The Hulk is arguably one of Marvel's most popular characters. Bruce Banner's alter-ego has been smashing since 1962 and has played a part in thousands of different storylines in the last 60 years. One of the most interesting (and slightly confusing) aspects of his character is how many different versions of the Hulk actually exist. The general public may only know the Hulk as "Mark Ruffalo turning into a big, grunting green beast every time he gets angry", but there is a lot more history to him.
There is a multitude of "Hulks", but only one can claim to be the strongest of them all. Worldbreaker Hulk is his name. Performing impossible feats of strength, while uncontrollably endangering everyone around him is his game. His comic book appearances have been scarce, yet he has had enough time for me to cook up a list of 10 incredible things he can do that normal Hulk can't.
Updated on August 24h, 2020 by Josh Davison: For those who are into Hulk comics, the Worldbreaker Hulk is one of the most popular incarnations of the Jade Giant. He's intelligent like the Savage Hulk, but he isn't reluctant to fight back like the Professor Hulk. He has more of a sense of morality than Joe Fixit Hulk, and he's only really comparable to the Immortal Hulk return of the Devil Hulk. Speaking of which, the Worldbreaker Hulk just made his long-awaited return in Immortal Hulk, and that makes now as good a time as any to expand on this list with five new entries dissecting more differences between the Worldbreaker and the Savage.
15 The Strategist
One thing that sets apart the Worldbreaker from the Savage Hulk more than anything else is his intellect and ability to strategize. The Savage Hulk is just a raging beast consisting of pain, fear, and trauma. He is a bomb that never stopped detonating, and many of his worst rampages were completely unplanned.
By contrast, the Worldbreaker Hulk proved to be a leader, an excellent fighter, and a genius strategist. He united his Warbound on Sakaar, overthrew the Red King, and returned to Earth with a plan to demolish the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the Inhumans, and the X-Men to get his revenge on the Illuminati. In essence, he won, and World War Hulk only stopped when the Worldbreaker was ready for it to stop.
14 Armor From Flesh
A frightening new ability of the Worldbreaker that we just saw manifest in Immortal Hulk is his ability to mimic his eponymous armor by molding his very bones into exterior armor. The Devil Hulk has already exhibited the ability to get creative with his own anatomy, but this is something that the Savage Hulk could never do.
The Immortal Hulk series is a masterpiece of body horror, with artist Joe Bennett shocking readers with several unforgettable scenes of absolute gamma-powered grotesquerie. The Worldbreaker conjuring armor from his own flesh is just one instance of this happening.
13 Traverse The Mindscape
The return of Xemnu, the Living Hulk, complicated the Devil Hulk's plans for changing the world. Xemnu's telepathic powers pacified the Devil Hulk and made the world completely forget about any Hulk outside of Xemnu himself.
Fortunately, the Savage Hulk and the Worldbreaker were able to maintain conscience within Bruce Banner's mindscape. The Savage Hulk initially knew nothing about how to navigate this realm within his own head, but the Worldbreaker showed the Savage Hulk the way as well as the new predicament that the Devil Hulk found himself in.
12 Resisting The Other Hulk
On top of that mastery of his own mind, the Worldbreaker Hulk was also able to resist Xemnu's control outside of the mindscape.
Hulk was only able to turn the tables on Xemnu by letting the Worldbreaker take over, though there was some help from Rick Jones and/or the Leader. The Worldbreaker punched Xemnu to literal pieces and ended the reign of the other Hulk.
11 Separation Anxiety
After World War Hulk and the Worldbreaker's travels with the "Hulk family," Bruce Banner had a falling out with his then-dominant Hulk personality. The Worldbreaker tired of Bruce Banner and autonomously did what no other Hulk had ever done, he abandoned Bruce Banner.
This left Bruce feeling destitute and incomplete. Banner began growing mad and performing new and dangerous experiments with gamma radiation. Even after the Worldbreaker rejoined with Bruce Banner, the good doctor continued to scheme against his alter ego until the two finally made peace.
10 One Small Step For Hulk...
"Planet Hulk" and the subsequent "World War Hulk" comic book arcs are arguably amongst Bruce Banner's most memorable stories. In the first, the Illuminati place the Hulk on a spaceship and send him to space against his will. He lands in Sakaar and...long-story-short, he marries and settles down, his spaceship explodes and kills his wife, and he returns to Earth to exact his revenge on our heroes.
The latter continues this story and ends with Miek, (who became friends with Hulk in Sakaar), killing Banner's best friend, and admitting to having killed his wife. This turns out to be too much for the Green Goliath, and he reaches a unique level of anger, and thus an uncontrollable level of power. A "worldbreaking" power. He steps forward, and the city starts to crumble under his weight. All he did was slowly place one foot in front of the other. A few more steps and the entire continent would have collapsed.
9 Death Star Hulk
One of Hulk's greatest foes is Thunderbolt Ross, AKA Red Hulk. He also has a superpowered cousin, Jennifer Walters, AKA She-Hulk. Betty Ross is Banner's love of his life, but she is also a villainous amalgamation of the previous two characters, AKA Red She-Hulk. A battle between Bruce's monster and Betty's beast in the Dark Dimension saw the Hulk once again tap into his Worldbreaker powers.
Try to forget for a moment why these soul mates are beating the living hell out of each other. What matters is the damage this fight caused all around them. One fatal moment saw the Hulk punch Red She-Hulk into a planet. The planet turned to rubble, the powerful creatures who had been fighting ou hero before and were now standing nearby instantly died, and even some nearby moons were affected by the shockwave.
8 Skaar Skull Crusher
As has been mentioned, once upon a time, the Hulk had a wife. What is interesting about that is that with that marriage also came a son, Skaar (not to be confused with the planet Sakaar). Like his father, he has a human form and a "Hulk-like" alter-ego that is pretty powerful. Maybe not as strong as the Savage Hulk, but powerful enough to break Juggernaut's shell on one occasion.
Obviously, it is nothing compared to the Worldbreaker. In a fight between this Hulk and Skaar, the Worldbreaker easily defeats him. This isn't necessarily an incredible feat. The incredible comes from his ability to literally crack Skaar's skull with one single green hand. Something he, fortunately, manages to resist doing.
7 Hulk VS The World
The whole plot that revolves around the aforementioned “World War Hulk” is the Hulk's hatred of his ex-allies who exiled him and who he thinks killed his wife. The story begins with the Green Goliath descending upon Earth to exact his revenge on the heroes. What happens next is something even the Savage Hulk could never dream of doing.
The Worldbreaker Hulk went up against (*clears throat*) the Avengers (including a Hulkbuster-suited Iron Man), the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Juggernaut, Doctor Strange, Black Bolt, Ghost Rider, the US Army. He even fought the Sentry, who is said to have "the power of one million exploding suns". He defeated them all single-handedly. As Bruce Banner later reminds his friends of this incident, he firmly states that it is "the strongest Hulk there has ever been". And with good reason.
6 Enduring Power
One of the most impressive Worldbreaker abilities is something a little more discrete. While a massive increase in strength may be the most visible characteristic, all this power could still be exploited by his foes in a very boxing-like fashion. Just tire the big guy out until he’s weak enough to knock him down. Unfortunately for all those hoping to defeat Worldbreaker Hulk, tiring him would be as effective as hitting him on the head with a wooden stick.
This iteration of the Green Goliath also possesses a monstrous amount of stamina. Basically, he has near-unlimited endurance. This is shown in The Incredible Hulk #635 when Bruce Banner’s alter-ego continues locked in a battle with the Red She-Hulk. In addition to this, two issues before this, it is stated that he can keep fighting for all eternity.
5 Super Aura Punch
In between Hulk’s defeat of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes & Co. and the attempt at literally breaking the world apart, something remarkable happened. An aura has always been a very vague concept. In the Worldbreaker’s case, his aura is clearly visible, as he emits a blinding green glow from his body. It’s not just disturbing to someone’s eyesight, though.
As the beast expresses his anger towards the heroes, he emits a slightly higher amount of aura than before, which causes everyone around him to be knocked back hard. In other words, by not even moving a muscle, Worldbreaker Hulk is still more powerful than most of his foes. This is as close as he’ll ever get to invincibility.
4 No Match For The Worldbreaker
The Incredible Hulk #631 sees the return of a few of Hulk's greatest foes, including Wendigo and Bi-Beast. These two are normally very dangerous, powerful threats, but to make matters worse, they not only return together, but they also receive a power boost and literally become the size of buildings. Then again, the Hulk was experienced a "worldbreaking" boost. Long story short, they were killed. However, he wasn't done fighting, because a bigger and much more powerful entity took advantage of the situation and attempted to beat the Green Goliath himself.
This was Arm'Chedon, warlord of the Troyjan empire, and so strong that he managed to defeat the Silver Surfer, who in turn had easily defeated the Hulk before. But the Worldbreaker doesn't care. As the cosmic enemy blasted him with a deadly energy blast, our hero simply ignores it and leaps towards the blast radius, until he reaches Arm'Chedon and knocks him out.
3 Fin Fang Boom
In The Incredible Hulk #635, Bruce Banner’s alter-ego went up against the giant dragon-like alien Fin Fang Foom. In this issue, his foe is even stronger than usual. It is stated that he is radiating “the mystical power of 17 Hercules blows”. Regardless if that makes any sense or not, the fact is that the dragon’s radiation is enough to kill the entire continent.
The reason it doesn’t is because the Hulk is there and is in full Worldbreaker mode. And being that powerful means he is the only one who can absorb Fin Fang Foom’s radiation, and use it to become even stronger. Not to mention the fact that, at one point, the Hulk is bombarded with 5 deadly gamma bombs…and all he does is smile.
2 Saving Las Vegas
Shortly before his consecutive battles against the likes of Wendigo, Bi-Beast, Arm'chedon, and Fin Fang Foom, our Jolly Green Giant was relaxing in Las Vegas. When the villains started showing up, havoc spread through Sin City on a scale hitherto undreamt of. Well, maybe not that much. They did, however, cause enough damage to literally turn part of Las Vegas into the final act of Age of Ultron. As in, a flying city.
Worldbreaker Hulk might be a danger to society, but that doesn't mean he's evil. In fact, as a large chunk of the city took to the skies, our hero jumped down from it, leaped back up, grabbed Vegas by the front, and absorbed the impact of the city's descent, restoring it to its rightful place and saving countless citizens.
1 I Destroy, Therefore I Exist
From what we've seen, it seems as if Worldbreaker Hulk is a monstrous creature that could destroy the entire planet. That is undeniably true. But there is something that proves his destructive capabilities, beyond his potential to shatter the United States of America with a few footsteps and even his ability to knock back an assortment of superpowered superheroes by simply unleashing his "aura". No, the horrifying truth concerning the limit of his strength is that it might be that there is no limit.
As far-fetched as it seems, The Incredible Hulk #632 demonstrates how the simple fact that Hulk exists could be enough to break the world. When he transforms from puny Banner to Worldbreaker, stone and glass shatter all around him for quite a wide radius. Then, as he stands still in his new form, stronger than he's ever been before, the ground beneath starts to crumble. No footsteps, no auras. Hulk's mere existence is worldbreaking.