Heavyweight arm-wrestling tournament. Rank 'em: Lobo, Hulk, Herc, Grundy, & more

[verisimilitude]

It's a clean arm wrestling tournament. Opponents clasp hands, apply tension, then compete based upon pure raw strength. No no speed blitzing for a win before a slower opponent can react. No lightning striking an opponent, no eye-beaming an opponent, no freeze-breathing an opponent (though that would be funny), no playing dirty, etc.

The tournament goes down upon an enchanted unbreakable table that sits in an unbreakable enchanted coliseum. There is no time limit for each event. There's going be a winner and a loser for each preliminary event unless the two opponents are each literally immortal and perfectly equal.

Rank'em from 1 to 10, with "1" being the champion and "10" being the fellow who has to pay the after-party tab. References encouraged (from the referenced periods)

These are your 10 opponents:

Lobo (1990s)
World War Hulk
Thor Odinson (as written consistently jacked, as when he pulled the Midgard Serpent from Earth)
Gladiator (current)
Sentry (under the conviction he has a moral obligation to win this)
Doomsday (from 1990s era, Death of Superman)
Hercules (Marvel, current)
Wonder Woman (current DCU)
Superman (current DCU)
Solomon Grundy (current DCU)

Better buckle up. This could take a few hundred years.

[Pendaran]

edit: eh, Sentry does have stuff like muscling the bands and ripping through Doom's defenses, the casual maiming of Terrax and casual decapitation of Attuma, who otherwise gets into punch ups with Namor, though the very brief containing of a self willed cube was as much a durability thing for not getting vaporized for trying as strength really. I suppose there's a case to be made there of him coming out on top. I couldn't quite see current Clark doing a bunch of that.

Though all the same, Sentry's overall power, while greater, is somewhat less specifically a strength deal as, say, current Superman's.

On a matter of just pure strength alone, current Clark otherwise looks like the one to beat here, given his treatment of planetary bodies and otherwise the weight of them for days on end while cut off from the sun in his most dudebro-y moment of the modern era. Certainly that last thing at the very least makes a case for his endurance, which is an issue in these sorts of contests.

[Blackid]

After careful consideration I would go as follows:

Solomon G loses to Gladiator (SG is too one note)
Gladiator loses to Hercules (Herc deals w/ Hulk a lot)
Herc loses to Lobo (Main Man deals w/ Supes a lot)
Lobo loses to Doomy (Too much growth in reincarnations)
Doomy loses to Senty (Sentry deals w/ hulk a lot)
Sentry loses to Hulk (stalemated but I think hulk takes him in straight arm wrestling)
Hulk loses to WW (WW on par with Supes)
WW loses to Thor (Thor holding the serpent)
Thor loses to Supes (Supes pulling planets and junk)

Supes is Champion and Grundy is paying the tab...

What do you guys think?

[Captain Morgan]

Gladiator is way too low. I'd go from top to bottom.

Sentry/Clark. Arguable who is on top here as Pen pointed out.
Gladiator.
Hulk
Lobo (dude is more worth less a post crisis Kryptonian for strength, and post crisis Clark edges Thor for strength in my mind.)
Thor = Hercules
Wonder Woman
Doomsday, just because this is limited to one of his weakest versions.

I don't even think Grundy is worth ranking given how much his power fluctuates.

[daBronzeBomma]

Since superspeed isn't really a factor here ...

Rebirth Wonder Woman vs. Classic Thing in this arm-wrestling contest?

[Pendaran]

I feel like with the Azarello run having been retconned, there's not a lot in the way of saying nu/rebirth Wonder Woman is in the class 100 crowd, which would let her beat Thing at this just fine.

[Blackid]

I don't know. Gladiator fluctuates sooo much.... more than others. and his weakness is easily exploited (confidence). here's a list and tell me what you think...

Surfer fought him to a stalemate but not sure if that counts
Eric Masterson Thor beat him but was weaker and had to fall back on tactics
Thor has I think(the one in Jurgen's run was'nt from 616 so him I'm excluding and sticking to 616)
The Phoenix 5 wrecked him horribly due to each being well above him
Teen Jean of the 05 has as well under Bendis
Cannonball involved tricking Gladiator, had Kal known about his ability, it would not have worked
Rachel Phoenix stalemated him in War of Kings
Reed used a hologram to make him lose confidence
There was that guy Scr'yall(?) in War of Kings who was above him and Vulcan
A Hyperion did stalemate him physically but lost due to noobish with heat vision
The Hulk did but that required special circumstance

i'm not saying he should be elevated but i'm just not seeing it.

[Blackid]

edit: duplicate

[The Dork Knight]

I don't know. Gladiator fluctuates sooo much.... more than others. and his weakness is easily exploited (confidence). here's a list and tell me what you think...

Surfer fought him to a stalemate but not sure if that counts
Eric Masterson Thor beat him but was weaker and had to fall back on tactics

To be precise he uses Living Lightning while Gladiator has him down and is for some reason not finishing him off

Thor has I think(the one in Jurgen's run was'nt from 616 so him I'm excluding and sticking to 616)

Thor hasn't beaten him, outside that instance in Jurgens' run when Kallark forgot the superspeed he had shown in just the previous issue . While Thor attacked him suddenly after landing a plane together

The Phoenix 5 wrecked him horribly due to each being well above him

No shame in that one

Teen Jean of the 05 has as well under Bendis

That depends on how teen Jean is being written

Cannonball involved tricking Gladiator, had Kal known about his ability, it would not have worked

Again...Gladiator needed to forget a ton of things to make that work

Rachel Phoenix stalemated him in War of Kings

Nah she held him off briefly with his weakness - TP

Reed used a hologram to make him lose confidence

A low showing considering the stuff he ignores otherwise

There was that guy Scr'yall(?) in War of Kings

Never heard of him . As in I've read War of Kings and can't recall such a character

who was above him and Vulcan

Vulcan sure showed himself to be above him in that one instance where Gladiator ultimately decides to save his life after an internal debate of half an issue

Otherwise they didn't directly fight each other

A Hyperion did stalemate him physically but lost due to noobish with heat vision

He lost because Gladiator snapped his neck

The Hulk did but that required special circumstance

Yeeeaah...the Hulk beating people he has no business beating requires "special circumstances" . Who'd have thunk it?

i'm not saying he should be elevated but i'm just not seeing it.

I'm not saying Gladiator is not inconsistent but some of these are just plain wrong and out of context

[Captain Morgan]

To be precise he uses Living Lightning while Gladiator has him down and is for some reason not finishing him off



Thor hasn't beaten him, outside that instance in Jurgens' run when Kallark forgot the superspeed he had shown in just the previous issue . While Thor attacked him suddenly after landing a plane together

No shame in that one

That depends on how teen Jean is being written

Again...Gladiator needed to forget a ton of things to make that work

Nah she held him off briefly with his weakness - TP

A low showing considering the stuff he ignores otherwise

Never heard of him . As in I've read War of Kings and can't recall such a character

Vulcan sure showed himself to be above him in that one instance where Gladiator ultimately decides to save his life after an internal debate of half an issue

Otherwise they didn't directly fight each other


He lost because Gladiator snapped his neck

Yeeeaah...the Hulk beating people he has no business beating requires "special circumstances" . Who'd have thunk it?


I'm not saying Gladiator is not inconsistent but some of these are just plain wrong and out of context

Vulcan got wrecked the first time he fought Gladiator. Blasts bouncing off of Gladz chest, and then got his eye knocked out.

Also, Blackid, even in the list you gave, you mention people either exploiting Gladiator's confidence weakness or otherwise using special circumstances to win. You aren't even citing things which demonstrate his physical strength in any real capacity, for high or low showings.

[Pendaran]

I don't know. Gladiator fluctuates sooo much.... more than others. and his weakness is easily exploited (confidence). here's a list and tell me what you think...

Surfer fought him to a stalemate but not sure if that counts
Eric Masterson Thor beat him but was weaker and had to fall back on tactics
Thor has I think(the one in Jurgen's run was'nt from 616 so him I'm excluding and sticking to 616)
The Phoenix 5 wrecked him horribly due to each being well above him
Teen Jean of the 05 has as well under Bendis
Cannonball involved tricking Gladiator, had Kal known about his ability, it would not have worked
Rachel Phoenix stalemated him in War of Kings
Reed used a hologram to make him lose confidence
There was that guy Scr'yall(?) in War of Kings who was above him and Vulcan
A Hyperion did stalemate him physically but lost due to noobish with heat vision
The Hulk did but that required special circumstance

i'm not saying he should be elevated but i'm just not seeing it.

Hyperion got his neck snapped while Gladiator did things like blunt his lunging comitted punches with his open hand, that's.. nothing like what you are talking about.

You note yourself special circumstances with the Hulk, a fight where Gladiator had to forget the superspeed the Hulk was completely incapable of reacting to in the first part of the fight, then decide to stop using it.

... you're saying that a guy portrayed as above both him and Vulcan is somehow a knock against Gladiator's portrayal. Really.

Reed used a hologram around Captain America's functionally indestructible shield to make it look like from Gladiator's perspective that suddenly despite having been able to completely previously rock people, he now couldn't affect them. Good job warping and ignoring the actual context of that to just go "lol holograms" apparently. Yes, his confidence would be given pause by it looking like his powers had suddenly crapped out for some mysterious reason despite having previously been ruining people for the past two issues. You know previous to that Glads did things in that sequence like come out from an explosion that could have wasted half the solar system were it not contained, with all of a mild concussion? Wrecked the Thing like he wasn't there? Ignored the Human Torch's nova flame with a laugh? Caused such pressure and feedback on the Invisible Woman's force bubble that she blacked out?

Cannonball involved tricking Gladiator, had Kal known about his ability, it would not have worked

Again, giving pause to a guy by making him think his powers, which depend on his sense of self, are not working, is a knock against that guy exactly why? When you admit in your own post "this wouldn't have otherwise worked"?

The Phoenix 5 wrecked him horribly due to each being well above him

That he managed to briefly make a fight of it at all against the assembled bearers of the Phoenix Force such that they had to have several of them stomp him down at once is actually a reaaalllly good showing for Gladiator, I'm not sure why it is you think otherwise.

Thor has I think(the one in Jurgen's run was'nt from 616 so him I'm excluding and sticking to 616)

No, given the way time travel works and that Gladiator has a lifespan measured in centuries, at the time that was 616 Gladiator from the future just fine, that didn't become an alternate timeline until later when Thor would undo the Reigning from ever happening, that being a Gladiator who beat Thor in basically three punches, only losing to him later after a fight in the middle with the Designate that bloodied him, and basically again deciding that despite what he showed he could do just one issue before to Thor, he would totally forget he could do any of that because... reasons. And even /then/ he was still getting back up for Odin to banish to prevent him from spoiling the details of the future. On another occasion in what was at the time explicitly the 616 future in Fantastic Four, Thor needed to be wildly jacked up by Reed's superspeed tech to be able to contest Gladiator in a fight at speeds Gladiator was operating at naturally. Have you read the comics you're talking about or are you just sort of repeating things other people say in respect threads and vs forums on this sort of thing?

Eric Masterson Thor beat him but was weaker and had to fall back on tactics

Eric Masterson Thor was on his ass while Gladiator stood over him and started for some inexplicable reason just stand there and start posing and smiling while doing nothing, allowing Thor to have the time to be able to conveniently channel a nearby living lightning through his hammer to stun Glads. There are asterisks at best on that.

Teen Jean of the 05 has as well under Bendis

Given the actual details of everything you are talking about to this point, issue number for that one? I'm not inclined to take your summary of events at face value.

Rachel Phoenix stalemated him in War of Kings

What happened to Rachel in War of Kings once Gladiator realized they were playing tricks on his mind? Did he basically smash past her like she was completely nothing to him and not remotely capable of impairing him? If you are instead referring to the events of Kingbreaker, where Rachel was by contrast actually drawing on a piece of the Phoenix Force again, can you explain why it is a knock on Gladiator to require someone to draw on the Phoenix Force to stalemate or better him?

Surfer fought him to a stalemate but not sure if that counts

1) Wow, a being who can rip open singularities, fight inside them, and one shot blow up planets fought Gladiator to a stalemate. Are you able to explain why this is a knock on Gladiator?

2) if you're talking about the bit from Marvel Fanfare, while I myself liked to talk about it for a while as far as that having been a pretty good showing for both the Surfer and Gladiator (even though the first guy had to forget he can just exploit Gladiator's radiation weakness for it to be a thing), I found out it's from Marvel Fanfare, and thus not canon.

3) Given the how the actual details of anything you talk about keep happening, issue number otherwise for this?

i'm not saying he should be elevated but i'm just not seeing it.

If you completely gloss over the actual details of almost everything you're bringing up for some reason I can't fathom, I can see how the concept would be problematic.

[Pendaran]

Otherwise they didn't directly fight each other

Vulcan and Gladiator did fight that one time. Vulcan lost like whoa. The best you can say is he had to take on the Imperial Guard before that, but for the most part he was kicking their asses until Gladiator showed up and went through Vulcan like he was nothing.

[The Dork Knight]

Vulcan and Gladiator did fight that one time. Vulcan lost like whoa. The best you can say is he had to take on the Imperial Guard before that, but for the most part he was kicking their asses until Gladiator showed up and went through Vulcan like he was nothing.

I was talking about War of Kings. That fight happened before that I believe

[Pendaran]

I was talking about War of Kings. That fight happened before that I believe

Oh, then yeap, it did.

[Pendaran]

This thread is otherwise starting to again demonstrate a "why I hate respect threads" sort of thing, which is where I imagine the versions of these events being talked about would have to have come from.