It's a question that has dogged comic book fans for decades: who would win in a fight between The Hulk and The Thing? Of course, there's only one man who has the definitive answer to this quandary: Marvel icon Stan Lee himself. So when it was finally posed to the comic book legend, the world waited with bated breath to hear the answer, which, as it turns out, is The Hulk.
Stan Lee made this admission during his chat with The Tomorrow Show. But there were a few caveats to Stan Lee's answer, who predicted that The Thing/Ben Grimm would definitely give The Hulk/Bruce Banner a run for his money, as he's a little smarter than his counterpart. But that didn't stop Stan Lee from picking The Hulk as the winner, as he explained:
Oh, The Hulk would win. The Thing is faster and smarter, so he would probably find a way to turn it into a draw or save himself. He'd trap or trick the Hulk. But, in a fair fight, there's no way the Hulk [would lose]. He'd win.
There's no arguing with Stan Lee on this matter I'm afraid, because he's the man that helped to create both characters alongside illustrator Jack Kirby. Those of you who are interested in seeing exactly how The Hulk would be victorious have three comic-book issues that actually depict them quarreling, each of which were written by Stan Lee and showed him defeating The Thing.
It would certainly be an interesting fight, though. But since The Hulk gets stronger as he gets angrier, there's no way that The Thing would be able to topple him. Ben Grimm has much more intellect than The Hulk who, once he has transformed out of Bruce Banner, is actually a bit dim- which means that The Thing might be able to cause some issues for the big green behemoth. But The Hulk would probably just smash his way past them.
There were some further questions that Stan Lee had to answer regarding the strength of The Hulk during his chat on The Tomorrow Show. Lee was quizzed as to whether The Hulk could defeat the Sub-Mariner if the fight was taking place underwater, and while he had to have a quick think about it he explained, "If they're in the water, then the Sub-Mariner might have a good chance against the Hulk." But he later admitted that The Hulk would win if he could smash his opponent into the ocean floor. You can watch Stan Lee covering these topics on The Tomorrow Show by clicking on the clip below:
Unfortunately, there's very little chance of The Hulk and The Thing fighting on the big-screen anytime soon, as the former is under contract with Marvel Studios and the latter is with 20th Century Fox. But since Josh Trank's reboot of the Fantastic Four failed miserably at the box office, there's every chance that 20th Century Fox might follow's Sony lead with Spider-Man and loan the foursome to Marvel. One can only hope that's the case, anyway.
