Word of the Day
Obstinate (adj., AHB-stih-net)
Stubborn, difficult to control, and generally unruly, like the opening night crowd of Spider-Man 3 when they realized it was terrible halfway through the movie.
Gif of the Day
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Link of the Day
Marvel: The Hulk
There’s a scene in Thor: Ragnarok where Thor is unsuccessfully trying to turn on the Avengers’ Quinjet. It requires voice activation, and Tony Stark programmed it to specific names/terms. “Thor” and “Son of Odin” don’t work, so Thor, smiling, tries “Strongest Avenger.” It fails (twice, because the incredulous Thor has to try again), but the Quinjet later welcomes Bruce Banner as “Strongest Avenger” when he turns on the plane. It’s a fun bit, tweaking Thor’s ego and also nodding to the comic catchphrase “Hulk is the strongest one there is!” Bruce Banner hasn’t just been the MCU’s strongest character, though. He’s also been its most mournful. That dichotomy is what’s made him a personal favorite.
The Incredible Hulk has its roots in three classic literary texts. The first is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Don’t overthink this: Bruce Banner is Jekyll, the polite gentleman, and the Hulk is Hyde, the giant green rage monster. Banner normally has control, with Hulk coming out when Banner gets stressed or highly agitated, but this isn’t always the case. Banner knows this, which is why he tries to protect others and do as much as he can to not turn into Hulk. The two personalities battle for control of the same person.
Banner/Hulk’s relationship with the world mirrors that of Frankenstein’s monster, the second major influence on the character. Frankenstein’s monster comes to life in a science experiment, then struggles to fit into the world. Humans are repulsed by him, as is his creator, Dr. Frankenstein. The monster begins to kill, threatens Frankenstein, and goes to die alone after his creator passes. The Hulk doesn’t have an ending that dark, but he too is a raging monster unwelcome in society. Even when the Hulk is fighting with The Avengers, there is more collateral damage than with the other superheroes. Both Banner and the Avengers know this, which is why they fear the Hulk, just as Dr. Frankenstein fears the monster. This furthers the tension between Banner, Hulk, and world.
Quasimodo was the other inspiration for the Hulk, and that’s not too hard to see either. It plays out in some interesting ways—is Black Widow his Esmerelda?—but it’s fairly straightforward.
All this to say that the Hulk has surprisingly deep moorings for a comic book character. The gamma radiation that transformed Dr. Bruce Banner into the Hulk may have been a space age item, but the character is a universal one. The tension between controlled man and instinctive desire is a tension dating back to the earliest religions. The Apostle Paul writes about a war in his body between what he wants to do and actually does. And who of us has not felt the tension of living in two worlds or felt others hesitate to draw close to us out of some kind of fear? We long to be known fully but to be seen and rejected is painful.
One of the most poignant scenes in the entire MCU is the middle part of the “Strongest Avenger” scene. After Thor activates the jet, he pulls up a video message from Banner’s ex, asking him to turn the plane around. The displeased Hulk suddenly stops as the recognition hits him, then begins to get angry as he turns back into Banner. The memory is too painful. He doesn’t want to return to being Banner. Once he does, he pulls up the last video log, and for a split second, the Hulk and Banner’s faces are overlaid:
The Incredible Hulk is a great character, but Mark Ruffalo makes him human. Ruffalo specializes in playing gentle men worn down by the world. He plays Banner/Hulk as a wound, with rage and martyrdom each coming from the same ache. In this, he gives warmth to Hulk’s pain. If the Hulk scares us because he reminds us of ourselves, Ruffalo’s Hulk is a mirror held up with empathy. We root for the big guy, even as we are unsure whether we like Banner or Hulk more.
Ruffalo gave Marvel an easy direction to play the Hulk, and they responded by diving into the character. Joss Whedon first paired him up with Tony Stark, giving him a friend, a peer, and an advocate. Next, Whedon threw him with Black Widow, making two loners wondering if they might have a connection. Taika Waititi made him stay as the Hulk, exposing the petulant four-year-old inside the green guy and the aging adult who knows he can’t keep letting the four-year-old drive. Most recently, Avengers: Infinity War showed a Hulk who was scared to come out after being beaten, failing at a moment when his friends needed him.
So where does Bruce Banner and/or The Incredible Hulk go from here? I’m rooting for the guy, more than anyone not named Scott Lang. I selfishly hope he hangs around, but he’s one character I really want a happy ending for. Whether that’s rekindling things with Black Widow, balancing Banner and Hulk by becoming Professor Hulk, or smashing Universal Studios to bits so that we get a solo Hulk movie, I’m in. (Kidding on the last one. I don’t think the Hulk works well as a solo act.)
I don’t think that’s realistic, though. Just as we will not be perfect this side of glory, I don’t think a “balanced” Banner/Hulk relationship is tenable. There’s always going to be tension and struggle. But it’s in that struggle that Bruce Banner shows his noblest side and learns his lessons. It’s that effort which cracks through the calcified dispassion of Black Widow. It’s that humanity which the rest of the Avengers come to respect. They may be scared of him deep down, but they care about him and he cares about them. He’s theirs and they’re his. If the story of Bruce Banner ends, it should end alongside the Avengers, the community that this monster has been searching for. That would be a smashing conclusion.
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