Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-44437908-20200705150010/@comment-32685487-20200707055650

Hashirama was always stronger than Tobirama, Madara, and Izuna who were all equals for the most part.. Tobirama had the edge which resulted in Izuna's death and Hashirama forbade Tobirama from fighting Madara, as to leave Madara to himself because of their bond. So basically it was

Hashirama > Tobirama > MS Madara = MS Izuna

then later in life after they had all learned more things and in Madara's case gained EMS it became

Hashirama > EMS Madara >/= Tobirama(Tobirama most assuredly got stronger as well considering his continuous creation of jutsu and acquisition of knowledge to boot)

then finally at the end of their lives together

Sage Hashirama > EMS Madara + Kurama > Tobirama.

Long story short Hashirama was always ahead of them all, even without Sage Mode. He only used Sage Mode to combat Kurama AND EMS Madara together. It is because of his genetics and his massive volume and power of his chakra. His Genetics gave him the healing ability and Wood Release too. Only Shinobi ever compared to Hashirama in anyway were Hiruzen in his prime and Madara from before he "died".. and Hiruzen was trained by Hashirama and Tobirama and they also groomed him to be Hokage.