The Strongest In The Marvel Universe?

[TheCorpulent1]

No one's surprised. A lot of us just think it was stupid.

 

[CBG]

That reminds me, what does Hulk fans think of Loeb/Sale's Hulk: Gray?

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

"I don't know if this has been mentioned yet or not, but I saw a clip of the Hulk vs. Thor animation. As I grew up with Marvel, I know that Thor and the Hulk were supposed to be equal in physical strength. Stan Lee in an interview once said that he thought Thor should be stronger. But in this animation I saw the Hulk pound Thor like he was a punching bag, and in the end Thor was lying unconscious and bloody in the dirt while the Hulk kept pounding away on him. Thor should have been dead after a beating like that."-Tricon7

Sadly, it has come to epitomize Hulk/Thor matchups. Its the darndest thing I've ever seen...multiple times Marvel has made reference to Thor as their top dog, whatever you want to call it, and this latest DVD just puts the exclamation point on the whole thing. I've discussed and read all sorts of conspiracy theories on this subject (Thor's poor showing against Marvel's own Hulk and DC's Superman) on multiple sites; poor writing, popularity of one character over another, editorial sabotage...you name it, I think I've probably read it. Then a no-name from out the blue calling himself the Sentry comes along and forces me to rethink all those theories. Why does Marvel not crown their top dog Thor and write him as such? I don't know. I'm completely lost on the subject...

The Sentry was referred to as the most powerful person on Earth in WWH.

And, personally, I dont think popularity has anything to do with Thor's showings against the Hulk, Hulk is A LOT more powerful than GR, but both times they have fought, GR has more than held his own, and is yet to suffer defeat by The Hulk.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Ghost Rider was sadly more popular than Thor for a pretty long time.

 

[Shemtov]

Excluding Cosmic and conseptual beings, in terms of raw power, Thor.
In termas of strengh, Hercules. Though Really Pissed of Hulk is stronger.

 

[greenrage36]

1: I can't believe this thread is STILLLLLLL going!
2: I"m totally cool with Thor Odinson's analysis. I was very disappointed with Thor's appearance in Hulk VS. I'm a HUGE fan of the hulk, but no.freaking.WAY should he have been able to just waltz around Asgard like that. I kept waiting for ol' Goldielocks to lay the smacketh down..but nope.
(Maybe Odin should hire Wolverine as a hitman for Asgard..he certainly fared better in the film...ugh).
3: I STILL can't believe this thread is still going.......

 

[DACMAN]

Excluding Cosmic and conseptual beings, in terms of raw power, Thor.
In termas of strengh, Hercules. Though Really Pissed of Hulk is stronger.

Bias much...

Power, Silver Surfer hands down. Strength is the HULK. Stan wrote him to be the strongest Marvel character ever. It always has been. Herc is a joke. He's a B list hero at best, a D list at worst. His strength has always been around The Things.

 

[greenrage36]

Bias much...

Herc is a joke. He's a B list hero at best, a D list at worst. His strength has always been around The Things.

Y'know...ol' Herc does seem to get the short end of the stick sometimes for his strength rep. He really shouldn't..he is...well..HERCULES for one thing! I haven't followed him too much in recent years, but maybe he's due for a power-up?
I never really got the same kind of 'oh s**t, he's gonna whoop-ass' kind of vibe out of him, that I got out of some of the other Marvel heavy hitters. His always seemed more of a 'oh..ho-hum, yeah he's got super strength...I guess..." kind of vibe. Maybe that boy needs to start pulling more cities around! lol

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Hercules' power level is just fine. He's at least as strong as the Hulk unless the Hulk is really, really, really, really, really, really angry. In fact, we just saw him stand up to the Hulk in World War Hulk. Yes, he took a pretty intense beating, but 1) he was trying to talk to the Hulk, not fight, and 2) that beating came from what was described as the Hulk at the "strongest he's ever been" and Herc was still standing at the end of it. He killed the head of the Skrull gods. He throws the Sentry through a roof and throws down with Typhon, a Titan who took on entire teams of Avengers on a couple occasions, in the issue of his comic that comes out tomorrow. Hercules is plenty strong. Stronger than the Hulk at the Hulk's normal level is debatable, but he's definitely much stronger than the Thing (who, I should point out, has also gotten a boost in more recent years--he was described in Avengers: The Initiative as being class 100 when, a few years ago, he used to be around class 80 or 90).

 

[greenrage36]

Ahh..well that's cool than. I actually didn't follow too much of the WWH story as it just seemed a step backwards from Planet Hulk. In fact, I haven't really followed too much of the Marvel Universe lately, so I fully admit I am a bit out of the loop about things.

Which is one of the great reasons why come here! t:

I always figured on Hercules being stronger than the hulk on his base level, (if he was written properly that is). I also seem to remember a Hulk/Hercules battle (maybe an annual or something?), where I remember being a little bummed it wasn't more of an even match. Don't get me wrong, I still think the outcome would go in Hulk's favor, but I was hoping for more of a long back-and-forth tussle, and as I remember it..ol' Herc got a severe beatdown, with not many good showings at all. Yay for Hulk winning..but Nay for the poor fight is what I'm trying to say I guess..anyway....

 

[TheCorpulent1]

If I'm thinking of the same Hulk/Herc fight you are, it actually made sense. Did Herc have long hair, no beard, and a sort of weird costume on? Because if that's the fight you're talking about, that was Herc standing up to the Hulk when he was fully mortal, without the boosts to his strength, toughness, and healing that being a full-blown god gives him. In the WWH fight, for example, Herc's face was all bruised and f***ed up by the end of it because he was effectively letting the Hulk punch him while he tried to talk sense into the Hulk, but by the next issue, I'm pretty sure his face was back to normal.

 

[greenrage36]

Oh yeah....that sounds right! It's been awhile, I had forgotten about the mortal aspect of Herc in that fight. I guess that WOULD be accurate after all, since even with his godliness (sp?), he would be in for a hell of a scrap.
Thanks for rebooting my memory, I was debating on digging through my comic boxes to check on that issue.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

No problem. I don't remember anything too specific about it myself, just that Herc didn't have his immortality and other godly powers, but he kept coming back to try and stop the Hulk anyway.

 

[greenrage36]

Well now that I've got my update on Hercules..can anybody tell me what has been going on with Gladiator lately? He's not one of my favorite characters, (in fact, I think he's kind of a pr*ck actually), but I never minded his overall placement within the Marvel Universe. What's been going on with him? I don't suppose he made a showing against jade jaws during WWH?

LOL...perhaps I've just discovered how this thread is still going...from numbnuts like ME digging for comic information..hahahaha!!

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Nope, Gladiator wasn't in WWH, but he's currently appearing in War of Kings, a big event with a bunch of Marvel's cosmic characters. Black Bolt and the Inhumans took over the Kree Empire while Vulcan, brother of Havok and Cyclops, took over the Shi'ar Empire. So in the first issue of War of Kings, the Inhumans were going to solidify their power in the Kree Empire by having Crystal marry Ronan the Accuser, but Vulcan sent Gladiator and the Imperial Guard to crash the wedding and kidnap Lilandra, who had been branded a traitor to the Shi'ar and was hiding out with the Kree. Gladiator beats the crap out of Black Bolt and feels ambivalent about serving Vulcan, who's clearly a sadistic bastard, but that's about it. I'm sure he'll have some other stuff as the War of Kings crossover continues, though.

 

[Franklin Richards]

I believe they are doing a Gladiator Origin story after War of Kings starts to wind down. Or towards the end of it anyway. Some sort of mini or one shot if I remember.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Really? The only thing I heard about was a short story within War of Kings: Warriors, which is a 2-issue online comic.

 

[Franklin Richards]

Yeah. I thought that was an origin story. Or at least an early one.

WAR OF KINGS: WARRIORS #1 (of 2)
Written by CHRISTOS N. GAGE
Penciled by MAHMUD ASRAR & CARLOS MAGNO
Cover by PAUL RENAUD
A WAR OF KINGS TIE IN!
What shocking event sent Gladiator on his path to becoming the leader of the Shi’Ar Imperial Guard? Christos Gage (AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE) and Mahmud Asrar (NOVA ANNUAL #1) reveal a life-changing moment in the early days of this infamous X-foe! Plus: What is Blastaar’s grand plan, and how far will he go to succeed? Christos and Carlos Magno show you why you will bow to the living bomb blast! Yes, it’s two stories in one issue that spotlights key players in the War of Kings!
40 PGS./Rated T+ ...$3.99


That's it.

 

[greenrage36]

Beats the crap outta BB huh? Hmmm...how was that handled? In fact, how is the series itself? Is it worth a look?
In fact...(stamps foot), I think I'm going to make a seperate post on what's been happening lately in the comics world, dagnabbit! That way I dont get too far off the 'strength' part of this thread...

*by the way...how come the Rocket Racer didn't make it in the strength poll....he was a bad mammajamma right....right?*

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I thought it was handled well enough. It was a smash-and-grab sort of operation, built mostly on speed. The Imperial Guard teleports in, causes a bit of chaos, grabs Lilandra during said chaos, and teleports out. So Black Bolt was pretty much blindsided by Gladiator and then Gladiator just never let up. If they fight again (and they probably will since there are like 5 more issues to the mini-series), I imagine Black Bolt will make a better showing. They're about even in strength, speed, and toughness, but Black Bolt's got his super-powerful voice and Gladiator's got heat vision and stuff, so neither one should have a huge advantage over the other.

Yeah. I thought that was an origin story. Or at least an early one.


WAR OF KINGS: WARRIORS #1 (of 2)
Written by CHRISTOS N. GAGE
Penciled by MAHMUD ASRAR & CARLOS MAGNO
Cover by PAUL RENAUD
A WAR OF KINGS TIE IN!
What shocking event sent Gladiator on his path to becoming the leader of the Shi’Ar Imperial Guard? Christos Gage (AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE) and Mahmud Asrar (NOVA ANNUAL #1) reveal a life-changing moment in the early days of this infamous X-foe! Plus: What is Blastaar’s grand plan, and how far will he go to succeed? Christos and Carlos Magno show you why you will bow to the living bomb blast! Yes, it’s two stories in one issue that spotlights key players in the War of Kings!
40 PGS./Rated T+ ...$3.99


That's it.

Oh, right, they're printing Warriors out and selling it in a couple months.

 

[greenrage36]

Hmmmm..I might want to check out the rematch! That could be pretty sweet. Maybe this series might be one that I pick up for my birthday splurge coming up. Well, pick up and FOLLOW that is....

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Marvel's cosmic stuff has almost always been great for the past couple of years.

 

[DACMAN]

Hercules' power level is just fine. He's at least as strong as the Hulk unless the Hulk is really, really, really, really, really, really angry. In fact, we just saw him stand up to the Hulk in World War Hulk. Yes, he took a pretty intense beating, but 1) he was trying to talk to the Hulk, not fight, and 2) that beating came from what was described as the Hulk at the "strongest he's ever been" and Herc was still standing at the end of it. He killed the head of the Skrull gods. He throws the Sentry through a roof and throws down with Typhon, a Titan who took on entire teams of Avengers on a couple occasions, in the issue of his comic that comes out tomorrow. Hercules is plenty strong. Stronger than the Hulk at the Hulk's normal level is debatable, but he's definitely much stronger than the Thing (who, I should point out, has also gotten a boost in more recent years--he was described in Avengers: The Initiative as being class 100 when, a few years ago, he used to be around class 80 or 90).

Took on the entire Avengers here. Including Herc.

Hercules wants Hulk to help him find all the missing heroes. Hulk isn’t in the mood. Hulk pounds Hercules literally within an inch of his life. Hercules is spared when Zeus saves his butt.

 

[DACMAN]

Well now that I've got my update on Hercules..can anybody tell me what has been going on with Gladiator lately? He's not one of my favorite characters, (in fact, I think he's kind of a pr*ck actually), but I never minded his overall placement within the Marvel Universe. What's been going on with him? I don't suppose he made a showing against jade jaws during WWH?

LOL...perhaps I've just discovered how this thread is still going...from numbnuts like ME digging for comic information..hahahaha!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4BK3KV0EYI

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Ghost Rider was sadly more popular than Thor for a pretty long time.

Both times GR has faced Hulk, he wasnt at the top of his popular streak, first time he faced Hulk was in like his 6th issue, 2nd was WWH, Thor was definately more popular both times IMO.