The Incredible Hulk is powerful, ranking up there with the top Marvel superheroes. But World Breaker Hulk takes power to a new level.
World Breaker Hulk is known for shaking the ground when he walks and smashing planets. That type of power is unbeatable. Or is it?
Who can beat World Breaker Hulk–Thor, Thanos, or Superman? All of these fights would be grueling matches with a hard-to-determine winner. Yet, World Breaker Hulk seems to come out on top in two of the three.
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The World Breaker Hulk
World Breaker Hulk has been heralded as the most physically dominant version of the Hulk. Hailing from the World War Hulk comics, this Hulk is an unstoppable force. His powers exceed other versions of the Hulk.
After being banished from Earth to the planet Sakaar, the Hulk absorbed radiation and energy from the planet after it exploded. This transformation gave him enough power to destroy a planet.
This Hulk returned to take vengeance against those who sent him to Sakaar–the Illuminati, a covert group of heroes who worked to protect the Earth. At one point, World Breaker Hulk fought and defeated Iron Man in his Hulkbuster suit, but spared the Illuminati.
World Breaker Hulk proved his strength not only with the Hulkbuster Iron Man, but also by defeating the Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange, the U.S. Army, and others simultaneously.
The Hulk here is beyond powerful. He can shake planets and send out energy blasts from the radiation he absorbed. World Breaker is at least a double threat to other superheroes.
Incredible strength and energy are not all. World Breaker Hulk has almost unlimited endurance. So, he can fight indefinitely against opponents. He also has Bruce Banner’s intelligence. That makes him unbeatable, or does it?
Can Thor Beat World Breaker Hulk?
Thor and the Hulk have been Avenger teammates and battled one another many times since the characters emerged in the comics.
Thor seems like a Marvel character that could beat World Breaker Hulk. After all, he is an Asgardian god with powers to match.
Thor has god-level strength, agility, and stamina that would come in handy when fighting World Breaker Hulk. He also has Mjolnir to deliver a possible knockout blow.
In the What If? World War Hulk comic from 2009, Marvel fans get to see the two in battle. As expected, when Thor and World Breaker engage in battle, the fight extends into a destructive draw, crashing down into the subway system of New York City.
Unexpectedly, though, Thor prevails, but not through fighting. Thor talks World Breaker Hulk down from his rage. So, Thor wins out, but not through force.
Yet, without this pathway to victory, would Thor still prevail?
Some Marvel fans think so, especially Thor with Odinforce. This is the mystical power source that Asgardian kings draw on that could enable Thor to win.
With Thor’s power, the likely result is a draw still. World Breaker and Thor appear to have corresponding strength and stamina, so both would tire out with no clear winner.
Can Thanos Beat World Breaker Hulk?
World Breaker Hulk could be the strongest Marvel character. His earthquake-shaking strength and radiation power appear unbeatable and to triumph over Thanos, if the latter does not use the Infinity Gauntlet.
The strength of Thanos and World Breaker Hulk could be even, and both could handle major blows. What gives the edge to World Breaker Hulk is that he keeps growing stronger.
A prolonged fight would get this Hulk angrier and hence more powerful. Thanos could keep pace for a long time because he has superhuman stamina even without the Infinity Stones.
But at some point over an extended fight, the Hulk’s endless rage would win, tipping the scale in World Breaker’s favor.
Then again, Thanos defeated the Hulk quickly in Avengers: Infinity War because of his superior fighting skills. Further, Thanos could use his high intelligence to plan an attack against World Breaker Hulk.
With the Infinity Gauntlet in hand, Thanos may beat the World Breaker Hulk too. Remember, Thanos wiped out half the universe, for a time.
Some Marvel fans favor Thanos in a fight too, indicating that only Immortal Hulk could stand up to him.
So there is a case to be made for Thanos, with and without the Infinity Gauntlet.
However, with or without the Infinity Stones, World Breaker Hulk seems more likely to prevail, since several MCU characters like Scarlet Witch and Thor seem capable of beating Thanos.
World Breaker Hulk fights at a higher level than Thanos and still retains Bruce Banner’s intelligence. Without the Infinity Stones, Thanos would lose. With them, World Breaker Hulk might still win.
World Breaker and Superman
Maybe the Man of Steel is the one who can beat World Breaker Hulk? Superman does have all the amazing powers that could do the job.
As a short list, Superman has Super Strength, Speed, Durability, X-Ray vision, and flying ability. These attributes make him an obvious top superhero, if not the top one.
Given all those strengths, World Breaker Hulk matches up with Superman in strength, speed, durability, and power. According to this same ranking, World Breaker only trails in intelligence, but has better combat skills.
Sounds like a draw, but most fans who voted on the above matchup gave the win to World Breaker Hulk.
That conclusion aligns with another assessment that argues World Breaker would win because this form of the Hulk crosses over into the villain category. While other superheroes may fall short of defeating Superman, villains have won out against him.
For example, Galactus, Doctor Doom, and Darkseid from the DC universe have all won out over Superman. The point is that Superman has vulnerabilities, including kryptonite, that World Breaker could exploit.
Or, World Breaker may overpower him, wear him down, as he could with Thanos.
Who Can Beat World Breaker Hulk?
All of these what-if fights would be close contests, and it’s difficult to determine who would win in a fight with World Breaker Hulk.
But given his immense power and invulnerability, World Breaker seems to win out against Thanos and Superman. With Thor, we are probably looking at a draw.
As the potentially top Hulk incarnation, World Breaker is too powerful and has the stamina to outlast most superhero opponents.
Todd Wahlstrom is a creative and analytical freelance writer and life-long Star Wars fan who has expanded into writing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He has written about recent shows such as The Mandalorian and Andor and classic topics like Darth Vader, the Jedi, and Boba Fett. His recent articles include the MCU’s Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor. Todd is the author of a non-fiction book, holds a Ph.D. in history, and enjoys hiking, running, and reading about science.