Surprising Characters Who Have Beaten The Hulk

Summary

• The Hulk’s immense strength has been countered by some heroes, like Squirrel Girl, who subdued him with cuteness.
• Dr. Voodoo and Storm used clever tactics to defeat a psychic-controlled Hulk in different comics.
• Batman and a random soldier have surprisingly defeated the Hulk in comics, showing his vulnerability.

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 February 6, 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 to beat the Incredible Hulk.

1

Zeus

Incredible Hulks #622

• Written by Greg Pak.
• Illustrated by Paul Pelletier.

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 with Zeus in Incredible Hulks #622 reveals 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.”

2

The Maestro

The Hulk: Future Imperfect #2

• Written by Peter David.
• Illustrated by George Perez.

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, like the 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.

3

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 through tidal waves and currents until he passed out. Once he started reverting to Banner, he left him behind on the shore.

4

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.

5

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.

6

Hank Pym

What If the Avengers Had Never Been?

• Written by Jim Shooter and Gil Kane.
• Illustrated by Gil Kane.

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 in What 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.

7

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 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.

8

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.

9

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.

10

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.

11

The Venom Symbiote

What If the Alien Costume Had Possessed Spider-Man?

• Written by Danny Fingeroth.
• Illustrated by Mark Bagley.

The Hulk has occasionally fought against and worked with Venom, but they’re hardly a fair match-up. Strength aside, Venom is notoriously weak to sonic attacks. The Hulk could hurt him by clapping his hands really hard. But there’s another way the Venom Symbiote could get one-up on the Jade Giant, and it turned up in What If the Alien Costume Had Possessed Spider-Man. It offered a view of what would’ve happened if the Fantastic Four had failed to get the symbiote off of Spider-Man in the first place.

Aside from keeping the Bombastic Bag-Man from happening, the symbiote ends up fully bonding with Spidey and puppets his body for its own needs. It stops Dr. Strange from sending an irate Hulk into another dimension by catching the Hulk and knocking the Doctor out. The symbiote feeds on adrenaline, and the Hulk’s body offered limitless supplies of it, alongside a weak enough mind for it to take over. So, it bonds with the Hulk successfully and leaves a prematurely aged Spidey behind. As the saying goes, “If you can’t beat them, join them.”

12

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.

13

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.

14

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.

15

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.

16

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.

17

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. Octopus just 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.

18

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.

19

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.

20

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.