Is Hulk's strength truly unlimited, or that hyperbole?

Only wondering. If it were infinite, would he not be able to defeat anyone in Marvel? Why has he not done so?

Well brute force only gets someone so far, so he wouldn't be able to defeat everyone by just using his fists.

Depends on who is writing

It's hyperbole. If his strength was really "unlimited", merely walking around would break the earth to pieces. He <ahem> gets stronger as he gets angrier...is there such as thing as "unlinited anger"? If so, how do you quantify it? I think of Hulk's strength as "theoretically unmeasurable", but not "unlimited"

the strength is "limitless" in the same sense that flash's speed is limitless. Both draw upon powers from an external dimension that we have very little knowledge of. Either could potentially be limitless, but that would sort of defy logic since it requires the recipient to be 100% efficient and all the radiation go back into the dimension.

Basically, it's unlikely, strictly realistically speaking, that he's literally limitless, but he could be close enough for it not to matter. His strength is also only "limitless" in terms of potential output. He himself is actually the primary limit on his own strength.

As long as he is angry it is unlimited. And there are many source about this.

@dratini1331: Lol @ the Hulk using the “Power” Force.

XD

He had actually reached that point during World War Hulk, but the psychological stressors that it took aren't going to be happening with any degree of regularity.

Though I think the most accurate way to say it is that he hasn't reached an external cap as of yet.

Better word is "incalculable"

Please. Words like infinite, incalculable, unlimited when applied to non-omnipotent beings are merely meant as hyperbole.

When the Beyonder stated that Hulk has no limit, he was trying to portray to the reader the "awesomeness" of Hulk's power and not that there's no literal limit.

Plus, anger points do peak off.

I'm not taking sides on this one but didn't an editor say Hulk is as strong as he needs to be? So no matter how big the challenge, when it came to merely brute strength, he will get amped up enough for it?

Also, why would the Beyonder go with hyperbole? Maybe he was merely stating what he was observing? He did that frequently during the Secret Wars 2 ... "you are nothing more than raging power personified, an infinity of power with no finite element inside".

Until I see a comic of him showing unlimited strength, I'm going to go with no.

Honestly is sounds like the worse case of plot induced stupidity in existence. What character doesn't get stronger because of plot?

Obvious hyperbole. It's not even possible to have unlimited strength.

I don't really get why people don't know that Hulk is supposed to have the potential for unlimited strength.

'eh, it's fiction. Anything is possible if the writers want it that way.

It's Hyperbole

It's Kind of like how the IMP isn't infinite mass

@greatcaesarsghost: I'm obviously referring to fiction. Unlimited strength still doesn't exist minus for omnipotents.

And it's still hyperbole.

Since the Hulk could never equal the TOAA in a boulder-benching contest, we know that it must be hyperbole. In the Marvel Universe, only TOAA has truly unlimited (infinite) strength.

I think we have a lot of future scientists of America who feel more comfortable when everything is defined/quantified and put in a box.

It's a comic. It don't work like that. Accept Hulk is strongest per character concept and move on.

I've never seen a source which explicitly and irrefutably proves the Hulk has unlimited strength. It's more consistent hyperbole to me.

It's a consistent themed Hyperbole.

It ain't a hyperbole. The phrase "The angrier he is the stronger he becomes" is something real. But he doesn't beat every character right away because brute force and punches are often not enough against certain characters.

The real answer is ; Hulk haters always will come to Hulk topics and will say : ''Nay'' (classic)

While Hulk supporters can show proof for his unlimited strength, but still no matter what, Hulk haters are gonna deny it. Because they really hates him, and probably Hulk is the most hated character thanks to Superman & Wolverine fans.

Hulk's power set is : ''Madder he gets stronger he gets'' It is not a hyperbole or not a lousy super hero rythm, it is the truth, he created this way.

Indestructible Hulk #001

Mad Thinker : Your strength... It's incalculable...

Doc : This series of tests is a complete washout ! There truly seems to be no limit to the Hulk's strength !

Thor : Is there no limit to the beast's strength ?

Narrator : Becoming madder and madder, his strength building with his anger, as he tugs against a device built to withstand the power of gods ! But this is the power of the Hulk ! And ultimately, there is no force stronger than the Hulk !

Beyonder : An infinity of power with no finite element inside !

Peter David : There is no upper limit on his strength.

Since when was the OP's question whether the Hulk grew stronger the angrier he was? We have indisputable proof of that. We don't have indisputable proof of Hulk's literal strength being infinite, aside from your typical character statement's "his strength is incalculable!". But then, whether by narration or character statement, if that was indisputably, irrefutably factual, then we'd all be claiming Odin was omnipotent, which we all know to be false due to having indisputable, non-PIS-based instances of his upper limits being explored.

Conceptually, the Hulk's strength is unlimited in that presumably, it can endlessly increase, but holistically and realistically, that's not the case, because if it was, Hulk would have instakilled everybody he punched before. You could cite certain characters to be unkillable save for the disarrangement or displacement of their molecules, but then, would utterly infinite strength not be able to achieve that? Infinite strength, by conception, should be capable of accomplishing any force-based task on a physical plane, no matter how tremendous or microscopic it is in nature.

hyperbol as fuck

It's limitless, the angrier he gets, the stronger he gets. There is NO limit to how angry someone can get.

Wrong. Anger levels do peak off. People mistakenly assume that increasing anger will always increase in a proportional rate, when it is clearly not true.

Everything will peak off eventually.

I will reiterate:

Its not hyperbole. The Hulk can have as much strength as the writer wants.

It's technically limitless but that's all dependent on Hulk.

I'll say, potentially yes. However, that does not mean he can't be put down. The stronger guy does not always win the fight.

That is just like saying Hulk is a reality-warper if the writer wants him to.

So no, based on current writings and common-sense and logic, Hulk's anger can peak off, and thus do have a limit.

@wenjun_chew_: PLease post a link to the psychological journal that says anger has a limit. There is no limit to how much one can feel an emotion.

Doesn't need psychological journal.

Let's use logic and simple mathematics to reason here:

1. When someone is not angry, the "anger value" is 0.
2. When he gets slightly angry, let us give that new updated value an arbitrary 1. An infinite increase by mathematical terms.
3. When he gets angrier, update the anger value to 2. A 100% increase.
4. When he gets even angrier, update the anger value to 3. A 50% increase.
5. Go on further, it will increase by 33%, then 25% and so on.

As you can see, even if anger levels will increase infinitely, the increase in corresponding power isn't really that fantastic. Basically what we meant by tapering off.

Also since when does science states that one has unlimited emotions? Nope.

Then we may be fair and we can't apply logic to any fictional situation comparison at all. That's not how it works IMO. That would be like saying "World Breaker Hulk is stronger than Superman but Superman still wins him in an arm-wrestling competition anyway, no matter the logic!"

Chew has spoken!

In the sense of the battle forum, yes, hulk has the potential for incalculable strength... it's just that with the people he's put up against, he's usually killed or KO'd before he can unlock this "incalculable strength"

And yes, (if he wants) Hulk can kill someone atomically with his incredible strength, like he did to Deadpool and stopped his insane HF for one week.

This is true as well.