#9 Justice League of Avenger: Who would win? DC’s Solomon Grundy or Marvel’s Hulk

by Mason Eddins, Reporter

For today’s Who Would Win, we’ll be pitting DC and Marvel’s mindless monsters against each other. The two mindless monsters I’m talking about about are Solomon Grundy and The Incredible Hulk. As usual, we’ll discuss their origins, powers, weaknesses, and greatest battles.

ORIGINS

Solomon Grundy was created by Alfred Bester in 1944. Although Solomon Grundy´s origins vary, the one constant is Solomon Grundy being born in the 19th century. There are four common origin stories for Grundy. The most popularly known origin tells the tale of 1895. Before Solomon Grundy, there was Cyrus Gold. During 1895,  Gold was killed by a prostitute and her pimp. The pimp attempted to blackmail Gold, claiming Gold was the father of the prostitute’s unborn child. When Gold refused to yield to a blackmail, the pimp and prostitute bludgeoned him over the head and dumped his body where it would not be found, The Slaughter Swamp.

Within the span of 50 years, Gold´s corpse interacted with the detritus and vegetation that were in the swamp. This resulted in Gold´s resurrection as Solomon Grundy. It´s also worth noting that whenever Grundy is resurrected from the swamp, he´ll chant the following poem: “Solomon Grundy born on a Monday, Christened on Tuesday, Married on Wednesday, Took ill on Thursday, Grew worse on Friday, Died on Saturday, Buried on Sunday, That was the end of Solomon Grundy.”

The Hulk was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby in 1962. Robert Bruce Banner was born to Dr. Brian and Rebecca Banner. Dr. Brian Banner worked as an atomic physicist, and, as a result, did not want to have kids. Dr. Brian Banner feared his kids would be mutated due to him believing his DNA being altered by radiation. The Banner´s eventually did conceive Robert Bruce Banner.

When Bruce was born, Dr. Brian became an alcoholic and a very angry man. Dr. Brian´s anger was driven by his jealously of Rebecca loving Bruce more than he. Throughout Bruce´s childhood, Dr. Brian would abuse him. It got to the point where Dr. Brian ended up murdering his wife, Rebecca. Afterwards, Dr. Brian was placed in a mental asylum, and Bruce lived with his Aunt Susan.

After high school, Bruce would go on to study Nuclear Physics at Desert State University, Harvard University and Pennsylvania State University. When Bruce was in a bunker at  a test site for an experimental gamma bomb, Rick Jones drove out into the test site on a dare. Bruce spotted him, ran out to save him by getting him into the bunker. When this happened the gamma bomb went off with Bruce caught in the explosion. As the explosion bombarded Bruce with Gamma rays, he turned into the Hulk.

POWERS

Solomon Grundy is capable of energy absorption. We don´t see him use this power because it´s subconscious. The energy absorption can be subconscious enough to where it’s used accidentally. This power suggests that Grundy is not smart enough to realize how powerful he actually is. The other things Grundy is capable of is invulnerability, resurrection, superhuman stamina and strength.

The hulk is a very capable hero. Let´s start off with the Banner/Hulk transformation. Unlike the Red Hulk, Hulk´s transformation is triggered by something else rather it being voluntary. The transformation generally occurs in times of fear, rage, and/or stress. There´s no physical pain during the transformation, suggesting that it´s more psychological than physical. The initial transformation can take anywhere between seconds to five minutes.

After the transformation, Hulk´s base strength is 90 tons. The Beyonder stated that Hulk´s strength potential is limitless. As seen in the Secret Wars comic series, Hulk has been able to lift a 150 billion mountain range. Due Hulk´s massive healing factor, he´s capable of self sustenance, prolonged longevity, resistance to psychic control, disease immunity, hostile environment adaptation, underwater breathing. Also, there´s three powers that people do not know that Hulk has. These three powers are a homing ability, Astral form perception, and gamma/radiation manipulation and emission. We rarely see these used though.

WEAKNESSES

The only weakness Solomon really has is his low intelligence. Due to Grundy being dull-witted, he´s easy to fool and manipulate. On occasion, Grundy will resurrect in Slaughter Swamp with a higher intelligence.

Not many things can harm the Hulk. But there are a couple decent methods that could be used to take him down. For starters, adamantium and vibranium (two fictional elements) have been shown to pierce his skin. Another option is to somehow get Hulk to calm down and revert to Banner. This can be done by getting Betty Ross (Banner´s wife, Red She-Hulk) close to the Hulk and have her talk him down.