8 Most Powerful Beings Hulk Has Defeated

3. Gladiator

Superman analogues are prevalent no matter where you look in the medium, but perhaps one of the more successful has been Gladiator.

Leader of the Shi'ar Empire's Imperial Guard, Gladiator is empowered with all the abilities from the Man of Steel's arsenal and more, with the alien even capable of shattering entire planets given the right motivation. He's prone to the odd lapse in confidence, but otherwise you'd struggle to find a stronger figure in the Shi'ar than him.

So, how did the Shi'ar's most powerful asset come to fight Earth's most fearsome rage monster? Well the battle went down in the 1997 Incredible Hulk Annual, and saw Gladiator come to Earth to apprehend a shapeshifter who had supposedly taken the form of Bruce Banner's son. This inevitably leads to a throwdown between the pair, and it doesn't disappoint.

Gladiator actually gets the upper-hand a brief while, lifting the Hulk out of Earth's atmosphere to take him out of commission permanently. Hulk replies with a trademark thunderclap, which brings them both hurtling back down to the nuclear reactor the fight started in. The strongest there is then launches Gladiator into the reactor, and then proceeds to pummel him until his supposed child snaps him out of it.