Hulk’s 12 Strongest Recurring Villains, Ranked by Physical Strength

As Marvel’s strongest superhero, the Hulk has some truly mighty enemies. It takes a lot to survive a fist fight with Bruce Banner’s other half, and even more to return again and again over the decades. Here are the strongest of the strong.

We’re listing Hulk’s recurring villains in order of their physical strength, from the downright puny to those who are even stronger than the Hulk himself. For this list, we’re only considering villains who have become a firm fixture of Hulk lore, and not including heroic rivals like the Thing or Thor. We’re looking at physical strength on this list, so while some villains may have impressive energy powers or mental abilities, that can’t help them in our ranking. Speaking of which…

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12

The Leader, aka Samuel Sterns

Debuted in Tales to Astonish #62 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

Hulk’s nemesis, Samuel Sterns is a fellow gamma mutate who gained brains rather than brawn from the eldritch radiation. Incredibly intelligent, the Leader also has telepathic and telekinetic abilities that allow him to control others. However, despite that immense power, the Leader remains physically weak – not just for a superhuman, but for a regular human. The Leader’s physiology sometimes mutates out of control, requiring him to wear special armor just to hold himself upright.

11

Tyrannus, aka Romulus Augustulus

Debuted in Incredible Hulk #5 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

An immortal who drank from the fountain of youth, Tyrannus was once a Roman emperor. His modern-day exploits see him trying to recreate this power and prestige, often targeting monstrous or hidden societies to take over. While Tyrannus has some telepathic powers which allow him to bend others to his will, he tends to fight using advanced technology plundered from the secretive Deviants, and has a particular fondness for giant robots.

While Tyrannus has temporarily enhanced his strength and even achieved a Hulk form at one point in the past, he generally only has mild superhuman durability and strength, relying on advanced weaponry, peons and robots to battle the Hulk. Despite this, his tech is impressive, and in the past he wielded a paralyzer ray that could take down the Hulk with a single blast.

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10

Absorbing Man, aka Carl Creel

Debuted in Journey Into Mystery #114 from Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Prior Contributions by Bill Everett

Carl ‘Crusher’ Creel has some of the wildest powers in Marvel lore, with the ability to absorb the properties of whatever substance he touches. He can turn his skin into adamantium or water, making him a versatile combatant, and has even been able to absorb the powers of superhumans, such as Hulk’s gamma and Giant-Man’s size.

What makes the Absorbing Man unique is that his powers come from magic, not science, allowing him to blur the rules of what should be possible. For instance, Absorbing Man can replicate not just the materials but also the function of a machine, being able to fly after touching a jet. Also thanks to magic, his iconic wrecking ball transforms along with his body and can be mentally commanded.

9

The U-Foes

Debuted in Incredible Hulk #254 by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema

A dark parody of the Fantastic Four, the U-Foes are villains who recreated the heroic team’s origin, only to gain very different powers. Mike Steel’s Ironclad acts as the team’s muscle, while Ann Darnell’s Vapor uses her gaseous intangibility as a stealthy assassin. Simon Utrecht’s Vector wields powerful force fields and telekinesis, while James Darnell’s X-Ray poses the biggest threat to the Hulk, able to control and direct all forms of radiation.

The U-Foes hate the Hulk because Bruce Banner accidentally interfered with the experiment that gave them powers, attempting to save them from the cosmic radiation they were trying to access. They’ve dogged him ever since, and even succeeded in killing Hulk in Al Ewing and Joe Bennett’s Immortal Hulk #44 by exposing him to cosmic rays – the opposite of his gamma radiation. For this list, we’re mostly looking at Ironclad who – while strong – has never been in Hulk’s weight class, and often gets his metal body bent out of shape trying to equal Bruce Banner.

8

The Wendigo

Debuted in Incredible Hulk #162 by Steve Englehart and Herb Trimpe

Thanks to an ancient curse created the Elder Gods, anyone who consumed human flesh within Canada’s borders becomes a Wendigo – a towering, white-furred predator driven by an endless hunger. There have been many Wendigos in Marvel lore, and Hulk has clashed with most of them, even fighting an entire Wendigo army who infected him with the curse, briefly becoming the Wendihulk (in Jeph Loeb and Arthur Adams’ Hulk #9.)

The Wendigo is incredibly strong with lethal teeth and claws, but can’t quite equal Hulk’s power. However, thanks to its superior speed and powerful healing factor, the Wendigo is capable of wearing Hulk down and bleeding him out in a sustained battle.

7

Red Hulk, aka General Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross

Debuted in Incredible Hulk #1 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

General Ross is Hulk’s oldest enemy – an obsessed military leader who has committed countless funding, manpower and experimental superweapons to bringing down the Green Goliath. Like other Hulk hunters, Ross often used mechs and specialized weaponry to try and take down Bruce Banner’s other half, fighting for over 45 years with tactics that harmed everyone around the hero and villain without actually resolving their conflict.

In 2008, General Ross became the Red Hulk, stealing some of Hulk’s gamma radiation and mixing it with cosmic rays. Almost as strong as the Hulk, the Red Hulk generates more heat the angrier he gets, but his secret weapon is the ability to absorb exotic energy types, allowing him to strip the gamma from Hulk’s body and rob him of his strength.

6

Juggernaut, aka Cain Marko

Debuted in X-Men #12 by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Alex Toth

The Juggernaut may be considered a hero today, but he’s spent most of his life as a villain and one of Hulk’s favorite sparring partners. While Juggernaut isn’t quite as strong and durable as the Hulk at his strongest, he does possess ‘magic momentum’ that makes it impossible to stop him once he reaches a certain speed. This results in situations where Juggernaut can run down Hulk despite being the weaker fighter, although it’s rare that he takes home a victory without some serious help.

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5

Zzzax

Debuted in Incredible Hulk #166 by Steve Englehart and Herb Trimpe

An electronic field warped by psionic energy, Zzzax is a living energy beast that has fought Hulk ever since 1973. Zzzax possesses Hulk-level strength and durability, and can become even stronger by absorbing more electrical energy into itself. Since it doesn’t have a true corporeal form, Zzzax can’t be meaningfully injured, just dissipated to fight another day. Able to control electricity and unleash deadly blasts, Zzzax is the exact kind of rampaging monster that Hulk is often accused of being.

4

Bi-Beast

Debuted in Incredible Hulk #169 by Steve Englehart and Herb Trimpe

A longtime enemy of the Hulk also first seen in 1973, the Bi-Beast is a sentient android created by a distant alien civilization. Bi-Beast has the same limitless strength and durability as the Hulk, but crucially doesn’t feel pain, making it a force to be reckoned with in battle. The Bi-Beast isn’t just a powerhouse – he’s an incredibly intelligent foe who possesses the lost scientific knowledge of his creators. Thankfully, while his twin brains make him a deadly strategist, they’re also his biggest weakness, as Bi-Beast quickly loses power when his minds aren’t working in total lockstep.

3

Shadow Commander, aka Reginald Fortean

First Seen in Hulk #30.1 by Jeff Parker and Gabriel Hardman

A protégé of General Thunderbolt Ross, Reginald Fortean has spent a huge portion of his life fighting different Hulks, from Bruce Banner’s original to Ross’ own Red Hulk and Jennifer Walters’ She-Hulk. A former marine, Fortean was unhappy with the government’s lack of focus on tracking and killing Hulks, using various military contacts to set up Shadow Base – a black-ops group dedicated to putting gamma mutates in the ground.

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As leader of Shadow Base, Fortean initially used the Redeemer Armor – a mech suit capable of matching Hulk’s base strength. Fortean also made use of translocation technology, allowing him to teleport around the globe for surprise attacks on his enemies. However, Fortean quickly lost perspective, bonding with a resurrected version of Abomination created from the corpse of Emil Blonsky. In his merged Abomination form, Fortean was finally stronger than Hulk, while also being able to vomit an incredibly potent acid.

The Abomination/Fortean was so strong that when he fought the Hulk one-on-one, the two killed each other in Al Ewing and Joe Bennett’s Immortal Hulk #24. Sadly, while Hulk returned to life, Fortean was blocked from gamma resurrection by the original Abomination, who reclaimed his body and began posing as Fortean.

2

Maestro, aka Bruce Banner

Debuted in Hulk: Future Imperfect #1 by Peter David and George Pérez

A variant of Bruce Banner from a timeline where the world is plunged into post-apocalyptic disaster, Maestro first met the Hulk when Bruce traveled through time to oppose his oppressive reign. Since then, Maestro has made plenty of trips to the present, clashing with Hulk over and over again. Thanks to both his age and the increased radiation of the desolate future, Maestro is significantly stronger than the Hulk, with absolutely no mercy for his ‘lessers.’

Maestro is even more dangerous in his home reality. There, he has a gigantic trophy room containing weapons like Captain America’s shattered shield and Wolverine’s claws, as well as an army of cybernetic Dogs of War – ridable machine animals whose jaws are powerful enough to crush adamantium.

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1

The Abomination, aka Emil Blonsky

Debuted in Tales to Astonish #90 by Stan Lee and Gil Kane

Hulk’s strongest foe, the villainous spy Emil Blonsky got more than he bargained for when he tried to sabotage Bruce Banner’s gamma experiments. A truly monstrous individual inside and out, Abomination was softened for the MCU, but in the comics he’s a hardened killer who abused his wife and experimented on innocents to unlock his own gamma potential. Stronger than Hulk’s baseline might, Abomination has humbled the Jade Giant more often than any other evil-doer.

Those are the 12 strongest recurring villains in Hulk lore – let us know in the comments below who else belongs on this list, and whether you agree with our ranking.

Hulk

First Appearance

The Incredible Hulk (1962)

Alias

Robert Bruce Banner

Alliance

Avengers, Defenders, Horsemen of Apocalypse, Fantastic Four, Pantheon, Warbound, S.M.A.S.H., Secret Avengers

Franchise

Marvel