10 Strongest Hulk Villains Who Have a Personal Connection to the Green Goliath

The Hulk has many powerful villains, but some foes are more personal than others. Hulk may trade punches with monsters like Bi-Beast and the Missing Link, but they’ve never gone after his family. In contrast, there are several villains who go beyond super-powered criminality and make things truly personal.

For this list, we’re not counting characters who are otherwise considered heroes, so despite some major grudges, we’re not considering heroes like Thor, the Thing or Bruce Banner himself (for those entries, see the link below.) These are the villains who either had a personal link to Bruce Banner from the start or made things personal in iconic stories.

10

Ravage, aka Geoffrey Crawford

Debuted in Rampaging Hulk Volume 2 #2 by Glenn Greenberg and Rick Leonardi

An early professor of Bruce BannerCrawford developed an invention called the Telepod, seemingly intending to free his old friend from his monstrous other half. In fact, Crawford wanted to steal Hulk’s powers as the solution to his own neuromuscular condition. The plan succeeded, and the newly reborn ‘Ravage’ then conspired to have Bruce arrested in order to remove him as an obstacle. Maintaining his genius intellect, Ravage even beat Hulk in a fair fight, working out that the key to winning was hitting him as hard and fast as possible, before his rage could increase. Thankfully, Bruce was able to ally with Thunderbolt Ross, trapping Ravage in suspended animation.

Geoffrey Crawford was a father figure who Bruce looked up to, but who only continued to care about his former student because he wanted to use him for his own ends. Bruce reached out to Crawford for help and was instead taken advantage of, creating a megalomaniacal new gamma monster. To top things off, Ross used Ravage to study new ways to hurt the Hulkwith Crawford continuing to hurt Bruce even after he was defeated.

9

Professor neeneen

First Appeared in Immortal Hulk: Flatline #1 by Declan Shalvey

Bruce Banner’s mentor, Noreen Noolan was a lecturer who helped Bruce develop his theories surrounding gamma radiation. She later gained powers while working with gamma, gaining incredible telekinetic strength extreme enough to tear the Hulk to pieces. Developing cancer due to the radiation that had empowered her, Noolan attacked the Hulk, lecturing the Green Goliath and Bruce about their antagonistic relationship.

While Noolan handed out a world-class beating to the Hulk – even briefly killing him – she ultimately wanted the best for Banner, and her attack forced her former student and the Hulk to consider how they could improve their lot by working together.

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8

The Red King, aka Angmo-Asan II

First Seen in Incredible Hulk #92 by Greg Pak and Carlo Pagulayan

The former ruler of Sakaar, the Red King was an authoritarian leader responsible for the genocide of the planet’s other intelligent species. When Hulk was exiled to the alien world by the Illuminati, he was enslaved by the Red Kingwho forced him to fight in a series of gladiatorial contests for his amusement. Hulk eventually broke free and tore down the Red King’s regime, though not before being forced to fight his old friend the Silver Surfer.

Thanks to his relationship with Bruce Banner, Hulk has a raging hatred for anyone who tries to imprison or control him – something the Red King did more successfully than any other villain in Marvel history.

7

Red Hulk, aka General Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross

Debuted in Incredible Hulk #1 by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby

Bruce’s former boss and the father of his main love interest Betty Ross, General ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross pursued the Hulk for years. An otherwise celebrated general, Ross became obsessed with ending the threat of the Hulk, with his repeated attacks leading to some of Hulk’s most dangerous misadventures and sense of constant persecution. Even as Bruce, Hulk couldn’t escape Ross, who constantly belittled and bullied his daughter’s “milksop” husband.

Years later, Ross became the Red Hulk thanks to an alliance with the Intelligencia, becoming exactly what he’d always hated, and finally allowing him to fight Hulk in person rather than via advanced tech, loyal soldiers and questionable alliances.

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6

Miek The Unhived

First Appeared in Incredible Hulk Volume 2 #92 by Greg Pak and Carlo Pagulayan

Originally, Miek was Hulk’s sidekick and one of the closest allies he’s ever had. Miek was one of Hulk’s Warbound – a fellow gladiator on the planet Sakaar who broke free and joined the rebellion against the Red King. After learning that his species had been driven to extinction by the Sakaaran Imperials, Miek dedicated his life to vengeance, transforming into a towering, superstrong new form. However, when Hulk sought peace for the planet, Miek felt betrayed and turned against him.

When Miek chanced across Red King loyalists planting a bomb on the shuttle that had brought Hulk to Sakaar, he kept the information to himself, conspiring in the blast that killed Hulk’s pregnant wife, Caiera the Oldstrong. Miek then goaded Hulk to attack the Illuminati, encouraging the lie that the explosion had come from a malfunction with their shuttle. Hulk later discovered Miek’s lies in World War Hulk and attempted to stamp his former friend to death, with the two clashing several times since.

5

Maestro, aka Bruce Banner

Debuted in Hulk: Future Imperfect #1 by Peter David and George Pérez

Maestro started out as a potential future version of the Hulk – one who survived a nuclear apocalypse, becoming the arrogant leader of humanity’s remnants. Hulk first encountered Maestro in this ruined future, but Maestro eventually traveled back to the present, clashing with Hulk again and again. Today, Maestro’s exact future has been prevented, and he’s seen as more of a variant of the Hulk. Maestro exists as a constant reminder of what Hulk and Banner could one day become, with each seeing the worst of the other in the villain – Hulk’s overwhelming strength and Bruce Banner’s detached intellect.

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4

D’Spayre

Debuted in Marvel Team-Up #68 by Chris Claremont and John Byrne

A demonic enemy of Doctor Strange, D’Spayre has only tangled with Hulk a few times, but he always makes an impression. In Incredible Hulk #360D’Spayre tortured Betty Banner over the loss of her child, even using the Hulk to intensify her despair. More recently, D’Spayre posed as Doctor Strange, persuading Bruce Banner to allow the demon to reorder his mental landscape, turning Hulk into a captive power source and eventually unleashing the deadly ‘Titan’ persona against a planet of Hulks who considered Bruce their creator and quasi-holy figure.

D’Spayre has a knack for weaponizing Bruce against those he cares aboutand as a magical being, he’s largely immune to Hulk’s strength.

3

Abomination, aka Emil Blonsky

Debuted in Tales to Astonish #90 by Stan Lee & Gil Kane

A former spy who was transformed while tampering with Bruce’s gamma research, Emil Blonsky is a truly despicable individual. While the two clashed as hero and villain for years, things got truly personal when Abomination murdered Bruce’s wife Bettyframing Bruce for the crime. Bruce later engaged in a short relationship with Emil’s ex-wife Nadia, who revealed the years of abuse she suffered at his hands. Every hero/villain rivalry has dark moments, but Bruce and Emil have messed with each other’s lives in the most personal ways.

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2

The Guilt Hulk, aka Brian Banner

First Seen in Incredible Hulk #267 by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema

The man who made the Hulk, Brian Banner is Bruce’s abusive father. Whether through alcohol-fueled paranoia or some kind of gamma-powered precognition, Brian always saw Bruce as a monster, envying his son’s superior intellect. Brian eventually murdered Bruce’s mother and was later killed by Bruce in an ambiguous ‘accident.’ However, that only turned him into a new kind of threat.

The memory of Brian has continued to plague the Hulk, manifesting an alternate Hulk persona known as the ‘Guilt Hulk’ – Bruce’s dark memory of Brian given physical form. Brian also returned from death during the Chaos War with his own gigantic Hulk formand later allied with the eldritch One-Below-All to steal Hulk’s body and pit him against the Avengers. It seems Bruce will never be free of his evil father, with even the Hulk being a persona that Bruce developed to protect him from his father’s abuse.

1

Hiro-kala

Introduced in Skaar: Son of Hulk #2 by Greg Pak and Ron Garney

While most fans of Hulk know about his son Skaar, far fewer know about Skaar’s brother, Hiro-Kala. The son of Hulk and Caiera the OldstrongHiro-Kala was likewise left behind on Sakaar when Hulk returned to Earth, but unlike Skaar, he didn’t follow his father. Instead, Hiro-Kala was enslaved, growing up to become a power-hungry anti-messiah. When Hiro-Kala eventually became a cosmic threat, Hulk and Skaar sought him and out and confronted himwith Hulk stripping him of Caiera’s Old Power and Skaar ultimately defeating him, leading to Hiro-Kala being reborn as a star.

Hiro-Kala is an incredibly powerful being who became a villain thanks to growing up without his mother or father. Hulk never knew about his lost son until it was too late, forcing a cataclysmic confrontation in which the Hulk was unable to ultimately harm his son, turning to Banner to do the dirty work. As rocky as Hulk and Skaar’s relationship has been, Hiro-Kala is the enduring tragedy of Hulk’s family – the son he wasn’t there to save because of Miek’s betrayal and his own desire for vengeance.

Those are Hulk‘s most personal villains – let us know in the comments below who else belongs on this list, as well as which of these characters most deserves a grand return.

First Appearance

The Incredible Hulk (1962)

Alias

Robert Bruce Banner

Alliance

Avengers, Defenders, Horsemen of Apocalypse, Fantastic Four, Pantheon, Warbound, S.M.A.S.H., Secret Avengers

Franchise

Marvel