In a dark, alternate future within the Marvel Universe, the Hulk faces one of the strongest threats he’s ever had to go up against, and in doing so proves that despite their many fights, Wolverine never stood a chance at beating him in a fight. There are, of course, a ton of discrepancies when it comes to the Hulk’s strength and the amount of physical abuse he can take as the Strongest Avenger’s lore runs deep and has been going strong for decades. However, according to one comic in particular, it becomes clear that Wolverine should never even attempt to take on the Hulk in a one-on-one battle.
In Hulk: Future Imperfect #1 by Peter David and George Perez, the Hulk is plucked from his current timeline and dropped in the future by a group of time-sliding freedom fighters so that the present day Hulk could stop the tyrant that is ruling their future timeline with an iron fist. Before the Hulk can go up against the tyrannical villain, who, ironically, turns out to be a future version of himself known as Maestro, he must first battle one of Maestro’s robotic minions, proving his Wolverine-crushing strength once and for all.
Maestro’s army attacks a group of civilians who were gathering illegally, so the Hulk stepped in to protect those innocent lives. When the Avenger did so, Maestro’s forces unleashed a robotic beast to attack the Hulk, a cybernetic monster that is perhaps stronger than nearly anything the Hulk has faced in the past. According to the villains controlling the monstrous android, its jaw can crush adamantium, the unbreakable metal coating Wolverine’s skeleton, in a matter of seconds. When that information is revealed, the Hulk finds himself caught by the jaw’s grip, but even though it has the strength to crush adamantium, it doesn’t even leave a mark on the Hulk’s skin before he breaks free and destroys the entire machine.
The fact that something that has been proven to destroy adamantium can’t even pierce the Hulk’s skin means that adamantium itself shouldn’t stand a chance. However, Wolverine can, and has proven to be able to, break through Hulk’s skin not because of how strong his adamantium claws are, but because of how sharp they are.
While the Hulk has been cut by Wolverine, this issue proves that he’s strong enough to take even greater abuse than anything Wolverine could ever deliver. Even though Wolverine was able to kill the Hulk in Old Man Logan, that was set in an alternate universe where Marvel’s heroes are a little different from their Earth-616 counterparts. In Hulk: Future Imperfect, Earth-616’s Hulk is transported to the future, meaning the extent of his powers are more canon in terms of Marvel’s main timeline. Hulk’s darkest future proves that Wolverine could never beat him after he is easily able to survive an attack against something that can destroy adamantium in a matter of seconds, proving Wolverine’s claws never stood a chance.