Hello all,

I have often wondered where Gladiator ranks amoung Marvel's big boys (excluding cosmic beings). Is hde stronger than Hulk? Thor? Silver Surfer? Thanos? Apacolypse? Juggernaut? etc. In everyone's opinion who are Marvel's top 5, and does Gladiator make the cut?

Well he busted a planet on panel, has nano sec reaction time.

And according to Thanos, he is the most dangerous of all the Annihilators (Surfer, Quasar, Ronan and Beta Ray Bill = Thor)

I would rank him under Thanos, Surfer, Sentry and possibly Quasar. He is a beast though when hes not jobbing. Im glad Marvel has started to treat him with respect.

@greendevil:

So you think he is stronger than the Hulk?

in pure strength? possibly, but not necessarily. But Gladiator would absolutely stomp Hulk in a all out fight. Glads could Blits Hulk or fight him from distance with heat vision. And if it gets close, he busts planets with his fists. Gladiator is way above Hulk.

@greendevil:

I was talking about pure strength more than "who would win..." Technically speaking isn't Hulk supposably the strongest?

From everything I have read/seen, my top 5 strongest would be the following

1. Hulk

2. Abomination

3. Thor

4. Gadiator

5. Juggernaut

But I admit that my list is not really up to date. Like I don't even really know much about Sentury, and last time I knew Quasar was a 2 in strength (Marvel series 3 cards). But you had Quasar in your top 5, so clearly things have changed.

aha ok in pure strength you mean.

Hulk and Juggernaut are most absolutely qualified to be up here. Abomination is not imo.

Sentry, Thor, Gladiator, Hyperion and Beta Ray Bill are all above him or should be imo.

Gladiator is a monster for pure strength... and Thanos himself ranked him above all the Annihilators... All the rest have great powers, phenomenal powers in fact. But Gladiator is Superman on Strontian Steroids. Planet Shattering strength? neither Juggs or Thor nor Abomination could do that. Hulk alone perhaps could also do it. So lets rank

1. Hulk

2. Gladiator

3... and the rest...

@devilsgrin81:

Really number 2? Wow. The main reason why I asked is because Gladiator has always been a personal fav of mine. Obviously he is a Superman rip, but I've always liked him alot more than supes tbh.

As far as Abomination goes, in the Marvel Encylopedia it says "The Abomination is even stronger than the Hulk." Even though his strength is maxed, while Hulk's gets more as he rages, I thought he still might make the top 5. But I don't know that much about some of the other guys to really make an informed decision, hence the discussion. :)

I believe all of this to be true, but I've also seen him get defeated by Cannonball so..

lol me too... that was a shock to everyone... the readers, gladiator and cannonball himself. All of the heavy hitters have been dropped by a weakling at some point. Usually through overconfidence... as with Gladiator and Cannonball.

funny we don't see it like that when Batman beats Superman...

but I wouldn't call Cannonball a weakling, least of all in this context.

I mean, that story wasn't about Gladiator being humbled for his cockiness, it was about Cannonball being stronger than he realized he was because he'd never had to be that strong before. While Cannonball might not be in Gladiator's league, the point of the story was that he had the potential to be.

lol yeah thats true. Gladiator is a beast.

The Cannonball incident was lame, even though agree the post below me.

Gladiator needs more respect

Didn't Thanos say he was the strongest of the Annihilators or something like that?

I've heard that get tossed around a couple of times, but never actually seen the scan.

If it's true, then that would make Gladiator the strongest Marvel hero (non reality warpers) sans Sentry.

But I don't know if that means he's the strongest as in physically, or just that he'd win in a fight.

Jmarshmallow

1Hulk

2 Juggernaut/ Hercules(tie)

3 Abomination/Gladiator

4 Sentry

5 Thor

This just pure strength..if it were combo of strength and overall power Sentry and Silver Surfer would be in a 3 way tie w/Hulk for first place..

Pretty low, Gladiators is often used to make other characters look good or seem like more of a threat, he is literally a jobber, he isn't a main character so writers and most readers including myself don't care if he gets treated badly.

Stats aren't a factor when the confidence thing means he will be as strong or as weak as the writer needs him to be.

I disagree about Cannonball in this context. He himself knew he had no chance, his sole rational belief was that if he could endure a hit, with his force field, he could rattle Gladiator's confidence which is the source of his powers. (he's Space Samson). Gladiator wasn't KO'd iirc... he was downed JUST long enough for an intervention from more shi'ar (Lilandra perhaps?). Sam used a cleverness he didn't know he had, to do something he shouldn't have been able to. He'll never be in Gladiator's league. But in this fight he DID show he deserved to be an X-Man. And counted among their ranks, not as a New Mutant filling a reserve position on the senior X-team.

In the context of the Heavy Hitters of the Marvel U... Yes, Sam is a weakling.

Batman is totally different. He's a genius. Sam's not. Batman knows all the weaknesses of his friend and foes... Sam does not. Batman is the ultimate and best loved super hero of all time... Sam ... is not.

but that he can even take a hit from Gladiator makes him not a weakling.

Batman is liquefied by one punch from Gladiator, Sam is not.

I see Gladiator as being stronger than Thor and Sentry in pure strength..As far as overall power ;well that category goes to Thor and Sentry

Not a weakling no, but in this context yes. He's not a heavy hitter. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Agreed the Bat is liquified by a punch from Gladiator. Lots of people have forcefields that could take A hit from Gladiator tho.

Gladiator took a punch from juggernaut once and did not budge..he then threw Juggernaut into the river..I still think Juggernaut is stronger but i guess on that episode of X-Men he was at 100