It’s not as simple as who can punch the hardest.
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The Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s Nick Fury puts together a group of remarkable people in The Avengers. He doesn’t have much of a choice because Loki arrives on Earth with his mysterious scepter and starts twisting the minds of Clint Barton and Erik Selvig. While the God of Mischief’s mission is unclear, after the events of Thor, Fury isn’t going to take a chance with an Asgardian. Iron Man and Captain America are two of the first recruits, and despite their differences, they’re ready to fight to protect their home. Bruce Banner also comes on board, but Fury and the rest of SHIELD claim that it’s not because of the giant monster living with him. They want him to track the Tesseract and stay on the helicarrier. Loki has other plans, though, unleashing Hulk and forcing Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to fight their new friend.
Hulk proves to be a major problem early in the MCU. However, as the years go on, the other Avengers realize they have what it takes to take him on. A few of them even get the better of the Banner’s alter-ego, proving that there’s more to winning a battle than strength alone.
5) Hawkeye
Barton never gets the opportunity to face the Hulk, and that’s probably for the best. Despite his excellent marksmanship, Hawkeye probably doesn’t have an arrow strong enough to stop Hulk in his tracks. He explains to Wanda Maximoff during Avengers: Age of Ultron that he’s out of his depth while fighting robots, and his green teammate is in a whole other league. The next time Hulk goes on a rampage, Hawkeye should consider sitting on a perch and assisting someone more qualified for the fight.
4) Captain America
Like his bow-wielding teammate, Steve Rogers stays out of Hulk’s way for the most part. He orders the monster around now and again, but he knows that he’s not the one to act as a deterrent. If the old friends did come to blows, though, it wouldn’t go great for Captain America. While his battle strategy gives him an edge over a mindless creature, the sheer force he would have to endure would be too much for the hero to handle.
3) Iron Man
Iron Man is the first character on this list to fight Hulk. Despite Tony Stark respecting Banner more than anyone, he realizes the threat his alter ego poses and develops the Hulkbuster armor. Tony puts it on during Avengers: Age of Ultron and holds his own against Hulk. The creature even goes down for the count after Tony hits him in the head with a nasty punch. However, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that Tony gets pretty lucky, and things could go in a different direction if the two heroes have a rematch.
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2) Black Widow
If The Avengers were the only MCU movie, Natasha Romanoff would be last on this list. When Hulk starts tearing apart the helicarrier, the spy can do nothing but run, and after it’s over, she’s pretty shaken up. She doesn’t let Hulk get the better of her again, though, developing a process to turn the beast back into Banner using nothing but her hand and voice. Black Widow has a connection to Banner that no one else has, and it’s the difference between life and death in a fight against his darker half.
1) Thor
Despite never asking for the role, Thor is the Avengers’ answer to Hulk. He goes up against the beast in The Avengers, landing a solid hit with his hammer, Mjolnir. That one blow kicks off a rivalry between the two that spills over into Thor: Ragnarok, where they get to go at it again in the gladiator ring. While learning to live without his weapon, Thor is about to defeat his friend from work when the Grandmaster calls the fight off. Hulk doesn’t want to admit it, but he was going to lose, and Thor only gets stronger in subsequent appearances. At this point, it’s more about how long Hulk would last against Thor than the other way around.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe movies are streaming on Disney+.
How would you rank the original Avengers if they had to fight Hulk? Do you think Thor deserves the top spot? Let us know in the comments below!
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