Master Court
Senior Member
Ok. Time for me to play catch-up. I can point out two glaring flaws in your last argument.
You said it didn't make a difference(debate-wise) that Thor didn't hold back with that particular shot. But let's look at the full scan. I'm sure you've seen it before.
Thor hits Hulk. Hulk goes flying. Hulk gets right back up, without a mark on him, and grabs a statue that by Thor's own admission could kill him. If one full-power hit doesn't even phase Hulk, why would a second, third, forth, etc suddenly KO/Kill Hulk? And yes, "not holding back" directly implies maximum possible effort in whatever attack. Thor hit Hulk with Mjolnir "without holding back". That directly implies maximum strength with the intent of maximum damage.
I've completely forgotten the second point I was originally going to make, but I got a new anyway. So f*ck it.
When they came out of the portal and Hulk sucker punched Thor and started hammering him, it wasn't a fight. Hulk f*cking pounded Thor into the ground. Several unanswered punches. And Hulk walked several yards away before Thor even started to move. And he struggled to his feet. It's clear that not only was Thor completely unable to defend himself, Hulk could've kept going. There wasn't a single sign that Thor was fighting back, or even had the opportunity to. It was made clear that Hulk hammered him.
And back to the "holding back" thing. Thor didn't say he's "always" held back. He said he's held back in the past. The same way Thanos said that over the years he's sought to avoid a confrontation with the Hulk. Thanos doesn't mean he's spent every minute to make sure Hulk's nowhere in sight. Just that he's avoided him here and there.
And Thor DOES win by fighting skills. Brawling doesn't mean skill-less. A skilled fighter always fights skillfully. You can't just turn it off.
And another thing about your "holding back" sh*t. Thor's first fight with Rulk. Thor screams "For by morning thou wilt be DEAD!" You don't hold back against someone you're trying to kill. And you know what? Rulk didn't budge an inch. Rulk went on to even catch a strike from Mjolnir, even after it's been made clear Thor is trying to kill him. And Rulk beat the sh*t out of Thor. And by Thor's comment "By leaving me alive, you have something-something my wrath." we can easily assume Rulk had the opportunity and power to kill Thor.
And much later, issues later, Hulk beats the sh*t out of Rulk, and proving he's stronger than Rulk in the process. Since Rulk only aborbs energy, and Thor's powers are not energy based in any way, it's logical to assume Rulk pwned Thor with pure raw force and simple strategy. Save for the energy-absorbing crap, if Rulk can do it, Hulk can do it. Especially considering Rulk's strength does NOT increase.
So I've proven that on more than one occasion, Thor has not held back against a Hulk of some kind, and since Thor never stated how often or to what extent he holds back, it's a very real possibility that he has NOT held back on more than one occasion against Hulk himself. I've proven Rulk's strength is > Thor's durability. Hulk is stronger than Rulk, and therefore Hulk's strength is > Thor's durability. Given his many battles with Hulk, Thor should know better than to hold back against Hulk, someone that can physically harm him, and by Thor's admission could kill him, especially given the right weapon. And a weapon should be a-okay in this fight, considering Thor uses Asgardian super-glue to keep Mjolnir in his grip at all times.
So even there, we have Thor with Mjolnir, something powerful enough to dent Cap's adamantium/vibranium composite shield, unable to kill Hulk. And we have Hulk with an adamantium statue that Thor admits could kill him.
Finally, the test-of-strength we both have been referring to was years and years ago. Around that time, Hulk was also stating that he would've died from simply falling from great heights.
Hulk's strength not only increases with anger, but his base power and the extent of the anger-amp has increased over the years. Like I've pointed out before, a calm Banner-Controlled-Hulk caught and braced a 150 billion ton mountain at a moments notice. That's a tremendous amp in just a few seconds. And it wasn't even Savage Hulk. And in Planet Hulk, he took an orbital fall just to get home faster.
So the Hulk that stalemated Thor in a test-of-strength something like fifteen to twenty years ago was the same Hulk that could die from a fall at great heights. Since then, we have such a feat as Hulk breaking Onslaught's armor where Thor failed to do so. Even with Banner-removed, any feat of strength that any Hulk can do, Savage can eventually match and then some. Savage Hulk is definitely stronger than Thor. And what's more, between the two of them, Thor is the only one that has ever implied the possibility that the other is stronger.
As for Galactus and the "infinite strength" question. Hulk's strength is limitless. It's a canon fact. That doesn't mean he can beat Galactus. Or even hurt Galactus. For strength to hurt someone, they have to be susceptible to physical harm. It's the old "immovable object meets unstoppable force" thing. People much lesser than Galactus, like Thanos, have proven susceptible to physical harm. But Galactus is beyond that. Hence why Thanos has commented on avoiding Hulk. And Galactus turns people into piles of sh*t.