Abomination vs Hulk: Who Would Win? (Comics and Movies)

One is the real thing, while the other is a dangerous copy. One is one of Marvel’s most powerful heroes, while the other is one of his most famous enemies. The first one from our story is, of course, the Hulk, Marvel’s Green Goliath, while the other one is Abomination, a monstrous villain who wanted to become Hulk but became something much worse. In today’s article, we are going to compare these two characters and determine, once and forever, who the stronger character is. Enjoy!

Abomination has proven himself to be one of the Hulk’s more durable opponents, even being able to defeat him while he was calm. On the other hand, as the Hulk’s powers grow, Abomination has limitations in this aspect and that is why the Hulk generally wins in their battles and that is why we are certain that the Hulk is the stronger of the two.

Our comparison is going to be divided into three sections. The first is going to bring an overview of the two characters, after which we are going to compare their powers, including their signature weapons. Finally, we’re going to bring you a detailed analysis of the two characters to determine which one would win in a direct clash.

Abomination and his powers

Emil Blonsky, aka the Abomination, is a Marvel Comics-based supervillain. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Gil Kane, the fictional character first appeared in the comic book Tales to Astonish #90 in April 1967. He is one of the recurring enemies of the hero Hulk.

During the Cold War, Emil Blonsky, then a Communist spy at the Gamma base in New Mexico, appropriates Doctor Bruce Banner’s gamma-ray machine and bombards his body with an even greater dose than that which begot the Hulk. He then transforms into a monster of colossal strength while retaining his intellect (unlike the Hulk).

Blonsky later finds out he’s trapped in this form. Afterwards, he confronts the Hulk on numerous occasions. Left by his wife Nadia and obsessed with Banner, Blonsky sets out to poison Betty Banner (Bruce Banner’s wife) by transfusing her with his own blood in an attempt to make Banner believe he is the source of radiation. But Banner discovers Blonsky’s sadistic plan and, in his Hulk form, gets the upper hand after fighting him.

Finally spared by his opponent, Blonsky realizes that he himself is the cause of his misfortunes. Months later, General Ross manipulates the Hulk into attacking the Abomination. The latter is almost killed, then captured and tortured, forced to watch in a loop a film of his family life dating from before his transformation into a monster.

He is then freed by a secret organization aiming to kill the Hulk, but he fails once again. He subsequently confronts the X-Men and Miss Hulk while the Hulk is exiled to the planet Sakaar. Right after the “World War Hulk” narrative arc, the body of Abomination is found in Russia, riddled with bullets composed of adamantium, murdered by a certain “Red Hulk” (the Red Hulk).

Blonsky was then working as a college security guard. As yet unnamed organization acquires biological material harvested from a fatally injured Bruce Banner; the organization uses this material to resurrect the Abomination, under their control, “free of a mind or conscience” and with an ability to track down the Hulk.

Hulk and his powers

The Hulk is a fictional superhero appearing in stories published by Marvel Comics. Hulk is the alter ego of physicist Bruce Banner, who is a regular human, without any superhuman abilities. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the characters debuted in The Incredible Hulk #1 (1962) and is today regarded as one of Marvel’s strongest characters.

Dr. Robert Bruce Banner is a genius physicist, but a physically weak, socially withdrawn, and emotionally reserved human. During the experimental detonation of a gamma bomb, Banner saves teenager Rick Jones who has driven onto the testing field; Banner pushes Jones into a trench to save him, but is hit with the blast, absorbing massive amounts of gamma radiation. He awakens later seemingly unharmed by the incident, but that night transforms into a lumbering grey (yes, he was initially grey before having been recoloured) form. A pursuing soldier named the creature a “hulk”. 

Originally, it was believed that Banner’s transformations into the Hulk were caused by sunset and undone at sunrise, but later, it was discovered to be caused by anger. Banner was, interestingly enough, cured in The Incredible Hulk #4, but chose to restore Hulk’s powers with Banner’s intelligence. He later became one of the founding members of the Avengers.

The Hulk is a green-skinned, hulking and muscular humanoid possessing a vast degree of physical strength. The two exist as separate dissociative personalities in the same body, and (generally) resent each other. The Hulk’s level of strength is normally conveyed as proportionate to his level of anger. Commonly portrayed as a raging savage, the Hulk has been represented with other personalities based on Banner’s fractured psyche, from a mindless, destructive force, to a brilliant warrior, or genius scientist in his own right.

Comparing the powers of Abomination and Hulk

Our second section will contain a comparison of the two characters’ powers. It won’t be a direct comparison as much as a listing of their powers abilities, which is going to serve as a basis for our analysis in section three of our article. Now, let us begin.

The Abomination’s physical abilities are similar to those of the Hulk (as his transformation is also due to gamma rays). There are, however, some important differences: Emil Blonsky’s intelligence was not affected by his transformation (stable, his transformation does not allow him to return to his original human form); moreover, his strength is greater than that of the Hulk when the latter is “calm”.

But, unlike the Hulk, his strength does not increase even if the Abomination gets angry (which may allow the Hulk, if he has been “pissed off” enough to defeat the Abominatio).

The Abomination is capable of lifting (or exerting pressure equivalent to) 200 tons, twice the size of the Hulk when the latter is “calm.” With the power of his superhuman muscle legs, he can leap in the air for up to three kilometers. He often moves by making leaps.

Its scaly, very thick skin protects it from violent shocks (such as the impact of cannon shells) or extreme temperatures (from −155 ° C to 2000 ° C); he is notably able to withstand repeated blows from the Hulk. In addition, he is immune to all terrestrial diseases.

Thanks to gamma rays, he has the power of regeneration. He can thus heal from any non-fatal wounds and even grow his eyes back if they’ve been injured, although this healing ability is much slower than Hulk’s in comparison. They can also hold their breath for long periods of time and go into a comatose state if there is a lack of oxygen or prolonged exposure to cold. This allows him to survive in space (albeit paralyzed), perhaps even indefinitely. For a while, he could read other people’s minds.

Besides his extraordinary strength, Hulk possesses incredible resistance. His green skin, reinforced by gamma rays which gave it its color, allows him to withstand extremely violent shocks and blows. Hes has been seen to withstand the impact of bullets, grenades, cannon shells and even missiles without damage. In fact, ballistic weapons are ineffective against him.

Much like his strength, the Hulk’s anger strengthens his invulnerability; we have seen him withstand the impact of nuclear explosions several times, as in Antarctica where he faced Thor, and on the planet Sakaar when the Sakaarians set off an atomic bomb of such power that it created an imbalance on the planet. The Hulk also resisted Human Torch’s supernova attack and the X-Men’s Storm’s lightning simultaneously.

The only metals capable of cutting into the skin of the Hulk are vibranium, the metal from which Warpath’s daggers are made, as well as adamantium, which notably makes up Wolverine’s claws. However, even if he is injured, the Hulk’s tissues regenerate at very high speed; he will also declare to Wolverine during a fight that none of them could die as a result of wounds, as their self-healing factors preventing them from doing so.

The Hulk does not have true psychic powers, but has rare abilities to resist them. In “World War Hulk”, Professor Xavier explores the Hulk’s mind, who is unusually angry at the time, and concludes that he is unlikely to overpower him without him hitting him in defense. Onslaught, however, managed to control him, as well as Apocalypse (although their dominance did not last very long).

The Hulk also possesses the ability to perceive astral forms, such as those of Professor Xavier and Doctor Strange. In “World War Hulk”, he even manages to get Xavier’s bodily form to come to him, while Xavier is in his astral form.

Before we continue, let us see how the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z (2010) compares the two characters:

	Abomination	Hulk
Intelligence	3/7	2-6/7
Strength	7/7	7/7
Speed	3/7	3/7
Durability	6/7	7/7
Energy Projection	1/7	1-5/7
Fighting Skills	2/7	4/7

You cannot really deduce a lot from just numbers, as they are quite similar, which is completely natural as the Abomination was created to be a better version of the Hulk. This is why we have to give you a proper analysis, but before – a short answer to a related question.

Why is Abomination bigger than Hulk?

When the Abomination was created, he was supposed to be a stronger and more menacing version of the Hulk. It only makes sense that he would also be bigger than him, although we have to state that the height difference is more expressed in the MCU movies, which aren’t really canon, than in the comic books, which have often shown them to be roughly the same height.

So, the Abomination is taller than the Hulk because he was created to be a monster able to stop the Hulk, but this duel has once again proven that height doesn’t really matter when combat is concerned.

Abomination vs Hulk: Who would win?

And now for the most important and interesting section of our article – the analysis. Here, we are going to use what we have found out about these two characters and analyze how all these facts would (or would not) help them in a fight against each other. Let us continue.

Now, when the Abomination was initially created, he was supposed to be a better version of the Hulk. And he was, in a lot of ways. He was bigger, he was more powerful, had better durability and he had complete control over the transformation, the latter being very important in light of the fact that Banner had almost no control over the Hulk for a long time. This actually gave Abomination an advantage in a lot of fights.

He was not only able to withstand the Hulk’s blows, he was able to kick his ass in direct combat. This is why Abomination actually won some battler against the Hulk, but there is a catch to this. Namely, when Abomination won against Hulk, the Hulk was “calm”, i.e., he wasn’t enraged and used only his basic powers and nothing more.

But, we all know that Hulk has a very special ability that makes him stronger the angrier he gets. Namely, as Hulk becomes enrages, his powers rise exponentially and it has been theorized that there is no limit to this expansion, or that the limit is so far that the Hulk would become unstoppable. In that aspect, Abomination would either have to finish the fight quickly and run, or be careful not to enrage the Hulk. Both options are highly improbable.

Which, of course, brings us to our conclusion. Due to the ability explained above, Hulk would ultimately win against Abomination, which is how it usually played out between the two. Now, in order to provide some evidence for our conclusion, we are going to give you a list of some of the best clashes between these two across all media!

10 Best Abomination vs Hulk fights

1. Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #25 (2001)

In the “Always on My Mind” storyline, the Hulk mourns the death of his wife, who was killed by the Abomination. The two of them finally clash and although Blonsky manages to draw blood during the beginning of the fight, the Hulk ultimately becomes so angry that he almost beats Blonsky to death. He ultimately spared his life, but he was the clear winner in this scenario.

2. Incredible Hulks #618 (2011)

Abomination had technically been dead when the events of this story took place, as he was shot by Red Hulk for killing his daughter and Banner’s wife. Still, he returned leading a group of Demons and attacked the Hulks as they returned to Earth. This version of the character was far more dangerous and had it not been for a timely rescue by Doctor Strange, we’re not sure that the Hulks would have beaten him.

3. Incredible Hulk (vol. 1) #314 (1985)

Technically speaking, the Hulk did not fight Abomination in this one. It was an illusion he had, but to him the fight was very real, so we actually decided to list it here. Hulk won this one in the end.

4. Incredible Hulk (vol. 1) #159 (1973)

The Abomination wakes up after being in a coma for two years but ends up imprisoned; Ross frees him under the condition that he kills Hulk, to which Blonsky agrees. The two titans clash in the desert and after Abomination provokes him, the Hulk knocks him out, thus coming out as the victor once again.

5. Incredible Hulk (vol. 1) #171 (1974)

Sometime later, the Abomination would have his revenge against the Hulk, this time teaming up with Rhino. It was an epic fight to be sure, but at one point, the Hulk simply got bored of fighting and decided to go away. Furious, Abomination and Rhino charged at him, but the Hulk evaded the charge and the two ended up hitting and knocking out each other, thereby making Hulk the victor once again.

6. Incredible Hulk (vol. 1) #432 (1995)

In “Shades of Green”, Abomination decided to challenge the Hulk to a fight to the death; this was a slightly reformed Abomination who had some homeless people under his care in New York’s sewers. This was one of their more epic fights, and one of their longer ones as well. It ended with the two fighting it out on a helicopter that was about to crash in the East River; the Hulk escaped with the passengers, while Blonsky crashed with the vehicle in the river.

7. Incredible Hulk (vol. 1) #137 (1971)

This story was actually the conclusion of a larger narrative that was, at the time, considered to be one of the most epic and thrilling Hulk narratives ever written. The two titans clashed at the beginning of the story, but this fight was interrupted and postponed to the very end, when they ended up falling through the Earth’s atmosphere, with Abomination seemingly dying in the process. He, of course, survived.

8. Incredible Hulk (vol. 1) #196 (1976)

In this epic clash, the two end up in Florida, where they finally end up fighting on a space-bound rocket. During the fight, the Abomination manages to punch the Hulk off the rocket, sending him diving back to Earth, hoping for a clean get away. But, the damage done to it causes the rocket to explode in the air, seemingly killing the Abomination once again. He, of course, survived this one, too.

9. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

The MCU’s second movie, this movie had Edward Norton’s Hulk clash with Tim Roth’s Abomination in an epic fight. Since we have authentic footage of the incident we’ll let it speak for itself:

10. Marvel’s Avengers (2020)

The two of them also clashed in Square Enix’s long-awaited Avengers game, where the player had to control the Hulk to defeat Abomination, thereby saving Kamala Khan as well. This is how the whole fight played out:

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