"The Sun's Getting Real Low...": MCU's Hulk's Lullabies and Letting Go of Our Anger

As I said in my previous post about Thor: Ragnarok – I was actually greatly moved by its dialogues: although they are typically short, they work simultaneously on (at least) two different levels of perception: the immediate level of the plot and the conceptual level of the Myth that is retold throughout the MCU. A wonderful example for such dialogue is the Thor vs. Hulk gladiator fight scene: a brutal fight to the death that is also a joyous get-together of two brothers in arms (at least that's how Thor feels about the encounter; Banner isn't really there, being locked down in the basement of Hulk's consciousness).

As I was watching this scene, the part where Thor is walking towards the Hulk and tries to pacify him with Natasha's lullaby ("Hey big guy, the sun is getting real low...") got me all emotional. And although it obviously leads to a ridiculously hilarious moment, I wish to focus on the dramatic tone preceding Thor's transgression from "Serious" to "Why so serious?". We all experience anger sometimes, having hard time coping with it and with its consequences - and the Hulk is precisely the archetypal embodiment of that situation: being so angry you just wanna smash everything. On a personal note I might say the Hulk is also probably the second MCU character I got acquainted with as a young child (first was probably Spider-man), watching cartoon VCR's from the video store on weekends. So I guess what I'm saying here - this lullaby moment really worked on me, because I feel the Hulk is such a potent embodiment of this anger that everybody - children and adults alike - experiences from time to time. So after watching the movie, I started pondering as to the origins of this lullaby's content - what's with all that "Sun's getting real low", where did this text come from? Before we continue, here's a reminder of the first appearance of Natasha's lullaby in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

First thing that came into my mind was often quoted phrase –––

"When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set."

I googled it and found out it is a quote from a famous Chinese writer named Lin Yutang. Although during my mandatory army service at the IDF I encountered it inscribed on walls to mock a vicious-but-not-so-tall sergeant, I now understand this geometrical contingency as an allegory to the evil ways of tyranny. But this didn't seem to fit very well, as the Hulk is after all a good guy fighting against tyrannies (at least in the MCU), so I went on.

Googling the actual text of the lullaby led me to this StackExchange discussion. Its TL;DR: Joss Whedon (director of Age of Ultron) says he just needed a short as possible phrase to catch the Hulk's attention, and cites no direct source (16 upvotes). Other users suggest this is some form of suggestive hypnosis (1 downvote as no basis for that in Marvel comics), and that the text is a reference to a verse from the New Testament's Epistle to the Ephesians (a total of 3 downvotes as this is a speculative interpretation). The verse they reference is Ephesians 4:26:

"Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:" (King James Version)

After a bit of reading about the verse and its context, I found out that there exists a parallel verse in the Old Testament (although the Hebrew is probably the original language of the verse, I do find its attitude very "Christian"). So there you have also Tehilim 4:5:

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It is also interesting to note that the phrase "sun's going down" is only uttered by Thor in the more recent movie, and isn't heard at all at Age of Ultron (apropos this comparative review already cited above). As to whether it is an actual reference or a random similarity, only the writers of Thor: Ragnarok can answer, and the way I see it (authors being declared dead and all, like 50 years ago) – it doesn't really matter. What matters is me remembering my mom used to tell me as a kid not to go to sleep while still being mad with someone; and regardless of whose advice this is – Jesus's, Thor's, or my mother's – it is a very constructive and positive one: to let go of our anger and wrath, leave them behind as we move onward through the repetitive cycles of Time.

Please share your own thoughts and insights in the comments, and all are welcome to check my blog. Here is another song for the road, a 90s favorite also about letting go of anger...
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