The budding Marvel Universe received its deadliest hero when 1962's Incredible Hulk (Vol. 1) #1 hit shelves. Bruce Banner -- and the entire MU -- would never be the same after he was exposed to gamma radiation, transforming him into the Hulk. As it would later turn out, the first manifestation of the Hulk was just the beginning of a long line of monstrous alter egos for Doctor Banner. Over the years, more and more aspects of Banner's psyche have hulked out and wreaked havoc across the land. Having taken an inventory of Banner's hellraising alternate personalities, we've decided to count down the 20 deadliest versions of the Hulk.
The most common version of the Hulk is the Savage Hulk. The Savage Hulk, with his childlike personality and emotional fragility, is likely what most fans think of when they think of the Green Goliath. But starting with the Gray Hulk, Bruce Banner would come to display numerous personalities in a hulking form. Throughout the decades, we'd get to see a gangster version of the Hulk, intelligent Hulks, and Hulks motivated by pure malice. Each version of the Hulk comes with his own unique traits and different relationship to Banner and with regard to strength, not all Hulks have been created equally. Gray Hulk, for example, could never smash an entire planet like his Worldbreaker cousin could or bulldoze over the Avengers as the Mindless Hulk has done. So, which Hulk is the mightiest of them all? Here are the 20 deadliest versions of the Hulk, ranked.
20 ABORIGINAL HULK
Incredible Hulk (Vol. 2) #83 introduced fans to House of M's alternate reality Hulk. In this reality, Bruce Banner awoke in Australia shortly after his first rampage as the Hulk. The Aboriginal people took care of Banner, helping to hide him from the governments that wanted him gone forever.
It wasn't long before Banner's peace was interrupted, and the Aboriginal Hulk emerged to protect him and his people from the Australian government. After the victory, Aboriginal Hulk took control of Australia. The full extent of Aboriginal Hulk's strength is unknown since the beast was never seriously challenged. But at the very least, he seems as deadly as main Marvel Universe's classic Hulk.
19 JOE FIXIT
Bruce Banner manifested his second major monster personality when he took on the alias of Joe Fixit. At the time, Banner had been transforming into the Gray Hulk -- a sub-personality of the Hulk that only emerged at night. In Incredible Hulk (Vol. 1) #347, the Gray Goliath accepted a job as an enforcer at a Las Vegas casino.
During these episodes, Banner was completely repressed from Gray Hulk's consciousness and only became aware of his double life months after it started. Joe Fixit would engage in suspicious dealings with Marvel's mafia, the Maggia, before Banner would finally put an end to things.
18 HULK (THE END)
Incredible Hulk: The End (Vol. 1) #1 tells the story of an alternate timeline's Hulk after a nuclear war. Hulk was one of the few survivors of the nuclear holocaust and chose to live out his remaining days alone in a gamma cave. Eventually, Hulk reverts back to Banner who is shocked to discover the wasteland.
Bruce Banner struggles with his other personality to the bitter end -- no matter how hard he tried, the Hulk personality prevents him from passing away. Finally, Banner perishes from a heart attack -- but the Hulk lives on. At long last, the Hulk is triumphant over his weaker personality, and it's only then that the Hulk experiences loneliness.
17 GUILT HULK
Guilt Hulk is an evil alternate personality of Bruce Banner to first appear in Incredible Hulk (Vol. 1) #377. As the beast's name suggests, Guilt Hulk is the embodiment of Banner's darker emotions, notably guilt. Banner first discovers Guilt Hulk lurking within his psyche when he was attempting to piece together a more balanced Hulk personality.
Guilt Hulk goes to war with several of Banner's other personalities, including Joe Fixit and the Savage Hulk, seeking to repress them so that it can be unleashed into the external world. Guilt Hulk returns years later, working together with Banner's other evil personality, Devil Hulk, in another attempt to drown out Banner's more benign personalities.
16 SAVAGE HULK
The classic version of the Hulk, otherwise known as the Savage Hulk, is what most fans think of when they think of Bruce Banner's alter ego. The Savage Hulk is the most frequent personality to manifest in the form of the Hulk. In the form, the Hulk is like a child, possessing diminutive intellectual capacities.
As the emotionally fragile Savage Hulk, Banner can swing between behaving as the kind-hearted beast and the rampaging monster. The upper limits of the Savage Hulk's power are unknown; his level of strength corresponds with how angry he can get -- which appears to be virtually limitless.
15 PAPPY BANNER
Hulk poses as one of the main antagonists in the "Old Man Logan" storyline. Pappy Banner, as he's referred to, first appears in Wolverine: Old Man Logan Giant-Size (Vol. 1) #1 as the leader of his family of Hulks known as the Hulk Gang. Before establishing and ruling over the territory that would be known as Hulkland, Banner participated in the mass supervillain team-up that resulted in the demise of most of Marvel's heroes.
The story concludes with a showdown between Pappy Banner and Old Man Logan. After Banner swallows Logan whole, Wolverine tears through his stomach, putting an end to the conflict.
14 MINDLESS HULK
The Mindless Hulk is what emerges when Banner or any semblance of reason is lost from the Green Goliath. At such times, Hulk is incredibly dangerous, often steamrolling over legions of heroes and spreading chaos wherever he goes. One of the more notable rampages from the Mindless Hulk comes from Incredible Hulk (Vol. 1) #300 when he wreaks havoc across New York City.
The issue sees the Mindless Hulk stampede over the forces of S.H.I.E.L.D. and run through various heroes, including the Avengers, Spider-Man, and the Heroes for Hire. The Mindless Hulk is finally defeated by Doctor Strange who transports him to another dimension.
13 ZOMBIE HULK
The Hulk of the Marvel Zombie-verse first appeared in Ultimate Fantastic Four (Vol. 1) #22. Banner, like most of the other heroes from that reality, had succumbed to a virus that transformed him into a mindless zombie. As it turned out, a zombified Hulk was even deadlier than the normal Hulk.
After joining a group of zombies that were feasting on Galactus, Hulk absorbed the Power Cosmic, giving him the abilities previously reserved for the heralds of Galactus. Cosmically empowered, Hulk joined the other Marvel zombies in a conquest of the universe, beginning with an attack on the Skrulls and continuing onto the outer regions of the cosmos.
12 ULTIMATE HULK
The Ultimate Marvel Universe's Hulk made his debut in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up (Vol. 1) #2. Like Zombie Hulk, Ultimate Hulk doesn't shy away from taking bites out of his opponents. As was the trend with many of the Ultimate MU's characters, Ultimate Hulk was a more extreme version of his 616 counterpart.
His battle with the Ultimate MU's Wolverine -- which involved Hulk ripping Logan in half -- went farther than any fight between 616 Hulk and Wolverine. Luckily for his fellow superheroes, Ultimate Hulk tends to direct his fury at the greater evils and not at his teammates (mostly).
11 KLUH
What's scarier than the Hulk? How about "the Hulk's Hulk' -- which is how Kluh described himself. Kluh was the version of the Hulk to emerge in Avengers & X-Men: AXIS after Doctor Doom and Scarlet Witch cast a reality-altering spell. The new Hulk immediately proved his power by wiping out the Avengers and punching Nova across the Atlantic Ocean.
Unlike his green counterpart, Kluh wasn't just some rampaging monster. Kluh was intelligent and evil to his core. There was no mistaking his true nature when he said he simply wanted to "bathe in the blood of the innocent." Fortunately, Kluh didn't cause too much damage before being reverted into the Hulk.
10 DEVIL HULK
The Devil Hulk is the evil alternate personality of Bruce Banner, fueled by all of his resentments toward the world. This demonic version of the Hulk was introduced in Incredible Hulk (Vol. 2) #13 after Banner travels into his own mind to free it from Guilt Hulk. Luckily for Banner, his other personalities -- Savage Hulk, Professor Hulk, and Gray Hulk -- all work together to keep the Devil Hulk confined deep within Banner's psyche.
Devil Hulk does manage to escape on several occasions though. The most famous occurrence was when Bruce's father, Brian Banner, escaped from Hell to torment Bruce in the form of the Devil Hulk.
9 WAR HULK
Desperate to remove shrapnel from his brain, Hulk made a deal with Apocalypse. In return for serving as Apocalypse's horseman, Apocalypse would remove the shrapnel that was making Hulk even more unstable than usual. Thus, Hulk was transformed into War and used as a pawn in Apocalypse's quest for domination.
Hulk clashed with the Absorbing Man and Juggernaut, devastating the supposedly unstoppable one. Hulk was only able to break free of Apocalypse's influence after a run-in with his friend Rick Jones. Had it not been for Rick who was prepared to sacrifice his life against his mind-controlled friend, Hulk would've likely bulldozed over any hero in his path.
8 THE GREEN SCAR
The Green Scar was the version of the Hulk to arise during "Planet Hulk". After the Illuminati had exiled Hulk to the far-off planet of Sakaar, Hulk found himself competing in the alien government's gladiatorial games. Hulk continued to prove himself in matches with some of Sakaar's deadliest combatants, winning the favor of the people and earning the nickname of "the Green Scar".
As the Green Scar, Hulk inspired the people of Sakaar to rise up against their tyrannical king. When it was all said and done, the Green Scar had succeeded in establishing a new government and had settled down with the queen, seeming to have finally found his home.
7 INFERNAL HULK
Infernal Hulk made his debut in Deadpool Annual (Vol. 1) #1. This ghastly version of the Hulk stems from an alternate universe where Bruce Banner became the Sorcerer Supreme. As the Sorcerer Supreme, Banner used magic to split the Hulk personality from him and banish it to Hell. Thus the Infernal Hulk was born.
However, this didn't prevent the Infernal Hulk from repeatedly breaking free of his realm and hunting down to Banner. It wasn't until the 616 Deadpool and Spider-Man teamed up with Sorcerer Supreme Banner in Incredible Hulks Annual (Vol. 1) #1 that Infernal Hulk would be finished off for good.
6 MERGED HULK
Merged Hulk, aka Professor Hulk, first appeared in Incredible Hulk (Vol. 1) #377. When he first appeared, Professor Hulk was a huge departure from Bruce Banner's other alter egos. Professor Hulk was by far the most stable version of the Hulk. Banner had achieved this psychological wholeness by merging his Gray Hulk, Savage Hulk, and Bruce Banner personalities.
The result was a highly intelligent and balanced version of the Hulk. Unlike the other versions of the Hulk, the angrier that Professor Hulk became, the weaker he got. In fact, if he reached a certain degree of emotional instability, he'd revert back into being Banner.
5 DOC GREEN
Like Merged Hulk, Doc Green was a combination of the Savage Hulk's strength and Bruce Banner's intellect. This new intelligent version of the Hulk was introduced in Hulk (Vol. 3) #5 as a side effect of Tony Stark's use of the Extremis Virus to repair Banner's damaged brain.
While Doc Green was in effect, there were many indications that this form of the Hulk was a precursor to Maestro -- an evil genius version of the Hulk from another reality. Despite the many benefits of the Doc Green personality, Banner eventually decided to return to the Savage Hulk personality, preferring it over the possibility of becoming Maestro.
4 MAESTRO
Maestro made his debut in Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect (Vol. 1) #1 as Banner's alternate reality supervillain counterpart. In his timeline, Maestro utilized his super-intelligence and super-strength to seize control of Earth following a nuclear war. Maestro battled a time-traveling Professor Hulk and proved his superiority over this younger Hulk beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Maestro hardly needed to make use of the upper levels of his strength since he could easily predict Professor Hulk's moves far in advance. Ever since Professor Hulk's first embarrassing loss at the hands of Maestro, the 616 Bruce Banner has deeply feared Maestro.
3 NUL, BREAKER OF WORLDS
During "Fear Itself", the Serpent sent seven magical hammers to Earth. Hulk picked up one of these hammers and transformed into one of the Worthy -- Nul, Breaker of Worlds. This new godlike version of the Hulk appeared unbeatable, tossing aside any hero that stepped into his path of destruction.
Thor fought valiantly against Nul before conceding that he stood no chance against the monster. The Asgardian found a way around beating Nul through blunt force. Instead, Thor launched Nul outside of Earth's atmosphere, hoping to redirect Nul's warpath. Eventually, Hulk was able to break free of the influence of the hammer and return to his less destructive personality.
2 BLUE HULK
In Captain Universe: Incredible Hulk (Vol. 1) #1, the Hulk temporarily becomes Captain Universe when the real Captain Universe is having difficulty controlling his powers. Possessing the Uni-Power, the Hulk's skin turns blue and he becomes capable of a vast array of cosmic abilities. Unfortunately, the surface of the Blue Hulk's power is barely explored before the Uni-Power leaves him by the issue's end. However, we don't necessarily need to seek Blue Hulk in action to know that this version ranks among one of the deadliest versions of the Hulk imaginable. Our fingers are crossed that we'll get to see Blue Hulk again some day.
1 WORLDBREAKER HULK
Worldbreaker Hulk first appeared during World War Hulk when the Green Goliath returned to Earth to exact revenge on the Illuminati. Worldbreaker Hulk was the result of meditation training that Banner received on Sakaar, allowing him to focus his rage like never before. As the Worldbreaker, Hulk beat legions of superheroes during "World War Hulk", including the entire X-Men, Black Bolt, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and the Fantastic Four.
After the event, Worldbreaker Hulk occasionally resurfaced, notably during Incredible Hulks (Vol. 1) #634 when he destroyed an entire planet. Although it's been a while since we've last seen Worldbreaker Hulk, we can count on Banner becoming angry enough to inevitably manifest the form again.