A Breakdown for Fight Fans, Nerds, and the Legends Who Love Both
By Sensei Will Esparza | House of Dragons Magazine – Issue #1
Let’s settle something that’s been debated for decades—on the dojo mats, in comic stores, at cons, and inside every real fight fan’s mind:
Who wins in a straight-up brawl—The Thing or The Hulk?
This isn’t just a Marvel conversation. This is a test of willpower vs. raw power. Heart vs. rage. Grit vs. gamma. And it’s been going back and forth since the early days of the Marvel Universe.
ORIGINS AND POWER LEVELS
BEN GRIMM / THE THING
First Appearance: Fantastic Four #1 (1961)
Powers: Transformed by cosmic radiation, Ben Grimm is covered in rock-like skin and can lift around 85 tons under normal conditions. He’s a brawler with a solid boxing background, a pilot with military discipline, and has gone toe-to-toe with some of Marvel’s strongest characters—including Thor, Namor, and Silver Surfer.
Durability: His body is nearly indestructible. He’s taken energy blasts from cosmic-level beings and stayed standing.
Personality: Loyal, stubborn, blue-collar tough. Ben Grimm’s real strength is his unwillingness to quit. When others run, he steps forward.
BRUCE BANNER / THE INCREDIBLE HULK
First Appearance: The Incredible Hulk #1 (1962)
Powers: Gamma radiation mutated Bruce Banner into the Hulk, a being whose strength increases with his rage. At base level, Hulk can lift over 100 tons, but in reality, his upper limit is undefined. He’s destroyed meteors the size of Earth, cracked planets, and taken beatings from gods.
Durability: Rapid healing, near-immortal, can survive in space and regenerate from extreme injury.
Personality: Depends on the version. Classic Hulk is pure rage and instinct. World War Hulk and Professor Hulk combine brute force with high-level combat intelligence.
THE SCOREBOARD: HULK VS. THING HISTORY
Marvel has let these two clash many times over the past 60+ years. According to the comics:
The Hulk wins: 17 documented victories
The Thing wins: 3
Draws or inconclusive: Several
The wins aren’t everything though. The Thing keeps showing up—win or lose. And that says something. He's the fighter that refuses to stay down. Even when the crowd knows he's outgunned, he walks into the cage.
And he doesn’t just walk in swinging wildly—Ben Grimm fights with purpose. He’s precise. Tactical. He uses his environment. He adapts. But at the end of the day, even the best fight IQ can’t always overcome Hulk-level rage.
FIGHT SCENARIO: H.O.D. STYLE ANALYSIS
The Arena:
Urban wasteland. Crumbled buildings. Debris everywhere. The perfect terrain for destruction and surprise counter attacks.
Round 1:
The Thing steps in first. Shoulders squared. Footwork tight. He doesn’t flinch. He’s fought Hulk before. He knows what’s coming. He uses technique. Drops body shots. Slams Hulk into a support column. He’s fast for his size, and he lands early shots.
Round 2:
Hulk eats the hits. Doesn’t care. He’s getting angrier. Stronger. The ground begins to crack as he roars. He starts charging through punches and grabbing full buildings to swing. At this point, The Thing is fighting for survival—not victory.
Final Exchange:
The Thing takes a slam through three floors of concrete. He gets up. Again. Barely. And in that moment—you realize he’s not trying to win. He’s trying to last. And that’s what makes him a hero.
Hulk ends it. But he doesn’t walk away untouched. And in some versions of this fight—he even shows respect.
VERDICT: THE HULK WINS
But The Thing walks away with something else—respect.
Hulk is built to be unstoppable. His power scales with his anger, and anger is never in short supply. In a physical showdown, Ben Grimm reaches his ceiling before Hulk even gets started.
But that doesn’t mean The Thing is weak. It means he’s human. He’s grounded. And the fact that he keeps coming back makes him legendary in a different way.
He’s the fighter who knows he’s outgunned—and still shows up.
WHY THIS FIGHT STILL MATTERS
This matchup isn’t just Marvel muscle-flexing. It reflects something real—something we talk about on the mats at House of Dragons all the time:
There are fighters built for war—and there are warriors built for something deeper. The Hulk has rage. Ben Grimm has resolve. Both matter.
With the MCU diving deeper into multiverse madness, Secret Wars, and potential World War Hulk projects, it wouldn’t be surprising to see this battle brought to the big screen. Not as a side moment—but as a key turning point.
Because in a world full of perfect superheroes, there’s something powerful about watching a guy with no quit in his heart stand up to a living earthquake.
That’s what makes this fight legendary. Not who wins—but how they fight.
And if you’re a kid in our dojo right now—learning footwork, taking hits, pushing through—know this:
You’ve already got more in common with The Thing than you realize.