Throughout the history of the MCU, Hulk has been one of the fiercest superheroes to exist, depicting extraordinary strength and rage in both his good and bad forms. Deemed the ‘Strongest Avenger’ in the cinematic universe, although he has evolved a lot over the years, the big green giant still ranks among the most formidable beings to exist from the immortal race.
While Mark Ruffalo’s Banner is currently playing in the MCU, the previous iterations of the character have been nothing short of extraordinarily ferocious themselves, embodied by Edward Norton and Eric Bana. But when it comes to pure strength, Ruffalo’s and Norton’s respective versions might as well bow down to Bana’s superhero for reasons all too inevitable.
Eric Bana’s Hulk’s Strength Could Surpass All His Other Iterations’
Over time, a lot of evolution and technical advancements have affected the way this gamma-radiated superhero was depicted on the big screens. For now, as the character lies in Mark Ruffalo‘s forte, he has been transformed into a smarter version of himself, one much less fierce than what he used to be before he had that peaceful agreement with his human counterpart.
Before Ruffalo, there have been multiple other iterations of the character as well, out of which, two major have been widely regarded and talked about. One of these was Edward Norton‘s Bruce Banner, who might as well be called the same one who has been morphed into Ruffalo’s Banner since the former was reportedly replaced by the latter.
Then there was Eric Bana‘s version of the superhero, who appeared once in 2003’s critically underrated titular film. All of these differently designed models of the character had something special about themselves, with each being acclaimed for one of their best respective features. But when it comes to sheer strength, perhaps none could overpower Bana’s big green giant.
This becomes further evident through a recent compilation clip shared by @moist on Instagram featuring “Every Hulk throwing boulders scene[s].” In the video, while Norton’s and Ruffalo’s characters can be seen throwing boulders nearly their size far and out in the wild to show off their strength, Bana’s character decided to take things a step further.
Instead of just picking up a boulder and throwing it away in a rage, Bana’s version of the gamma-radiated green guy in his critically underrated sci-fi action from 2003 decided to successfully rip a massive boulder off a cliff with all his strength and might before dumping it down into the water below. Needless to say, this was one of the most iconic scenes of the masterpiece.
In comparison, Norton’s was the more formidable-looking one as his perfectly outlined features in his rage-y moments, coupled with his ferocious growl, immaculately made him stand out as one of the most terrifying iterations of the character to date. Then there’s Ruffalo’s version, who was an absolute masterwork himself before the MCU transformed him into Smart Hulk.
Effortlessly enough, putting all three of them on a comparison chart to determine the strongest of them all would inevitably result in Bana’s iteration of the character coming out top. That said, even fans can’t help but complain just how much the character has been downplayed by the studios ever since, especially when it comes to his temper and strength.
Fans React to Hulk’s Transformation Over the Years
Fans are having some of the most honest-to-god reactions are they point out how MCU took the beloved character from being one of the most epically petrifying creatures with indomitable strength to ever exist into someone who is trying to take the character’s very core element that defines him away from him with his anger management skills.
Taking to the comment section of the Instagram post, here’s what they have to say:
nah that first movie was so peak best design fr ~ @thattallkid271
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Hulk 2003 is one of the most underrated superhero films of all time!!!! ~ @jet.the.shadow
Ang Lee Hulk 2003 was easily one of my favorite superhero movies back when I was younger and it still holds up well ~ @that_veribrae_follower
It breaks my heart that Marvel had to downgrade the hulk because they are trying to teach people anger management I mean the OG hulk won’t be easily beaten by Thanos like Thanos didn’t even put in effort to knock him out come on what’s the point of the hulk if he isn’t angry I mean anger is sort of his to go drug to fight so if you take that away what else does he stand for 🤦🏽♂️ ~ @doonnee_foor
hulk 2003 ripped a chunk off a cliff and threw it at least hundreds of feet while fighting the absorbing man ~ @vegeta.team
Hulk before 💀 Hulk now 🤡 ~ @mohsinawan604
Never forget that in the mcu the hulk got his ass kicked by Thanos ONCE and never recovered ~ @bradherscovici
All of this being put out there, it’s not a debatable fact that the MCU has, in fact, indeed downgraded the fan-beloved character to a massive extent as compared to what he used to be. To say the least, with Secret Wars approaching soon, it sounds like they will have to devise a plan that has the character returning to its formidable form with Banner’s wit and genius still combined with him.
Hulk (2003) is available to be streamed on Prime Video.
