Marvel: 20 Surprising Characters Who Have Beaten The Hulk

Highlights

• Hulk’s sheer power might be unrivaled, but his lack of strategy has led to defeats by clever heroes and villains alike.
• Despite being an unstoppable force, powerful beings like Namor, Wolverine, Iron Man, and Deadpool have managed to outsmart and defeat the Hulk.
• From fellow superheroes to average soldiers, various characters, including Hawkeye and even Batman, have successfully taken down the Hulk.

There are few superheroes as strong as the Incredible 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 hand The Hulk an L.

Updated March 6, 2024 by David Heath: Disney/Marvel now has the full movie rights to the Incredible Hulk, meaning they could feasibly put the character in his own movie without giving Universal a cut of the profits. But after years of relegating him to being a side character to Thor, She-Hulk, and the Avengers in general, it doesn’t seem to be on the cards.

In fact, it’s more likely he’ll return as a side character in Captain America: Brave New World, which will also feature characters not seen since 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, like Betty Ross and The Leader. But with their return, there’s always a chance the Hulk will take the lead spot once again. He even has some potential foes here, as this list has been updated with a few more unlikely characters who have beaten the Hulk.

1 Namor

Incredible Hulk #118

• Written by Stan Lee.
• Illustrated by Herb Trimpe.

Unlike his DC counterpart, Aquaman, Namor has 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 in Incredible 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 with tidal waves and currents until he passed out. Once he started reverting to Banner, he left him behind on the shore.

2 Wolverine

What If #31 And Old Man Logan

• Written by Rick Margopoulos (WI #31)/Mark Millar (OML).
• Illustrated by Bob Budiansky (WI #31)/Steve McNiven (OML).

Arguably Marvel’s second most popular hero after Spider-Man, Wolverine actually made his debut in 1974’s The 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 #31 imagined 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 in Old 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.

3 Iron Man

Iron Man #132

• Written by David Michelinie and Bob Layton.
• Illustrated by Jerry Bingham.

Avengers: Age of Ultron is one of the weaker Avengers movies, but it did bring viewers a tussle between the Hulk and Iron Man in his Hulkbuster Armor. It first appeared in Iron Man #304 as 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 #132 sees 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.

4 Puck

Immortal Hulk #37

• Written by Al Ewing.
• Illustrated by Joe Bennett.

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 codename Puck.

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. In Immortal Hulk #37, he was part of Gamma Flight, a group set up to monitor the Hulk. The group engaged him in battle, 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.

5 The Punisher

The Punisher Kills The Marvel Universe

• Written by Garth Ennis.
• Illustrated by Doug Braithwaite.

To casual comic fans, it’s hard to imagine The Punisher killing 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 writer Garth Ennis being Garth Ennis in The 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.

6 Deadpool

Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe

• Written by Cullen Bunn.
• Illustrated by Dalabor Talajic.

Following in the Punisher’s footsteps, Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe was the first of three stories in the Deadpool Killology, alongside Deadpool Killustrated and Deadpool Kills Deadpool. Written by Cullen Bunn, Deadpool is 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.

7 Spider-Man

Amazing Spider-Man #328

• Written by David Michelinie.
• Illustrated by Todd McFarlane.

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. In Amazing 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 with the 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.

8 Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four #166

• Written by Roy Thomas.
• Illustrated by George Perez.

The Fantastic Four aren’t as popular as Spider-Man, but they’re no less important to Marvel. They’ve also faced up to some of the strongest forces in the Marvel universe, from Doctor Doom to Galactus. Even so, that was more through their wits, guts, and powers than pure heft. Plus, in Fantastic Four #166, the Hulk caught them by surprise. The Four were asked by the military to help turn him back into Banner, only for the Hulk to accidentally clip their plane’s wings.

They save the plane, then track down his gamma radiation signature to stop him in his tracks. Individually, they couldn’t do much against the Hulk. But together, they managed to subdue him. The Human Torch blinds him with his flames, while Reed Richards wraps himself around the Hulk to restrain him. The Invisible Woman forms a forcefield around the Hulk’s head to cut his breath short before the Thing knocks his lights out.

9 The Thing

Fantastic Four #320

• Written by Steve Englehart.
• Illustrated by Keith Pollard.

The problem with being the “big & strong one” of a team is that there’s a bigger, stronger one in another team somewhere. The Thing seems to be aware of this as he’s had a rivalry with the Hulk since their first meeting. He didn’t like having to knock him out in Fantastic Four #166 because he saw it as an unfair win – a 4 on 1 ambush rather than a one-on-one duel.

The two have since had multiple one-on-one encounters, with The Thing arguably having the better win/loss record. Generally, the odds tend to be in the green Hulk’s favor. But when a mutated Thing had to fight the Gray Hulk in Fantastic Four #320, he had the advantage. He was stronger in this form and came close to killing the guy until a Green Hulk robot interrupted the proceedings. It gave Gray Hulk time to recover and rethink his strategy.

10 Storm & Cable

The Incredible Hulk #444

• Written by Peter David.
• Illustrated by Angel Medina.

The mid-90s villain Onslaught, a combination of Professor X and Magneto’s powers, was built up as a big deal at the time. Today, he’s largely remembered as the last boss in the original Marvel Vs Capcom. But if being a psychic, magnetic monstrosity wasn’t enough, he managed to possess the Hulk in The Incredible Hulk #444. With a super-powered mind, super strength, and superpowers, who or what could beat him? Just two X-Men.

Storm and Cable tried to end things peacefully by telepathically communicating with the Hulk to no avail. So, Cable figured out another way to stop him. If Storm struck the Hulk with lightning at the same time as his psychic attack, they could ‘reboot’ his brain and purge Onslaught. It worked too well as their combo killed the Hulk…briefly. The duo revived him with another psychic/lightning bolt combo. It showed how vulnerable the Hulk could be to the right heroes.

11 Havok

Incredible Hulk #150

• Written by Archie Goodwin.
• Illustrated by Herb Trimpe.

Why ask two X-Men to beat the Hulk when only one will do? Havok, the brother of Cyclops, took on the Behemoth in Incredible Hulk #150 after a little misunderstanding. The Hulk mistook Polaris for his lost love Jarella, Princess of K’ai in the Microverse (as one does). He took her up the side of a cliff, and Havok went in pursuit to rescue her.

Havok defended himself with his energy waves, which didn’t do much to slow the giant down. But he got an opportunity when the Hulk picked up a small mountain. Havok focused all his energy waves entirely on the Hulk’s forehead to increase the strain. The combination of the waves and the mountain’s weight became too much for the Hulk to handle, making him eventually pass out.

12 Hoarfen

Incredible Hulk #422

• Written by Peter David.
• Illustrated by Gary Frank.

Some people have said that superheroes and the like are pretty much modern mythology. It’s why writers over the years have added Greek and Norse gods, among others, to Marvel, DC, Image, and other comic canons. That, and they’re public domain. But it does get readers wondering if everything from the original mythology happened in the comics as well, like Loki siring a wolf with Angrboda, and that wolf then siring another wolf with a Frost Giant.

Loki’s lycan “grandson” Hoarfen would come across the Hulk while he was helping out some of the Norse pantheon. Just as the giant had made peace with the Asgardians to capture Vali, Hoarfen swallowed the Hulk and Vali whole in one bite. This actually killed them both off, but the goddess of death, Hela, would resurrect the two inside Hoarfen’s stomach, so they could smash their way back out.

13 Dr. Octopus

Spider-Man #19

• Written and Illustrated by Erik Larsen.

Spider-Man needed cosmic powers to beat a weaker version of the Hulk. Dr. Octopusjust needed some new arms to KO his regular green self. In Spider-Man #19, the Hulk arrived to help out the friendly neighborhood hero against the new and reformed Sinister Six. He one-shotted Mysterio, Electro, Vulture, and Hobgoblin each with ease. Then Dr. Octopus came in, held the Hulk in place, and pummeled him with his robot arms until he knocked him out cold.

The Doc replaced his classic set of arms with adamantium ones, which he boasted were strong enough to beat Thor, let alone the Hulk. Writer Peter David was so annoyed with this that he had the Hulk get revenge by beating the multi-armed scientist with a flick of his finger in Incredible Hulk #396 shortly afterward. Amazing how issues between writers produce comic book issues too.

14 The Leader

Incredible Hulk #224

• Written by Roger Stern.
• Illustrated by Sal Buscema and Joe Rubinstein.

Radiation, gamma or otherwise, has given superheroes and supervillains all sorts of powers. If it can turn a scientist into a musclebound giant, it can turn a menial worker into a super genius. This is what happened to Samuel Sterns, aka The Leader, who became the Hulk’s self-proclaimed archenemy. Ironically, he couldn’t always outsmart the Emerald Giant, but he had gotten a few wins over him. For example, in Incredible Hulk #224, he managed to have Banner and his allies, Doc Samson and General Ross, as prisoners.

Samson wanted Banner to turn back into the Hulk to stop the Leader, but he refused. Instead, he’d create a remote-controlled Hulk Robot to stop the Leader’s Murder Module. Once the Leader discovered the deception, he peppered the robot’s remains with blasts that caused an electrical feedback that left Banner at death’s door. If Samson and Ross hadn’t used the Leader’s gamma ray projector to Hulk him out in the subsequent issue, he would’ve died.

15 The Madman

Incredible Hulk #364-367

• Written by Peter David.
• Illustrated by Jeff Purves, Dale Keown, and Marie Severin.

The Leader is one of the Hulk’s more famous foes, but he has a brother who also managed to (nearly) kill Hulk off. Philip Sterns was a rival scientist to Bruce Banner and wanted to outdo him at his own game. With his gamma experiments, he becomes a red monstrosity whose personality is split between Sterns and an angrier, more malevolent persona dubbed The Madman.

His biggest success story came when he managed to inject Banner with a poison that affected him in his Gray Hulk form. Over the subsequent issues, he’d grow weaker and weaker, worn down by battles against the Abomination, The Thing, and the Leader. It’s only by working with the latter that he’s able to find the antidote and wrestle it from the Madman’s hands long enough to change back into Banner and inject himself with it moments before it would’ve killed him.

16 Hawkeye

Civil War II

• Written by Brian Michael Bendis.
• Illustrated by David Marquez.

In 2016, Marvel made Civil War II, a sequel to the infamous Civil War event comic. The former was already of questionable quality, but the latter really rubbed people up the wrong way. Especially its conclusion where the Hulk was killed out of the blue. In the story, Bruce Banner had seemingly cured himself of the Hulk for good. However, a character called Ulysses foresaw that a cataclysmic disaster would be caused by a hero or a villain.

The other heroes suspected Banner’s alter-ego would return, as Banner had started experimenting with gamma radiation again. He pled his case, only to be killed by a gamma-coated arrow to the head. Hawkeye said Banner asked him to kill him off and gave him the means to do it. All he had to do was spot a flick of green in Banner’s eyes as his cue to shoot. Thus, the Hulk was dead…for two years. He came back in 2018 and has held a grudge against the Avengers’ premier archer ever since.

17 Dr. Voodoo

Uncanny Avengers Vol.3 #17

• Written by Gerry Duggan.
• Illustrated by Pepe Larraz.

Before Banner/The Hulk officially came back from the dead, the Hand managed to resurrect him as a zombie and sent him on the rampage in Japan. It was up to the Avengers Unity Division to put a stop to him, including Dr. Voodoo. Aided by the ghost of his twin brother, he’s one of the Marvel Universe’s top sorcerers and was even Sorcerer Supreme for a while.

The Hand tried to make a deal with him: if they let them keep the Zombie Hulk, they’d bring his brother back to life. Dr. Voodoo did want his brother back, but he considered Banner to be his brother too, and couldn’t leave them with the Hand. Instead, he stopped the resurrection spell and let both Banner and the Hulk pass on freely to the afterlife. At least until their proper resurrection years later.

18 Dr. Melinda Leucenstern

Indestructible Hulk #20

• Written by Mark Waid.
• Illustrated by Joe Bennett.

Of all the characters to get the one-up over the Hulk, Dr. Melinda Leucenstern is one of the more random ones. She turned up on the Agents of SHIELD show. Otherwise, her big moment in the sun was in the Indestructible Hulk series. She was an ex-con who was hired by SHIELD and assigned to Bruce Banner’s lab. After a reactor explosion, he found himself unable to turn into the Hulk, so he made the most of it by working for SHIELD.

However, like in Civil War II, the Ancient Order of the Shield foresaw that the Hulk would return and cause an event that could wipe out all life on Earth. One of their members, Banner’s ex Betty Ross, gave Melinda the means to get close to Banner and shoot him in the back of the head twice. He would come back, but he’d still require reconstructive surgery to survive, and he’d spend time as his “Doc Green” smart Hulk persona before going back to normal.

19 Batman

DC Special Series #27

• Written by Len Wein.
• Illustrated by José Luis Garcia-López.

There are two likely reactions to the fact that Batman beat the Hulk: incredulity or exasperation. Some writers have been prone to giving the Dark Knight big matchups like this just to make him look cool, rather than to provide a compelling story. However, there are still plenty of stories where Batman served as the perfect David to the proverbial Goliath without a deus ex utility belt.

Things were friendly enough between Marvel and DC in 1981 for the Hulk to turn up in DC Special Series #27. It saw him get tricked by the Joker into thinking Batman was his enemy. To escape his bear hug, Batman had only one tool left: a sleeping gas pellet. The Hulk held his breath, so Batman kicked him as hard as he could in the solar plexus to wind him. This made him breathe in the gas and finally pass out.

20 A Random Soldier

Tales to Astonish #69

• Written by Stan Lee.
• Illustrated by Jack Kirby.

In most Hulk comics, the military hasn’t held up well against the big guy. But that wasn’t always the case, as this was perhaps the first time the giant was killed via his average human shell Bruce Banner. Tales to Astonish #69 saw the Hulk caught by his brainy nemesis, the Leader. As Banner, he managed to send out a Morse code message to the military, seeking their help while knowing they’d be just as likely to shoot him as rescue him.

The Leader’s experiments cause Banner to Hulk out and head towards the troops. They fired at him just as he began turning back into Banner, with one soldier firing the fatal shot. Rick Jones later managed to bring him back with a heavy dose of gamma radiation. But without him, the Hulk’s adventures would’ve ended there. Later canon stories would extend the Hulk’s invulnerability to Banner to some degree. But as this list has shown, that hasn’t always saved him from getting killed.