Back in the '90s, the Hulk went through a few changes that made him, in some ways, weaker than the modern Hulk we know and love today. But in many other ways, he was much, much stronger. The Hulk we have seen in the MCU as played by Mark Ruffalo and the one who was sent to Sakaar who came back the World Breaker Hulk could have easily smooshed '90s Hulk with their pinky fingers -- mostly due to their more savage mentality than his decidedly more professorial one -- but that doesn't make him any less of a Hulk than the other incarnations. The 1990s saw the Hulk books mostly under the rule of writer Peter David and artist Dale Keown, who decided to tackle the character in a new and innovative way: they combined the Hulk identities into one making a smarter Hulk.

With this newly created version of the character came a need to introduce some equally innovative villains. While the Hulk continued to battle some of his past rogues through the decade, the artists and writers behind the books thought it best to create some new foes for the Hulk to battle who better matched his changes in personality. When putting this list together, we wanted to review those adversaries created or who came to true prominence in the 1990s and truly see how they matched up the the Jade Giant of that time period!

15 TALOS

Talos vs the Hulk

Talos is a Skrull, but unlike other members of his species, he is unable to shapeshift. Because of this defect, he was shamed by his people, which only spurned him to improve himself as much as possible. He overcame his disability by implanting cyborg parts into his body, making him stronger. He also trained to become one of the deadliest fighters in the Skrull empire.

As a Skrull with enhancements, Talos is incredibly powerful. He is skilled in unarmed and armed combat, possesses super hearing, sight, strength and longevity. He is also invulnerable and has a genius-level intellect. He came into contact with the Hulk in his effort to die fighting a worthy enemy. The Hulk, not wanting to take part in such an affair, faked losing the fight, which only elevated Talos higher in the Skrull Empire.

14 LORD ARMAGEDDON

The Hulk fights Armageddon in Marvel Comics

Lord Armageddon was the leader of an alien race called the Troyjans. He became involved with the Hulk through Agamemnon. In exchange for the technology to make Agamemnon immortal, he struck a deal requiring Agamemnon give up any of his offspring when called upon to do so.

Armageddon had a son named Trauma who was infatuated with Atalanta, a member of Agamemnon's Pantheon, so he called for her as part of the deal. The Hulk, who was the leader of the Pantheon at the time, confronted Lord Armageddon but ended up killing Trauma in the battle. Armageddon then forced the Hulk to power a resurrection machine, but Trauma's body was destroyed in the process. He let the Hulk go free, but destroyed Freehold and killed everyone else living there.

13 PITT

Pitt

After Dale Keown left Marvel for Image Comics, he created a character similar to the Hulk called Pitt. Pitt starred in his own book over at Image under Keown's sub-publishing house, Full Bleed Studios. Pitt is an alien/human hybrid who was genetically engineered to become a superhuman assassin. He has superhuman strength, healing abilities, retractable claws and has some limited psychic abilities... much like the Hulk.

Pitt made the crossover into Marvel Comics in 1997's Hulk/Pitt #1, written by Peter David and penciled by Keown. The battle between the two characters was as epic as you can imagine and Pitt clearly stands as a powerful foe to the Incredible Hulk! He beats him within an inch of his life and at one point screams at him to stay down. In other words, he kicked his butt.

12 HOARFEN

HOARFEN

Hoarfen is the nephew of Siingard. His mother (Siingard's sister) had an affair with the Fenris Wolf and he was the result. Hoarfen's only job in life was to guard the castle of Siingard. When the Hulk came stumbling along looking for Agamemnon, Siingard immediately ordered Hoarfen to kill the Hulk. At this point, Hoarfen rushed off to take on the tiny green man.

In one fell swoop, Hoarfen picked up the Hulk and Agamemnon in his jaws and killed them both. The Hulk was dead. Later, Hela came along and resurrected both the Hulk and Agamemnon, which didn't end well for Hoarfen. Newly alive, the Hulk lifted open Hoarfen's jaws to the point of fracturing them. The last we ever saw of Hoarfen was him running away, but he clearly demonstrated his power when he ate the Hulk.

11 MAESTRO

maestro

Maestro is the answer to the question, what would happen if the Hulk was the only superpowered survivor of an atomic war? In an alternate future, the Hulk did exactly that and was powered-up considerably by the radiation. It didn't just boost his strength though, it also drove him insane and he became a despotic ruler over the survivors of Earth.

In a toe-to-toe match against the Hulk, there is no contest; Maestro would beat the Hulk every time. He's just too strong in comparison. It takes science and time-travel for the Hulk to take out Maestro, but he keeps coming back time and time again as a reminder to the Hulk of what could happen to him if he ever loses control. Maestro is the Hulk — only he's a Hulk that could be one day.

10 HIMSELF (MERGED HULK)

It may seem odd to include the man himself on a list of enemies of the Hulk, but if you analyze the character, he represented a struggle that ultimately undermined his very existence. In order to merge the Hulk personalities into one cognitive being, Doctor Leonard Samson helped Banner reconcile his various personalities' issues into a single person.

The result was a person with the strength of the green Hulk, the swagger of the Grey Hulk and the intelligence of Bruce Banner. Banner's refusal to relinquish control eventually led to a regression, resulting in a mirroring of Hulk's original form. He would revert to the body of Banner with the mind of the Savage Hulk and was as weak as Banner in the body of the Hulk. That's not a good combination and it nearly destroyed him.

9 TROH-MAW

Troh-Maw_(Earth-616)

Troh-Maw, otherwise known as Trauma, was the son of Armageddon, and like his father, was a member of the Troyjan Empire. Due to his parentage, Troh-Maw possessed the ability to channel and expel cosmic energy, which also came with superhuman strength and durability. He came into conflict with the Hulk due to his infatuation with Atalanta, a member of the Pantheon.

To battle Troh-Maw, the Hulk recruited the Starjammers, the Silver Surfer and the other members of the Pantheon. The group traveled to Troh-Maw's homeworld and confronted him and his father. The ensuing battle resulted in Troh-Maw's death after he is impaled on his own armor. Had this not happened, the Hulk on his own would have been no match for him. Armageddon attempted to resurrect his son later but failed in the attempt.

8 SPEEDFREAK

Speedfreak is one of those characters who shouldn't be a threat to the Hulk, but he could be if he put his mind to it. Joss Sharpe is addicted to the substance Snap, which he uses in combination with his battle armor to travel up to speeds reaching 300 MPH. He is also a skilled assassin and a pretty bad guy.

He had a couple of run-ins with the Hulk following his first appearance in The Incredible Hulk #388, written by David and penciled by Keown. What makes him powerful are his weapons: he carries two swords and a spear made of Adamantium. He could use these to seriously injure or kill the Hulk, but he never amounted to much of a villain in the books before he was killed off prior to the Civil War storyline.

7 MR. FROST

Not much was revealed about Mr. Frost in the comics. He was working for a Mob boss in Vegas when the Hulk came in disguised as Mr. Fixit (another Hulk personality). The first time he confronted him, the Hulk recognized his incredible strength when he was unable to break Frost's grip.

Later, Hulk went head-to-head with Frost and found that he couldn't bleed. It was later revealed he was one of the Headshop, a group of people dying of Gamma radiation who were "saved" by The Leader. His body turned out to be a powerful android with his actual head sitting atop. He could also cover his body with ice and may be immortal, but he hasn't returned to the books since the early '90s.

6 AGAMEMNON

Agamemnon, otherwise known as Vali Halfling was the son of Loki and a mortal woman. Odin banished him from Asgard after he was caught trying to steal secrets while, at the same time, Loki cursed him with permanent adolescence. He has been trapped on earth for millennia but hides his true adolescent form appearing far older than he actually looks.

Agamemnon is incredibly powerful thanks to his parentage and immortality. He can cast illusions and magic, can teleport, levitate, is invulnerable, is a genius, possesses superhuman strength and is skilled in unarmed combat. He formed a powerful group called the Pantheon and attempted to bring the Hulk in as a new recruit. Things didn't turn out so well when the Hulk learned Agamemnon made a deal with the Leader and later betrayed the team.

5 SOUL MAN

soul man hulk leader

Jason McCall was a priest guilty of embezzling money from his congregation in the town of Middletown before the Leader detonated a gamma bomb in the city. More than 5,000 people were killed, leaving only a small number of survivors the Leader planned to use for his experiments. The five who survived were brought into the Leader's fold and became enemies of the Hulk.

Taking the name Soul Man in deference to his previous profession, McCall became more powerful than most of the characters in the Marvel universe. He was described by the Leader as omnipotent, given his ability to bring the dead back to life. Had he been focused on destroying the Hulk, he likely would have succeeded. Instead, he was killed in a battle between the Hulk and the Leader.

4 RAVAGE

Ravage

Dr. Geoffrey Clifford was a mentor of a young Bruce Banner, which is why the afflicted scientist approached him for help in curing him of the Hulk. At the time, Clifford was ill and decided he could help his former protege while simultaneously healing himself with some handy Hulk DNA. He succeeded in matching his DNA to the Hulk's and became the beast called Ravage.

As Ravage, Clifford maintains his memories and intelligence, is larger than the Hulk and is stronger as well. This makes him a powerful enemy and as Ravage. Suitably crazed with power, Clifford went on a rampage across the university campus. He attacked anyone he felt pitied him in his previous state and was only stopped when the Hulk and General Ross form an alliance to stop Ravage. They succeeded by placing him in suspended animation.

3 PIECEMEAL

Piecemeal_(NWO)_(Earth-616)_from_Incredible_Hulk_Vol_1_407_0001

Piecemeal is an appropriately named character, seeing as he was constructed by scientists working for the Red Skrull out of human and animal parts. They literally pieced him together and augmented his body with cybernetics and advanced weaponry so he could take on any super-powered person they wanted. Their plan was thwarted when the Hulk attacked the facility and Piecemeal escaped to Scotland.

Later, the Hulk was called in to stop Piecemeal, who was causing problems for the small towns around Loch Ness. The two engaged in battle and were evenly matched until Madman came up from behind and nearly killed the Hulk. The two eventually battled to the "death" when Hulk impaled Piecemeal with a character named Perseus' spear, throwing him into the lake. He is believed dead, but may still roam the depths of Loch Ness desiring to be left alone.

2 ACHILLES

Achilles is one of the most powerful members of the Pantheon and a true supervillain. He is the son of Agamemnon though he didn't know of his parentage until late in his life. He was born in 1909 and only found out about his father sometime during World War II. At that time, Agamemnon found him and returned him to the Pantheon.

Achilles was, like his namesake, virtually invulnerable. Also like his namesake, he had one weakness -- he loses all power when he is exposed to or even just around gamma radiation. This makes him a difficult enemy of the Hulk, but despite his inability to get close to him, Achilles challenged the Hulk on numerous occasions before his death at the hands of his Pantheon protege. His powers and intellect set him apart as one of the Pantheon's deadliest additions, especially when he betrayed the team before his demise.

1 SIINGARD

Siingard is a powerful Frost Giant from Jotunheim who stood as King of the Frost Giants when he came into contact with the Hulk. As a Frost Giant, he is incredibly powerful and capable of standing up to even the mightiest of the Asgardians. When he is in his own realm, he is at his most powerful, which is when he met the Hulk.

The Hulk traveled to Siingard's realm alongside the Warriors Three, Betty Ross, Red Norvell (then-Thor) and some of the members of the Pantheon as they pursued Agamemnon. Siingard did not engage directly with the Jade Giant at this time but did send his nephew after him to disastrous results (more on that later). Had the two battled, it would surely have been an epic fight.