Another thing I love about the Hulk is how he is like Dr. Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde put together. In one sense, he's a creature, a creation of gamma rays and human tissue. On the other, he's the pent up aggression of Banner released on the world. But he's also considered a hero. Which I think is just a little buggy. Since when is getting angry a super power? Is that on his resume? "Skills pertinent to position required: Get really mad".He's the Nuclear option for the heroes. If things get bad, they just pull a Three Stooges on him. They stand him in front of the bad guys, slap him on the back of the head, then point. "He did it." And Hulk smashes them to tiny bits. Tearing up real estate, maiming anyone in his way, and causing utter destruction and mayhem. No one is immune from his wrath. He is wroth with wrath.
And all the while, Bruce Banner stares out from Hulks eyes. Depending on the writer, he is either entirely aware of his/Hulk's actions, or 'awakens' from the Hulk trance, usually in a crater and usually naked. I like the idea that he watches his actions from behind Hulk's eyes, fully aware, but unable to control his actions. A prisoner in his mind, along for the most horrible ride. You know if he goes plowing through a building, or picks up a car to hit someone with, it wasn't empty right? Seriously, think about it. How many urban areas have totally empty buildings and cars lying around? Comics don't show it (thanks Comic Code Authority) but people had to have died and been seriously injured.
Think what that must be like for Bruce. To feel himself begin to lose control. To feel his emotions begin to boil and rage, build and build. His thoughts becoming less and less rational, until there is nothing left but anger and destruction. His bones bulge and distort. His skin thickens and turns green. His joints pop as tendons, ligaments and muscles expand exponentially. Ever dislocate a joint? How about all of them at once?
And then, when that is done; there is the view. As he destroys everything he can touch. I love the Hulk, and I weep for him, for what he has become. For what lurks in me.
My emotions can lose control. I have within me, something capable of destroying everything I love and hold dear. I have the ability to maim and kill, to hurt and destroy. And that control writhes in my grasp like a wet snake. But I won't let go. I must not. The consequences are too dire not to.
I don't believe I'm alone in this. We've all been lost in our emotions, been subject to them rather than the master of them. Turn on the news or read the paper and you can find people who lose their control to them. The Gamma Bomb of sin has gone off in our souls, changing us from what we were supposed to be, to something hideous. To something that only knows pain, rage and death. Our real self has lost control, and we rage. And oh how we rage. Against friends, neighbors, family, the world. We destroy what we love, and feel powerless to stop it.
But there is hope and peace if we find it. Grace and love if we seek it. Bruce Banner is doomed to be the Hulk, but I'm not. I choose not to be.
For more information on the Hulk, I recommend: The Classic and this . Cheap posers can go here.
