Thursday 10 November 2011

The Incredible Hulk's all-time greatest foe.

Incredible Hulk #139, the Hulk vs a whole army of his deadliest foes, thanks to the Leader and his deadly mind-machine
Rargh! Steve smash! Puny Internet is strong but puny Steve is punier!

No, wait that's not right.

Whatever.

All that matters is Steve Does Comics' insane quest to find the greatest super-villain of them all has reached Marvel's mightiest marauder, the incredible Hulk.

Film critic Mark Kermode once claimed a Hulk movie can't work because the Hulk has no great enemies. Pshaw! What kind of madman could turn his nose up at the Abomination, the Glob, the Rhino, the Space Parasite, the Leader, Umbu and the Galaxy Master?

But of course those're only a small selection of the myriad foes Jade Jaws has fought over the years. So, who's your all-time favourite Hulk villain?

As always, after a couple of days, I shall gather your nominees together and put them in a poll.

And then the world can at last decide just who is the Hulk's greatest ever foe.

17 comments:

bliss_infinte said...

Da Leader!

Dougie said...

I have a sentimental fondness for the Space Parasite, from one of my earliest colour Hulk comics.

The Harpy is one of the most bizarre and grotesque Gamma Ray creations; her human half makes her more disturbing than the Abomination (great name, though, and under Gil Kane, a striking monster).

The winner has to be The Leader because he is literally the Gamma brain to the Hulk's brawn. He was creepily effective when paralysed, Hector Hammond-style.

Boston Bill said...

I'm tempted to say Bill Mantelo, because his handling of the character actually got me to stop reading the book!
The Leader jumps out at you. Created by Ditko to be a recurring villain, he was the first of the Hulk's many Gamma-radiated foes, and one of the more interesting as his mutation was a mighty intellect (but why didn't he get smarter as he got angrier? hmmm...)
But I'm going to buck convention and say...The Missing Link! Unfairly dumped with the 2nd stringers, this highly radiated caveman had an intellect as simple as Ol' Greenskin; his pink colouring made a nice contrast to emerald green; and unlike The Leader, he could go toe-to-toe with the Hulk. Excelsior!

Steve W. said...

I love the Missing Link too.

Don Hudson said...

Why not the Abomination? Maybe the Hulk Is such a powerful character and he tends to smash his foes, you can't have a greatest foe?

Ade Salmon said...

Seems to me that many of the Hulk's foes are really transplanted from other heroes' rosters like Mr Hyde , the Absorbing Man ( Thor) , Cobalt Man ( Iron Man) , Rhino ( Spidey) etc. Very few really good ones are pure Hulk villians like the Leader ( as mentioned) or the Abomination.

My nomination though is for Thunderbolt Ross who probably hates the Hulk more than anyone else!

La Belle Esplanade said...

I'm going to recycle an answer from another Marvel hero: Himself. This answer does not apply to every Marvel hero, but it seems apt in this case.

Kid said...

I like the Space Parasite too (got the original comic), but I also like Tyrannus. I guess it would have to be the Leader 'though.

Super-Duper ToyBox said...

its the Leader, for the reason Doug said: he's the Gamma brain to the Hulk's brawn

Steve said...

Hmm, I'm going to say an obvious one: Wolverine! Wasn't his first appearance fighting the Hulk?

Doug said...

Xemnu the Titan!

Doug

Steve said...

Xemnu the Titan or Groot would have been my other choices.

Bear Boy said...

Coming out of left-field for a moment what about Batman? It can't get tougher than going up against the cream of the Distinguished Competition.

spiderkev said...

I have to go with old Thunderbolt here,He is easily the Hulks's most presistant foe.

Anonymous said...

Ahhh Xemnu the Titan what a classic character almost to cute to be bad - I always wanted the Gremlin to play a bigger role as the Hulks enemy - What about MODOK - although its gotta be between the General Ross, The Leader and (my fav Marvel baddie) The Abomination - McScotty

Steve W. said...

Thanks for all your suggestions. The poll's now up, so nominations are now closed.

Kid said...

Interesting to note that Xemnu the Titan was called the Hulk in his first couple of appearances.