Hulk’s Character Development: From Monster to Hero

Hulk Character Development: Hero vs Monster | Evolution in Marvel Comics

5 to 7 min read

When it comes to comic book characters few are as iconic as the Hulk. That's because he's a green temper tantruming vandal. He was created by the comic book legends Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1962, but has made a few evolutionary changes since—his first colour was a creepy grey, and he had more in common with Wednesday Addams than The Avengers. But who is the Hulk today? What makes him such a compelling character?

The Hulk in a Nutshell

The central theme of The Incredible Hulk is contrasts, a copy and paste rebrand of Dr. Jekyll and Hyde. Likewise, we have the brilliant scientist: Bruce Banner, a man with a calling to understand the mysteries of the world and his contrasting counterpart, a super monster man with the IQ of rubber duck. An entire age of sage rage from this not so jolly green giant; he is a monster but he can't be seen as a victorian murderer, like what we see with the rage of Mister Hyde. He's a good monster, right? F*** off he is! 😂

The way Hulk/Banner interact within the confines of the same person can be interesting, but it isn't though is it? 

Bruce Banner's like the nerdy kid at school who is, to be fair, quite well mannered but boring. I get it, he is a reluctant hero because it means unleashing the beast (The Hulk). The odd bully would make the of mistake of pushing them until they'd go full-on toadlicking warriortard and kick seven barrels of shit out of them! 

Of Course The Monster is Angry! 

True, every male, from teenager to seniority felt it. All of us grimaced at his excruciatingly tightening confines, and those dangly greens, what a farmer would be proud of at the county marrow competition. Ruined. The trousers remained the same size around the crotch! They burst under a cruel pressure of body mass increase everywhere else! 

Issues With Himself? 

Hulk has beef with Banner because he's in proportion, if you know what I mean? The green drama is all an over compensating performance because he's insecure and threatened by Banner. Bruce Banner can charm and date a woman, even try it with Betty or Scarlet, that Black Widow. He can hold a conversation because of his superiour intelligence, while Hulk, is opposite. Purely for laughs we could speculate the rage monster thing is just a smoke screen protecting a very sensitive hulk. 

Hulk is a Monster (Within Editing Standards) 

Has his primordial savagery de-bowelled, decapitated, quartered innocent children, women or old people? Why have we never seen him covered in the blood of his kills? Chains of nutsacks strung around his neck? Why doesn't he practice territorial pissing or other primordial animalistic shows of dominance? He's only a vandal. He smashes stuff, then runs away from authority. 

Unlimited Power!!! 

The Hulk's power in print, is almost limitless! He's ridiculous strong, but what's insane, is he becomes more godlike as his anger grows! The bloke lifted a mountain and jumped across cities, but still, he never kills anyone! The movie versions dropped that nonsense. 

He S**T Himself! 

Hulk was bricking! However, he is still a prick, because the US military continue to struggle with him whenever he has a dramatic meltdown! The Hulk is like a selective natural disaster, but no danger to the populace, its purely economic damage to the property. 

Adding Some Perspective to this Monster Hero Thing

For a moment imagine this incredible sulk is factual. Get gritty, realistic. Hulk gets lusty, not worth thinking about. If he is a monster wouldn't he consume human flesh as opposed to munching on Shawarma with the Avengers? When you follow the logic of Billy Butcher in 'The Boys' the Hulk would stand out as another bullshit PR branded hero who isn't what he seems. 

What’s the Crack? 

What would truth seeker news report after he halves a man using only his bare hands before throwing the soggy meat at a pensioner walking her yorkshire terrier? That's the crux of it, when you look at a real rage monster properly. I doubt I'm alone here. Hulk has to be either one or the other. He can't be both! There is either a real monster there or just an expensive tantrum. 

The Green Monster is a Hero, now? 

Look, whenever an alien fleet rocks up, he plays his part and saves countless human lives. This is a eight foot off colour shit is actively choosing to help the army and support police after being a menace to them—he knows better! He's acting with intent. 

The writers should, in these scenarios, make this creature a controlled or manipulated monster at the very least. He can fall into being portrayed as a poorly designed accidental hero type monster. Ill defined. The pitbull will protect it's owners children by chewing the neighbour kids arm off. Hulk is a labrador. 

Bruce Banner and the Hulk remind me of my bipolarity, just by observing the shifts mood alone. I can almost sympathise with Bruce Banner! Bipolar rage is also a real danger and even though my skin and eyes remain unchanged: I wouldn't hurl a car at someones house! 

However, if I was a super villain-like enemy or a comic writer, I would make Hulk very angry with himself, promote self destructive tendencies and watch hulk smash himself to oblivion. The green guy could not save himself from self obliteration—his own gimmick is rage. Brutal. 

Even though Hulk's a fictional character, the issues he raises are very real. No they're not, no one smashes buildings down because they're put out. Well. . . maybe Adele. Why would we need to deal with a rage rescuer? A savage saviour? A primordial protector of people, it makes little sense. He's reduced to a muscular vandal with bad hair. How do we balance the need to protect society with the rights of a human being, cursed to be a walking maelstrom of power?

We might recognise that this quagmire is neither very good nor bad. We are led to pity Bruce Banner who lives as the tormented bearer of the guilt of smashing property and screaming at people. He's a carbon copy of Jekyll and Hyde, bugger me: it's time to do this properly! 

I Never Got His Appeal

In some ways, 'The Incredible Hulk' can be seen as a metaphor for some kind of human condition. That's why I never wanted to play as this character when I was a child: I much prefered Superman or Luke Skywalker. Anyone else really. I mean, who wants to pretend to be the hero with cognitive impairment? 

Bruce Banner's emotional struggles were a constant theme in that show in the eighties. At the end of each episode the poor bastard walked away, sad and alone, while the most upsetting piano outro music left viewers miserable. 

Be that as it is, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Many truths would escape the story of a mountain throwing rage monster, which is, I repeat, for all intent and purposes, framed as a superhero. In Age of Ultron, for example, the green dude rampaged the city; cars are crushed (all empty of course) and our intrepid hero, booted a police vehicle into two police officers with such an impact that should've killed them—that's my point. 

This Hulk bloke has the potential to be a dream character, but at the moment, he's pretty much either a badly designed hero or a cheap villain with muscles. He's an intellectually challenged He-Man. Make him a monster or give it up.