Hulk vs the MonsterVerse: does he beat every Titan but Ghidorah?

Could the MCU's Hulk fight his way through the MonsterVerse? I think he gets a long way. He wins eight straight fights, starting with the Skullcrawler from Kong: Skull Island (2017), before King Ghidorah finally stops him.

These Titans weigh tens of thousands of tons. They level whole cities, survive nuclear blasts and fight other monsters the size of skyscrapers. So I'm putting Hulk through the full gauntlet, from the Skullcrawler up to King Ghidorah, Shimo and Evolved Godzilla. Hulk is fully healed between every round, and I'm using his base version from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Why Hulk's strength in the MCU puts him above Thor

Dr. Bruce Banner is a famous scientist and a leading expert in biochemistry, nuclear physics and gamma radiation. Because of that, he was one of the scientists tasked with recreating the super soldier serum, the experiment that turned Steve Rogers into Captain America. Bruce believed the answer lay in gamma radiation. After experimenting on himself, the mild scientist found that anger or provocation turned him into the rampaging, incredibly powerful monster known as Hulk.

Hulk is stronger than Thor, even if Thor doesn't want to admit it. Thor needs both hands to block one of Hulk's punches, and you can't say the same the other way around. Hulk kept sending Thor flying and smashing him and his brother. That matters, because if Hulk outmatches Thor, he can in theory reach the same levels Thor has reached. That includes Mjolnir moving those giant planet sized rings, or Thor striking Jotunheim and shattering a continent sized valley on that ice planet.

Thor isn't the only one Hulk sent flying. Ask Avengers: Age of Ultron how hard Hulk punches, or ask Abomination what it's like to clash with him. Look at how Hulk dropped that giant Leviathan with a single punch. Those creatures were plowing through skyscrapers before Hulk stepped in, and he stopped one cold. Calculations for stopping something that size put that punch at around 30,000 to 50,000 tons of force.

Feats like that are consistent for Hulk. Take Surtur at his peak, not the small 18 foot Surtur from the start of Ragnarok. Marvel's visual effects team confirmed this version stood 800 meters tall when he took the punch. He grew to 4,000 meters by the end, but he was 800 meters here. Hulk covered that distance in about three seconds and sent him staggering back. The smaller Surtur barely moved from direct Mjolnir hits, while Hulk nearly knocked the big one down. Hulk can also bend a vibranium wall; the only others we've seen damage vibranium bare handed are Red Hulk and Thanos. In She-Hulk, he was throwing rocks at Mach 32. That's escape velocity, the speed anything needs to leave Earth's atmosphere.

Hulk's durability, and why the Thanos fight is misleading

Sure, Hulk may have done badly against Thanos. I think that's more impressive for Thanos than it is damning for Hulk. It shows how strong Thanos is, not how weak Hulk is. I also think some bad writing is at play here, and it has warped our view.

Imagine Thanos still beats Hulk up and knocks him down exactly as he did. But then Hulk bursts out of the Hulkbuster suit at the end as he was supposed to, crushes Cull Obsidian, then fights Thanos again and does better the second time. I'm not saying he wins that fight, just that he does better. I think we would all have forgiven Hulk for losing to Thanos the first time. Instead, we got Smart Hulk, and that left a different impression.

Don't let that one fight fool you. Hulk took tons of hits from Thor and Abomination. He took many hits from the Hulkbuster, a suit Tony designed specifically to beat him, built to lift hundreds of tons just to match him physically. None of it seemed to bother him much. It may have rattled him, but it never came close to putting him down. Even when Thor used his full godly power, Hulk kept coming back.

Hulk technically knocked Thor down in that fight. He fell from miles in the air and crashed down. He was pushed through 50 floors, had a skyscraper collapse on top of him, and was only beaten by a cheap shot as he started to calm down. I don't think I'm exaggerating. Hulk has real durability, and he'll be very hard to hurt. At the end of the day, Hulk is still Hulk, and that still means he's the strongest there is.

Round one: Hulk vs. the Skullcrawler from Kong: Skull Island

First up is the giant Skullcrawler from Kong: Skull Island, and this is a strong start. The Skullcrawler was close to 100 feet tall and 200 feet from head to tail, and strong enough to overpower the young Kong. It flung things with its tail, shrugged off thrown boulders and huge trees, and nearly killed Kong on several occasions.

The problem is that Hulk operates on a different level. He stopped a giant Chitauri Leviathan with one punch and made Surtur stagger. The Skullcrawler, on the other hand, was badly hurt by a ship's propeller. Kong finally killed it by reaching into its mouth and ripping out its insides.

I can see something like that happening here. Hulk is so much smaller than the Skullcrawler that it might swallow him whole. Given Hulk's strength, letting him into your stomach could be the worst thing you could do, and he would burst right back out. Even if he stays outside, his punches should be more than enough to finish the Skullcrawler. I don't think this matchup is close. Hulk wins.

Round two: Hulk vs. Kong from Skull Island

Next is King Kong himself, specifically the 2017 Skull Island version, not the bigger, stronger Kong who later faced Godzilla. In 1973, Kong stood about 104 feet tall and weighed 158 tons. That's still huge and certainly powerful. He tore apart helicopters, threw trees through them and eventually killed the Skullcrawler.

But this Kong was more vulnerable than his older self. Helicopter blades could cut his hand, and napalm was enough to knock him out for a while. Compare that with Hulk, who shrugged off military fire, survived being punched through buildings and traded blows with Thor.

Kong is definitely smarter, and definitely bigger. Still, I see no reason the punch that killed the Leviathan or dropped Surtur couldn't finish Kong too. That punch would be far stronger than anything Kong faced on Skull Island. Hulk wins.

Round three: Hulk vs. both MUTOs from Godzilla (2014)

Round three puts Hulk against both MUTOs from Godzilla (2014), and suddenly things get much harder. Together, those two nearly killed Godzilla. The male could attack him from the air, while the female knocked him down and pounded him everywhere. Between them, they brought down a 90,000 ton monster after stabbing him with their claws again and again. So yes, Hulk could be in real trouble.

Here's the thing, though. The MUTOs were so effective against Godzilla because they evolved specifically to hunt his kind, and because he's an enormous target. Hulk is only about 8 feet tall. He has the jumping power to launch straight at their heads, and we've already seen what his punches can do. I definitely think he can hurt these creatures, especially since one of them was killed just by crashing into a building.

The female is definitely stronger than the male, and their claws could hurt Hulk. But he doesn't have to overpower them with brute force. He can go after their eyes, their joints and any other weak points. I think Hulk takes out the male first, then focuses everything on the female. It's his hardest fight so far, but I think he can do it. Hulk wins.

Round four: Hulk vs. Rodan

Rodan has one obvious advantage: he can fly, and he's an incredibly fast flier. He's a 39,000 ton monster that can keep up with fighter jets and destroy cities just by flying over them. He's also a living volcano with burning wings and a body that can survive inside a volcano. Rodan even survived being knocked out of the sky by King Ghidorah. Hulk will have a hard time finishing him.

But Rodan isn't the kind of monster that hangs back and attacks from a distance. He's a very aggressive fighter. He dives straight at opponents, grabs them with his talons and tries to tear them apart. Against Hulk, that could be a serious mistake. It's the same thing Fenris did, and Hulk beat that giant wolf. Hulk has been thrown through buildings, smashed into the ground and hit by explosions without taking much damage.

I think Rodan swoops down to grab Hulk and suddenly realizes he's holding something far stronger than himself. Once Hulk gets hold of him, he can start tearing at those wings, pounding his head and maybe bringing him crashing to the ground. Given how Rodan fights, I think he eventually gets too close, Hulk grabs him, and it's a very bad day for Rodan. Hulk wins.

Round five: Hulk vs. Mothra and her silk

For a giant moth, Mothra is very dangerous. She pinned two of King Ghidorah's heads to a building with her silk, and during her fight with Rodan, she stabbed him right in the chest with her stinger. I think her silk could be Hulk's biggest problem. If it was strong enough to hold King Ghidorah for a while, it could certainly trap Hulk too. Look at what Spider-Man's webs did to him.

The problem is that Mothra isn't as strong as the other Titans Hulk has faced. Rodan was throwing her through buildings and burning her wings, and he looked set to win the whole fight until she landed that lucky strike. Hulk smashes buildings with ease. He tore apart the Hulkbuster and traded punches with Thor, and I think he can throw Mothra around. That's all it takes to throw her off.

If Mothra trapped Hulk in her silk, I can see it slowing him down. But I can just as easily see him tearing through it, getting angrier because of it, then landing a knockout blow just like he did with the Leviathan. Hulk wins.

Round six: Hulk vs. Skar King without Shimo

Skar King is much weaker than you'd think for the main villain of an entire film. He isn't very strong or durable, at least compared with Alpha Titans like Kong and Godzilla. He relies far more on speed, agility and being a skilled fighter. In his first fight with Kong, he dodged Kong's attacks, kicked him around and even controlled him with his giant bone whip.

Once Kong started to get the upper hand, though, Skar King decided he didn't want to fight anymore and brought out Shimo. That's a very good strategy when you have a giant ice monster to do the dirty work for you. He doesn't have Shimo here. And his whole fast and agile approach won't work against someone much smaller than him. Hulk can land hits easily, dodge easily and bounce around like a bullet, doing his best Ant-Man impression.

If Hulk can drop Surtur, who is much bigger and heavier than Skar King, he can knock Skar King down with his hits. Without Shimo to save him, Skar King is definitely going to lose. Hulk wins.

Round seven: Hulk vs. Godzilla from 2014

Now we reach the heavyweights, because Hulk has to fight Godzilla himself. Specifically, this is the Godzilla from 2014, not the much faster and stronger versions we see later. Even so, he's a monster in every sense. He stands 355 feet tall, weighs about 90,000 tons and is strong enough to flatten cities and beat the MUTOs. He survived nuclear blasts, including the Castle Bravo test, and his atomic breath killed the female MUTO when he fired it straight down her throat.

Here's where it gets interesting. This Godzilla is much slower and less agile than he'll later become, so Hulk will definitely land his punches. The bigger question is whether Hulk is strong enough to make a difference. Minutes after using the Infinity Gauntlet and badly injuring one arm, he was forced to hold up the weight of the entire Avengers compound with his remaining good arm. That's millions of tons with one arm, after damage that had injured Thanos. In She-Hulk, Smart Hulk, a weaker version, lifted a rock bigger than himself and threw it into orbit so fast it caught fire. That's tens of thousands of tons from the weaker Hulk, never mind Surtur.

On the other hand, Godzilla can definitely hurt Hulk. One strong bite could do serious damage, and his atomic breath would be dangerous. But Hulk is such a small target that hitting him won't be easy. I think it turns into a war of attrition. Both are very strong and very tough, but Hulk lands more hits, takes fewer and can reach places Godzilla can't, like his back. Godzilla is too big and too slow to do anything about it. It might take a while, but I think Hulk eventually brings Godzilla down. Hulk wins.

Round eight: Hulk vs. the fully grown Kong from The New Empire

Hulk fights King Kong again, but this time it's the fully grown Kong from Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. I can't stress enough how different he is from the Kong in round two. He's now over 300 feet tall, weighs tens of thousands of tons and has gone toe to toe with Godzilla several times. Then there's his Beast Glove, which makes his hits so strong they equal a meteor impact. We've seen Kong knock Evolved Godzilla down and punch him in the face during their fight in Egypt. This is definitely the strongest opponent Hulk has faced so far.

Compare their actual strength feats, though, and I think Hulk has a very strong case. After the Infinity Gauntlet, Smart Hulk lifted a massive part of Avengers headquarters with one good arm. In She-Hulk, he threw a rock so fast it flew toward the atmosphere, and that's Smart Hulk. Then there's the Surtur fight, where Hulk made a monster towering over mountains stagger. Kong's strength in knocking Godzilla down is impressive, but I think Hulk's best feats at least compare.

Durability is interesting. Kong survived attacks from Godzilla, Mechagodzilla and Shimo, but he's also been shown to get hurt by repeated attacks, especially super attacks. Hulk was punched through buildings by the Hulkbuster, traded blows with Thor and survived Surtur's throws, and he has a healing factor. His size is also a big advantage. He's about 8 feet tall but hits hard enough to hurt monsters hundreds of times bigger, and concentrating all that force in such a small fist is like an Ant-Man hit with the force of a bullet.

Ironically, Kong is the better fighter and can hurt Hulk badly. But like everyone else on this list, he'll find Hulk very hard to hit. Hulk can launch himself hundreds of feet into the air, leap straight at Kong's face and attack places Kong struggles to defend. The longer the fight goes, the more chances Hulk has to get angrier, grow stronger and keep fighting. Kong is clearly stronger than he was on Skull Island, but I still think Hulk is a very bad matchup for him. Hulk wins.

Round nine: King Ghidorah is where Hulk's run ends

I think this is the end for the big green rage monster, because Ghidorah is a true monster. He's over 500 feet tall, weighs 141,056 tons and is strong enough to overpower Godzilla. During their fight in Boston, Ghidorah grabbed Godzilla, carried him thousands of feet into the air and dropped him straight to the ground. Just lifting Godzilla off the ground is incredible. Carrying him that high is one of the most impressive strength feats in the whole MonsterVerse.

Hulk is strong enough that I think he could hurt King Ghidorah if he landed a solid hit. The problem is that Ghidorah is also incredibly tough, the strongest Titan we've seen so far. He survived Godzilla's atomic breath. He even survived Godzilla ripping off one of his heads underwater, then grew another one. So even if Hulk badly injures one of Ghidorah's heads, it won't change much.

His strength and durability aren't even the biggest issues. Unlike Kong, Ghidorah doesn't have to fight Hulk up close. His three heads fire gravity beams strong enough to tear through skyscrapers. He knocked Rodan out of the sky, destroyed Mothra and overpowered Godzilla. Hulk is extremely tough, and given the force behind his punches, I don't think Ghidorah could ignore him. But being strong enough to hurt King Ghidorah is different from having a good way to beat him.

Even if Hulk leaps up and starts pounding one of the heads, Ghidorah can fly away, regenerate and start blasting him with gravity beams again. I think that's where this fight ends up. Ghidorah crushes Hulk with gravity beams, smashes him into the ground, or keeps attacking until he can't get back up. Unfortunately, after eight straight wins, Hulk's run ends here. King Ghidorah wins.

Round ten: Why Shimo's ice breath could freeze Hulk

Technically Hulk has already lost, but say he somehow got past King Ghidorah. His next opponent would be Shimo, and this could be an even worse matchup. Shimo is one of the biggest Titans we've seen in the MonsterVerse, strong enough to rival Evolved Godzilla. In their fight in Rio, she threw Godzilla across the battlefield and overpowered him again and again, and that's a much stronger Godzilla than the one Hulk fought earlier. Her durability is just as impressive. She took many attacks from Evolved Godzilla, including his upgraded atomic breath, without any real injury.

Hulk might be strong enough to hurt her. He made Surtur stagger and beat Thor, who can move those giant rings. But I think there's a strong case that Shimo is the toughest monster he's faced here, and even a big punch won't drop her easily. The real problem is her ice breath. It hurt King Kong instantly, froze Skar King solid and even froze Godzilla. Hulk has shown nothing to suggest he wouldn't freeze solid too, and he has no way to counter it. Even if Hulk somehow survived King Ghidorah, I think Shimo would stop him. Shimo wins.

Round eleven: Evolved Godzilla at full power

For the final round, just for fun, imagine Hulk somehow survived both Ghidorah and Shimo. His last opponent would be Evolved Godzilla, Godzilla at his peak. Remember the round seven Godzilla Hulk barely beat? Evolved Godzilla is faster, more agile and can store 20 times more atomic energy. You can see it in The New Empire: he was fast enough to chase Kong, strong enough to slam him through a pyramid and able to take on Shimo head to head.

I think the biggest difference is his atomic breath. In 2014, it was fairly limited, and he used it only a few times against the MUTOs. Now he's like a walking nuclear reactor running at double power. His evolved breath is strong enough to blast Shimo away and to destroy the huge ice storm she created over Rio. He could already dig deep into the Earth with it before, and now it's 20 times stronger.

I don't think Hulk can do anything here but wave the white flag. Godzilla is bigger, stronger and tougher, and maybe just as fast and agile for his size. The atomic breath is a huge trump card, so Godzilla wins this one easily. That leaves Hulk with eight wins before King Ghidorah finally stops him, which is impressive for someone who's only eight feet tall.