Bruce Banner AKA The Incredible Hulk is the strongest member of the Avengers and is the member of the team that the villains worry about taking down. Bruce Banner was exposed to large amounts of gamma radiation and became THE INCREDIBLE HULK: STRONGEST ONE THERE IS!!
When Bruce Banner was a child, his father would beat his mother and little Banner was afraid to do anything. At a young age he was already very intelligent. As a child he was also abused by his father because of how jealous Brian was of Bruce. The person who helped him stay calm (besides his mother, who loved and deeply cared about him) was his older cousin Jennifer Walters. One night, Bruce's parents got into an argument that led to the death of Bruce's mother. His father was sent to a mental home and Bruce was sent to live with his paternal aunt Susan Banner.
Education[]
Bruce went to a scientific high school and soon went to study nuclear physics in Navapo, New Mexico, at Desert State University. He was a star student and met wonderful friends, including a lady friend named Elizabeth "Betty" Ross. He also made a friend named Walter Langkowski, as they both shared a similar interest in gamma radiation. Bruce soon met a rival named Anthony "Tony" Stark. They attended a "Forward Thought Conference" at Oxford University. They soon became very good friends, and they would become partners later on in life...
Physicist[]
When Bruce graduated and became an adult, he went to work at a United States Defense Department nuclear research facility in Desert Base, New Mexico. Banner met General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross, who was the air force commander of the base. He met up with Ross' daughter and they fell in love with each other. Banner designed the gamma bomb, AKA the "G-bomb", a nuclear weapon possessing a high amount of gamma radiation inside.
The Birth of The Incredible Hulk[]
When the team of scientists went to test out the gamma bomb, there was a civilian named Rick Jones who entered past security, and Bruce rushed to save him. A colleague named Igor Starsky was told to shut down the machine, but didn't, because he was sure that Bruce would die. Betty tried to turn it off, but it was too late. As Bruce pushed Rick out of the way, Bruce was exposed to the radiation. There was a large explosion that even the scientists were blown back from the impact (although they weren't affected by the blast). Miraculously, Banner survived and turned into a large green-skinned, powerful monster, that Ross called the Hulk.
Teaming up with Iron Man[]
After saving Iron Man from Abomination, the two teamed up to defeat the Leader. Later on in the series, Iron Man, Professor X, Doctor [Stephen] Strange, Namor The Sub-Mariner, and Mr. Fantastic (soon to be called the Illuminati sent the Hulk into space after a serious battle with the Leader (this took place in 2014). Three years later, the Hulk ended up back on Earth. He was more intelligent, and when he found out Stark was behind this, he became so enraged that green gamma radiation burst from his body. When he found out Betty was kept away from Banner, Hulk took one step towards the Illuminati members and it put the Eastern Seaboard in danger. He attacked the Illuminati members and even with Iron Man's gamma radiation Hulkbuster (which can absorb the gamma radiation out of beings), Hulk knocked out Tony with a tap. Betty had to calm him down. Ever since then, Hulk went on his own and the gamma radiation, to this day, is still fully inside him, and he can activate some of that same energy on command.
Joining the Avengers[]
After the World-Breaker Hulk incident, Hulk wasn't seen until a year later (2018) when New York was in danger. At first, Hulk couldn't care less (Thor was out in space and was captured by Surtur the Fire Demon in November 2017), but later he made a deal with Banner that now Hulk was in control. He easily took down the Absorbing Man, the Leader, the Abomination, and the Red Hulk at once in a matter of minutes. Thor had returned to Earth happy to see his friend Hulk. When Tony wanted to assemble a new group of Avengers, he didn't want to join but after the deal with Banner, he didn't have a choice. After the invasion of Ultron, and a lack of trust between the team, both Thor and Hulk left the Avengers. (Thor left because there was danger in Asgard) (Between that time, the events of Sakaar in Thor: Ragnarok happened and Thor and Hulk arrived on Earth) Then when Hulk realized that he wanted to be around a team again, a new lineup of Avengers came, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Scarlet Witch, and Spectrum.
* *Lower intelligence when Hulk is separated from Banner; Higher Energy projection when he is an uncontrollable rage. Higher speed when powered by large amounts of Gamma Radiation or in uncontrollable rage
Respect Thread[]
Strength[]
The shockwaves from the Hulk's collision with Ironclad reached an infinite number of dimensions through the Crossroadsnexus, creating cataclysmic upheavals and unimaginable destruction.
Breaking up the space-time continuum with a powerful blow (Even Kang's time machine was completely unable to penetrate it. Since the Kang's time machine surpassed the speed of light, thus the strength necessary to locally rupture the space-time was more than infinite. In comics the physical laws, such as special relativity regarding the speed of light, are normative but are not absolute and can be bent, twisted, and even violated in singular events. There is evidence Kang accessed the Hyperspace, for it is possible to achieve faster than light speeds without firstly entering the Hyperspace).
Applying force to the space-time structure itself in order to prevent his fellows Defenders from being absorbed into a fissure (The edge of the event horizon is estimated to be roughly seven feet wide. Since Hulk was touching the boundary of the event horizon, so the force necessary to hover without being captured into the horizon was infinite. Hence the Hulk produced infinite strength to prevent being assimilated by the black hole. This is the rotating form of black hole, which although is operationally similar, it is not equivalent to the most well known non-rotating Schwarzschild black hole).
Supporting and even rising up despite being weighed down with a force claimed by Proxima to be equal to the weight of a star.
The entire Dark Dimension itself was destroyed by the Hulk
Overpowering and destroying Onslaught's physical form. (The entity possessed the full potential powers of Franklin Richards, X-Man, Magneto, and Professor X combined. Therefore he at least reached Celestial level in raw power. He could alter reality and use telekinesis on at least Celestial level, as well as tremendous magnetic force and psionic power to amplify his immense strength in proportion to his scale of power.)
Shattering glass tempered with Negative Zone particles, effectively traversing a space-time barrier obstructing his way, and hence actualizing the same outcome again.
Withstanding being subjected to a mystical dimension composed of a type of strange matter that is infinitely more dense than the Earth's universe.
Pushing two spheres of matter and antimatter apart and throwing one into the outer space.
Ripping apart an enormous device designed to fight against the Celestials.
Destroying an asteroid twice the size of Earth with a single punch.
Holding together the tectonic plates of a planet to keep it from collapsing.
Overpowering a field of energy endowed with sufficient power to alter the orbit of a planet.
Ploughing through the Vector's telekinetic repulsion while he was repelling reality itself.
Almost breaking the East Coast and also threatening to break the entire planet by the emission of energy from his body.
Driving Wolverine's claws back into his own skull, hence damaging Adamantium with Adamantium.
Overpowering a power-draining mechanism which contained much of the combined power of the Hulk himself, Doctor Strange, the Silver Surfer and the Sub-Mariner, and none of the other Defenders could break out of.
Denting Ultron's primary Adamantium shell. (Which is something Thor could not do)
Smashing through Adamantium itself.
Crunching and twisting an Adamantium alloy around Blastaar, imprisoning and leaving him unable to break out, and throwing the sphere from New York to the mid-Atlantic.
Snapping Adamantium netting.
Shattering the M.O.D.O.K's Adamantium and steel alloy armor by just flexing his muscles.
Destroying the Crypto-Man after he was boosted with physical strength superior even to that of Thor.
Overpowering Thor several times.
Pushing a ten times stronger than normal warrior's madness Thor towards the ground with a single arm.
Reflecting the Gladiator's ocular beams back into his own eyes, instantly knocking him unconscious
Stopping a strike from Red Norvell's equal copy of Mjolnir in midair with only one hand.
Matching the full strength and power of the Sentry, and defeating the latter.
Bringing the Juggernaut to his knees with just two blows.
Shattering the crimson bands of Cyttorak.
Knocking the Silver Surfer out with three punches
Matching two Avengers teams during a prolonged period of time in spite of becoming increasingly weaker due to a physical separation from Bruce Banner. The group consisted of highly powerful individuals such as Hercules, Captain Marvel, the Iron Man, Wonder Man, Namor, the She-Hulk, etc.
Overpowering the Invisible Woman, the Thing and the Human Torch, and afterwards matching the combined forces of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four.
Matching the Scarlet Witch, prior to House of M, and Wonder Man, Iron Man, and the Vision, while the Vision establishes that Hulk's power is greater than their combined might.
When the Thing's physical strength was almost doubled, the Hulk still had the upper hand.
Matching Super-Adaptoid, who had acquired strength and durability of one hundred heroes such as Iron Man and the Vision.
Matching and overpowering Drax the Destroyer (who was in possession of the Power Gem).
Closing the doors to a nuclear reactor core that Thor and the Thing together could not budge.
Overpowering the combined efforts of the Iron Man, Wonder Man, Hercules, and Namor to pin him down despite becoming gradually weakened due to the physical separation from Banner.
Gaining the upper hand against the Avengers, easily subduing Thor and Iron Man with a Hulkbuster Armor in the process.
Overpowering and pinning down a wet and all-out Namor with a single arm.
Overcoming his own strength, which was redirected against him.
Stopping the Juggernaut's charge and crumpling his helmet.
Destroying the Hammer of Nul.
Breaking off the solidified Adhesive X from his entire body with no leverage (which had never been done with physical force, before or after).
Performing a thunderclap that destroyed Dark Crawler's pocket-universe.
Shrugging off the combined efforts of Namor and Silver Surfer to restrain him.
Holding a 150 billion ton mountain which was dropped on them by the Molecule Man when none of the other heroes could even react. It was later revealed that She-Hulk tried to help Hulk to hold the mountain but was unable to do so for an extended period of time.
Fighting and almost overpowering the combined efforts of the Avengers -- consisting of Captain America, Thor, the Iron Man, Wasp and Giant-Man -- and the Agents of Atlas -- including Gorilla-Man, Namora, the Uranian, etc.
Ripping through a bunker designed to withstand the explosion of many thousands of megatons in magnitude.
Breaking through heavy duty blastdoors capable of withstanding a nuclear strike with a punch.
Punching away and knocking out the immovable Blob, and punching the Unus the Untouchable's force field with such force that the force field hit Unus himself and knocked him out.
Picking up and throwing the immense dragon Fin Fang Foom directly to the moon.
Throwing the Soul Gem through the interior layers of planet K'ai, into its core
Easily damaging and almost destroying the Iron Man's armor.
Thor has admitted that Hulk could be stronger than himself, that compared to himself there appears to be no limit to the Hulk's vast strength, and that he never could beat the Hulk. The mad titan Thanos also compared the Hulk's ever increasing strength to that of the former Champion of the Universe, Tryco Slatterus, when he was wielding the Power Gem, and said that he had avoided a confrontation with the Hulk in the past because of this.
No leverage needed
Supports a train on his back, easily
Lifts a castle
Lifts a castle again
Snaps a train track like a towel
Lifts a chunk of mountain
Seals chasm in the ground
Stands under maximum density
Burrows through the ground like a mole, very quickly
Rips apart a building
Throws a gem to the center of K'ai
Adjusts his path through the air by sheer strength
Rips open chasm in the ground
Turns gun into powder
Pulls apart an energy field
Lifting a tank
Burrows through stone
Picks up an island and swims with it
Treats steel like mud
Carries a plane
Lifts someone "bearing down with the weight of a mountain"
Tears a building
Overpowers a neuron magnet
Shakes a building back and forth
Easily stops a train, right after transforming
Lifting roads and tanks
Breaks net while under "proportional weight" that gets stronger the stronger the force applied is
Punches through a mountain
Causes a volcano to explode
Hits with the impact of an a-bomb
Shakes the mountains
Drives a structure supporting a 1.53 square mile town into the ground
Destroys a mountain
Fights Sasquatch, destroys a mountain
Busts a mountain by punching Goom
Breaks apart a mountain
Destroys a city
Shatters a port engine
Destroys a building
Breaks the holster of the Eternal Flame, which causes a building size explosion
Topples a building
Shatters a castle
Destroys a 50 story building with a single blow
With an earth shaking blow, sends grains of sand flying like a hurricane
Hits sand hard enough to turn it into solid force
Disperses sand all over LA, can be felt at the ocean
Can hit the ground to send people flying, and open chasms and such
Empties a river
Sends someone flying with the air from his punch
Fighting Hyperion registers of the seismograph
Breaks a bunker designed to withstand a minimum of several thousand megatons
Hits as hard or harder than a powerful warhead
High Evolutionary and him hitting each other causes an explosion in a thin atmosphere
Hits hard enough to cause a semi-sonic boom
Sends particles rippling and turns the air dark and acrid, knocking out Unu
Changes trajectory of an in flight rocket
Shatters a foot thick steel wall
Tears through 10 feet of steel reinforced concrete
Severs steel cables with a clap
Hits are recorded as an earthquake by the seismograph
Destroys a 10 ton titanium bag
Explodes a machine by screaming
Blows away a river
Sends men flying by spitting water
Breathes air into Rick Jones' lungs
Blows away birds
Deflects missiles
Causes a supersonic boom shockwave
Hurts Hyperion's ears
Creates a man-made hurricane
Handclap like a sonic boom
Thunderclap causes an avalanche
Nearly killing Moonstone with a thunderclap
Brings down roof by pounding his hand
Crumbles a house with a thunderclap
Hands which will extinguish any flame
Thunderclap puts the fiercest hurricanes to shame
Causes the earth for miles around to shudder and tremble
Thunderclap of near-nuclear proportions
Speed[]
Swims like a living torpedo
Swims a far distance instantly
Blitzes humans
Gets in front of Betty, starting behind her
Blitzes 3-D Man
Tagging Spider-man on ice
Catches Thing before he hits the ground
Blocks Darts
Hand moves almost too swift to be seen
Raises a wall before needles hit him
Knocks a boomerang out of the air
Sidesteps a car
Flamethrower timing
The first incarnation of the Cabal, who has studied Hulk, remarks on his speed (The Avengers: The Animated Series - Episode 8 - The Dark Illuminati)
Is remarkably quick, moving with surprising speed
Moves with 'lightning speed'
Moving almost faster than the eye can see
Catches a hurtling shell
Blocks projectiles in front of Spider-man
Catches a shell
Dodging a bazooka
Dodging rifles
Dodging a tank round
Punching conc-cannon
Strikes a missile
Smacks tank shell
Punches a weird missile
Catching missiles
Catching missiles
Dodges a shell
Intercepts missiles
Lowers tank while rockets are in flight, before they reach him
Knocks away Quicksilver
Grabs Spider-man
Tags Spider-man
Tagging Spider-man
Tagging Spider-man with Spider sense.
Sees Spider-man leaping at him, turns around, rips off a jail door, and hits Spider-man with it
Gives Spider-man some trouble
Tagging Spider-man
Smacking Spider-man
Tagging Spider-man
Tagging Hyperion
Tagging Shark Man
Transforms after 'dying' from radiation, hits Ironclad before he can react
Transforms before a man with gun gets a bearing on him
Drugged Banner transforms before he hits the ground
Transforms instead of being paralyzed
Transforms before Abomination can react
Transforms before breathing gas
Transforms before a car hits him
Transformation has physical force that can throw people
Transforms faster than Ultron's laser blast (The Avengers: The Animated Series-Episode 4-No Strings on Me)
Easily transforms before he hits the ground
Transforms before a car hits him
Transforms before he hits the ground
Transforms before he hits a wall
Transforms before a bullet hits him
Transforms before a needle pierces him
Transforms before a train hits him
Surprises Wasp with his speed
Dodges Leader's gun
Moves too fast for Thing
Intercepts ring attack from Mandarin
Faster than an alien
His swiftness defies belief
Comments on Thor being slow (who moves at warp speed)
Tying Thor
Dodges Ant-man
Grabs the Texas Twister
Humans can't dodge him
Tagging Iron Man
Dodging Creel
Intercepts Abomination blitz
Dodges the Executioner
Dodges thrown car
Reflexes without equal
Dodges Modok's ray
Intercepts Rhino
Manages to grab Jack of Heart's leg
Hits Moon Knight
Tags Beast
Tags Beast
Tags Daredevil again
Tags Daredevil
Tagging Cap
Giving 3-D Man (Strength and speed of 3 men) trouble
3-D Man has to move 3 times faster than he's ever moved before to dodge Hulk
Tagging 3-D Man
Tagging Daredevil
Gives Cap trouble
Tags Daredevil
Durability[]
Massively bulletproof. Hulk is functionally immune to any weapon used by the US military, including tank rounds, anti-aircraft guns, armor piercing rounds, explosive bullets, etc.
Knife breaks on his skin
Monster can't pierce him
Projectile shatters on his iron-like hide.
Demon can't bite him
Spear shatters on him
Cutlasses shatter on him
No selling Hawkeye's arrows
Dragonfang can't pierce him, despite being able to pierce a creature that tanked Namor
Weapon equivalent to Cap's shield can't cut him
Withstands an onslaught of shrapnel powerful enough to shatter an army of tanks
Grabs Valkyrie's magic sword and isn't cut
Steel shatters on him
Sword shatters on his fist
Sword shatters on his skin. Again
An "army savaging blow" doesn't do anything to him
Indestructible, amped axe can't pierce him.
Takes the full power of the sun midget
Impact that would atomize any other creature startles Hulk; Hits the ground hard enough to melt
Explosive shockwaves can't kill him
No sells a blow in his weakest point that would waste an elephant
Surviving massive falls
No selling a fire truck (He actually breaks the fire trucks when it hits him)
Withstands 100 G's with ease
Tanks torpedos
Tanks a nuke
Tanks blast with the brightness of a star
Fine with twisted organs
Takes a blow that could crush a mountain
A blow that would destroy a cliffside does nothing
Tanks a city levelling bomb
Explosion affects him no more than a hiccup affects a tornado
Thrown hard enough to shake city and break glass, is unharmed
Explosion shatters windows all over the bay, and Hulk is unharmed
Survives pure energy moving at the speed of thought
Surviving radiation blasts stated to be as powerful as nuclear weapons, that could destroy a city
Gets hit with massive amounts of radiation
Taking blast of pure energy
No selling laser
Knocked out by a blast that polarizes molecular structure
No selling disintegrators
Taking an ultra-potent laser
Tanks cobalt-bomb explosion
Survives radioactive explosion
Tanks antimatter
Tanks beam with "firepower of the whole division"
Tanks attacks that indirectly destroy mountains
Completely unharmed by a blast that incinerates a military complex and surrounding area
Completely nullifies a gamma explosion
Breaks free from ice, in the "most massive example of muscular pressure recorded in contemporary literature"
Breaks out of ice while his blood freezes
Melts ice "like a nuclear pile"
Molten rock does nothing
Survives fire in his organs
Shrugs off "the most extreme tempatures as if they were nothing"
Molten bricks don't slow him down
No selling blows that turn asphalt to liquid
Tanks Fuel
Tanks blasts that melt steel
Unharmed by blast that turns concrete to liquid
The heat of a star hurts him, but doesn't harm him
Takes 50k volts while in-flux
A few thousand volts can't harm him
Electric cable does nothing
No sells electricity
Survives a continuous electric blast designed by Reed Richards and Tony Stark leaving his body too hot for asbestos
No selling electric generator
Takes gamma electrodes
Surviving voltage which overloads Machine Man
Giant Electrodes can't harm him
Holds live electric wires with millions of volts
Electricity clears his eyes, or something. It's stupid.
Energy which paralyzes a human enrages Hulk
Electro-stave would stun an army, only enrages Hulk
Stunned by all the lightning in the vicinity, but mostly unharmed
Survives Blip, who has "billions of megavolts", blasts which could incinerate a city, and survives his lightning while not especially angry
Iron Man: The Animated Series[]
When The Illuminati sent Hulk into space and when he returned he was furious. He performed large feats and heroes and villains alike tried to team up against him.
Jumped on the Leader breaking his back
Strangled Doc Sampson with his hair
Able to tear apart spaceships
Able to punch a hole through a Watcher's head (He did regenerate from it)
The watchers he killed where all-powerful, it was stated by them when they die the universe itself will Burn (seeing as they are the universe itself) and die and it did. They Were Described As Space God's Even by the Hulk himself and few other They were Nigh Omnipotent being's.
Described as biggest threat to universe since Galactus
Strangling three Watchers at the same time, and their aftermath.