Comparing two monstrosities is always fun, even if you’re not talking about kaiju characters. In this article, we’re going to remain in the world of Western comics as we compare two overpowered monstrosities – one of them is Marvel’s Hulk, the alter-ego of one Bruce Banner, while the other is Hellboy, a character who rose to fame despite not being published by one of the two major comic book publishers in the United States. In this article, we are going to tell you who would win in a fight between Hellboy and the Hulk.
Hulk would ultimately defeat Hellboy. Hellboy may be powerful and he has some amazing supernatural powers and abilities, but when compared to what the Hulk can do, he is simply not on the same level. The Hulk is one of the strongest characters in Marvel’s universe; he is practically immortal and can draw power from sources even he himself did not know existed. This is why he would defeat Hellboy in a fight.
The rest of this article will further elaborate on the above-given answer, as we are going to compare Hellboy and the Hulk in more detail. Through several categories, you are going to see who the stronger of the two is and why our answer is like it is, i.e., why Hulk would ultimately be able to defeat Hellboy in battle.
Strength
Hellboy’s superhuman abilities appear to stem from his demonic heritage. Although his specific powers and abilities have never been explicitly listed, Hellboy is much stronger and more physically resilient than an ordinary human.
The true extent of his strength is not clear and is possibly limitless; Hellboy possesses a minimum strength level of Class 5. He threw opponents weighing at least four to five hundred pounds, threw a large broken tree at a giant, launched a harpoon through a monster with the mast of the ship, and raised a pile of debris to crush his opponent.
The Hulk possesses the capacity for essentially limitless physical strength, growing exponentially towards infinity without ever truly reaching it. In an interview, Jack Kirby revealed that from the character’s conception he intended the Hulk to have unlimited strength. Indeed, truly estimating the raw potential of the Hulk, the mighty cosmic entity Beyonder flatly stated that the Hulk’s strength is inherently limitless.
The ultimate potential of the Hulk is, in effect, limitless. This claim has also been backed up by the cosmic entity Stranger probing the Hulk’s ability. The Hulk’s limitless strength was further supported by the calculations of the Mad Thinker, who could not stipulate limits.
Furthermore, the Hulk’s maximum power has also been consistently classified as a power with no defined limits. The Hulk’s reputation extends beyond Earth, with the Skrulls proclaiming him the strongest mortal on Earth and the overlord Skyfather Odin musing that he is the strongest mortal Thor has ever faced.
As you can see, Hulk’s strength is absolutely amazing. While Hellboy does match that to a certain degree, he is nowhere near Hulk’s actual powers and abilities and Hulk would ultimately beat him.
Points: Hellboy 0, Hulk 1
Durability and endurance
Hellboy has been proven to be able to withstand injuries that would be fatal to ordinary humans without incapacitation and to recover from injuries at an incredible rate. It has been shown to withstand high impact forces, large-caliber bullets, extreme temperatures, and drops from great heights. He was brutally beaten several times by large monsters and survived, often with relatively minor injuries.
Hellboy has also demonstrated immunity to August Breccan’s powers, granted to him by demons. Superhuman Stamina: Hellboy has always displayed incredible stamina. He can fall thousands of feet and run away as if nothing had happened, shaking his wounds after being crushed and kicked by a giant.
On one occasion, Hellboy directly engaged an MG-42 machine gun, hitting numerous bullets in the chest before destroying the weapon. On another, he was impaled through the chest by a massive spearhead but broke the hilt and charged at the attacker, leaving the spearhead buried in the tree behind him. Despite being shot twice in the face by a double-barreled shotgun, Hellboy got up and walked to his shooter’s house without fainting.
The Hulk’s body counteracts the fatigue poisons that build up in his muscles during physical activity. In fact, the Hulk was capable of jumping non-stop for an entire day without showing any signs of fatigue. In an enraged state, the Hulk is capable of exerting himself to the best of his physical ability for several weeks before fatigue begins to really affect him. However, just like his great physical strength, the Hulk’s stamina increases as he rages.
In an enraged state, the Hulk was able to successfully paralyze the warrior Thor’s madness, a state that temporarily increases Thor’s strength and stamina to 10 times that of his normal state in exchange for negatively affecting his intelligence. A giant robotic sentinel has calculated the Hulk’s stamina to be almost limitless. The Hulk also battled Thor until the latter collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.
In his base state, Hulk is on the same level as Hellboy, but if he becomes even a bit enraged – Hellboy’s a goner. This point goes to the Hulk.
Points: Hellboy 0, Hulk 2
Speed
Although not much of a speedster, Hellboy proved to be quite fast for a creature of his size. He could quickly bring a vampire underground from outside a castle and appear right before a human after scaring them away. Hellboy’s reflexes are far superior to those of any normal human, being able to catch a demon in its fly form before it escapes and snatch missiles into the air.
He also responded to several floating heads at once, a surprise attack from a super gorilla, and an outburst from Grigori Rasputin. Hellboy possesses agility, balance, and coordination that surpasses even the best human athlete. He’s dodged human attacks, a giant werewolf, an entire army of zombies, and can dodge lightning, bullets, and lasers. Its agility is thirty times faster than sound.
Regardless of his size, the Hulk’s superhumanly strong legs allow him to run at speeds that are far beyond the natural physical limits of even the greatest human athlete. In fact, the Hulk’s speed is so relatively high that, while he was tunneling underground from Subterranea to California, the Avengers feared that the Hulk could fracture the San Andreas Fault in a matter of a few hours. In an excellent display of increased speed, the Hulk easily outpaced a plane while on the ground.
The Hulk’s astronomical speed extends to his jumps, allowing him to chase after and hit a space missile. The Hulk also possesses immense swimming speed. He has been clocked swimming at 80 knots, and has even matched Namor’s underwater speed, even as Namor moved fast enough to create a whirlpool, much to the Atlantean king’s surprise.
Hellboy might be fast in the framework of his own fictional universe, but Hulk – although not the fastest guy in town – would still be able to outrun him, which is why he gets this point as well.
Points: Hellboy 0, Hulk 3
Healing
And while he can be damaged like any other living being, Hellboy possesses a strong “healing factor”, allowing him to recover from injuries at incredible speeds. An example of this was when he was recovering from being near his concussion grenade. Despite being knocked out multiple times and ultimately arrested at one point, Hellboy has survived blows that would kill any ordinary person.
Perhaps because he was able to fulfill his duty as the bringer of the apocalypse, Hellboy seems to have avoided death at nearly every turn. Since he is described as “as immortal as Koshchei,” Hellboy cannot die unless he thinks he should.
As a Gamma Mutant with a connection to the Place Below, Bruce Banner/Hulk learned that he possessed an autonoetic command of his own recovery rate and extreme apprehensiveness of his individual biomass, as others had in the past. Once he has been uprooted and put into a collective of several different jars only to force his body to reassemble by force of will.
This is where we actually can give both of them a point, as the differences between their healing factors are so minor we don’t really notice them.
Points: Hellboy 1, Hulk 4
Supernatural powers
Hellboy takes on an even more demonic form under special circumstances, either artificially or under emotional pressure. In this form, Hellboy’s stumps grow into adult horns. Having accepted his heritage, Hellboy seems to be able to transform at will while growing wings. Hellboy becomes much stronger and accesses his latent magic. In his full demonic form, Hellboy could slaughter the most powerful denizens of Hell with ease.
It is not usually a power associated with the Hulk, but there is ample evidence that the Hulk possesses at least a limited ability to manipulate forms of energy, particularly gamma radiation. The Hulk’s body functions as a “gamma battery” constantly creating and radiating gamma energy. The Hulk is also capable of absorbing gamma energy. The exact degree to which the Hulk controls his own gamma radiation, and also extrinsic sources of gamma radiation, has yet to be established.
Hellboy definitely wins this category, but the thing is that even with these demonic powers, he is not on Hulk’s level. He has more supernatural powers than Hulk, but their efficiency is limited.
Points: Hellboy 2, Hulk 4
Hellboy vs. Hulk: Who wins?
With the numbers in, what we had thought earlier proved to be correct – the Hulk would defeat Hellboy in a direct fight. The two of them are similar in many ways, but Hulk is simply on a different level of power. He is stronger, faster, and more durable, so much that even Hellboy’s supernatural abilities couldn’t really harm him. Hellboy is a formidable fighter, but not formidable enough to defeat the Green Goliath.
