Summary
There are few superheroes as strong as theIncredible Hulk, let alone stronger. Bruce Banner’s green gamma-based alter-ego has no limit to his strength. He’s already capable of holding up entire mountains and theoretically could out-muscle anything with pure heft as he gets stronger with each strain and burst of rage.
Still, while the Hulk has the brawn, his brain is lacking. There have been other heroes who have gotten ahead of him just with their smarts and careful planning. Obviously, big hitters like Sentry, Galactus, and even Superman have been able to withstand the emerald giant’s assault. But these are the more surprising heroes to handThe Hulkan L.
Updated Jun 05, 2025 by David Heath:Captain America: Brave New World is finally about to make its cinematic debut, pitting Sam Wilson up against two Hulk villains in The Leader and General ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross, aka the Red Hulk. There are some actual Captain America villains in the Serpent Society too, but seeing Harrison Ford turn into a giant red version of himself kind of sticks out. The big question once the film is done and dusted is when will the Leader and Red Hulk meet their green nemesis, and how will they fare against him?
After all, while the Hulk is as incredible as he appears, he isn’t invincible. There have been plenty of times when heroes below his league have managed to get one-up on him, including the Leader and a non-irradiated version of Thunderbolt Ross. Whether it was through cunning trickery, superpowered tech, or a lot of good luck, these characters managed tobeat the Incredible Hulk.
1Zeus
Incredible Hulks #622
The Hulk has regularly tussled with the divine, winning and losing in bouts against the Mighty Thor and Hercules. Though he rarely gets to go toe-to-toe with their dads, and his encounter withZeusinIncredible Hulks #622reveals why. The comic line was a bit of a family reunion as the Hulk, his cousin She-Hulk, his estranged wife Red She-Hulk (aka Betty Ross), his kids Skaar and Lyra (aka She-Hulk #2), and his best friend-turned-monster A-Bomb (Rick Jones) joined forces with Korg, a Kronan (rock alien), go on adventures together.
Following the Chaos War, the Hulk goes to Mount Olympus to ask for some divine healing to help his friends. Zeus answers back by striking him with a lightning bolt. He gets up and presses his point, accusing Zeus of being a coward and that he owes him for stopping the Chaos King. But he also once tries to overthrow the Olympians by aiding the Titans, so Zeus counter-offers by beating him half to death, impaling him on a rock, and then sentencing him to be chained up and eaten alive by birds Prometheus-style. That’s a pretty definitive way of saying “no.”
2The Maestro
The Hulk: Future Imperfect #2
Pitting heroes against evil versions of themselves is a classic formula, whether they’re spiritual evil counterparts (e.g. Venom is a big, freaky version of Spider-Man) or literally the hero gone bad, likethe Maestro. He’s the Hulk if he had Bruce Banner’s intelligence, and survived a nuclear war only to be captured and experimented on by AIM. Following that, he decided to rebuild the world in his image. He destroys AIM and forces Doctor Doom to retreat, leaving Rick Jones and his rebels to grab his time machine in the process.
Using it, they bring in the Smart Hulk from the past to take the Maestro down. But while the Maestro is older, he’s also smarter and overpowers his younger self by snapping his neck. It doesn’t kill him but incapacitates him long enough for Maestro to try and win him over to his side. Instead, Smart Hulk lures him into the rebel base and knocks him into the time machine, which sends him right to the moment the gamma bomb strikes and turns Bruce Banner into the Hulk. So, Evil Hulk beat Smart Hulk, but Smart Hulk killed Evil Hulk via poetic justice.
3Namor
Incredible Hulk #118
Unlike his DC counterpart, Aquaman,Namorhas never been treated as a joke by comic fans. The Sub-Mariner has been a tough customer on both land and sea. He just happens to be at his strongest when he’s in the ocean. So, Namor probably should’ve been glad his partner, Lady Dorna, took an unconscious Bruce Banner down to Atlantis for treatment inIncredible Hulk #118.
Things might’ve been fine if he remained as Banner. But when Namor argues with Dorna over Banner, the stress causes him to Hulk out and fight Namor. The big guy thought Namor was attacking a woman. Sweet as the sentiment is, the collateral damage from their fight knocked Dorna out. Not wanting anyone else to be harmed, Namor swirled Hulk through tidal waves and currents until he passed out. Once he started reverting to Banner, he left him behind on the shore.
4Wolverine
What If #31 And Old Man Logan
Arguably Marvel’s second most popular hero after Spider-Man,Wolverineactually made his debut in 1974’sThe Incredible Hulk #181. He interfered in a fight between him and the Wendigo, which saw him and Hulk beat the monster before getting knocked out and captured. Eight years later,What If #31imagined what would have happened if Wolverine managed to kill the Hulk. There was surprisingly little backlash against him for this outside karma from tangling with the other X-Men.
Their nastiest bout was inOld Man Logan,where an evil Bruce Banner took over part of California with his kids, the Hulk Gang. In revenge for killing his family, Wolverine killed most of the gang. Banner Hulked out and ate Wolverine alive, only for Wolverine to reform inside his stomach and cut his way out. The Hulk would survive as a head on a metal body, only for the last surviving Hulk Gang member to decapitate him to save Wolverine. The living head would then be buried deep underground to keep him from coming back.
5Iron Man
Iron Man #132
Avengers: Age of Ultronis one of the weakerAvengersmovies, but it did bring viewers a tussle between the Hulk andIron Manin his Hulkbuster Armor. It first appeared inIron Man #304as extra modules Tony Stark added to his regular suit to prepare for the Hulk’s likely appearance around Stane International’s hidden gamma bombs. But Tony Stark inventing super tech to take down the Hulk isn’t too surprising. Doing it in his regular gear? That’s much more special.
Iron Man #132sees Stark and co try to treat Bruce Banner’s “condition,” only for things to go wrong. Stark suits up as Iron Man, Hulk breaks out, and they battle it out in a field. While the Hulk is stunned, Iron Man disables the safety protocols on his armor to reroute all its power into his arm for one big punch. The result leaves Stark injured and stuck in his suit, but it is enough to knock the Hulk out cold.
6Hank Pym
The original Ant-Man,Hank Pym, was also one of the original Avengers, alongside the Wasp, Thor, Iron Man, and the Hulk. In canon, the Hulk left the team shortly after they formed, then helped Namor fight them off. In the end, it took all their teamwork to defeat the two, with Pym stopping Namor as Giant Man and Hulk tiring himself back into Banner by trying to lift Thor’s hammer. But inWhat If the Avengers Had Never Been, they all broke up.
Pym, Janet Van Dyne, and Rick Jones gave Iron Man a shot when he made special armor for them, but his attitude pushed them away. In the end, he took them on alone and didn’t do so well. Pym and co rejoined the fight in their armor, where they had less luck. Then, when Iron Man charged Pym’s suit with his remaining energy, he gained the strength to pummel Hulk into submission. The Jade Giant turned on Namor when he saw him fighting Rick, and the two disappeared into the sea, leaving Pym, Janet, and Rick to mourn the deceased Iron Man.
7Puck
Immortal Hulk #37
If America has the Avengers, Canada has Alpha Flight. They’ve had some interesting members, like Northstar, who became Marvel’s first openly gay superhero; and Guardian, Marvel’s equivalent of Captain Canuck. But even he pales in the stereotype stakes next to Eugene Judd, a former assassin whose short and squat form can bounce off any surface to hit his foes hard. He moved around like a hockey puck, so he took the codenamePuck.
As wild as that sounds, and as silly as he looks, Puck is one of the few heroes (and at least the third Canadian) to kill the Hulk. InImmortal Hulk #37,he was part of Gamma Flight, a group set up to monitor the Hulk. The group took him on, prompting Puck to break out a gamma-powered laser that killed him with one headshot. The Hulk would come back from this via a literal trip to Hell and back, but that’s still a win for the diminutive Puck.
8The Punisher
The Punisher Kills The Marvel Universe
To casual comic fans, it’s hard to imagineThe Punisherkilling off every Marvel superhero. His superpower is guns! What can he do against the rest? However, comic buffs know he did just that thanks to writerGarth Ennis being Garth EnnisinThe Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe. He has a certain style, and the typical spandex-clad hero with superpowers doesn’t fit into that.
The comic presents a world where Frank ‘Punisher’ Castle’s family was killed in a fight between superheroes and aliens. In revenge, he starts his campaign against other heroes and villains, killing Spider-Man, Venom, and Dr Doom among others. With the Hulk, he simply shot him with a tracking device while he was on a rampage. Then, the Punisher followed his signal, found Bruce Banner, and shot him dead. If only it was that easy in the other continuities.
9Deadpool
Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe
Following in the Punisher’s footsteps,Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universewas the first of three stories in theDeadpool Killology, alongsideDeadpool KillustratedandDeadpool Kills Deadpool. Written by Cullen Bunn,Deadpoolis taken into a psychiatric ward by the X-Men, only to be treated by the villain Psycho-Man in disguise. He tries to brainwash Deadpool into being his minion, which just replaces the voices in Deadpool’s head with one craving nothing but destruction.
In every other comic, the Hulk has smashed Deadpool to bits quite easily, and at first, he does the same here too. The Hulk rips him apart during a rampage before sleeping it off, unaware that Deadpool’s healing factor can keep him going long enough to put himself back together. Like the Punisher story, Deadpool finds Banner where the Hulk once rested and then lops his head off with his sword.
10Spider-Man
Amazing Spider-Man #328
Spider-Man’s a smart guy, so seeing his name on this list, there was probably some issue where he had to trap the Hulk in the motherload of all webs, right? How else could he beat him? Brute force? Well, yes. InAmazing Spider-Man #328, the titular hero was caught up in Loki’s ‘Acts of Vengeance’ masterplan that pitted different heroes against each other. He was stuck withthe Gray Hulk, who wasn’t as strong as his green equivalent but was smarter to make up for it.
To stop Loki’s plot, the Enigma Force briefly made Spider-Man the new Captain Universe. His strength was increased 50-fold, making him Marvel’s strongest-ever hero at the time. He not only beat the Hulk down but smacked him up beyond the stratosphere and into space. Luckily for him, Spidey used his temporary powers to fly up and bring him back down to Earth before he could suffocate.
