Let's bust out some theoretical Hulk debate! 😎
If Galactus truly gave Hulk the full power suite that comes with being a High Herald, then you would have (roughly) Silver Surfer's power-set stacked on top of Hulks.
And that is even more impressive than it sounds due to one thing... Synergy!
Hulk and Surfer together would be FAR more than the sum of their parts.
First, let's look at Hulk:
Hulk's legacy power is that he can amp forever, with no set limit.
If you make him angry, he amps.
If you somehow infuse him with Gamma Radiation (such as dropping a Gamma Bomb on him), he amps.
And he was not written with a maximum to how high he can amp.
In effect- Hulk is like a balloon that never pops, no matter how much water you fill it with.
But Hulk is still limited by how fast he can amp, and by what it takes to motivate him.
That "unpopable balloon" is still attached to a normal faucet. There is only so much water that shoots out at any given time.
Turn up the rage, you turn up the water pressure and the balloon fills faster.
But he needs an extreme plot bomb to hit "World Breaker" levels of power.
Or put simply:
Normal Hulk has infinite "potential"- he can climb forever.
But he does not have infinite "actualization"- he still NEEDS to do the climbing.
And how fast he climbs is based in his trauma and/or Gamma levels.
Those are his limiting factors.
Adding in Surfer's power removes those limiting factor.
To illustrate how, let's look at what Surfer (as a Herald Archetype example) can add to that equation:
Silver Surfer is an extremely powerful energy manipulator. Give him ambient energy to play with, and he can "Crunch" out a ton of power. 😎
And he can channel just about anything... including Gamma Radiation.
(Surfer has defeated Savage Hulk in the past by sucking the Gamma out of him at a Cosmic Rate.)
But what would happen if Surfer flipped the switch and instead "infused" Hulk with as much Gamma Energy as Surfer could manage to channel?
Synergy! Ya' Gotta love it. 😄
In Waid's recent Hulk run, we saw what happens when you drop a single Gamma Bomb's worth of radiation onto the Hulk.
You get "Hulk Squared." Hulk's body doubles in power level immediately.
No need for rage. This is not an emotional amp. This is external and instant.
Pak also showed us what happens when you dump a small arsenal of Gamma Bombs onto World Breaker Hulk (he had Fing Fang Foom do this in HotM).
The result was Hulk growing to Godzilla-Like proportions and amping in strength geometrically- and again, instantly.
As hinted at above- Surfer can Channel the Crunch (with extreme strain). Adding Hulk's power to Surfer's should allow for more channeling, as his body could cope with even more strain.
With that in mind...
Imagine what Hulk, with Surfer's power added to Hulk's already uber durability, could channel.
Now imagine him using that power to do nothing but absorb all ambient Gamma Radiation from the Galaxy.
Instantly infusing himself with more raw Gamma Radiation than the Complete Gamma Arsenal of a thousand Earths. Or tens of thousands. Gamma is a limitless resource in the Universe.
And a Herald could channel galactic amounts of it.
All at once. All instant. And into a body that doesn't max out.
Holy Hell.
World Breaker would look like a calm baby.
And that's before you even add in the Rage Amping factor.
Pure synergy.
Adding a Herald's ability to absorb and manipulate Galactic Amounts of Gamma Energy, to Hulk's ability to process a virtually limitless amount of that energy...
Yeh.
In theory- Hulk could absorb Gamma Radiation at will; and in doing so, he could amp himself at will.
No need for rage. No need for waiting. No more limiting factors.
No more infinite "potential."
Instead- you would get infinite actualization. Limitless strength on tap.
Hulk Smash Puny Cosmics! 😮💨
Originally posted by carver9
When Gakactus turned Hulk into one of his Heralds, didn't Galactus say Hulk at this power is one of the most powerful beings in the Universe?
He said that Hulk was his most powerful Herald ever; which is still pretty insane when you factor in some his more powerful creations.
(And, of course, adding Hulk's power-set on top of it.) 🙂