Among all the Avengers, the Hulk may have the most straightforward powers imaginable: make him angry, and the Hulk erupts. The angrier he gets, the stronger Hulk gets. But the Hulk’s other superpower is just as impressive and terrifying, even if Marvel’s modern universe has basically forgotten it exists. And it’s time that changed forever.
Hulk’s Massive Muscles Give Him More Than Just Strength
The Hulk Can Do More With His Gamma Powers Than Just Lift Things
When seeing just how large and muscular Bruce Banner becomes when transformed, it’s easy to focus completely on how much weight Hulk could lift, how hard he could punch, kick, or any other exertion of maximum strength. But Marvel fans must remember that the gamma radiation which infused Banner’s body made him impossibly strong, but also granted him the physiology to actually make the most of that muscle.
From his skeleton outward, Hulk’s bones, blood, soft tissue, tendons, ligaments, and muscles are all made to work together towards their maximum efficiency. That means limitless maximum force and based on how angry Hulk gets, and no lactic acid or fatigue to limit how long Hulk can operate at peak performance.
Take all of that superhuman strength and invincible physiology, and Marvel is cleary missing out on what ability would make him truly deadly and overpowered against almost any other heavyweight.
Hulk’s Muscles Make Him A Super-Speedster To Rival Marvel’s Fastest
Hulk’s Top Speed is Also Only Limited By His Level of Anger
Take a moment to consider: with Hulk’s oversized and god-tier muscles extending through his entire body and down into his legs, how fast could Hulk propel himself if applying the same explosive force to a sprint? Now consider that his speed would only increase as he ran, with no fatigue or lactic acid to tire him out.
In reality, Hulk possesses a superhuman level of speed, able to compete with almost every one of Marvel’s fastest heroes or villains. Characters with a reality-breaking grasp of velocity might have an edge, but Hulk has proven capable of moving quickly enough to knock Quicksilver, Silver Surfer, Spider-Man, Hyperion, even The Sentry off their feet. Despite his bulk, Hulk moves as a blur when be needs to.
The logic makes sense, when considering the physics and biology at play in Bruce Banner’s body. A hero like Spider-Man doesn’t need to be massively muscular, relying on enhanced muscle fibers, tendon and ligament strength and elasticity, and reaction time instead. Now, consider the Hulk as a comparison on muscles alone.
For slow-twitch muscles favoring endurance (used for prolonged activity), Hulk should perform as well as Spidey without growing tired. But for his fast-twitch muscles favoring explosive power, drawn from enlarged muscle mass (seen in sprinters and speed skaters), Hulk should absolutely obliterate Spider-Man out of the starting blocks.
Which raises the question: why doesn’t Hulk move at super-speed all the time? Other than the damage his sprinting feet would do to the ground as he continually pushed to gain speed, of course.
Hulk’s Strength AND Speed Make Him A God-Tier Avenger
Hulk Should Be The Supreme Hero of The MCU, And It’s Not Close
The simplest explanation for Hulk being considered a massive, super-strong, but lumbering Avenger is almost certainly due to his portrayals on film and TV. Due to the unfortunate limits of reality, the reason actors can’t be as big as Hulk, while also being as fast has to do with limitations on the human body, not the Hulk’s. And the MCU didn’t help.
In Marvel’s pursuit of making Hulk more and more like Mark Ruffalo, his depiction began as more of a meaty brawler, or wrestler, than an Olympian powerhouse or lightning-fast and agile NFL linebacker. Why? Maybe just to give audiences a Hulk they can see, as opposed to a green smear dismantling enemies in a blink. But some movie versions did try to get Hulk’s speed right.
Credit is due to both Eric Bana’s Hulk and Edwart Norton’s The Incredible Hulk for emphasizing the superhuman speed, jumping, and running of Banner’s green form. The films may not have led to the same levels of success or popularity as Hulk’s roles in the Avengers and Thor movie series, but this is one area where the earlier films were more comic accurate, hands down.
In the end, Hulk is being limited by both Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios, with each version failing to live up to his full potential. Would a Hulk who can move in a blur, topple a building in a split-second, or end an enemy with one punch be too powerful to work? If that’s the case, then Hulk at least deserves for fans to know the truth.
- First Appearance
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The Incredible Hulk (1962)
- Alias
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Robert Bruce Banner
- Alliance
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Avengers, Defenders, Horsemen of Apocalypse, Fantastic Four, Pantheon, Warbound, S.M.A.S.H., Secret Avengers
- Franchise
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Marvel
