Originally posted by LGU
That isn't true at all. The "Professor" Hulk is just the name Paul Jenkins gave to the incarnation when he ret-conned the existence of the merged Hulk - the "Professor" moniker in no way implies the temporarily limited version.As I just pointed out above, the "savage Banner" weakness was entirely temporary. Both before and after, the merged Hulk had absolutely no problem tapping the madder/stronger dynamic.
The merged Hulk's combat record is really very good, he gets underrated a lot - the only scene that seems to stick in people's minds is the end of the Onslaught saga for some reason.
He stalemated Thor and Abomination when he had the savage Banner weakness, suggesting his base strength is in the same ballpark as the elite class 100. He destroyed Blonsky in 3 panels flat when he was at his un-restricted levels. Wrecked the Glob easily (who was flat-out stated to be stronger than the savage Hulk) whilst explicitly noting that he himself was stronger than he ever used to be. Looked comprehensively stronger than Norvell, Thor's exact physical peer etc etc.
PAD went out of his way numerous times to state explicitly that the merged Hulk was stronger than the savage Hulk ever used to be, and frankly his combat record backs that up. He might not be able to hit the same peak highs as the savage Hulk, but on average he is easily as strong as him IMHO.
Thor might be able to win in hand to hand if his skill edge was played up, but I wouldn't bet on it. The merged Hulk is solidly stronger than Thor-level guys and was consistently portrayed as such.
Cheers.
Glob I loved that. During the Herb Trimpe era Hulk had a lot of stupid losses. Art is not everything. Prof Hulk beat up Glob so bad that his fright caused Man-Thing to attack Glob.
Against Norvell, didn't seem that stronger. Of course, he allowed Norvell a free shot and then casually grabbed the hammer in Incredible Hulk #422:
http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo326/OneDumbG0/Hulk%20Durability/ProfessorHulkBlunt14422.jpg
(as you can see not by the handle) but not that stronger. And unlike what many say, he didn't reach his limit against Thor, he was struggling to control his temper.
And also, the Juggernaut pwnage in Incredible Hulk #404:
http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo326/OneDumbG0/Hulk%20Strength/ProfessorHulkStrikingPower06404.jpgg
The part I hated about PAD's run was that he sacrificed the character power showing for character development, sure you need to have the latter, but you also need the former and it shouldn't be underplayed for the latter.
The part I loved was how at times he got back for underplaying Hulk against other characters
Like when Hulk finally got payback against Doc Ock or Havok
http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo326/OneDumbG0/Hulk%20Fights%20T-Z/HulkvsX-Factor07.jpg
http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo326/OneDumbG0/Hulk%20Fights%20T-Z/HulkvsX-Factor08392.jpg
http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo326/OneDumbG0/Hulk%20Fights%20T-Z/HulkvsX-Factor09.jpg
Though I agree with the rest of your statement
My view on the fight is, Thor takes 8/10 against Fixit, stalemates Prof Hulk (I like that moniker than Merged) and loses to the rest
