The Strongest Hulk in Marvel Movies Isn’t Mark Ruffalo or Edward Norton — Meet the Real Powerhouse

Hot take that shouldn’t be a hot take: Ang Lee’s Hulk might still be the strongest Hulk we’ve ever gotten on screen. Yes, that 2003 movie has issues (I’m not reopening the CG poodle discourse), but in terms of raw, ridiculous power on display? It’s the champ.

Why Ang Lee’s Hulk hits harder

Part of it is the way Lee frames Bruce’s transformation. His Hulk feels fresh out of the gamma oven — angrier, more volatile, and literally growing bigger the madder he gets. At peak rage he swells to roughly two stories tall, smashes the ground hard enough to send a shockwave through the street, and triggers a multi-car pileup. Subtle this is not.

And the feats stack up fast. During the military takedown sequence, Bana’s Hulk isn’t just tanking fire — he’s outpacing it. He snatches a missile out of the air, bites out the warhead, and spits it into a helicopter, turning the sky into a fireball. In the 2008 movie, Norton’s Hulk wrecks plenty, but he feels slower and more susceptible when the bullets and shells start flying — there’s even a beat where it looks like the military might actually pin him down.

Then there’s the weirder, very-2003 stuff that still plays like a flex. Bana’s Hulk brawls three Hulk-sized dogs at once, and when one clamps down on his shoulder, he bulks up mid-bite and literally breaks the thing’s jaw. The final fight goes full comic-book metaphor: Bruce’s father becomes an energy absorber (basically the movie’s take on Absorbing Man) and tries to siphon off Hulk’s gamma. Hulk lets him take it — and it’s too much to contain. Game over.

Have Norton and Ruffalo’s Hulks faced bigger threats overall? Sure. But pound-for-pound, inside their respective solo stories, none of them showcase the same level of exaggerated, rage-fueled strength Lee put on screen. Credit where it’s due: Lee and Eric Bana gave us the scariest, most physically overwhelming Hulk.

Ang Lee did Hulk once and peaced out

The movie got hammered by critics at the time, and Lee never went back to superheroes. He moved on and, among other things, directed the Oscar-nominated Brokeback Mountain. Looking back, he’s said he was jazzed about pushing CG, and he aimed for a psychodrama with sci-fi and horror vibes. The release itself was a bit of a gamble — no test screenings, a budget north of $100 million, and a hope-for-the-best rollout. He’s said the mixed reaction made him uncomfortable and confused the market, even though he was proud of the work and the team.

"Hulk is like Crouching Tiger — I did it once and that was that."

Over time, the movie’s found a cult audience. People may quibble with the tone, but they also remember the swings it took.

Quick numbers: 2003 vs 2008

• Hulk (2003): Director Ang Lee; Universal Pictures; Rotten Tomatoes 63%; IMDb 5.7; estimated budget $137M+; worldwide box office $245.3M.
• The Incredible Hulk (2008): Director Louis Leterrier; Marvel Studios (with Universal distributing); Rotten Tomatoes 68%; IMDb 6.6; worldwide box office $265.6M.

Fun fact on that 2003 run: it was short but solid, pulling in $245 million worldwide on that hefty budget.

Why Ruffalo still can’t get a solo Hulk movie

Rights. Before the MCU as we know it, Marvel licensed Hulk to Universal, which made the 2003 movie. When Marvel did The Incredible Hulk in 2008, Universal handled distribution and kept the right of first refusal for any future Hulk solos. Then Disney bought Marvel and could distribute its own movies — except Universal still had first dibs on solo Hulk releases. Suddenly you have two competitors who don’t want to feed each other’s bottom line. Marvel’s workaround: make Hulk a supporting MVP across the MCU, not a solo headliner.

Mark Ruffalo has also thrown some cold water on the idea from a budget perspective. As he told GQ in 2024: "I’d love to do a standalone Hulk, I just don’t think that’s ever going to happen. It’s very expensive if you did a whole movie, which is why they use the Hulk so sparingly. I priced myself out!"

What about World War Hulk?

Fans keep the World War Hulk/Planet Hulk dream alive, and the chatter isn’t dead. Marvel insider Alex Perez recently said those plans are "still in development." Translation: it’s on a whiteboard somewhere, but don’t hold your breath.

So who wore the purple pants best — Bana, Norton, or Ruffalo? I’m leaning Bana for pure rage-athletics, but I’ll hear the case. And if you want to revisit the argument yourself, Hulk (2003) is now streaming on Netflix.