Who is World Breaker Hulk? Origin, Abilities, Powers and Several Other Things
Hulk is one of those characters that has a lot of different iterations. We’ve already talked about Blue Hulk and Space Punisher Hulk, but those two are just some of the iterations of the popular and famous Green Goliath. In today’s article, we are going to be discussing another iteration of the character, World Breaker Hulk, who is said to be Marvel’s strongest superhero ever (mind you, Space Punisher Hulk, whom we’ve labeled as the strongest iteration of the Hulk, is not a superhero). Is he really the strongest? Well, keep reading to find out.
World Breaker Hulk is an iteration of Hulk that came into being after the Hulk was stranded on Sakaar by the Illuminati. There, after a tragedy, he absorbed the whole radiation of the planet and also gained the so-called Old Power, powerful energy flowing through Sakaar. This transformed him into World Breaker Hulk.
Marvel Comics is a comic book publishing company founded in 1939 under the name Timely Comics. Timely Comics changed its name to Marvel Comics in 1961. Along with its chief rival, DC Comics, Marvel Comics is the biggest and most important mainstream comic book publisher in the United States. Marvel has, along with DC Comics, contributed to the development of American comics, specializing in the superhero genre. Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby are just some of the pivotal writers who’ve helped shape the style and universes of Marvel Comics.
Throughout the years, Marvel has created several pivotal superhero characters and has launched successful franchises such as the Avengers, X-Men, and Guardians of the Galaxy, all of which have been adapted into movies, TV shows, and video games. Some of the most famous Marvel Comics heroes are Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Wolverine, Professor X, Storm, Cyclops, and Jean Grey; but, the franchise also includes famous supervillains such as Thanos, Apocalypse, Galactus, Loki, Magneto, the Mandarin, Doctor Octopus, the Green Goblin, Venom, and others.
Now that we’ve given you a short introduction, let us discuss the topic of this article in more detail.
What are World Breaker Hulk’s origins?
World Breaker Hulk is an iteration of the Hulk that appeared at the end of the “Planet Hulk” narrative written by Greg Pak. It is said to be one of the strongest iterations of the Green Goliath and the strongest superhero Marvel ever created.
How was World Breaker Hulk created? Well, that’s an interesting story. Namely, at one point during the “Planet Hulk” storyline, its very beginning, the Hulk is deemed too dangerous to remain on Earth after causing havoc in Las Vegas. The Illuminati (consisting of Professor Xavier, Doctor Strange, Namor, Black Bolt, Tony Stark, and Reed Richards) decides to send him into space and trick him into entering a spacecraft that crashes on Sakaar. There, Hulk is enslaved and forced to become a gladiator for the entertainment of the planet’s tyrannical ruler, the Red King.
Being a successful gladiator, the Hulk is – initially at least – courted by the local resistance movement, but he declines. Later, though, he joins the resistance and fights the Red King’s lieutenant, Caiera, who, after realizing that the Red King has betrayed her, joins Hulk. Together with Caiera, the Hulk eventually defeats the Red King and becomes the benevolent ruler of Sakaar. He marries Caiera, who gives birth to two children.
But soon after, tragedy struck their relationship when the antimatter warp core engine of the ship that brought Hulk to Sakaar detonates in a massive explosion, destroying the whole city and killing Caiera. The Hulk explodes with anger absorbing all of the radiation on Sakaar and the Old Power of the planet, which flowed through Caiera. This makes him exceptionally strong, as he becomes World Breaker Hulk. He then heads back to Earth to take revenge upon the Illuminati.
What are World Breaker Hulk’s powers and abilities?
Before we detail the differences between the regular Hulka and World Breaker, let us quickly go over the Hulk’s basic powers and abilities, all of which are retained by World Breaker, with some additions and enhancements.
Dr. Bruce Banner is considered one of the greatest scientific minds on Earth, possessing “a mind so brilliant that it cannot be measured by any known intelligence test.” He has expertise in various fields, notably in biology, chemistry, engineering, physiology and mainly in nuclear physics. With this knowledge, Banner created an advanced technology called “Bannertech” which is comparable to the technological development of Tony Stark, Doctor Doom or Reed Richards.
These include a force field that can protect it against attacks from entities of the same power level as the Hulk, and a teleporter. However, his emotional capacity (emotional intelligence) is significantly reduced, which leads him to be permanently withdrawn. During his wanderings around the world, Banner learned to become a gifted fugitive, able to easily conceal his true identity. On Sakaar, the Hulk was trained in the handling of many dueling weapons.
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 a 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 prevent 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.
What can World Breaker Hulk do that the regular Hulk cannot?
World Breaker Hulk is basically the Prime Universe’s Hulk enhanced by absorbing planetary levels of radiation (something similar to Rune King Thor). So, in order to distinguish him from the “regular” Green Goliath, we have made a list of the basic differences between these two iterations of the character:
- Tactical genius – unlike the regular Hulk, who was more of a fighter than a strategist, World Breaker Hulk is a tactical genius that can easily come up with the most elaborate strategies.
- Armour – unlike the regular version of the character, World Breaker Hulk has the frightening ability to mimic his eponymous armor by molding his very bones into exterior armor.
- Mindscape – unlike some iterations of the character, World Breaker Hulk is able to traverse the mindscape, i.e., he can maintain conscience within Bruce Banner’s mindscape.
- Separation – World Breaker Hulk was able to completely separate himself from Bruce Banner, without harming either of them.
- Control – unlike a lot of other versions, World Breaker Hulk has a surprising level of control over his powers, which he proved by doing good, heroic deeds on several occasions in the comic books.
Is World Breaker Hulk the strongest Hulk?
And now we come to the main question concerning World Breaker Hulk. How strong is the guy? Well, it was said that he is the strongest Hulk to ever have existed and that is certainly true for the Prime Universe; he is also described as Marvel’s strongest superhero, which is also true in the Prime Universe. From what we know, though, Space Punisher Hulk is stronger than World Breaker Hulk, but he is a character from an alternative universe and he is not a superhero, so our claims relating to World Breaker Hulk are still correct.
World Breaker Hulk demonstrated his abilities when he defeated the Red King, a character no one was able to defeat before him. He would’ve also cracked Skaar’s skull with his bare hand had he not stopped himself and was able to defeat Armaggedon with ease, and Armaggedon is a character who beat the living daylights out of the Silver Surfer. The list of enemies World Breaker Hulk has defeated is too long to fully list here, but alongside the Illuminati, he has fought and defeated the likes of the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Juggernaut, Doctor Strange, Black Bolt, Ghost Rider, the US Army.
But his powers even surpass his fighting abilities. Namely, World Breaker Hulk was so strong that him just walking was enough to cause Earth to start shattering, meaning that his walking is so powerful that it could completely destroy a planet. And yet, even this is not nearly enough.
Namely, The Incredible Hulk #632 demonstrates how the simple fact that Hulk exists could be enough to destroy the world. When Bruce Banner transforms into World Breaker Hulk, the comic shows that stone and glass shatter all around him for quite a wide radius. Then, as he stands still in his new form, stronger than he’s ever been before, the ground beneath starts to crumble. This is really amazing, as he didn’t even have to move, just – be there, simply exist – to cause planet-wide destruction. It’s a good thing that World Breaker Hulk can control most of his powers.
Why is World Breaker Hulk so dangerous?
If you haven’t already grasped why World Breaker Hulk is quite so dangerous (although the previous section made it quite obvious), we’ve got a story for you. This is the story of the World Breaker Hulk’s return to Earth, where he opted to face the Illuminate and get his vendetta. This story was presented in the short “World War Hulk” event.
So, we’ve said that after gaining new powers, the Hulk headed back to Earth to fight the Illuminati, who had exiled him in space some time ago. When the Hulk reached the Moon, he defeated the Illuminati member Black Bolt, who was actually a Skrull posing as Black Bolt and not the real hero. The Hulk then traveled to New York, where he demanded the city be evacuated and the arrival of the Illuminati. When the New York evacuation deadline expired, the Hulk defeated Iron Man and completely destroyed the Avengers Tower was the process.
The heroes attacked the Hulk and his Warbound (a group of his allies), but were defeated. After the Hulk allied himself with Hercules, Namora, and the Angel, General “Thunderbolt” Ross called on the US military to destroy the Hulk. Despite the military giving it its best, including using deadly Adamantium bullets, the Hulk defeated them with relative ease instead.
With his Warbound, he transformed an area near Madison Square Garden into a gladiator arena. Doctor Strange mystically conjured up a powerful ancient foe, Zom, and battled the Hulk. Struggling to hold back the ancient demon Zom, Doctor Strange began to show some of the demon’s own traits. Strange crushed the Hulk into a building that fell on him and the innocent onlookers who had gathered to watch the fight. The Hulk managed to protect the innocent passers-by.
Distraught with his actions of killing innocent people, Doctor Strange stopped fighting, and the Hulk indifferently gave Strange a lesson in control and punched him to the ground. After implanting obedience discs in all of the captured heroes, the Hulk sent Black Bolt, Mister Fantastic, Doctor Strange, and Iron Man into the arena. Hulk made them fight. In the end, the Hulk spared them, stating that he meant justice and not murder.
Who defeated World Breaker Hulk?
The Hulk planned to destroy New York City and leave the Illuminati to their shame. Soon a near-mad Sentry arrived on the scene and a devastating fight ensued between him and the Hulk. Sentry unleashed forces that destroyed almost everything that was left of New York City, but ultimately it was a stalemate between the two.
The Hulk then briefly returned to Bruce Banner and the Sentry to Bob Reynolds. In his human form, Bruce Banner was able to take out Bob Reynolds. Warbound member Miek impaled Hulk’s longtime friend Rick Jones and revealed that he deliberately allowed mass extinctions on Sakaar, knowing they were caused by former Red King supporters rather than by the Illuminati.
Hulk and Brood No-Name attacked Miek in retaliation. Betrayed and enraged, the Hulk unwittingly began releasing energy that threatened the East Coast and prompted Tony Stark to activate a series of satellite devices that opened fire, ultimately transforming the Hulk in his Bruce Banner form, which the devices have knocked out. SIGN. Banner was locked up in a facility three miles underground and the rest of the Warbound members were placed in US custody.
And that’s it for today. We hope you had fun reading this and that we helped solve this dilemma for you. See you next time and don’t forget to follow us!