It is no secret that the Hulk is one of the strongest entities in the Marvel Universe, but just because he is strong on a cosmic level doesn’t mean he’s completely invulnerable–and Marvel Comics confirms the one thing that can actually kill him.
Bruce Banner aka the Hulk was transformed into the gamma mutate after being blasted with a lethal dose of radiation. Rather than killing him, however, the gamma radiation forever altered his DNA, turning him into a creature capable of unparalleled destruction on a planetary scale. While the Hulk has been a flagship Marvel Comics character for decades, the fullest extent of his power arguably wasn’t fully explored until World War Hulk where the Hulk wages war against the heroes of Earth after being sent off world by the Illuminati. This storyline showed Hulk overpowering the energy created by Black Bolt’s planet-destroying voice, out-matching Doctor Strange’s strongest spells, and even defeating Sentry in one-on-one battle. However, even with all of those accomplishments under the Hulk’s belt, there is still one hero (or antihero) who has the power necessary to end him once and for all–and even the Hulk knows it.
In Ghost Rider #11 by Tony Isabella and Sal Buscema, Ghost Rider is participating in a dangerous race along with a number of other professional motorcycle racers when he is suddenly attacked by the Incredible Hulk. While Ghost Rider sees this attack as being random, the Hulk only goes after Ghost Rider because he was tricked by a demon into thinking the Rider was his enemy. When the demon harassed Hulk (while in disguise as Ghost Rider) the devil bombarded the Green Goliath with a flood of hellfire–and it was nearly too much for Hulk to handle. While fighting for his own survival, Hulk cries out, “Hulk has never felt pain like this before. Hulk can’t raise arms to smash. Unless flames go away–Hulk will die!”.
Even though Ghost Rider himself wasn’t the one inflicting this pain, the Spirit of Vengeance absolutely has access to the same hellfire that was causing it. While it may seem obvious that something like hellfire would be deadly to most mortal creatures, it is still striking to see someone as cosmically strong as the Hulk flailing in agony so helplessly. When the Ghost Rider imposter was shooting the Hulk with hellfire, there was nothing the Hulk could do to combat it–all he could do was scream and wait for the pain to end.
This issue indicates that, if Ghost Rider ever needed to, he could take down the Hulk with fairly little effort. The only caveat, however, is that Ghost Rider usually has no reason to attack the Hulk–something that was proven during Hulk’s most impressive display of his unparalleled strength in World War Hulk. When the Spirit of Vengeance comes across the Hulk during his world-wide rampage, he decided to simply leave the Hulk alone as Ghost Rider’s mission is to protect the innocent, and the people Hulk was after in this storyline weren’t innocent by any stretch. However, just because Ghost Rider doesn’t have any reason to kill the Green Goliath doesn’t mean he can’t, as hellfire is revealed to be the one thing that can actually kill the Hulk–and the Hulk himself confirmed it.
