This post doesn't make a bit of sense. It doesnt have to be referenced in every comic that Hulk is amped when we know that he is. He was amped, deal with it.
Yes. Heroes Reborn: The Return #4, and the follow-up issue Incredible Hulk #460.
The other universe that Hulk was connected to was the Heroes Reborn universe. Because Banner existed in one and Hulk in the other, they became a conduit for energy flowing between the two. Once Banner was reunited with Hulk in the 616-verse, the Hulk's connection to the Reborn universe was closed.
Not sure why you find that hilarious - it was referenced in the comics numerous times, beginning with Incredible Hulk #449 in which Hulk expresses confusion as he feels "stronger than ever" but is badly wounded by a normal missile. At the end of that issue he collapses, an early symptom of the universal nexus energies damaging his health.
It was also made very explicit in IH #454 (both from dialogue and from Hulk collapsing into a coma after being attacked by a T-Rex), Deadpool #4 (in which Hulk is impaled on a broken street sign, much to the amazement of both Hulk and Deadpool), and Heroes Reborn: The Return #2.
Whether the writer was treating either the growing strength or the declining durability as a factor in the Gladiator fight is less certain. There's certainly no explicit reference to either element within the fight or annual, but it was published in the middle of this period.
The Gladiator fight is from Incredible Hulk Annual 1997, which was published in May 1997. IH #449 (in which Hulk first notes he is stronger than ever but his new vulnerability becomes apparent) was published in January of 1997. The nature of the Hulk's link to the new universe, and how it was simultaneously making him stronger whilst slowly killing him, was revealed in #450, published in February 1997.
At the start of the 1997 Annual, the Hulk is roaming the country side with Janis. He makes reference to a warning he gave the US Army in the Annual, a reference which must be referring to the "new rules" Hulk lays down at the end of IH #448. That means it must be set after the end of IH #448 (he leaves with Janis on the last page of that issue) and before IH #451 (Hulk takes over an island in Florida in that issue and doesn't leave it until the end of #453, at which point he separates from Janis).
So it is possible that the Annual was set before #449, which was before the Hulk noticed his increased strength and lower durability.
The fact that the Hulk's altered status isn't referenced once during the Annual though suggests to me the writer wasn't thinking of it as a factor when he wrote the Gladiator fight.
I desagree. Surfer was not in the group when Thanos said that about Gladiator.
When Surfer come, Thanos was able to fight 1v1 against him (he never said he could not beat Gladiator in 1v1). Also, BFR Surfer is kinda useless...he would come back to the battlefield in no time.
Not taking sides, but this is exactly what happened to a T. I would have said something earlier, but it happened so long ago that I forgot the finer details. Your retelling of events have jogged my memory. Carver is correct here. The Hulk was amped to an unknown degree. This may mean that the Hulk would be unable to defeat Gladiator under normal circumstances. I say may not, because he still had healing issues, and his durability seemed to be below its normal state.
In my opinion, it isn't just possible, he was amplified in terms of strength, while at the same time being weaker than ever in terms of durability, and healing. The Hulk was basically like a snowman slowly melting away. I think that you and Leo are both correct to a degree.
He had noted that he felt stronger than ever prior to the publication of the Gladiator fight, absolutely. The serious side-effects of the universal nexus hadn't really begun to kick in by that point though - for example, he didn't begin to glow uncontrollably with the extra energy until Incredible Hulk #453 (which was published in the same month as the 1997 Annual, but had to take place after the Gladiator fight because immediately after #453 Hulk left Janis and disappeared to the Arctic).
It's also probably worth pointing out that the extent of the strength amp is a very open question. Hulk noted he felt "stronger than ever" once, Strange commented that he would grow in strength as time passed in #450, and the narration commented on it much later on, but it was hardly a World War Hulk-type set-up in which it was noted every single issue and by just about every single character that Hulk was stronger than he'd ever been.
His strength increase also wasn't a steady thing - it seemed to come in peaks and troughs. He was on the verge of losing to Mr Hyde in IH #458 before Mercy restored some of his strength. He was exhausted after beating the Abomination in #459 and noted it would take time for his strength to return etc etc.
It might also be worth noting that one of the editors suggested that the Hulk no longer possessed the ability to grow stronger with anger due to his separation from Banner:
That was in the letters page of IH #452, published the month before the Gladiator fight.
So yes, from a strictly in-continuity point-of-view, it is possible that the Hulk who fought Gladiator was stronger (but notably less durable) than usual. However it is also possible that he no longer had the ability to grow stronger with rage. Does a higher base strength that had only just begun growing at the time of the Gladiator fight really make up for the loss of Hulk's key power?
Like I said though, none of these things are mentioned during the Gladiator fight itself. Whether the writer was considering any of them as factors in the fight, or just telling the story he wanted to, we can only guess at.
Gender: Male Location: Planning to take over the WORLD!
so, like i said--the amp didn't have any effect at that point. in fact, since it was so early and he wasn't even sick, his strength was likely BELOW normal as he wasn't amping from rage AND his durability was lessened. so, a weaker and less durable hulk than usual beat glads down. glad that was cleared up.
anyway, fair enuff. i'll go ahead and trust this, if only because it keeps me from having to go through and research it all myself. it bears repeating of course--there is still absolutely zero proof suggesting that the hulk that beat glads to a pulp was in any way stronger than any other hulk before him, nor do i think for one second the author took the circumstances into consideration. and that hulk CERTAINLY wasn't stronger than wwh who, (as the arc stated several times over and was in fact the whole POINT of the arc) was the strongest hulk ever to that point.
so, yeah. hulk wins.
__________________
Last edited by leonidas on Aug 26th, 2014 at 07:21 PM
Further context was that Hulk sandbagged a bit so that they could coordinate their attack: that red dude feigned a stab on surfer who was putting his board up to block but it was a distraction so he could jump on it and attack the king's men in that floaty thing, and Hulk took down surfer who was being controlled by them.
The Hulk was the aggressor during the fight. Surfer was treating the Hulk like a friend, not the other way around. At the end Surfer told the Hulk that dying wasn't so bad. Hulk got pissed and jumped away.
In Tales to Astonish 92 Hulk admitted that the Surfer's power cosmic was stronger than he was. In Tales to Astonish 93 the Surfer knocked out the Hulk with a single cosmic blast and treated him like an annoyance.
In Hulk #250 Surfer drained the energy out of the Hulk(twice) and took his power. Banner was left falling to Earth and would have died had the Surfer not saved him.
In Planet Hulk both were weakened but Surfer was tooling Hulk and his Warbound until they broke the obedience disk.
KMC Community Forums
Aug 26th, 2014 01:57 PM
