The Credible Hulk, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Explode With Rage

Every week during the Summer of Superheroes, SuperMike Matthews breaks down the ins and outs of a current superhero franchise. Spoilers may follow, so read at your own risk.               

                                                       

This week: THE INCREDIBLE HULK! 

At the risk of sounding a bit opinionated, Marvel Studios is on fire right now.

Sure, I say that because I love their movies, but even if I were to speak objectively, it’s still true; these are people who, during the 2012-13 year, put out two of the highest grossing films of all time, back to back, and decided to term that ‘a good start.’ If the 2014 iteration of Marvel Studios was a superhero, it would be the Human Torch. Or Ghost Rider from the neck up.

'Scuse me. Pardon me. Coming through.

Iron Man, Captain America and Thor have all proven successful, with more films on the way from the latter two. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has picked up a second season on ABC, and several other connecting franchises and TV series will be launched over the next few years. When you get down to it, there’s really only one corner of the MCU that’s struggling, and ironically enough, that corner happens to be huge, green, and indestructible.

It’s fair to say that the Hulk is one of Marvel’s most recognizable characters; in terms of pure brand awareness, he’s probably second only to Spider-Man, especially before the MCU came into being. In fact, beginning in the late 70’s, the Hulk was the subject of a successful television series that starred Lou Ferrigno. * Given all of that, it’s somewhat surprising that the big guy has had such a hard time finding his footing on film: both 2003’s Hulk and Marvel Studios’ 2008 reboot The Incredible Hulk were met with only vaguely positive reception, and the latter stands as the only Marvel Studios film to date without a planned sequel. Why is that, you ask? Well, that’s what we’re here to find out.

 * Ferrigno’s been playing the Green Goliath on and off ever since, doing voice work all the way through to 2012’s The Avengers! 

One completely legitimate reason for the studio’s hesitance has to do with a shortage of workable Hulk-centric conflicts to draw from. After all, it’s pretty hard for a film to achieve good dramatic stakes when its main character is not only the strongest thing on the planet, but also literally invincible. True, there are actually a surprising number of Hulk villains out there, but there have also been a lot of different versions of the Hulk, at varying levels of strength and intelligence, that make his fights against those villains interesting. For the MCU’s current Hulk, whose three main settings are ‘Smash everything,’ ‘Smash the bad thing,’ and ‘Vague concern for the well-being of Betty Ross/Iron Man,’ there are really only three conflicts that can provide him with a true challenge. In order of significance, those are:

Hulk vs. His Alter-Ego, Bruce Banner

Hulk vs. The Army

Hulk vs. Something That Can Punch As Hard As He Can

I toyed with the idea of adding ‘Someone Who Can Outsmart Him’ to that list, but with all due respect to Mr. Green, that isn’t exactly a tall order. And honestly, what’s your goal in that situation, to trap him? That cage had better be made of either Vibranium or adamantium, pal. Although… now that I say it out loud, those both sound like extremely workable plans.

Sorry. Nerded out there for a second.

The point is, The Incredible Hulk already used all three of the conflicts I listed above – and largely resolved the first two – leaving any future Hulk project at a bit of a narrative dead end. And while the bigwigs at Marvel seem to have picked up on that, delaying Hulk’s next solo movie for at least another three years, there is still hope for the future.

 Two Hulk villains definitely worth a brief mention: The Abomination and The Leader. Both appeared in The Incredible Hulk. One was defeated, taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, and cryogenically frozen. The other got as far as the end of his origin story before disappearing from MCU continuity for going on 6 years now. Hopefully we’ll see them both again. 

In The Avengers, we were finally presented with a version of Bruce Banner that was extremely popular among audiences, leading many to believe that, while the character can work well as part of an ensemble, he simply isn’t interesting enough to carry his own film. Others have suggested that Hulk’s next solo movie use a story like “Planet Hulk,” which gives the big guy a more focused objective and allows him to smash as much as he wants without getting into trouble. Both camps exhibit an understanding of narrative theory that I appreciate, but in my mind, neither has stumbled upon the right solution. (Also, Planet Hulk is basically John Carter, but with the Hulk instead of John Carter. So… maybe not the best idea.)

No, The Avengers’ Hulk was so successful because it was the first film to show a real understanding of how to make an audience empathize with the character. To paraphrase the words of Joss Whedon, who A) knows a lot more about comic books than me, B) knows a lot more about storytelling than me, and C) actually co-wrote The Avengers: Hulk movies are werewolf movies. And werewolves, as I think we can all agree, are rather unpleasant things to be around. There are a lot of possible responses to seeing man turn into a werewolf, but cheering in excitement isn’t usually one of them.

If it is, you're probably watching Teen Wolf. In which case… all right.

All the same, that sense of excitement tends to be our reaction whenever Hulk shows up on screen. I know I’m guilty of it. And really, why not? We all want to see him smash, don’t we? Hell, it’s pretty much the only thing we want from him. But therein lies the problem. Hulk wants to smash, yes, and we want to see him smash. But poor Bruce Banner? What he wants, more than anything in the world, is to not be the Hulk again. Just this once, he wants to stay at home and eat Chinese food and not decimate the infrastructure of a major American city for the umpteenth time. We may be able to understand that desire – and I should hope that we do – but it doesn’t change the fact that Dr. Banner, as a protagonist, is actively working to prevent what the audience has paid to see, and that kind of conflict of interest makes it awfully hard for us to invest in the character.

“Planet Hulk” is such a popular suggestion for exactly that reason, as it seemingly offers a story in which Banner and Hulk are working in unison. In truth, it’s just a story in which the Hulk shoves Banner out of the way for an extended period of time, and to do that would be a major disservice to Mark Ruffalo, who has done a fantastic job in the role so far. If you ask me (and I realize that you didn’t), it would be much more worthwhile for Marvel to double down on the Hulk’s mild-mannered other half, and start placing him in situations where Hulking out would indisputably be a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad thing.

Let me explain what I mean by that.

As much as Ed Norton’s Bruce Banner may complain about his condition – and again, justifiably so – a closer look at The Incredible Hulk reveals that all three of the film’s Hulk-outs ultimately serve to further Banner’s (admittedly narrow) goals: namely, not-death and escape from the people who are out to get him. That fact might make the character a bit easier to market to the public, but it also works against good drama by underscoring our perception of the Hulk as a helpful force, and Banner as the buzzkill that’s trying to get rid of it. Contrast that with The Avengers, a film that works to bring us in line with its characters by immediately teaching us to see the doctor as a potential threat, and an extremely dangerous one at that. Sure enough, Banner’s first Hulk-out in that film, on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, couldn’t possibly come at a worse time for our heroes, and the early signs of his transformation bring nothing but fear for the safety of everyone involved. If Marvel really wants to make good use of the character, that fear should be our reaction to his transformations at least half of the time. Granted, the Helicarrier sequence eventually turns into a prolonged fight between Mr. Green and Thor – a gift from the cinematic gods that mankind never knew it needed – but narratively speaking, the Hulk’s presence onboard that ship only serves to make an already bad situation even worse. Banner doesn’t want it to happen, his fellow Avengers definitely don’t want it to happen, and for once, we don’t want it to happen either. That’s empathy. It’s what good movies are based on, and it’s what The Avengers was finally able to achieve in regard to this character.

Of course, the Hulk also deserves the chance to be a force for good, and of course, Joss Whedon understands that. That’s why, when the Jade Giant is let loose at the end of The Avengers, the transformation is completely intentional on Banner’s part. The chaos that ensues is one of the best parts of the movie, and if it seems even more awesome than usual, that because, on a subconscious level, our protagonist has finally given us permission to enjoy it. You’d never realize it sitting in the theater, but that one little change makes all the difference. You might say the final battle of The Incredible Hulk operates on a similar level, but even there, Banner is clearly reluctant about the idea of Hulking out, and he explicitly states that he won’t be controlling his other half, simply ‘aiming it.’ The Avengers takes that cautious optimism to the next level, and opens up new possibilities for the character by clearly distinguishing between the ‘good’ Hulk, that Banner turns into on purpose, and the ‘bad’ Hulk, who comes out whether Banner likes it or not. With both of those figures coexisting in Banner’s mind, future Hulk movies just got a lot more interesting.

So… what’s next for the Hulk?

What If?

Despite the Hulk’s narrative limitations, he is, at the end of the day, a two-for-one deal, and it turns out that Bruce Banner is an extremely versatile character, one that could easily take part in any number of different plots, simply by nature of being one of the smartest people on the planet. * The Hulk TV series, for instance, gave us a Banner who couldn’t seem to go a week without finding some sort of use for his vast scientific knowledge, and more importantly, it ran for five years without using so much as a single supervillain. That’s because the show was never about smashing; it was about Banner, his emotional troubles, and the people he met and tried to help along his never-ending journey. Those people didn’t know he was the Hulk, and even if Banner’s condition often contributed to his reason for being there, it rarely factored into the problem he ended up having to solve. 

* He is, by the way. A lot of people forget that.

What kinds of problems might the MCU Banner have to solve? Well, there’s already one idea floating around, suggested by none other than Mark Ruffalo himself. Apparently, the next foe the actor wants Joe Fixit to tackle is… environmental awareness?

To be fair, he was the first Marvel character to ‘go green.’

See, Ruffalo is a big time environmental crusader (working closely with the charity Water Defense) and he apparently wants Banner to follow in his footsteps. If your first reaction to that is a patronizing smile and a murmur of “That’s nice, Mark,” know that you aren’t alone. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it’s hardly the worst idea. Infiltrating some sort of shady corporate scheme is a well the TV series went to quite often, and who’s to say that Dr. Bruce Banner wouldn’t have a bone to pick with someone like the Roxxon Oil Corporation? Especially if they got involved with fracking or something. An espionage plot would also be a great way to keep the stakes high, since nothing blows a person’s cover quite like turning into a green, 12-foot-tall rage monster. 

And even if he did happen to lose his temper in the midst of his social crusading… well, at least he’d be laying the smash down on people who kind of deserve it.

Next Week: We Journey Into Mystery!

(Now seems as good a time as any to throw in a plug for Film Crit Hulk over at Badass Digest. He’s one of my favorite film columnists, and the way he approaches his column was a huge inspiration in how I approach this blog. He also, as I learned while looking up photos for this recently finished post, did his own write-up on this exact concept. It’s probably a lot better than mine, and it’s not the first time it’s happened, either. Check him out!)