MightyEInherjar
Two Ravens Above Us
I think in a lot of ways, it's a standstill. These Thor/Hulk fights are always the most interesting to me, because they're both my favorite heroes of all time. I think in a straight fight, neither wins, it gets seperated by some odd means. Thor and Hulk are greats, and losing either of them would seriously piss off fans on either end. In a fight to the death? I'd go with Hulk, as I do with most things with him "to the death" for these reasons.
- Hulks strength goes up constantly in most combat/stressful situations, ranging from IIRC 70-80ish Class to 100+.
- Hulk cannot physically "die". I believe there are several instances of him regenerating from impossible wounds in the Hulk Respect thread, my favorite being from "Hulk: The End," where hulk is reduced to a pile of tissue and organs, and is recorded by banner using a camera to count the minutes it took for Hulk to come back from an unbelievebly mutilated state. Therefore, I'd stick with Hulk not being able to "die" by any physical means.
As for Hulk losing to lots of people...I believe in the Marvel universe that Hulk is the classic 'bruiser,' he's the classic tough monster that everyone recognizes. Say a new character comes to the scene, or wants to distinguish himself, they could put him up against someone like the Hulk and have them win to have them gain respect with fans and new readers. I can see lots of the writers for the old comics never planning on having Hulk blow up into such an unstopable monster, I think they would have liked to have him a character kind of like the Rhino, a classic tough stupid...someone you're pretty glad to see get beat because he's just the polar opposite of most protagonists. Not many people care much about what happens to the Hulk, and I imagine a lot of that comes from the effort it takes to develop an interesting character for him. Most of the time, you can pretty much guess what'll happen in any Hulk book: Banner whines or gets in a predicament (sp?), Hulk comes out, Hulk gets mad (and tells everyone), then Hulk beats everything up, or almost does, then Banner changes back and does some thinking (or Betty comforts him).
Concerning Hulk dealing with important and cosmic situations: Hulk is unreliable. He always has been, and he probably always will be. People that have dealt with the Hulk know that there's always the possiblity one of his persona's could come back. Hulk's a loose cannon...no one wants to send a ticking time-bomb to fix a delicate situation. This is where Thor comes in, and this is where Thor shines gloriously over Hulk. Thor is rational, Thor is intellegent, and most importantly, Thor almost always has a good chance at kicking someone's ass. He's got a lot of things over Hulk, for example, he's ALWAYS strong. Hulk is strong, but he's most important when he gets stronger...something that takes a little bit of time.
Anyhow, I believe the Hulk/Thor fight is always a standstill. They'll beat the crap out of each other forever and they'll both take turn gaining ground. I believe Hulk gets thrown around by big hits a lot because he just doesn't care. Part of him has the mindset that no matter how hard he gets hit, he's just going to get back up and hit the attacker harder.
I love Hulk. I love Thor.
Why can't they just get along (and kill Superman)?
