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Hulk is one of the most powerful superheroes in Marvel Comics, which often causes problems when it comes to finding villains who can match up to him. This has caused Marvel to seek more gamma-radiated characters to put up against him, as well as some characters who have advantages beyond just basic strength. Someone like The Leader matches up to Hulk in the same way that Lex Luthor and Superman match up in DC Comics, with the fights pitting brains against brawn. Likewise, there were two normal humans who tormented Hulk more than almost any other villain in his history, and they hold the most importance when it comes to his character’s development.
From gamma-radiated powerhouses to villains who attack Hulk head-on to those who set up plans to bring him down, here are Hulk’s most important villains, ranked.
10) Wendigo
Wendigo is a creature that is similar to Hulk, as he is a normal man who turns into a giant, often uncontrollable beast. Wendigo is Paul Cartier, a man who was hunting in the Canadian North Woods when he and his friends were attacked by wolves. When one of his friends died, Cartier, on the verge of madness, began to feed on his friend when he started to starve. Thanks to an ancient curse by the Elder Gods of Canadian folklore, he turned into the Wendigo.
Wendigo debuted in The Incredible Hulk #162 (1973) by Steve Englehart and Herb Trimpe when Hulk attempted to help Cartier’s sister find her brother. However, Wendigo is important for a very different reason. In The Incredible Hulk #180, Hulk found Wendigo again, and the two fought, causing untold damage to the Canadian wilderness. This led to the last panel of that issue, which introduced Wolverine to Marvel Comics for the first time. Wolverine ended up fighting Hulk and Wendigo, attempting to get them out of Canada, and that forever cements Wendigo as a part of Marvel history.
9) Agamemnon
Agamemnon is an important Hulk villain because he was an ally at first, but it was all leading to a great betrayal. This was during the intelligent “Merged” Hulk era, an integration of Banner’s three separate personalities into one character. The mysterious elderly Agamemnon recruited Hulk to lead his Pantheon as they fought evil across the globe. This was during Peter David’s incredible run on the title, and the entire purpose was to lead to Agamemnon’s betrayal.
Agamemnon was actually Vali Halfling, Loki’s son with a mortal mother. He was cursed never to grow old, and he used his magic to make himself look elderly to win the trust of the Pantheon. When he created an alliance with the Leader and then his true identity was revealed, it caused a civil war within the Pantheon, destroying the group and ending one of the greatest alliances Hulk ever had with other heroes. Agamemnon debuted in Incredible Hulk #379 (1991) by Peter David and Dale Keown.
Brian Banner
Brian Banner was Bruce Banner’s father, and he was responsible for Banner becoming the Hulk. Brian was a scientist researching gamma radiation who learned about the One Below All and stopped his research. However, at home, he was abusive to his wife, Rebecca, and young Bruce. The abuse grew so strong that Brian ended up striking and killing Rebecca in front of Bruce, which caused the boy to repress the memories. That made him a huge part of Bruce’s future mental struggles, which grew worse when Bruce accidentally killed his father in self-defense.
While all that was terrible and is what helped turn Bruce into a raging monster after his own gamma accident, Brian haunted his son from the grave. This then turned real when Brian was resurrected as a fusion of Devil Hulk and Guilt Hulk during “Chaos War,” and then when he further tormented Hulk from the Below-Place, where he was assimilated with the Leader, who went there in an attempt to destroy the universe. No one has hurt Bruce Banner more than his own father.
7) The U-Foes
Hulk fought the Fantastic Four more than once over the years, but in his own title, he even got a chance to fight a different version of the Fantastic Four. The U-Foes were led by an industrialist who wanted to replicate the moment that gave the FF their powers, and he took his own spacecraft into space to do so. They debuted in Incredible Hulk #254 (1980) by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema. When Hulk saw them and thought they were in danger, he tried to save them, and it caused their new powers to become unstable. They blamed Hulk and became the U-Foes.
Vector has telekinesis, Vapor can alter her form into any known gas, X-Ray turned into a living energy field, and Ironclad developed steel skin and superhuman strength and durability. The team began to fight Hulk any chance they got, and they were even hired by Henry Peter Gyrich once to work for them to bring down Hulk. Their powers were immense, and this was proven in the Maestro timeline when Vapor proved powerful enough to kill Hercules.
6) Zzzax
Zzzax is a unique villain for Hulk since he is someone who Hulk can’t beat by just punching. This isn’t even a human turned into a creature. Zzzax is the result of an accident at a nuclear power plant when a chain reaction formed a humanoid form. Over time, the more people that Zzzax killed, the more intelligent and self-aware it became. Zzzax debuted in Incredible Hulk #166 (1973) by Steve Englehart and Herb Trimpe, where the first heroes that it fought were Hulk and Hawkeye.
Zzzax was a hugely important villain for Hulk since it forced the Green Goliath to find ways to beat the monster without his brute strength. It even got to crossover to movies, as it ended up as the villain in Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United (2013), and it took both Avengers’ full might to bring the creature down. While Zzzax has only appeared in 31 Marvel Comics to date, it remains one of the most memorable Hulk villains in history.
5) Absorbing Man
Absorbing Man has been a villain who has locked up with several heavyweight superheroes and is powerful enough to cause problems for everyone from Thor to Hulk. However, over his time in Marvel Comics, he has mostly been linked to the Hulk. Carl Creel’s powers involve absorbing anything he touches and gaining the powers of that object. This means when he touches steel, his body turns to steel. He can touch adamantium and utilize that material in battle. As a result, he is one of the few villains who can hurt Hulk and even draw blood.
After appearing in Daredevil #1 (1964) as Rocky Davis, he officially debuted as Absorbing Man in Journey Into Mystery #114 (1965) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, where he fought Thor. As for Hulk, the two fought countless times in comics, and Absorbing Man was even a part of Gamma Flight when Henry Peter Gyrich put the team together to hunt down Hulk and other gamma threats in the world.
4) Maestro
Maestro is Hulk from Earth-9200, the survivor of a nuclear apocalypse. When he rose up in that world, he decided to become a ruler over the survivors and began to kill any superpowered being who was left to challenge him. He debuted in Hulk: Future Imperfect #1 by Peter David and George Pérez, when Hulk from Earth-616 was transported to Maestro’s world and had to find a way to beat his variant self alongside that world’s Rick Jones.
Maestro seemed like a great one-and-done villain for a special storyline, but he became so popular that he returned years later to show his origin and how he got to where he was when Hulk showed up to fight him. Maestro killed his former teammates in the Pantheon, the demigod Hercules, and even destroyed AIM. He also started World War M, where he ended up killing the Android Human Torch, Doctor Doom, and Namor. The only reason Hulk beat Maestro was that he sent him back via time travel to the original gamma explosion.
3) Abomination
Abomination is the closest to Hulk in strength and power as anyone. In fact, he is stronger than Hulk when Hulk is calm, and it is only when Hulk gets enraged and powers up that he eclipses his enemy. Abomination debuted in Tales to Astonish #90 (1967) by Stan Lee and Gil Kane, as Emil Blonsky, a Communist spy who infiltrated a base where Bruce Banner was working. While trying to sabotage the missiles at the base, he ended up transformed into the hulking Abomination after an accident.
With the same gamma mutate physiology as Hulk, Abomination became the first real threat to Hulk when it came to physical power levels. In fact, Abomination is twice as strong as Hulk, and under normal circumstances, he can beat and even knock out Hulk. That said, Hulk has the rage that makes him stronger, which causes him to outclass Blonsky later in fights. Despite this, the two have clashed more than almost any other Hulk villain in Marvel Comics, and he is the most dangerous enemy when it comes to pure strength.
2) Leader
The Leader is the most dangerous threat to the Hulk because he has the power that perfectly contrasts with Hulk’s pure strength. Both Samuel Sterns and Bruce Banner got their power from gamma radiation, but while Banner gained super strength, Sterns gained an unmatched genius-level intellect. The potential of his intelligence was nearly unlimited. His ability to predict probable outcomes of tactical and strategic scenarios was so advanced that it bordered on clairvoyance. Leader debuted in Tales to Astonish #62 (1964) by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
This allowed the Leader to know what was going to happen before it did, so he was always one step ahead of Hulk in almost every battle. No one came closer to beating Hulk on a regular basis than Leader, and this was both true on Earth and beyond. The most horrific storyline for Hulk came when Leader went to the Below-Place and merged with Brian Banner to become the host for the One Below All. This was the one moment that brought Hulk to his lowest, and it was all Leader’s machinations.
1) General Thunderbolt Ross
The most dangerous enemy Hulk ever had was a normal human named General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross. This one man had the entire United States military at his call and relentlessly hunted down Hulk, refusing to accept for a moment that Hulk could be a hero. This was made even more complicated when Ross’s daughter Betty fell in love with Bruce Banner and the two married, even despite Ross learning Banner was the Hulk. It just made their antagonistic relationship even worse.
Ross debuted in Incredible Hulk #1 (1962) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, as he was there when the accident happened. He then became Hulk’s most persistent enemy for years, with the irony being that Ross was the hero in the situation, although his actions often bordered on immoral decisions when it came to Hulk. Eventually, Ross became a gamma-radiated superhero as well when he became Red Hulk, and ironically, that is when he stopped being a Hulk villain and his role expanded to the mainstream Marvel Universe. However, for the first few decades, General Ross was Hulk’s most important villain, and it was all without having any superpowers.
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