Wow, I lost all respect for Gladiator...

[Horrorfan]

I used to think Gladiator was tough, like Superman tough, a total bad ass. But my friend who is a hulk fanatic of dacman like preportions recently showed me scans of a Gladiator vs Hulk fight, and he got TRASHED. It wasn't even a fight really.


Man what happened? Has he been de-powered? Please tell me there is a rematch where Gladiator at least gets some dignity back?


In the mean time, at least there's always Sentry...

 

[November Rain]

what did gladiator do to sentry???

it's hard to hold your own against the hulk, especially since gladiator's existence could basically be to represent superman and show that hulk could potentially trounce him so that is technically one of his foundation roles as a character

 

[3dman27]

say again?

 

[Horrorfan]

Well he never did anything to Sentry...I like Sentry because he is one of the few characters who could likely trash Hulk and Superman. I used to think Gladiator could probably do decently against Hulk but seems I was wrong.

 

[Silicon Surfer]

I have seen scans of a part of the fight and it was not like any other appearance of Gladiator anywhere. The fight was totally absurd! The scans that were shown seem to indicate that Gladiator lost in two punches. Given Gladiators strength, speed and invulnerability, even if the Hulk was at that time stronger, it would be a physical impossibility for him to lose to the Hulk.

 

[bkhedr]

Bad writing

Gladiator is a beast of a heavy weight. He more than matches up to the Hulk

 

[BrianWilly]

You liked a character simply because he was powerful, and now that he's not as powerful as you thought he was, you don't like him anymore?

Just imagine that someone told him he had ******ed hair earlier that day or something and it made his confidence plummet.

 

[Fading]

Ya it was bad writing IMO too. Remember Gladiator broke Hyperion's neck (Hyperion as in the first Marvel Superman clone), he's fought Surfer and Ego the living planet at the same time (oops just read that fight wasn't in continuity, oh well), he recently took the eye of the third Summer's brother who's an Omega mutant. Gladiator is a badass all around. As shown in a Gladiator respect thread, he fought against a foe tossing Surfer and a few other high levels around and never for a second lost confidence, if anything an unbeatable foe made him want to try harder.

In the fight against Hulk he blew a hole in Hulk's chest, Hulk healed and Gladiator lost confidence...apparently. Then Hulk punched him like twice and threw him in a reactor.

Not taking anything from Hulk, but Gladiator's seen way worse and not lost confidence, he's taken harder hits and not been KO'd. So yes IMO it was made for the sole purpose of Marvel saying that Gladiator is Superman level and Hulk beats Superman. It hurt the character in a lot of ppl's eyes, and kind of stomped on Gladiator's past achievements. Hulk's a tough foe, but he shouldn't be able to two hit Gladiator, let alone make him lose confidence that easy.

It happened tho, the characters are all at the whims of the writers lol. Gladiator written as he should be with past showings should give Hulk a hell of a fight if not beat him. Thing goes toe to toe with Hulk for a bit, Gladiator has one hit KO'd Thing like it was nothing. Here's the Gladiator respect thread -

http://herochat.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=99852&sid=09613e42c2ec5ed2487bb458a14be8c8

Gladiator is supposed to be Pre-Crisis Superman strong, as in he's been said to move planets, and is said to be 100 times the speed of light by Reed.

So yes, IMO bad writing and a poor showing for Gladiator. Pre Crisis Superman Strength, 100x speed of light, planet moving Hyperion neck snapping Glad shouldn't be two hit KO'd by Hulk .

 

[Fading]

Just because Gladiator posts are rare, more Gladiator respect lol.

Grabs a train in just the time it takes Nova to turn around.

Breaking Hyperion's neck -

Not sure if it's continuity or not (pretty sure it isn't), but Gladiator breaking off one of Wolverine's claws like it was nothing.

Farther down in that respect thread you see Gladiator taking on multiple ppl, like Blackbolt and Quasar and Quasar's crew by himself, even taking a BB whisper to the ear and not being dead lol.

Sorry for the lengthy post, it's just I think Gladiator's one of those characters with tons of potential but rarely gets used, and if he does it's to give a good showing to another character like Hulk it seems.

 

[Victor Von Doom]

Yeah it was just poor writing. Gladiator should never get trashed by the HULK, maybe lose by a small margin, or win by a small margin, but it should never be a one sided fight.

 

[Ahura Mazda]

was the Hulk's radiation harmful to him or maybe the Hulk was in such a rage for those two punches....

 

[Xofenroht]

I remember the issue of "Uncanny" where Cannonball defeated Gladiator. So if you're going to whine about Gladiator losing to someone, you might want to read that. Hulk is no big deal and almost always the obvious victor.

 

[bkhedr]

I have that comic and that fight was terrible. I understand that they wanted to 'push' Cannonball but no way in hell does he beat Gladiator. Glads could take 50 Cannonballs.

Just another example of writings taking too much liberty and editors not doing their jobs

 

[Xofenroht]

Has Gladiator ever tangled with Thor (or King Thor)? I'm interested to see how that fight would go.

 

[1987olds442]

It was actually a pretty close fight between the Hulk and Gladiator...

 

[bkhedr]

He fought Eric Masterson (while he had the powers of Thor) during Galactic Storm.

Masterson was getting his ass handed to him till he used Mjolnir to control the Living Lightning and blitz Gladiator with him, momentarily stunning him. Then he wacked him in the face with Mjolnir a few times and put him out for a few seconds. While he was out he threw him through a wormhole and shut it behind him.

Technically a win for Masterson but if not for the Lightning's presence it would have gone the other way (it was also after Glads had mopped the floor with Wonderman)

As for Gladiator vs Thor himself I dont know that they have fought. I'm sure they must have but I couldnt tell you. I know he didnt fight King Thor though, and I dont think he'd be able to win against him.

When it comes to King Thor vs. Whoever I use this criteria: I ask myself could whoever beat Odin? If he couldnt then he certainly couldnt beat Thor with the Odinforce.

 

[Ahura Mazda]

As for Gladiator vs Thor himself I dont know that they have fought. I'm sure they must have but I couldnt tell you. I know he didnt fight King Thor though, and I dont think he'd be able to win against him.

When it comes to King Thor vs. Whoever I use this criteria: I ask myself could whoever beat Odin? If he couldnt then he certainly couldnt beat Thor with the Odinforce.

King Thor at the end of Spiral or Rune Thor was insanely powerful and really for me could only be matched up against a very well prepared Dr. Strange, Galactus, or other high end cosmic beings. Maybe the Maker....

He was beyong any normal hero comparison

 

[Brainiac 8]

I have that comic and that fight was terrible. I understand that they wanted to 'push' Cannonball but no way in hell does he beat Gladiator. Glads could take 50 Cannonballs.

Just another example of writings taking too much liberty and editors not doing their jobs

To be fair though, Cannonball didn't beat him. He just knocked him out of the sky for a moment, and then Gladiator gave the real reason he was there.

He backed out of a fight that was needless, so Cannonball didn't beat him. He just made him doubt, then punched him. If Gladiator was there for a fight, Cannonball would have been dead.

 

[November Rain]

yeah, glads underestimated his opponent and sam got a good clean shot at him, the threat was neutralised but i couldn;t see gladiator recovering from that encounter...the level of doubt placed on him by sam was significant and if the fight had continued at that pace, well...but there was time from him to get his crap back together, so one can never know...

that's different though, glad's put pretty much everything he had into that punch (or at least it was a significant chunk) and it did nothing to a completely outclassed opponent up to that point.

not the same with a hulk victory or any other against him because he tends to not do that in battle, however, he had pretty much shown he was superior to sam previously so this came as a great big shock.

 

[Xofenroht]

I still say making Gladiator doubt his strength counts as a victory against him. Sam Guthrie beat Gladiator..'nuff said.

 

[Harlekin]

Cannonball didn't beat Gladiator. He stunned him for a sec. Gladiator got up in a second and was about to trounce Sam.

 

[Brainiac 8]

Cannonball didn't beat Gladiator. He stunned him for a sec. Gladiator got up in a second and was about to trounce Sam.

Thank you, that's what I was saying.

 

[Kitsune]

 

[Jake-El]

WHOAH WHOAH WHOAH.....This thread implies that you HAD respect for Gladiator............

 

[lowly marvelite]

Nope, Hulk was just extremely pissed...Gladiator's still tough. Not many who can match up to a pissed off Hulk. Remember, Hulk is about 70 class strength when he initially changes, which puts him close range of someone like gladiator who 100 strength class(can press 100 tons or more...)all it takes is a few "yo mama jokes" and Hulk is there...