Does anyone find the Hulk a bit overpowered?

[TheCorpulent1]

Again, Hulk writers are often Hulk fanboys, so their aim is to make the Hulk look super-awesome by pummeling everyone else, even if it's at the cost of any shred of intelligence his opponents ought to have.

 

[Chris Wallace]

I did say that I prefer him intelligent, where he can actually question whether or not smashing is the way to go in this situation. Being strong was initially the point of the character. I would hate for him to go back to being so simple-minded that someone like the Joker can con him.
And Corp, you're being a little bit unfair. I could raise the same argument about someone like Batman; how often do you see him get into a fistfight where the outcome is questionable? Don't his writers seek to make him this unstoppable engine of justice that everyone admires?

 

[Mutagen]

Again, Hulk writers are often Hulk fanboys, so their aim is to make the Hulk look super-awesome by pummeling everyone else, even if it's at the cost of any shred of intelligence his opponents ought to have.

Most writers of a particular material are fans of it, otherwise they wouldn't be interested in the story in the first place.

 

[Chris Wallace]

Most writers of a particular material are fans of it, otherwise they wouldn't be interested in the story in the first place.

One would hope. But it's hard to say, for example, that Frank Miller is a fan of Batman given the radical liberties he took with the character.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Most writers of a particular material are fans of it, otherwise they wouldn't be interested in the story in the first place.

Fans and fanboys are two different things. I'm a fan of Thor, but I don't think he should beat everything under the sun with ease.

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

anyone?

Yeah sometimes hes over the top. When he held the tectonic plates together on Sakaar..that was just...silly. His hands are only at the biggest I've seen them drawn, a few feet in length. To hold thousands of square miles of tectonic plate together was just one of those ludicrous Dragonball Z moments.

 

[Phenomenal]

Overpowered_ the Hulk??? How ridiculous can you get- virtually the mightiest entity on the face of the Earth( exceeding even immortals such as Thor or Hercules), as the then Crimson Dynamo notes in #HULK 258, he has defeated not just individual heroes but whole teams such as the combined powers of the Avengers AND Fantastic Four!!!

Terry

Hulk punched out the Watcher!!

 

[Mr. Green]

Again, Hulk writers are often Hulk fanboys, so their aim is to make the Hulk look super-awesome by pummeling everyone else, even if it's at the cost of any shred of intelligence his opponents ought to have.

PAD didn't write him as overpowered.

Even in PH and WWH, when he was way stronger than normal, Pak did a pretty good job of evening things out and making his victories due to things other than JUST brute force.

I think the best Hulk writers have always put Hulk up against foes that end up being a real challenge for him.

 

[random_havoc]

Yeah sometimes hes over the top. When he held the tectonic plates together on Sakaar..that was just...silly. His hands are only at the biggest I've seen them drawn, a few feet in length. To hold thousands of square miles of tectonic plate together was just one of those ludicrous Dragonball Z moments.

holy crap. That's just stupid.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

PAD didn't write him as overpowered.

Even in PH and WWH, when he was way stronger than normal, Pak did a pretty good job of evening things out and making his victories due to things other than JUST brute force.

I think the best Hulk writers have always put Hulk up against foes that end up being a real challenge for him.

PAD weakened him to both the gray Hulk and the professor Hulk, imposing limits on his strength for the first time. That's exactly the opposite of writing him as overpowered, which I appreciated.

Planet Hulk featured a weaker-than-usual Hulk to begin with, and he gradually grew stronger as pretty much everything on Sakaar tried to kill him. He also was smarter than average and the Hulk actually developed something of a personality. That's progression, which I mentioned that I like.

So both of those examples are already ones that I counted as being exceptions to the rule.

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

PAD weakened him to both the gray Hulk and the professor Hulk, imposing limits on his strength for the first time. That's exactly the opposite of writing him as overpowered, which I appreciated.

Planet Hulk featured a weaker-than-usual Hulk to begin with, and he gradually grew stronger as pretty much everything on Sakaar tried to kill him. He also was smarter than average and the Hulk actually developed something of a personality. That's progression, which I mentioned that I like.

So both of those examples are already ones that I counted as being exceptions to the rule.

And holding the tectonic plates together with his hands?

 

[robsoko]

Hulk punched out the Watcher!!

That wasnt the Hulk

 

[TheCorpulent1]

And holding the tectonic plates together with his hands?

Well, yeah, that was a ridiculous display of power, but I accepted it for the sake of what was otherwise a great story.

 

[Ahura Mazda]

Why is he over powerred when at his peak he managed to match the Sentry, albeit he outlasted him.

Yes I am a fan of the Hulk and he was meant to be the premiere strength character of the Marvel Universe. Therefore it makes sense to make him physically stronger then the others.

I never understood why thor has always been dumbed down to want to fight hand to hand with the Hulk but given he almost always takes this tactic he often ends up losing. Now others should be able to defeat him using other powers but that is always upt o the writers.

Don't forget he has lost to a snake so he is not always so powerful.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The Sentry's a grossly overpowered character as well. Not in the way he's portrayed, obviously, since he tends to run away more than fight, but in terms of his stated potential from way back in his very first mini-series, he's obscenely powerful.

 

[Silver Knight]

No. "Overpowered" would be suggesting that he can do something ridiculous like move planets.

Exactly.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Well, obviously, that would just be ridiculous.

The Hulk has no means of self-propulsion like Superman does.

 

[moraldeficiency]

PAD didn't write him as overpowered.

Even in PH and WWH, when he was way stronger than normal, Pak did a pretty good job of evening things out and making his victories due to things other than JUST brute force.

I think the best Hulk writers have always put Hulk up against foes that end up being a real challenge for him.

Que? Did you get the special issue of WWH that none of us did. He beat everyone the exact same way, he punched them in the face.

Blackbolt screams and hulk counters with the face punching. Winner Hulk.

Iron Man, well actually tony had a damn fine strategy and would have won if not for hardball, so this was by far the best fight and probably the only one I have no problem with. But still with the face punching.

Mr. Fantastic a guy that could have easily drained the radiation out of him instead decides to replacate the sentry's effect. Because Reed is stupid like that of course. Then a man who cannot be hurt with a punch gets beat down by getting punched in the face alot.

Doctor Strange, Ok in a certian way I'll call this a legit beat because A. Strange specifically said he wasn't just gonna kill the hulk or anything like that, so he was holding back considerably and B. Cause he got sucker punched by someone he thought was his friend. Still the fight involved Strange consumming part of an essence of a being slightly less powerful than eternity and yet that wasn't quite enough to stand up to being punched in the face. There was something about controlling rage and the hulk who regularly freaks out and destroys everything killing people (I don't care what anyone says, a nasty storm kills people, so a big hulk rage fest would have to have some body count) decides to lecture a person who chose to spare hulk and tried to help his friend only to get attacked....nice.

Finally the sentry, ok I'll stop here. After the Strange fight I just couldn't take it, but let me throw a guess out there. Hulk beats the sentry by punching him alot. the end. Here's some ointment for the assraping your mind just got.

Where was the change up from brute force? And as for the hulk's enemies, on paper they seem impressive but in the comics they always get beaten down by low grade violence from a savage that can't even really fight. You've got the leader, smartest man on earth, but is incapable of downing a guy that gets angry and breaks stuff. WTF.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Actually, the Hulk and the Sentry stalemate by punching each other a lot, transform back into their human alter-egos, and then Banner beats Reynolds by punching him.

 

[moraldeficiency]

Wow, real curve ball there. WWH took everything awesome about planet hulk and managed to make me actively dislike all of it, that's a hell of a turn around.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, it was a really terrible follow-up to the greatness of Planet Hulk. But Skaar's made it all better for me. Now I have a character who's similar to the Hulk but just different enough that I'm able to like him.

 

[November Rain]

hulk's walking plot device for other's character development, including banner

 

[Mr. Green]

Que? Did you get the special issue of WWH that none of us did. He beat everyone the exact same way, he punched them in the face.

I was referring to the fact that even though Hulk was at a higher power level than normal (much higher) and even though he was fighting people, most of whom he could beat the crap out of without a power-boost, there were still some good fights.

And with Strange, Zom was beating the crap out of him until he endangered lives in the process. Hulk saved the bystanders and took the opportunity of Strange holding back to beat the crap out of him. A victory due more to Strange giving up than anything else.

And the Sentry fight was awesome. He's the perfect character to stop Hulk when Hulk's strength levels are that high.

 

[jms]

For fun, you might want to check out the latest post at the Defenders Fansite: www.defendersfan.blogspot.com

It discusses a boxing match among the Hulk, Thing, and some of other super-strongmen of the Marvel Universe back in the 1980s.

 

[Mr. Green]

LMAO! Nice find, dude. I liked this:

Sage Advice from the Hulk

In a room full of despondent Defenders, leave it to Hulk to give the pep talk.

In this opening scene from Defenders #101, the gamma-green hero encouraged everyone to feel proud of their latest triumph against evil. But Hulk's tough-love wisdom was short-lived. When the other heroes remained sullen, Hulk got mad.

Hulk: Nobody smiles anymore--nobody is nice to Hulk anymore! And if nobody is nice--then there's no reason for Hulk to stay!


This wasn't the first time Hulk left the team, and it wouldn't be the last.

There's more to the story, of course. In saving the Earth from destruction (#100), teammate Daimon Hellstrom still remained trapped in the realms of hell. Thus, Hulk's attempt to lift everyone's spirits did not signifiy philosophical enlightenment but rather his inability to grasp what was going on. There was something sad about that as well.