There are few heroes within Marvel Comics that are as strong as the Hulk, but that doesn’t mean they don’t stand a chance against him in a fight as there are plenty of superheroes who have defeated Mean Green in the past, despite technically being weaker than him–including one member of the Fantastic Four, who took down the Hulk without their powers.
Bruce Banner became the Incredible Hulk after he was accidentally blasted with gamma radiation during one of his experiments. From that day forward, anytime Bruce got angry, he would transform into the Hulk–an unstoppable rage-monster who has the power to separate continents with a stomp and obliterate cosmic entities with a clap. Similarly, the Fantastic Four were created when four scientists and/or explorers–Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm–were blasted with cosmic rays in outer space. Just as Bruce was mutated into the Hulk through gamma, the Fantastic Four gained unique superpowers from the cosmic rays. While their powers were impressive, one alternate timeline story proves they weren’t necessary for the Fantastic Four to become heroes as one of them is able to beat the Hulk–one of the greatest powerhouses in the Marvel Universe–without them.
Invisible Woman (Not the Thing) Beat the Hulk Without Her Powers
In X-Universe #1 by Scott Lobdell, Terry Kavanagh, and Carlos Pacheco, what remains of Marvel’s heroes are trying to survive the fallout of Apocalypse’s attack on the Earth–one that effectively threw the world into the Age of Apocalypse. Marvel’s first family, the Fantastic Four, never got their powers in this reality, which led to the deaths of both Reed Richards and Johnny Storm, leaving Sue and Ben as the only surviving members of the original team. Rather than simply giving up, however, Sue and Ben dedicated themselves to being soldiers for humanity, meaning they didn’t back down from any challenge, no matter how badly the odds were stacked against them–and during one such instance, the two came face-to-face with the Hulk. While it seemed as though the ‘Fantastic Two’ wouldn’t stand a chance, Sue Storm proved otherwise after she jumped on Hulk’s back and shot off his ear with her plasma rifle, forcing the Hulk to run off and then revert to Banner shortly after.
The winner of this particular fight is obviously surprising, not just because Sue Storm beat the Hulk without powers, but also that it wasn’t Ben Grimm who delivered the finishing blow. That isn’t to say that Ben is stronger than Sue or more equipped to fight the Hulk than she is (because, clearly, that isn’t the case), just that the Thing and the Hulk have a lot of history together in Marvel Comics. The Thing is the ‘heavy’ of the Fantastic Four, while the Hulk is the strongest member of the Avengers and perhaps the strongest overall hero in the whole universe. Because of this, the two often find themselves going toe-to-toe against one another, leading one to assume the same would be true even in an alternate reality. However, it seems as though Sue Storm proves she’s just as worthy to face the Hulk than the Thing–if not more so.
The Thing has only ever beaten the Hulk a handful of times, and it is usually when the Hulk is de-powered or when the Thing is willing to sacrifice his own body to defeat him. Here, however, Sue Storm is able to take down the Hulk with nothing more than advanced combat skills and a plasma rifle, proving not only that she doesn’t need powers to beat the Hulk in a fight, but also that she is the Hulk’s true contender on the Fantastic Four, not the Thing.