So, it occurred to me a few weeks ago that modern Hulk (from Waid's run), has essentially become a new incarnation.
At first I classified him Savage Hulk. However, there are several factors that differ with this version:
1). Savage Hulk was a water breather. Current is not.
2). Savage Hulk had an IQ around 35 - 50, current seems closer to 30.
3). Current Hulk is showing a strong increase in movement speed.
4). Current Hulk has low-end power armor.
5). Savage Hulk had significantly higher strength showings.
6.) Current Hulk is often monitored and guided by Banner A.I.
Now with all of this in mind, I am classifying modern Hulk as a new incarnation unto itself.
It is Waid's take on a low-ebb Savage Hulk that is given a bit of BannerTech.
I will call this new incarnation by the books title for simplicities sake: Waid's Indestructible Hulk.
So with this in mind; I ask which incarnation would win:
Grey Hulk (Fixit)
vs.
Indestructible Hulk (Waid's Current)
This is a random encounter in a lightly populated rural area.
Indestructible seems to trump in durability.
Grey Hulk seems to trump in healing speed.
Both are "low ebb" Hulk's that can none the less amp with rage.
Current Hulk wins decisively as he's way more powerful. Fixit could scrape a few from being crafty as that's what he does but he is out-gunned.
Also, classically the savage Hulk was far from consistent as a water-breather. There are scenes when he could, but plenty of others where he needed air to survive. If inconsistently portrayed power-levels were enough to warrant a new incarnation there would be an awful lot of Hulks to classify.
"Crafty" is definitely not a word I'd use to describe Waid's Hulk. Waid actually went out of his way to highlight how much craftier and more intelligent the WWH-era gravage Hulk was than the current one in #14.
That wasn't the current Hulk. It was the Hulk from during his time on Sakaar; as part of his jaunt through time the Hulk's incarnation was changing back and forth to earlier versions too. He'd changed to Joe Fixit immediately prior to that and immediately after the Foom fight he reverted to his current incarnation.
That was actually the same scene I was referring to above when I mentioned Waid had gone out of his way to highlight how much smarter/craftier the WWH-era gravage Hulk was than the current version, who is basically the savage Hulk with a more limited vocabulary.
You forget Savage Hulk's brilliant solution of throwing FFF to the moon. Or balls-grabbing one of the Wrecking Crew (Piledriver?) for a cheap and handy weapon. Or helping Thor smack himself in the face with Mjolnir...
Savage Hulk was instinctively brilliant in battle, many of his fights turned on his application of some tactic or technique that made the, up to then insurmountable foe, wide open to getting smashed.
Current Hulk does little other than just power through things (time, adamantium melting lazers, thor-level weapons) and whirl his hands around at "eye blurring" speed so vague that it could be Captain America speed or Captain Marvel speed for all we know.
I don't really think it is either, but my point was that it has been a deliberately vague "super speed" that Waid's featured.
It's quite deliberate that none of the superspeed feats have any quantifiable dimension to them, merely the cool art of blurs and whirs and such.
Usually you get some numbers attached to the speed feats, in terms of distance or time or even in the form of blitzing/outrunning someone who has an established speed level. Surfer speed blitzes Nova, Rulk speed blitzes Iron Man that sort of thing.
He outpaced time stop. Its pretty clear he is a bonified speedster. This doesn't include him making it back instantly after being banished. I'm not going to name all of his fts, speed fts, but its there and it proves that he is far faster than his previous incarnations.
Carver, I'm not denying that he is fast. I see that just as well as everybody else does.
I'm just saying that it isn't some upgrade or new development, merely the artistic direction that Waid's Hulk battles take. He even showed Green Scar using his muscles to move at "eye blurring speed", against FFF.
I have to say though, Hulk didn't out-pace time-stop, if you're referring to the Chronarcist's attempts to stop time around Hulk. He "powered through", much like he smashed through time in the last issue. There was no speed element to it, he was walking against the force of the chronal energies that were being used to stop time.
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Last edited by janus77 on Nov 28th, 2013 at 01:28 AM
I cannot recall If I mentioned this to you the other day, but it would be EPIC to see you swing by and say hello to the old gang again.
A TON of the old posters from Marvel.com have jumped ship to Mickeys Tavern.
Krazy Kaze, Commix Kid, MS Bazel, Mickeys4Life, Miles Warren... you name it.
If you get a chance; swing by Mickeys Tavern and give a shout out to the old Marvel.com gang.
I can't figure out how to post a link to Mickeys Tavern on this site; but if you just google "Mickeys Tavern Comics" it will take you right to it.
It's the same basic format as this place (i.e. respect forums, vs. forums, chat threads, etc.).
KMC Community Forums
Nov 27th, 2013 11:00 PM
