantage he has against
the Kryptonian: Superman's strength, while it is extremely high, is presumably maxed out in the
presence of the sun (although in fact, that isn't quite true; the closer he gets to the sun, the stronger
he becomes).
Additionally, it is a well-known fact in the realm of fiction that superman always holds back when
fighting supervillains - especially when inside a planetary atmosphere. Unchecked, the sheer power
he commands is apparently enough to ravage a planet. For an earth-bound battle, though, you can
assume Clark's lofty strength is capped.
Thus, would Supes be able to end Hulk's existence - and yes, Superman does kill, so that argument
goes out the window - before the Hulk got angry enough to perhaps challenge his limits? Although
intriguing, there's a philosophical/biological problem with this logic: just how angry can something
become?
After all, you don't assume other emotions, such as happiness and sadness, are limitless; why
assume that anger is an unlimited attribute? Although it's difficult to place a quantitative limit on
anger, we can probably feel comfortable placing a qualitative limit on it: once something is enraged,
there are no levels above rage - it's all the same.
At worst, perhaps you can become so angry that you become a mindless mess incapable of
thinking, strategizing, or even remembering who your enemy is - or what he did to anger you. Rage
isn't the kind of attribute that can be fittingly argued to be limitless, just like happiness or disinterest
can't (I think).
After all, how angry/full of rage would you get if someone killed a loved one? Took away your child,
sibling, parent or best friend? All of them? Is it even feasible to be more full of rage than if any or all
of these happened? That's what happened to the Incredible Hulk in the World War Hulk storyline.
The maddest Hulk ever would either be the incredibly powerful World War Hulk, or the Hulk that the
Phoenix stripped of all humanity so that he could become the unadulterated rage-force that
shredded Onslaught's armor. One of these awesome incarnations of Hulk is probably the one that
should be judged in a bout with Big Blue. If these two titans meet, we may not know the winner, but
we definitely know the losers - all the denizens of Earth. This Hulk is the one that would draw out the
best from Superman; together, their fatal dance would rend the planet asunder.
Please excuse the spelling mistake in the poll below; it should be "Do you agree with the above
paragraph about the limits of Hulk's rage?"
*Any changes I make to the question will result in all votes to date being discounted, and I don't want
to do that to the people who took the time to vote.
Hulk's Rage
Doe you agree with the above paragraph about the limits of Hulk's rage?
39% Yes
17% No
26% Good point - but not necessarily true.
5% You're wayyy off-target!
13% Dude, relax - it's just comic book stuff!
223 people have voted in this poll.
A Superman Hulk Graphic Novel?
Perhaps someday a few great comics and graphic novel writers can get together and give the
people what they want! a full-fledged, no-hold-barred Superman versus Hulk meeting and battle on
the same scale as the epic and pivotal Death of Superman from the early 1990s.
Take into account all of their powers; not just to the letter, but as demonstrated against mighty
opponents. Have Marc Silvestri, Dale Keown, Jim Lee, Chris Bachalo or some other premier artists
provide the artwork - and find a damn good writer. It almost doesn't matter who wins this bout -
wouldn't you just like to see it play out!? Would you buy an epic graphic novel featuring Hulk vs. Superman?
76% Yes!!
19% Maybe. Depends on the writers
5% No
253 people have voted in this poll.
Source: Art by Marc Silvestri Copyright
Superman vs Hulk - Superhero Weaknesses
Among the many things Superman and Hulk have in common, is the fact that their power levels are
so high that writers felt the need to give them a distinct weakness or two, just so that super-villains
have a fighting chance at doing them in - or at least escaping an immediate beat-down.
Even among the ranks of superheroes, Superman and Hulk are considered superior and their arrival
on the scene of battle usually signals the beginning of the end of any fight. For these mountain-
movers, physical damage has to be catastrophic (against other superheroes) to even cause them to
flinch, so we resort to analyzing the others ways they might take each other down.
Superman and Kryptonite and Magic
This radioactive green rock from the defunct planet Krypton - Superman's place of birth - is the ace-
in-the-hole if you want any real chance at beating Superman. If Hulk can procure some, then this
makes him an unbelievably deadly foe for Superman; most people who get some still get their hats
handed to them by the Man of Steel, because his power is so great he often manages to get away
from the power-sapping crystal and return fire.
But Hulk is in a class of strength and power far above Metallo, Lex Luthor or any of the small number
of powered villains who've tried using Kryptonite to slow Superman down. If Hulk is able to weaken
Kal, he may just beat him to death as that vaunted invulnerability wanes just enough to allow it. Of
course, the effects of Kryptonite - though fast - are still gradual, and perhaps Supes can fly away or
use super-speed to evade any supersonic throws by Mr. Hulksmash.
Artwork by Jim Lee and altered by unknown - feel free to claim your work!
Captain Marvel's magic thunder and lightning comes from the Sky-god Zeus
As for magic, this isn't a viable option for Hulk. Besides, too much has been made of Superman's
supposed weakness to magic; it would be more accurate to say he has a 'relative' weakness to
magic.
One of the most powerful magic users in the DC universe has lost to Kal-El on multiple occasions:
Captain Marvel. His Shazam! lightning is arguably as powerful - more, probably - than the magic
lightning from Thor's Mjolnir, and yet it has failed to put Superman down on multiple occasions even
after striking him many times. Captain Marvel's lightning comes from Zeus, himself; who, as a Sky
Father, is loads more powerful than even the mighty Thor. By the way, there's a Superman vs Thor
hub coming soon!
Nonetheless, make no mistake; Shazam! lightning certainly hurts Superman, no doubt! Regular
lightning wouldn't even register to the Man of Steel, which is where the magic aspect helps - it allows
things that would otherwise not hurt him at all to at least cause him to think about them. So it would
appear that even against magic, Clark is extremely durable - just look what Shazam! does to other
superheroes - it totals them. Magic is by no means a kill-shot against Superman - not even close. It
just evens the playing field a bit.
Hulk and Sonics, Gases and Tranquilizers
The Hulk is immune to most poisons and attempts to subvert his central nervous system; however,
one of the most common ways he is temporarily defeated is by using adamantium-tipped darts to
penetrate his skin and put him to sleep.
This is unfortunate for a creature that is otherwise so powerful, because it would seem that
superman could (relatively) easily come by something like this, if they resorted to using props in the
fight (nobody wants to see that though!). Hulk has also been shown to have a weakness to sonics,
which is even more convenient for Superman to use - the Man of Steel can easily simulate sonics
with his vocals far more powerful than any machine used in the past to hurt Hulk.
As for gases, well, Superman can hold a river's worth of any gas in his lungs by superhuman
compression. Whatever was used n the past to make Hulk fall asleep or revert to Dr. Banner,
superman better not get his hands on that.
Superman vs Hulk
Who's Weaknesses Are More Serious?
20% Forget props - they should just fight 'naturally!'
42% Superman's
30% Hulk's
8% Too close to call
64 people have voted in this poll.
Art by Michael Turner
Superman vs. Mighty Thor Possibly Coming Up...
Would you like to see a Superman vs Mighty Thor superhero battle?
82% Yes!
8% No!
10% Indifferent - *Shrugs*
62 people have voted in this poll.