MCU Strength Classes

[Thör-El]

I feel Thanos is being really undersold here in this thread.
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Somehow I suspected you might. I think we've been pretty fair though. MCU Thanos main strength feat is overpowering Hulk and everyone here seems to rate him as stronger than Hulk.

Tearing apart Iron Man armour is a respectable strength feat too but Thor and Hulk have both done the same thing so it isn't really evidence Thanos is vastly stronger than they are.

And dominating the Hulk physically, which is something no one has done..ever. not like that. Dont understand how some are interpeting that as not impressive, or evidence that he is just slightly stronger than Hulk.

I'm not convinced the strength gap between Hulk and Thanos was huge. He seemed to break Hulk's hold on him using at least moderately superior strength but then he dominated Hulk using skill rather than because he was in a whole different league strength wise.

Later in the film we see Thanos physical strength has limits on Titan when Strange, Spidey, Drax and a Star Lord gadget briefly restrain him so Mantis can stun him and when Iron Man tech pins his gauntlet hand open/pins his arm to the ground with a foot. Then we see Thanos strength limits again in Wakanda when Cap briefly resists him closing his fist to use the gauntlet and when Scarlet Witch held him back (even though she wasn't giving it her full power/attention because she was busy destroying an Infinity Stone at the time).

Hela, Kurse and Surtur Prime each have awesome strength feats that put them clearly above Hulk and unlike Thanos we were never shown the limits of their strength so I rate them as stronger.

Two of Thanos' punches had Hulk more dazed than Thor's two lightning punches. And Hulk has never been bodied like that ever. A showing like that against someone as strong as the Hulk is a ridiculous strength showing.

I'm not sold on this. It took ten or so well placed hits in rapid succession for Thanos to put Hulk down and I'm pretty sure Thor's lightning punches would've done the same thing if he hadn't been stopped at two.

Thor's lightning punches launched Hulk into the air/left him picking himself off the ground and clearly stunned him. If you rewatch Hulk was still on his feet and swinging after two hits from Thanos.

 

[BigThor]

I feel Thanos is being really undersold here in this thread.

His strength feats include casually ripping apart Iron msn's powerhouse level tech

And dominating the Hulk physically, which is something no one has done..ever. not like that. Dont understand how some are interpeting that as not impressive, or evidence that he is just slightly stronger than Hulk

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I agree that he's more than slightly stronger, he's decisively stronger probably at the least twice as strong maybe three times stronger.

Two of Thanos' punches had Hulk more dazed than Thor's two lightning punches. And Hulk has never been bodied like that ever. A showing like that against someone as strong as the Hulk is a ridiculous strength showing.

Nah, besides Hulk had time to recover between both of Thor's lightning punches. It was like 20 seconds between the two punches, unlike Thanos landing consecutive blows which never gave Hulk a chance to regroup.

They both had Hulk rocked, but Thor dropped him with single punches while Thanos did not even after 10 punches, so all things considered Thor's lightning punches get the edge. However I do agree that rocking someone rates higher than dropping them, but if you do both that ranks higher than either individually.

 

[jaqua99]

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I agree that he's more than slightly stronger, he's decisively stronger probably at the least twice as strong maybe three times stronger.



Nah, besides Hulk had time to recover between both of Thor's lightning punches. It was like 20 seconds between the two punches, unlike Thanos landing consecutive blows which never gave Hulk a chance to regroup.

They both had Hulk rocked, but Thor dropped him with single punches while Thanos did not even after 10 punches, so all things considered Thor's lightning punches get the edge. However I do agree that rocking someone rates higher than dropping them, but if you do both that ranks higher than either individually.

Dropping doesn't mean much..it's choreography. Thanos didn't really *drop* anyone, aside from punching Iron Man to the ground. Hulk has ragdolled Ultron with a punch, so he can obviously ragdoll Iron man. Thanos' punches didn't ragdoll Iron man. So that must mean Hulk hits harder than Thanos.

Thor's punches dropping Hulk, opposed to Thanos' doesn't mean he hits harder. But what we do have is both Thor and Thanos' showings against Hulk. Thanos beat down Hulk badly with his bare fists. And the fight wasn't in question after Thanos landed two punches.

As far as Kurse (a comment from another post, that I am talking about here)... his feats are what, beating up Thor?
Thanos beat up Infinity War Thor off screen too. We don't know if he used the power stone or not, but given the general intact nature of the ship, he likely just beat him down. Regardless, it was off screen.

Who has superior durabilty? Hulk or Thor? Haven't we concluded in previous threads that the two have equal durability?

If the two have equal durability, can't we compare Kurse and Thanos' fights vs characters with strikingly similar levels of durability?

Who got beat down worse? I'd wager Thanos' beatdown of Hulk was quicker, and easier than Kurse's beatdown of Thor. If they both have similar durability to blunt force, we can conclude Thanos is stronger than Kurse. Which he is.

Narrative works in his case too. Kurse was a one off. Thanos is THE big bad of the MCU, who the Russo's shipped as stronger than the Hulk, invulnerable, and undefeated in hand to hand combat. If Thanos and Kurse squared off in an in universe fight IN canon, do you think Kurse would defeat him? Not only is Thanos significant strength captured in his beatdown of Hulk vs Kurse's beatdown of Thor, but it's so heavily implied both in universe (the fear, Korath), and by the writers of the universe (Russo's). Feats are relevant..

but in this case, I just can't see the writers making Kurse stronger than Thanos if they ever met in canon in the MCU. If Fiege told the Russos to write Kurse into the movie and have him attack Thanos, there is no way they would portray Kurse stronger than Thanos.

Surtur Prime is a different animal and far and away the physically strongest.

I still Say in terms of physical strength... Thanos>Hela>=Kurse>Hulk>Thor


In terms of overall power Thanos=Thor=Hela>Kurse>Hulk.

 

[BigThor]

Dropping doesn't mean much..it's choreography. Thanos didn't really *drop* anyone, aside from punching Iron Man to the ground. Hulk has ragdolled Ultron with a punch, so he can obviously ragdoll Iron man. Thanos' punches didn't ragdoll Iron man. So that must mean Hulk hits harder than Thanos.

Thor's punches dropping Hulk, opposed to Thanos' doesn't mean he hits harder. But what we do have is both Thor and Thanos' showings against Hulk. Thanos beat down Hulk badly with his bare fists. And the fight wasn't in question after Thanos landed two punches.

I said in my post that I think rocking someone is more important than dropping them, but Thor did both which is why I rank his just a bit higher. If Thor had only on ragdolled him and not visibly rocking him I would count Thanos's higher but he didn't...he did both.

As far as Kurse (a comment from another post, that I am talking about here)... his feats are what, beating up Thor?
Thanos beat up Infinity War Thor off screen too. We don't know if he used the power stone or not, but given the general intact nature of the ship, he likely just beat him down. Regardless, it was off screen.

Who has superior durabilty? Hulk or Thor? Haven't we concluded in previous threads that the two have equal durability?

If the two have equal durability, can't we compare Kurse and Thanos' fights vs characters with strikingly similar levels of durability?

Who got beat down worse? I'd wager Thanos' beatdown of Hulk was quicker, and easier than Kurse's beatdown of Thor. If they both have similar durability to blunt force, we can conclude Thanos is stronger than Kurse. Which he is.

Narrative works in his case too. Kurse was a one off. Thanos is THE big bad of the MCU, who the Russo's shipped as stronger than the Hulk, invulnerable, and undefeated in hand to hand combat. If Thanos and Kurse squared off in an in universe fight IN canon, do you think Kurse would defeat him? Not only is Thanos significant strength captured in his beatdown of Hulk vs Kurse's beatdown of Thor, but it's so heavily implied both in universe (the fear, Korath), and by the writers of the universe (Russo's). Feats are relevant..

but in this case, I just can't see the writers making Kurse stronger than Thanos if they ever met in canon in the MCU. If Fiege told the Russos to write Kurse into the movie and have him attack Thanos, there is no way they would portray Kurse stronger than Thanos.

Surtur Prime is a different animal and far and away the physically strongest.

I still Say in terms of physical strength... Thanos>Hela>=Kurse>Hulk>Thor


In terms of overall power Thanos=Thor=Hela>Kurse>Hulk.

I guess Hulk and Thor are intended to have equal durability, but Thor has greater durability feats much greater at that. Thanos did beat Thor off screen but their is more evidence of him using the Power Stone than not, remember Thor had BURNS on his face... what kind of burns could Thanos produce with his fists?

I agree that they would write Thanos stronger than Kurse, but going off feats Kurse has it in the bag. He casually punches through Asgardian force fields, I will always rank Kurse higher and I'm not budging unless Thanos pulls out some top notch stuff in Avengers 4. If we want to go off things like Korath being scared of Thanos in Avengers 1 Hulk was referrence in much higher regard than Thor. Based on how they talked up Hulk in Avengers 1, he should be able to one shot Thor but he hasn't.

All the talk about Thanos being the "big bad" and the "toughest in the universe" felt empty to me, with the stones yes but without the stones nah he didn't live up to it. Surtur Prime would one shot Thanos without the stones and Ego would make Thanos wet his pants, so that debunks the "toughest in the universe" with just those two examples. The Russos stressed Thanos as the baddest in the universe but had Iron Man draw blood from him and Captain America resist him closing his hand. C'mon Russos, is he the strongest in the universe or not?

In strength I rank them Surtur >Kurse > Thanos >= Hela > Hulk > Thor

In power I rank them Surtur > Thanos > Thor = Hela > Kurse > Hulk.

 

[Thör-El]

All the talk about Thanos being the "big bad" and the "toughest in the universe" felt empty to me, with the stones yes but without the stones nah he didn't live up to it. Surtur Prime would one shot Thanos without the stones and Ego would make Thanos wet his pants, so that debunks the "toughest in the universe" with just those two examples. The Russos stressed Thanos as the baddest in the universe but had Iron Man draw blood from him and Captain America resist him closing his hand.

I'm with BigThor on this one.

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Hulk had time to recover between both of Thor's lightning punches. It was like 20 seconds between the two punches, unlike Thanos landing consecutive blows which never gave Hulk a chance to regroup.

They both had Hulk rocked, but Thor dropped him with single punches while Thanos did not even after 10 punches, so all things considered Thor's lightning punches get the edge. However I do agree that rocking someone rates higher than dropping them, but if you do both that ranks higher than either individually.

I second that as well.

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I agree that he's more than slightly stronger, he's decisively stronger probably at the least twice as strong maybe three times stronger.

Can't say I agree with him here though. I'd say he's 130%-150% of Hulk's strength (and I'm expecting Hulk to close that gap if he gets angry enough in Avengers 4)

As far as Kurse (a comment from another post, that I am talking about here)... his feats are what, beating up Thor?
Thanos beat up Infinity War Thor off screen too. We don't know if he used the power stone or not, but given the general intact nature of the ship, he likely just beat him down. Regardless, it was off screen.
Who got beat down worse? I'd wager Thanos' beatdown of Hulk was quicker, and easier than Kurse's beatdown of Thor. If they both have similar durability to blunt force, we can conclude Thanos is stronger than Kurse. Which he is.

I agree that they would write Thanos stronger than Kurse, but going off feats Kurse has it in the bag. He casually punches through Asgardian force fields, I will always rank Kurse higher and I'm not budging unless Thanos pulls out some top notch stuff in Avengers 4.

#1) Kurse has better physical strength feats and didn't show any clear strength limits whereas Thanos did (held back by SW, Cap resisted his hand, Iron Man pinned his arm, Strange+Drax+ Spidey+ Star Lord gadget briefly restrain him)
#2) I agree Thanos is the BIG BAD of the whole MCU and the writers would definitely make sure he somehow wins a hypothetical fight with an obscure villain like Kurse. I don't think a good writer who cared about consistency would do it by having him win a contest of pure physical strength though.
#3) "Writers will want it to happen this way regardless of whether it's logical" generally isn't a great argument.

Who has superior durabilty? Hulk or Thor? Haven't we concluded in previous threads that the two have equal durability?

Who got beat down worse? I'd wager Thanos' beatdown of Hulk was quicker, and easier than Kurse's beatdown of Thor. If they both have similar durability to blunt force, we can conclude Thanos is stronger than Kurse. Which he is.

If the two have equal durability, can't we compare Kurse and Thanos' fights vs characters with strikingly similar levels of durability?

I guess Hulk and Thor are intended to have equal durability, but Thor has greater durability feats much greater at that.

To be honest I think Kurse vs Thor was more one sided than Hulk vs Thanos. At least Hulk got a few hits in before Thanos retaliated.

As for Thor vs Hulk on durability, I don't think it's that close.
Between tanking a 30,000 foot fall without a scratch, causing/surviving an explosion that disintegrated a city, surviving the full force of a star, shrugging off reality stone hits, taking the power gem to the face, taking that 300+ ton boulder Kurse threw so hard it shattered on top of him and taking Hulk/Iron Man's attacks without a k/o or even a scratch (unlike a certain mad Titan) Thor probably has the best durability feats in the whole MCU.
*Although Hela did seem to be above him and credit where it's due Ghost Rider survived a nuke off-screen in Agents of Shield. Speaking of off-screen.....

Thanos beat up Infinity War Thor off screen too. We don't know if he used the power stone or not, but given the general intact nature of the ship, he likely just beat him down. Regardless, it was off screen.

Thanos did beat Thor off screen but there is more evidence of him using the Power Stone than not, remember Thor had BURNS on his face... what kind of burns could Thanos produce with his fists?

It's really hard to draw any conclusions from an off-screen fight.
Personally I suspect Thanos used the power gem and that Thor couldn't use his lightning inside the spaceship full of refugees. We also don't know whether the Asgardians were taken by surprise or whether the Black Order helped Thanos take down Thor.

 

[jaqua99]

Interestingly enough, after a brief search, a lot of the internet, and comic vine (which is the home of battleforums) agree on Thanos' physical superiority to Kurse. In light of all of of your guy's points, I still can't even consider Kurse is stronger, or has any shot in a fist fight.

So we can agree to disagree..and move the discussion onward to other characters

 

[Spider-Fan]

I think Thanos would thrash Kurse with or without the Gauntlet, as well.

 

[Thör-El]

Interestingly enough, after a brief search, a lot of the internet, and comic vine (which is the home of battleforums) agree on Thanos' physical superiority to Kurse. In light of all of of your guy's points, I still can't even consider Kurse is stronger, or has any shot in a fist fight.

So we can agree to disagree..and move the discussion onward to other characters

I actually agree with you/Comic Vine that MCU Thanos beats MCU Kurse in a fight. By feats Thanos is faster, far more skilled and more durable. I just don't think he's physically stronger for all the reasons I outlined above.

 

[BigThor]

Agree to disagree then, because I'm not changing my mind until Thanos get's more feats without the stones.

 

[Thör-El]

Pretty good video on Hulk's strength feats if anyone's interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfApMgKf6Tk

 

[BigThor]

Pretty good video on Hulk's strength feats if anyone's interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfApMgKf6Tk

Awesome