Favorite Characters: Dr. Bruce Banner a.k.a. The Hulk (The Avengers)

I haven’t felt any sort of strong yen to see the Ang Lee Hulk film, and Marvel’s own solo Hulk movie with Edward Norton, while fine, is definitely one of the weaker Avengersverse offerings.  The Hulk they have now, though, as played by Mark Ruffalo in the Avengers films, is terrific.  Given everything Marvel has on the docket at the moment, my desire for a Ruffalo-Hulk solo franchise has cooled – there’s just too much else for them to do (but they still lose points for not giving me my Black Widow movie.)  But a major draw for The Avengers and Age of Ultron is the chance see the MCU’s Bruce/Hulk in action.  In this case, the third time was definitely the charm.  (One Bruce-related spoiler for The Avengers.)

The Bruce we meet in The Avengers isn’t a man who’s constantly living in fear of his own potential to lose control – at least, not openly.  Unlike the Norton film, we don’t see Bruce wearing a heart rate monitor, working on his Zen, and spending big chunks of his screentime trying to keep it together.  At this stage of the game, Bruce has done all that.  Even though keeping the Hulk in line is still part of his 24/7 to-do list, he’s reached the point where he doesn’t have to outwardly fret about it.  He may joke about the wisdom of anyone putting him on a Helicarrier, but he also affirms that he wouldn’t be there if he didn’t know he could handle it.  And handle it he does – he takes all of Tony’s prodding and needling (part scientific curiosity about the Hulk, part testing Bruce’s control, and part Tony being Tony) in stride, and he clearly gets tired of others tiptoeing around him and generally acting like he’s a vial of nitro glycerin.  He can even put on an act and pretend the rage is taking over when, in truth, he’s rock solid.  The others, having heard the accounts and seen the footage of the Hulk in action, can’t imagine what his “secret” to all-day calm is.

I love that – I love seeing Bruce so in control.  First, it places him in a much greater position of strength, allowing him to focus on something over than keeping a lid on the Hulk and actually giving him a chance to contribute to the mission.  Since Bruce is more than just a giant rage-monster and is in fact a brilliant scientist, this is nice to see.  Second, it makes it that much more devastating when he inevitably loses it.  This isn’t a guy on the edge, barely crawling to the finish line at the end of the day (at least, he doesn’t look like it; we don’t know what’s really going on in his head/heart.)  This is a guy who’s got it figured out, who’s come so far, and there’s no question about how awful it is for him to slide all the way back down again.

And of course, The Avengers also manages what I think is crucial for Bruce’s ongoing incorporation with the team:  it finds a way to handle the Hulk.  Not that there aren’t still incidents of the Hulk running amuck and tearing the place down.  That, I’m sure, will always be part of the character, and it allows for fandom fantasy match-ups like Hulk vs. Thor or Hulk vs. Iron Man.  However, the franchise offers us a Hulk that, while still volatile, is at least fairly… what?  Wrangle-able?  In certain situations, anyway, the Hulk can join the fray and be aimed generally at the bad guys, so he can be a part of the fight without the rest of the Avengers (and Bruce himself) worrying about how they’re going to keep him from killing them.  This alleviates some of weird tug-of-war in stories about the Hulk.  Because, I mean, the main thing fans generally want to see from the Hulk is high-octane destruction, when that’s the last thing the Bruce himself wants.  If we win, he loses, you know?  So, it’s nice that the MCU is able to let us have a bit of our cake even as we’re eating it.