Heroes and the Creation of Myth: The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Superheroes occupy a nearly-unique position in the history of human character creation. They are creatures of myth, but at the same time people with the concerns of human beings, even when they are themselves alien. This puts them in a position to not only be the subjects of myth, but to interact with and in some cases control the creation of the mythology which surrounds them.
In this series I set out to analyze the different ways heroes participate in the creation of their own mythology. I've decided to begin with the largest single continuity ever attempted in film, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the time leading up to the release of The Avengers: Infinity War I'm going to watch or rewatch the eighteen existing MCU films in order to look at them specifically from this perspective. Yesterday I started with the first film in the continuity, Iron Man (2008). Today I'm going to look at the second, The Incredible Hulk (2008).
Where the previous post looked at Tony Stark, a master of controlling his personal myth, in this movie we instead have Bruce Banner, who would like nothing more than to hide from it. Edward Norton isn't quite as effective at this as Mark Ruffalo will be in the role later on, without the sardonic approach to his alter ego that Ruffalo is so adept at. But we're very clear: Banner would like nothing more than to be free of the Hulk forever. He has fled to Brazil, where he works doing manual labor in a soda-bottling plant, in order to get away from anyone who ever knew him.
Banner is learning meditation and breathing exercises in order to master his anger, which brings on the Hulk. He tracks his heart rate constantly with a wrist monitor. He tries to avoids situation that might make him angry, even when looking away is morally questionable. He doesn't always succeed. But he keeps the Hulk away, because keeping the Hulk away is his priority. And this is understandable. While other superheroes are largely in control of their powers, or at least have some hope of being so in the future, the Hulk is very different. Banner perceives it as an entirely different person, and far from a hero. At this stage Bruce Banner's perception of himself is close to a supervillain then a hero.
And so it's no surprise that he clutches at straws in hopes of permanently ridding himself of the Hulk, from exotic flowers with unknown properties to putting his faith in a purported expert in gamma radiation who he knows online only as Mr. Blue. And yet, Banner's personality is not the only one in question here. What of the Hulk himself?
When Bruce Banner wakes up after a Hulk incident, the locations are remarkably consistent. He's exhausted and naked, but he's also alone, and far from humanity. From this we can infer that the Hulk, once his anger is assuaged, has a very similar motivation to Banner's. He wants to hide. As much as Banner denies that he and the Hulk are the same person, they behave very similarly. Not only does the Hulk want to hide, but it chooses to protect Banner's love, Betty Ross.
The quest for a permanent solution to his Hulk problem soon leads Banner back to the scene of his old life, and a reunification with Betty. Through interacting with the people he once knew, Banner is forced to face the beginnings of his myth, the first Hulk incident and the way the people who were there react to him. Yet he still reacts first with avoidance, trying to run from Betty, which she will not allow. She is sufficiently attached to the man to be unafraid of the myth.
This is not the case for her father, General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross. Ross perceives the Hulk as a super-soldier experiment which needs to be evaluated. He's created in his own head a myth of the Hulk as a step towards an ideal soldier, and he sells his subordinate, Emil Blonksy, in the idea to the extent that Blonsky agrees to undergo a limited version of what happened to Banner in order to become a super-soldier himself.
Blonksy puts his own spin on the Hulk myth. As someone who values his perception of soldierly virtue above all else, he perceives the Hulk as something close to a god. The Hulk is his enemy, but also his ideal. He surprisingly finds a similar attitude towards the myth of the Hulk in Mr. Blue, a.k.a. Dr. Samuel Sterns. Both Blonksy and Sterns perceive the Hulk as something godlike, prompting them to imitate him. Sterns injects Blonsky with a sample of Banner's blood, turning him into the Hulk-like creature Abomination.
With Abomination on the rampage, Banner chooses for the first time to purposefully become the Hulk, finally seeing his alter ego as something with value, rather than just a disaster to be avoided at all costs. And yet, once he defeats Abomination, Banner once again runs away from everyone and everything associated with the Hulk. At the end of the movie, we see him alone in the mountains of British Columbia, again tracking his heart-rate and working to live an anger-free life.
And yet at the very end we learn that Banner is in B.C. to experiment with intentionally becoming the Hulk. The scientist has reasserted himself, seeking control over the unexplained phenomenon. Banner is not yet to the point of accepting his myth, but he has begun to accept himself.