Bug: Okay, She-Hulk's cousin
The Hulk. Bendis recently made out in ILLUMINATI that the Hulk's rampages leave definite casualties. This just on the heels of your SHE-HULK issue where the very competent Jen Walters - aka She-Hulk - insisted that they didn't. You responded on the topic at Newsarama. I completely agree with your take on the Hulk, in his origin alone, Bruce risks his own life to save Rick Jones from a bomb that he helped create. This act alone shows that, in his nature, he is a noble soul that would not allow his own creation to harm an innocent. And yes, there's a question here somewhere. To put it bluntly, Bendis has more clout at Marvel at the moment than you, and so his particular take is likely to be more canonical. Therefore, to a lot of readers, the Hulk is a killer. Is this frustrating to you? Would you prefer for Marvel to have more definitive character bibles to prevent such inconsistencies?
Slott: Twelve words: The Hulk has never been responsible for the loss of innocent life. I stand by that. Show me a comic thats set in standard Marvel continuity where he is directly responsible for the loss of innocent life. You cant. Is that saying The Hulk has never killed? No, its not.
Ive heard all the arguments. And it pretty much boils down to these five points:
1. The Hulk is a force of nature and forces of nature kill people.
No. Hulk as a force of nature is a metaphor. The Hulk is a gamma-spawned monster, a person, and the embodiment of Bruce Banners rage. Hes not a freaking volcano. Next.
2. He smashes people through buildings. That would kill them. And itd probably kill the people who live inside those buildings too. So there.
If thats your criteria, then by that logic Iron Man and Thor are mass murderers too. Just think of how many people theyve thrown through buildings.
3. But Iron Man and Thor would have checked first. Or known where and how to throw people through those buildings. Hulks just a mindless brute.
If thats your stance, then why not just say that a small sliver of Bruce Banners intelligence would help him (subconsciously) do the exact same thing?
4. But Ive got this comic right here! A comic where Hulk kills somebody! Game over.
Check the comic again. Is it in standard Marvel Continuity? (Were NOT talking about Ultimate Hulk, a Hulk from a What if?, or a make believe story). Did that person eventually come back? Check a few issues later. Was Hulk directly responsible for the act? Was it a case of mind-control or hypnosis? And finally: Was it an innocent life? Hulk killing a bad guy is well within the criteria of my 12 word statement.
5. But its not realistic. Of COURSE hes killed people. Hes the Hulk.
Okay, heres the BIG thing. Comics arent realistic. Sorry to break it to you. Theyre stories about CHARACTERS. And maintaining the INTEGRITY of those characters is, at times, more important than maintaining the reality of that world. If the Hulk takes an innocent life, you forever ruin the character of Bruce Banner- who he is and what hes about. If one innocent life is lost DUE to the Hulkit IS his faultand he needs to redeem himself. If two or three innocent people die and Banner does not take himself outhe is now a reckless killer, a person who knowingly is responsible for multiple counts of manslaughterand he becomes TOTALLY irredeemable .
If you try to hold ALL comics up to reality they will ALL fall apart at some point.
Take Daredevil for instance. This is a man with NO superhuman strength. And yet we see him swing and bound from rooftop to rooftop. Well
Have you BEEN to New York? When you get to the end of a block, in order to cross an avenue you have to clear the lengths of two sidewalks and four lanes of traffic (sometimes six if there are bus lanes). Thats impossible. Theres no way around it. It cant be done. Seriously. Get your best Olympic athlete. Even with a running start, theyre not going to clear the length of ONE sidewalk and one parked car, let alone two, three, or four. The idea that Daredevil can do that, or even swing across it, is ludicrous. Whats he doing? Reaching the end of the block, climbing down the building, crossing the street, climbing up the next building, and resuming his bounding? No.
You know how he does it? Hes a comic book character. And hes not in the real world. And, btw, the Hulk has never been responsible for the loss of innocent life. Suck it up.
Whew! All right
Rant over. Next question?
