Hulk vs Thor in 1988 and 2017
“He’s a friend from work!”
Over the years, the Incredible Hulk and the Mighty Thor have battled across the pages of Marvel Comics. (See examples at The Greatest Hulk vs. Thor Battles Across Marvel History.) The two have also come to blows onscreen, including both film and TV.
In 1988’s The Incredible Hulk Returns, a made-for-TV movie spinoff that followed the 1978-1982 television series The Incredible Hulk, viewers saw the first onscreen battle between Marvel Comics’ green goliath and god of thunder. Scientist David Banner (Bill Bixby)—cursed to become a green-skinned monster (Lou Ferrigno) when angered—believes that he’s found a potential cure. However, he is sidetracked when he runs into the arrogant Asgardian god Thor (Eric Allan Kramer). The two then team-up to fight a crime organization. Watch the video below to see their first fight…
Hulk vs Thor (1st battle)
Years later, the two characters fought again in the 2012 Avengers movie. In 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok, the two battled onscreen again in the MCU on the planet Sakaar as part of the Grandmaster’s Contest of Champions. By the end of the film, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) partner to rescue Asgard from Hela, the goddess of death. Watch the video below to see their battle during the Contest of Champions…
Thor: Ragnarok | Thor vs. Hulk Fight Scene
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More about The Incredible Hulk
The Hulk is a green-skinned, muscular humanoid possessing, well, incredible strength. In a Jekyll-and-Hyde scenario, his alter ego is Bruce Banner, a physically weak, socially withdrawn, and emotionally reserved physicist. At certain times—most often caused by stress or anger—Banner transforms into the Hulk. A Marvel Comics superhero (well, sometimes an anti-hero), The Hulk was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, first appearing in the comics in 1962’s The Incredible Hulk #1.
Over the years, the Hulk has demonstrated differing levels of intelligence and even malevolence. On TV, Bill Bixby and bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno portrayed Banner and the Hulk, respectively, on the classic 1978-1982 series The Incredible Hulk. On the big screen—when the Hulk could be portrayed by CGI motion capture technology—Hulk (2003) starred Eric Bana as Dr. Bruce Banner. The Hulk joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe with The Incredible Hulk (2008), with Edward Norton portraying Bruce Banner, and Lou Ferrigno providing the voice of the Hulk.
For his time serving with the Avengers, Banner was played by Mark Ruffalo. Ruffalo played Banner in The Avengers (2012), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Ruffalo made cameo appearances as Banner in Iron Man 3 (2013) and Captain Marvel (2019), and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021). He also returned as Banner/Hulk to hang out with his cousin in the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. The Banner and Hulk characters have also showed up a lot in Marvel cartoon series.
More about The Mighty Thor
Thor is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of mankind, hallowing, and fertility. As a Marvel Comics regular character, that version of Thor was created by artist Jack Kirby, writer Stan Lee, and scripter Larry Lieber, and made his comic book debut in 1962’s Journey into Mystery #83.
Marvel’s Thor first appeared onscreen played by Eric Allan Kramer in the 1988 television movie The Incredible Hulk Returns. (You probably just watched some of that above.)
Chris Hemsworth played Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Thor (2011), The Avengers (2012), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Doctor Strange (2016), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019) and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022). Thor has also appeared lots of times in Marvel cartoon series.
