If we're going the route of magical resistance, I imagine it could be more of interference. In some continuities the Hulk either radiates gamma radiation or is infused with it, yes? And if the arc reactor is semi-magical due to the sheer out-put of electricity, why not have the gamma radiation weaken the spells? Kinda like the static you get on radios or satellite TVs when the weather is really bad.

 

I'd say it is implied in the first book when Ron lifts a giant fucking club in the air with a simple levitation charm which he had never even correctly cast once up until that point. I'd say that combined with a spell only ever encountering resistance when it is cast on a magically protected object makes a solid argument for magical resistance or a physical barrier intercepting the curse being the only things that stop you from being rendered unconscious.

How about Harry being able to repel both Ron and Hermione simultaneously with that shield charm in 6th year? No mention of that being more difficult or more impressive. It might not be outright stated, but it is heavily implied throughout the books.

 

If a spell doesn't affect the hulk's mass or mental state directly it may work. I don't see why a trip jinx or bludgeoning spell shouldn't work. Or an immobilization spell couldn't...it actually might not even need to be that difficult to fight the hulk...If he's suspended in the air...what can he really do?

Plus the environment the Hulk is operating in could always be altered magically to HP's benefit.

 

He can clap his hands real hard.

 

So are we going to see the implied darker side of Harry's character, soon? He's been entirely too...noble, so far.

 

Yeah, in a battle against something like the Hulk I don't think direct or elemental damage are the best weapons. Cutting, blasting, fire etc. are not dissimilar to the effects of Muggle weapons - just achieved through magical means.

Something like Transfiguration would serve Harry much better. Or Charms that directly alter things rather than instigate a physical effect (e.g Reductor is going to be next to useless, as it appears to simply apply physical force. On the other hand, the levitation charm doesn't apply a force that the Hulk could resist unless he has magical resistance. Rather, it just makes whatever it hits float).


Also:

I don't know. I think there's a reasonable amount of evidence that size can be a factor in the effects of magic. In Transfiguration class, for example, they start with small (and simple) things before they work their way up to larger things. And distance, also something we consider physical, is clearly a major limitation on magic.

The way I like to interpret this is that there are magical laws involving distance and size as factors. This way we have our cake and eat it: we admit that these things are part of magic, but we stay away from the idea that there are physical limitations to magic. Distance and size become magical factors when they are part of magical laws. It also means that we can make the effects of these things unpredictable: the way these things factor into magical laws may very well be not at all analogous to how we'd expect them to behave based on how they factor into physical laws.

 

Why is it that so many people here are concerned with preserving the "mysticism" of magic, or it's disassociation from physics? You all DO know that even HP magic follows certain rules, don't you? Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, anyone? Inability to create Life, so on and so forth.

Yes, Harry is the star of this "show", but that doesn't mean that you need to turn magic into some Deus ex Machina Uber Haxor move. Magic is pretty damn awesome, even if it does have to follow some rules. I'm sure Harry can survive an inversely proportional relationship between mass and the effectiveness of Wingardium Leviosa (they learn it with feathers for a reason).

 

Eh, as far as the Transfiguration example goes, I always just considered they started off small and simple because it was easier to visualize the change in their mind. I could of swore that transfiguration was made up of general spells, and not spells that specifically changed matches to needles or cotton balls to marbles. Because of this, a large part of the outcome to the spell is based upon intent and just how accurate the caster can visualize the change. The stunning spell on the other hand is a specific spell with one purpose that does not require any complex visualization on the caster's part.

 

Yes, the force of "life" is a well known force of physics.

Also, visualisation has never been mentioned in relation to Transfiguration in canon. Nor even intent. It appears to be a very academic, theory dominant subject. Not the kind of thing where you can just wave your wand and wish for something really hard.

Edit:

Because it's the Harry Potter world's USP. In most fantasy, magic is considered a powerful gift, something to be used wisely and sparingly. Something with limits that prevents magic replacing normal ways of doing things completely.

In Harry Potter, magic is mundane. It's not a special gift to be used wisely. Everyone has it, and they use it to do the washing up. Their entire society is based around the mundane and frivolous use of magic for normal tasks, displacing the need for technology. This is the main appeal of the HP magic system and world.

 

Meh... In my opinion the discussion has been more about preserving internal consistency than preserving mysticism or Harry's uberness.

[obvious bait]Besides, uber-magic or no, he still has his ten-inch dick, right?[/obvious bait]

 

....Are you just being an ass for being an ass' sake? In my sentence, I mention mysticism and physics because those are examples of what some people want and don't want respectively when it comes to the magic. Me pointing out the examples of life and transfiguration was simply to highlight the fact that HP magic, like physics, follows rules.

Yes...HP magic is a bit pedestrian. Where in my post did I ever say it wasn't? :facepalm

 

I look at this differently than you do. I always thought they started small to built up confidence in their casting. It would be a pretty daunting task if they gave you a thousand pound block to learn to levitate, and confidence does seem to play a rather important role in your spell casting.

I think the solution is much easier than any of these suggestions. Simply put the Hulk is strong and he heals at a ridiculous rate even if you do manage to damage him. He can even breath underwater. Harry doesn't know any of this and a lot of spells effect those particular things.

I would just have Harry start with those spells until he figures out they don't work. You still get an exciting battle but you don't actually need to address the issue of magic resistance at all, but Harry will have a steep learning curve.

The other option is that you could say that magic interfered with Banner's experiment and that's how he even managed to survive in the first place which works since a lot of things about the Hulk's origin story make little since. Maybe this interference gave him a slight magical resistance.

More that anything though, I think a lot of people are overlooking the fact that Harry will still do his damnedest to try and protect Banner. He has already made the Lupin comparison and gotten to know the man. I feel like that will cause him to hesitate and perhaps not fight even close to full out.

Though if after experimentation and a long drawn out battle he does find a way to contain the beast with magic, he might offer to help Banner work on his control of the beast and of his anger. I would imagine Banner would tell him no...at first but we might see it happen eventually and it could explain his improvements by the time the Avengers movie comes around.

EDIT: As for the levitation, we've seen a first year with no experience levitate a giant club. We saw McGonagall use a variation of the locomotor charm to get every damn suit of armor in Hogwarts into the fight as well. That covered a fair bit of distance and made a lot of very heavy suits of armor get up and move with a single spell. Dumbledore did something similar in book 5 with what is probably very heavy statues. Then there was that Taboo that Voldemort did that covered an amazingly large area.

In short, the more I think about it, the less likely I find size to mean a damn thing. And unless you give the Hulk a valid reason or make Harry use spell of the wrong nature (I prefer the latter), I don't see how you are going to stop this from being a curb stop without messing with canon.

 

Everyone in this thread already knows and admits that magic follows rules. If that is indeed all you were saying, then your post was completely redundant.

However, it appears that you're not just saying that magic follows rules, but that these rules have some connection to physics ("or it's disassociation from physics"). In which case, mentioning the role of life in magic is extremely bizarre, as it has no place in physics.

You miss my point. I'm saying that if magic were limited in some way by physics then it wouldn't be able to do half the stuff it can - especially those parts of magic that are most interesting. You describe HP magic as pedestrian. I think it the exact opposite.

In most fantasy series magic is either a) just used as a weapon b) considered mystical/religious in some way. In HP you have magic where its use as a weapon is a minor part of its main use, and where wizards are, apparently, all atheists without a spiritual or mystical bone in their bodies. For me, the magic of mainstream fantasy is much more pedestrian. Epic battles with massive explosions etc. are rather boring to me. The protean charm is far more interesting to me than any epic firestorm or summoning of meteors.

 

Unleashing the Hulk v. Capturing Harry immediately....Fury didn't think this one through. What would have stopped Harry from upsetting the hulk and 'teleporting' away, leaving a mess for SHIELD to take care of? Considering this is a man that has repeatedly made every member of the team you've sent to capture him, why would he not notice them this time?

Would Harry be able to make wolfsbane in this verse? Would it help banner?[Not in this specific instance clearly...in the future]

 

One assumes that even if Harry possesses the necessary knowledge and skill, and even if the potion uses many mundane ingredients (as many potions apparently do), it would probably still have at least one ingredient from a magical plant.

Which of course do not exist in this world.

 

Is Harry going to have his specific villain to battle? Or is he going to jump in on one of the avengers movie's plot lines?

 

Eh, as annoyingly unknown as Harry is, he hasn't harmed SHIELD employees yet, so I didn't figure Fury'd assume such a thing. If he had been slinging nasty stuff around all along, then I'd understand thinking of that scenario.

Wolfsbane is for werewolves and whatever Banner is, he ain't that. I would think that calming potions or the like would work, but getting ingredients for that is hard (even if they're not all magical. )

 

Wait, I just realized something. Barton just shot at Harry with arrows, right? But Fury ordered them to capture Harry. Arrows don't really have a non-lethal setting. The best you can do is use a large blunt tip (and that can still be lethal: it's used to kill small game like rabbits. Hit the right/wrong place and you can kill someone). The momentum of the arrow is just too much to try tranquilizing someone with a needle--too risky.

Perhaps a re-shuffling? Barton being there for insurance if Harry doesn't go down quickly, and either someone else take the shot or Barton temporarily using a tranq gun. I'd suggest the fourth guy--making him a crack-shot with a sniper gun gives him a role, assuming you don't have something already planned, and still let the others keep their roles as archer, close-range assassin, and dumbass.

 

He could have been aiming for Harry's knee.

But yes, a reshuffle makes more sense than aiming to injure from the outset.