The Appeal of Hulk

When someone is crying in public, most people will feel sorry for them. When someone's giddy and jumping up and down in public, most people will get that they're excited and happy, and won't think much of it besides maybe some mild judgement over their lack of restraint. When someone is shocked by a loud noise or disgusted by an ugly sight, people are understanding. But when someone is angry in public, everyone is uncomfortable. Everyone avoids that person. Everyone judges them for their lack of self-control.

To me, the appeal of Hulk is that he represents this quality about anger. Anger is the least socially acceptable emotion to express. To onlookers, anger is ugly and dangerous -- just like Hulk. We're made uncomfortable by it, just like the enemies of the Hulk.

But it's not always useless, or unhealthy, or unwarranted. Anger, like Hulk, can be important and effective in improving the world and righting wrongs. For this reason anger should never be repressed, only controlled.

Notably, we probably evolved to find anger repulsive because anger motivates aggression and aggression motivates fighting, so when we see someone who's angry our nervous system worries about a fight. It's not wrong for people to find an angry individual uncomfortable, it's reasonable to be afraid. In the same way, it's reasonable for the world to be terrified of the Hulk, because he can indeed be dangerous. His existence, emphasized by his appearance, is indeed ugly -- there's no way around that.

But what I feel is appealing about Hulk is that he points out the simultaneous ugliness and utility of anger. Is he scary and dangerous and socially objectionable? Yes. Is he also useful and can be directed to accomplish necessary tasks? Yes. Hulk representing that dual-truth which is rarely made conscious makes the character very appealing to me. His depictions as a monster don't shy away from the ugliness of rage, while also showing that his actions can be constructive at the same time. The former isn't usually connected to the latter in characters (for instance, I've previously written about Daredevil representing rage, but his character doesn't depict the ugliness of it), and this makes Hulk special to me.

(I'd like to note that this is just one particular aspect of the character that I think is terrific and resonant -- there are almost certainly other things, like his cathartic representation of repressed anger being released and how that relates to child abuse, that are also appealing. This article's topic likely isn't the sole appeal.)