Is there an upper limit to the Hulk’s strength?

Question

Most incarnations of The Hulk I've seen or read about state that he is as strong as he needs, basically meaning that there is no limit to how strong he can get.

Is there any canon regarding this? Have we seen the upper limit of the Hulk's strength?

Answer 1

As of World War Hulk, Hulk has been able to withstand and beat the strongest Marvel character at the time, Sentry (Void/Angel of Death). Hulk was not defeated by Sentry, instead he surrendered and turned back into Bruce Banner. To compare, Void almost destroyed all active superheroes in Siege, again only being killed when he turned back into human form and begged Thor to kill him.

As for upper limits of the Hulk's strength, as with all comics, it depends on the writer and the plot. At any given time though, Hulk is always considered a threat on par with a force of nature/act of god, unstoppable total destruction.

Answer 2

From the Marvel wiki:

Strength level

Class 100+, although this strength chart is strictly made for comparison purposes between characters, and it is not a literal description. The Incredible Hulk is one of the physically strongest beings in the Marvel Universe, and the strongest mortal to ever walk the planet Earth.[312] In human form Bruce Banner possesses the normal human strength of a man of his age, height, and build who engages in no regular exercise. When the Hulk gets enraged his physical strength increases exponentially. The Hulk has no strength limit, his strength varies up to literally unlimited levels, according to the omnipotent cosmic entity Beyonder. Most recently the Mad Thinker's mathematical computations also inferred that the Hulk's strength is indeed incalculable.[176] Additionally, as the foundation of his phenomenal strength, his rage is also described as being limitless.[313][314][315]

Answer 3

No.

I've read every Hulk comic (including guest appearances in other mags) from his origin in '62 through '76. That's 14 years down, 40 to go.

As is stated in nearly every one of these comics, Hulk is the strongest one there is!

This is basically the definition of the Hulk. No matter who he is up against, he's stronger. Take the strongest possible adversary, invent someone who is stronger, and Hulk is automatically stronger than they are.

Hulk has fought men, monsters, gods, dreams, and even psychological constructs. No matter who the opponent, he comes out on top due to sheer physical strength.

Even if an enemy starts the fight stronger than Hulk, there is another line found in many Hulk comics: "the madder Hulk gets, the stronger he gets!" So, by the end of the fight, Hulk always gets mad enough to be stronger than his adversary.

As an example of this theme, I picked a random comic, The Incredible Hulk Vol 1 #194, and checked it and the next four comics. Here are the results:

#194

#195

Hulk doesn't say the exact quote here, but the fight continues into the next issue, where he does say it.

#196

#197

#198

Answer 4

It was stated by the beyonder that the hulk has no limit to his strength nor power. According to this answer on Quora:

• After some probing, the entity Beyonder once claimed that the Hulk’s potential strength had “no finite element inside.” — “Betrayal!” Secret Wars II 8 (February 1986)

Answer 5

There's no upper limit to his strength and falling to his knees after having the weight of a star dropped on him is probably his greatest strength feat (he was in the process of getting back up, Infinity #6, 2013). He can easily lift a planet, let alone a mountain. He shattered an asteroid twice the size of the Earth with a single blow (Marvel Comics Presents 52, 1988).

Answer 6

According to his entry in the Marvel Fandom Wiki, official quotes on the strength of the Hulk being limitless can be found in the following publications:

1. Tales to Astronish #73
2. Secret Wars II #8
3. Tales to Astronish #78
4. Tales to Astronish #89
5. Indestructible Hulk #1
6. Incredible Hulk #228
7. Incredible Hulk #238
8. Incredible Hulk Annual #15
9. Silver Surfer #4

These quotes are attributed to characters such as the Leader, Mad Thinker and the Beyonder.

This is not an exhaustive list; More quotes may possibly be found in canon, and more are sure to appear in the future.

The strength of the Hulk is bound by how much rage, excitement, fear or stress he is feeling at the moment. The Hulk is usually matched or surpassed in a strength match by other Marvel characters such as Thanos, the Thing and Tony Stark in the Hulkbuster armor probably because he as not as mad as he can get. However, I remember that Planet Hulk was a constant escalation of anger; at the apex, the Red King broke the tectonic plates of Sakaar apart. The planet would collapse, and yet the Hulk held them together and shifted the parts back in place. At that moment, his strength was greater than that of most other beings in the Marvel multiverses.

Source: Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #102

Answer 7

There is in one issue where the beyonder said there is no limit to his strength and I think he was talking about his cells.

Answer 8

When addressing such questions, one should avoid comments made by other characters (except perhaps, TOAA, or the Presence). Such comments are hearsay. Thus we should only give credence to empirical evidence or primary sources such as the authors of the "Supreme Being" of the comic company. An example of empirical evidence might the the 52 version of Superman bench pressing 13,170,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 pounds constantly for 5 days.

Think about it!! How could there possibly be empirical evidence that Hulk could have unlimited strength. I’ve seen no primary source which has said more than Hulk’s strength increases with his level of anger. That does not imply that his strength is without bound (for one thing, his level of anger would also be limitless). Here is an example of increasing strength with anger levels. Each number represents a level of his strength based on increasing levels of anger: 10, 10.9, 10.99, 10.999, 10.9999 … Clearly his strength is always increasing but is not unlimited.