Few Marvel matchups have been as explosive as the Incredible Hulk vs the Sentry fight in World War Hulk, and now it’s been revealed that their famous matchup was originally slated to answer the question of their relative strength once and for all. While non-canon, this planned battle would have answered a question that fans still debate to this day.
The Marvel crossover World War Hulk is perhaps the best demonstration of the Hulk’s strength against the rest of the Marvel Universe. As detailed in the preceding story Planet Hulk, the Hulk is exiled from Earth by Marvel’s Illuminati, and crash lands on the planet Sakaar, eventually becoming its ruler and marrying a local woman, Caiera. However, when the Illuminati’s spaceship explodes, killing Caiera, Hulk mistakenly believes the secretive group to be responsible and sets a course for Earth, intending to exact revenge. More than anything, the ensuing crossover is a chance for the Hulk to test his mettle against the best that Marvel can offer, including the Sentry, the recently introduced hero whose powers potentially matched even the Hulk’s.
Now, a recent blog post by Marvel editor Tom Brevoort has revealed that the Hulk’s climactic battle with the Sentry in World War Hulk #5 by Greg Pak and John Romita Jr. was originally going show that Hulk was stronger once and for all. In the event's fifth issue, Hulk and Sentry battle to a standstill, with Hulk transforming back into Banner. However, Brevoort reveals that in the original outline "Hulk balls up his great fist and smashes — and breaks every bone in the Sentry's body." This original version of the crossover would have shown that, just like his famous catchphrase says, Hulk really is the strongest there is. This is fascinating because the Sentry is often shown to have no known upper limit to his powers. As it stands in current Marvel canon, it’s still unclear which of the two heroes is stronger.
Which Marvel Hero Is Really The Strongest?
One other story has given a hint as to who might have an advantage. In Sentry Vol 2 #3 by Paul Jenkins and John Romita Jr., the Void, the embodiment of all of the Sentry’s potential evil, is able to shatter many of the Hulk’s bones with ease. What’s unclear however, is how the Void’s strength correlates to the Sentry’s. When possessed by the Void, the Sentry was infamously able to rip Ares, the Greek God of War, in half during Brian Michael Bendis and Olivier Coipel’s Siege Vol 1 #2. However, a non-possessed Sentry suffered this fate himself when he attempted to pull this same trick on Knull during King in Black #1 by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman. Is it the Void’s specific strength that was able to beat the Hulk in Sentry #3? Or was this simply an example of characters’ strength being relative to which character is the star of the specific book in question?
What’s fascinating about this specific matchup of heroes is how their strength is often relative to their specific incarnation or mental and emotional state. Just as the Void complicates Sentry’s power level, the Hulk might have Marvel’s most variable upper power limit. Some comics take his power as fully unlimited while other vary it based on which specific personality is dominant at the time. In the specific case of World War Hulk, a combination of exposure to the power source of the Illuminati’s rocket plus his almost unmatched rage at the loss of Caiera contributes to how this Hulk becomes his strongest self ever. So, while the original conception of Hulk vs Sentry had Hulk winning outright, it's entirely possible that even at his strongest, the Hulk can only hope to match Sentry’s power, leaving their matchup still undecided for now.
Source: Tom Brevoort
