As he loves to tell anyone who asks, Hulk is the strongest one there is. That is close to the truth as well. There seems to be no limit to the strength of the Hulk, as anger and aggression just raise his powers to almost unthinkable levels. The worse that he is hurt, the stronger he gets. The angrier he gets -- well, you wouldn't like him when he gets angry. However, at the end of the day, that is the base level Hulk. Over the many years that Marvel Comics has told stories of the Green Goliath, there have been many versions of Hulk -- both Banner Hulk's and the extended members of the Hulk family.
Each different version of the Hulk has different strengths and weaknesses and not all of them possess the same unlimited potential as the original. There were even times where the main Hulk saw himself depowered and his strength levels fell far below what fans are used to. At the same time, there were stories where the powers of the Hulk surpassed anyone's imagination and made him a very scary, very dangerous being. From the different versions of Hulk to the various members of his extended family, here is a look at the 10 most powerful Hulks ever and the 10 weakest.
20 GRAY HULK - WEAK
As with most Marvel Comics superheroes, Hulk powered up over time because what was considered strong in the '60s was very outdated by the time the '90s rolled around. When Hulk debuted, he was not the big Green Goliath. Instead, he was a large gray Hulk that fought crime. He also wasn't that strong -- at least not compared to what he became over the years.
Interestingly, Marvel Comics showed why this was true. According to the books, the Gray Hulk and Green Hulk were always battling for control inside Banner's head and Green Hulk ended up winning out because he was stronger. Add in the fact that Banner would only transform into Gray Hulk at night, similar to the werewolf curse, and that meant he wasn't changing when he was really needed.
19 TOTALLY AWESOME HULK - STRONG
There was a lot to love about the Amadeus Cho version of the Hulk. Known as the Totally Awesome Hulk, Cho gained the powers when he raced in to save the day when Hulk absorbed so much energy that he was literally going to explode and take out a large city in the process. Cho not only gained the powers of Hulk but he had his own genius level IQ while he was Hulk.
Cho was already powerful due to his brains and now he had the brawn to go with it. Of course, this is Hulk, so over time, he began to lose control when he began fighting with the same inner demons that drove Bruce Banner to the brink of insanity. When he lost control, his powers were even greater and it took a bunch of super-powered friends to finally save him from toppling over the edge.
18 SKAAR - WEAK
Skaar used to be pretty powerful. He was born on Sakaar after the passing of his mother and after his dad, The Hulk, left the planet seeking revenge. He had the Hulk-like powers of his dad and the Old Power of his mother and ended up coming to Earth to seek vengeance against the father who (unknowingly) deserted him as a child.
He was strong and very powerful thanks to having to learn to defend himself at a young age on Sakaar. When he made it to Earth, he picked a fight with Hulk and a few other heroes but was beaten more than once, with even Iron Fist knocking him out. He dropped like a rock, however, when Hulk stripped him of his gamma powers, leaving him with only his Old Power, which is still pretty strong -- just not Hulk-level.
17 WAR HULK - STRONG
When people think of Apocalypse, they think of the X-Men. Throughout his attempts of conquering the world, he created a number of different Horsemen to follow him based on the Biblical Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Mutants like Archangel, Gambit and Wolverine were notable Horsemen and in the movies Storm and Psylocke even added their name to the list.
However, during the Onslaught storyline, Hulk got split into two beings with Banner and the green guy split up on different Earths. The non-Banner Hulk was then recruited by Apocalypse to serve as the Horsemen War, and with the powers that Apocalypse added to the already impressive monster, he was just about unstoppable, although Apocalypse did cap his powers to keep him subservient.
16 TYRONE CASH - WEAK
In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, Bruce Banner wasn't the only Hulk. He wasn't even the first man to be known as Hulk. Tyrone Cash was a British scientist who worked with Bruce Banner on the super soldier serum -- which is what caused the transformation into the Hulk, to begin with. He then took the serum himself and turned into the Hulk.
He ended the lives of a number of people after this and ended up becoming a gangster and a villain. He made one huge mistake. He was involved in the storyline where people were selling Super Soldiers on the Black Market, something that caused the war between the Ultimates and Avengers. He was never really that powerful, as Nick Fury executed him after they caught him.
15 SAVAGE SHE-HULK - STRONG
The Savage She-Hulk has strong lineage, which might explain her raw strength and massive power levels. She is the daughter of Hulk and Thundra. The storyline was a bit controversial as Thundra went back to the past, fought Hulk but then befriended him at the end. They shared a kiss and she went back to her own timeline and used the DNA she got from Hulk to splice it with her own to allow Lyra to be born.
There was one basic difference between the Savage She-Hulk and other Hulks. She was not as powerful in her normal state and she does not get stronger when she gets angry. Instead, when she gets very calm, achieved in a relaxation method she perfected, she gets stronger -- much more powerful than many other versions of the Hulk in existence.
14 MR. FIXIT - WEAK
Remember that Gray Hulk might be the weakest version of the Hulk of all-time but there was one other time that Hulk went gray after that original appearance. This was when he turned into Mr. Fixit. Hulk's green persona was always battling for control over Bruce and the Gray Hulk and when the Gray Hulk finally won out, he became Mr. Fixit and stopped reverting to Banner at all.
The interesting thing about Mr. Fixit is that he loses much of the power of the green Hulk. He is still more powerful than most people around him but he no longer has the ability for rage to increase his strength. He is also less moral than Hulk and cares little about being a hero, working instead in security in Las Vegas.
13 DOC GREEN - STRONG
Hulk was shot in the head by the Ancient Order of the Shield and his life was ending. Luckily, he had friends in high places and one of those friends was a genius named Tony Stark. The way to save his life was to use the Extremis virus and inject it into Hulk to try to heal him from the brain damage. It worked but it had a side effect.
The side effect was a brand-new personality for Hulk. He was now the green Hulk with Bruce Banner's genius intellect and he no longer had to worry about raging out. He was also a mixture of insecure and arrogant. He felt he should be the only one to be a gamma-radiated superhero and created a serum to strip all the other Hulks of their powers. After this, he eventually had the Extremis virus removed and turned back into the regular green Hulk again.
12 HULK 2099 - WEAK
The Marvel 2099 Universe started with Spider-Man 2099 and he was such a huge success that more heroes from the future started popping up. While many alternate timelines showed Hulk living forever thanks to his healing factor, he was not the Hulk in this world. Instead, it was a man named John Eisenhart.
The story here was that a cult worshipped the old Hulk and they were known as the Knights of Banner. Eisenhart worked in Hollywood and tried to exploit the group. During illegal gamma experiments where the cult was trying to recreate a Hulk, Eisenhart was accidentally transformed into Hulk 2099 before mutating further and perishing.
11 OLD MAN HULK - STRONG
In Old Man Logan, the world had gone to crap and villains had taken control of the United States. Magneto, Doctor Doom, Abomination and Hulk each laid claims -- and yes, Hulk was a villain by the time. He also married his cousin, the She-Hulk, and they had some very disturbing Hulk children. Hulk had also mutated by this time into a huge grossly obese monster.
Even as Bruce Banner he was stronger than The Hulk used to be as part of his mutation and as the monster he was just unbeatable. He was so large and powerful that he was easily able to pick up Old Man Logan and eat him. That was the only problem because Logan slashed his way from out of the Hulk -- and for some reason, this version didn't have a healing factor so that was his end. If not for this miscalculation, there is little reason to think Logan stood a chance.
10 DOC SAMSON - WEAK
Leonard Samson set out in Incredible Hulk #141 to save the life of Betty Ross. She was in a crystalline form and he found a way that he thought could both bring her back to life and cure Bruce Banner of Hulk forever. However, Samson then irradiated himself with gamma radiation and developed his own super strength, while interestingly it was just his hair that turned green.
His strength level is below other Hulks since the gamma levels he absorbed were nowhere near the level of others. His strength is capped out at about 70 tons, and he does not have the increased power boosts due to adrenaline surges as the Hulk does. His other powers (stamina, durability) are also a step below other Hulks.
9 HULK - STRONG
The regular mainstream timeline Hulk is still one of the strongest characters in the Marvel Universe without any boost in powers. He has been Gray Hulk, smart Hulk, Mr. Fixit, merged Hulk, Doc Green and more. However, when he is just Hulk, he can still wipe the floor with just about anyone.
What puts Hulk on a level above almost every superhero alive is that he not only has superhuman strength and skin that is impenetrable to almost any weapon, but he also has a healing power that is always working so if he is injured, it gets better real fast. His body has no fatigue toxins, so he never gets tired and can fight forever. Plus, if you hurt him or make him angry, he just gets stronger and stronger with no limitations at all.
8 RED SHE-HULK - WEAK
Red She-Hulk was a lot of fun when she first appeared in the pages of Thunderbolts -- someone who had a grudge to settle. The mystery was that no one knew who she was or why she was there -- or even what she really wanted. The mystery carried over until Marvel revealed that the Red She-Hulk was none other than Betty Ross, the long-time girlfriend of Bruce Banner.
She was red, just like her father, but there were problems when it came to her strength levels. She had little control over her powers and lost in fights to the Jennifer Walters' She-Hulk. She actually ended up needing a sword that Tony Stark made to even the playing field in fights.
7 ULTIMATE HULK - STRONG
Ultimate Hulk appeared in the Ultimate Marvel comic books as well as the two Ultimate Avengers movies. He was also a slight basis for the version in the Marvel Cinematic Universe up through Avengers: Age of Ultron. This Hulk is extremely powerful -- even more so than his main Earth counterpart.
The reason for this is because Hulk is able to regain control in the mainstream timeline but in the Marvel Ultimate Universe, he is pretty much beyond control. He is used as a blunt force weapon that S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Ultimates point at a target and set loose. However, they can't reign him back in and he can destroy pretty much anything in his path. This is a Hulk that no one wants to face.
6 SHE-HULK - WEAK
Jennifer Walters is the cousin of Bruce Banner and was an attorney who was attacked and things looked bleak until her cousin decided he could give her a blood transfusion to save her life. Thanks to the healing properties in his blood, he saved her life, and thanks to the gamma radiation in his blood, he turned her into the She-Hulk.
Thanks to the fact that Jennifer Walters did not suffer from the childhood trauma that Bruce went through, she kept her control as the She-Hulk and even remained an attorney -- albeit a big green one. Since she remains in control, her strength levels are capped, although there was a time where she turned grey and lost control increasing in power along the way.
5 MAESTRO - STRONG
Future Imperfect presented a fascinating look at what Hulk could end up turning into when he grew old. Time has passed and Hulk went insane and slaughtered every other superhero on the planet, leaving himself as the ruler. He is arrogant and overconfident and because he has been alive for so long, he is also one of the most powerful Earthlings to ever live.
He actually got some increased Gamma radiation and it made him even more powerful. When the mainstream Hulk time traveled to his timeline, Maestro easily beat him and won the fight. There is only one thing that keeps him from reaching the top of this list. He is completely insane so his rage power-up is capped, keeping him from reaching infinite strength.
4 RED HULK - WEAK
Red Hulk is General Thunderbolt Ross, a man who hated the Hulk his entire life and then for the ultimate case of karma he became one too. However, it ended up making Ross worse, as his anger at his new condition turned him into possibly the biggest jerk in the entire Marvel Universe. Take a look at his version of the Thunderbolts to see the damage he ended up causing.
He was very powerful and could actually absorb the energy of people and things around him to power up. This meant that he got stronger and stronger in a fight and there was really no one who could beat him when he reached this level. The problem is there was a cap on this energy level and when he reached a certain temperature, he burned out and reverted back to a human, taking him completely out of the fight.
3 HULK: THE END - STRONG
It seems that the most powerful versions of Hulk -- save one -- are future variations from alternate timelines. The most powerful of these is the Hulk from the story Hulk: The End. There was no one left on Earth, as everyone had perished while mutated cockroaches were destroying everything left in their path. This includes Hulk, who they constantly ate but, luckily for him, he had his healing powers and kept regenerating.
Although, this wasn't so lucky. There was no one left alive but him, and that was because, as he always said, Hulk is the strongest one there is. No matter what happened to him, Hulk survived because his power had increased to a level where he was almost immortal. However, he also felt alone and as he said at the end, cold.
2 GREEN SCAR - WEAK
Here is the one thing to remember about Hulk and his strength levels. He grows in power the angrier he becomes. That means that when content and at peace, his power levels peak. He is still very strong, and is the most powerful of the "weak" characters on this list, but when he was on Sakaar and after he was able to liberate its people, he was no longer considered a vicious warrior.
He kept his intelligence on Sakaar and brought the planet to peace. He fell in love and his new bride was pregnant with his child. He was the ruler of the planet and had no need to fight or battle anymore. Sadly, that was not good enough for some and they had to destroy his life in order to turn him into something dangerous and the strongest Hulk in existence.
1 WORLD WAR HULK - STRONG
When Hulk lost his wife and unborn child in the explosion on Sakaar, he lost it. He did not know a close confidant and ally betrayed him. He believed that the Earth's superheroes that banished him set the bomb on the ship and caused the loss of his loved ones. That sent Hulk to Earth to seek vengeance on Iron Man, Reed Richards, Doctor Strange, Professor X, Namor and Black Bolt -- the Illuminati.
There was never a Hulk this strong. he had lost everything, the worst defeat of his life, and he was full of so much rage that his power levels increased to monstrous levels. Wolverine's claws couldn't penetrate his hide. He beat Iron Man, Reed Richards and Black Bolt without breaking a sweat. It took his realization of what happened on Sakaar to finally force him to allow himself to fall in defeat. If not for that, he would have destroyed Earth's Mightiest Heroes, easily.