So about the nuclear fears personified in the Hulk

[DrNewGod]

...I would mention that the Hulk can be interpreted more nowadays as a monster (inadvertently) created and unleashed by the military-industrial complex run amok. After all, Bruce Banner was originally designing and building gamma bombs that had an explosive yield almost twice as big as even the most powerful nuclear bomb of the era in which the Hulk was created and his most persistent foe(s) over the years has been the U.S. military seeking to contain and/or control him, particularly personified by the likes of General Thunderbolt Ross. Even his initial MCU portrayal leans into this, with the Hulk as explicitly a covert super-soldier project gone wrong that the U.S. military, once again personified by Ross, wants to capture and control by any means necessary, even endangering innocent bystanders on the logic that they can have the public blame the Hulk for whatever casualties ensue. Not to mention that in the current comics, the Hulk has positioned himself as a threat to corrupt capitalism and its stranglehold on the institutions that human society depends on, especially embodied by Dario Agger and Roxxon, with Banner even lambasting the government for spending billions on military expenditures to (permanently) kill the Hulk that could've been spent on programs to help and uplift the poor and needy.

...The thing about Hulk is that the character originally started as a kind of horror title. Then they shifted that to make him an anti-hero, and that led to Hulk being embraced by many people as a counterculture icon, since his absolute anger and power led him to being hunted by the military whom he smashed left, right, and center. At the height of the anti-war movement, there must have been some catharsis at seeing Hulk attack tanks and choppers of "The Man".

Of course what that means is also that Hulk and other Marvel heroes, lost whatever cautionary aspect about nuclear power that they had. To be honest, I don't think Hulk was ever intended to be about the dangers of nuclear power...

This is my understanding as well. While Gamma Radiation was always given a mention in the books, but especially in his early day, the Hulk tended to be more about two themes:

• The dangers of war-mongering institutions
• The Jeykll/Hyde danger that lurks inside all of us

[Ptrvc]

Hulk's been around awhile. There are a lot of different themes that can be used or neglected depending on the story.

You can interpret Banner as sort of the American version of Godzilla. Instead of an impersonal giant monster, the creator of the bomb becomes the monster.

And once the gamma is out of the bag Banner can never put it back, he can't cure himself, nor stop the proliferation of gamma mutates. Anymore than we can stop the nukes.

[ChrisIII]

Yeah, most of the cures never work, not only because many don't take or have unwanted/deadly side effects (Such as the Bryne/Milgrom seperation story), some villain re-irradiates him, or Banner subconsciously *wants* to be the Hulk (Or to put it another way, the Hulk is influencing him from within).

[j9ac9k]

This is my understanding as well. While Gamma Radiation was always given a mention in the books, but especially in his early day, the Hulk tended to be more about two themes:

• The dangers of war-mongering institutions
• The Jeykll/Hyde danger that lurks inside all of us

^^Especially the second one. Whether it's a potion or a gamma bomb, Stan Lee wanted to tackle a Jekyll/Hyde type character because it's always about humanity first - the rage and inherent potential to do bad things that's in all of us and also our fear of being judged or rejected/persecuted for who we are deep down.

[ChrisIII]

It's worth noting that the current Hulk comics are of course focusing on environmental fears.

The last American Godzilla film dealt with a similar topic, although both Marvel and Godzilla have tackled that since the 70s (Godzilla with the weird "Smog Monster" movie).

[Huntsman Spider]

It's worth noting that the current Hulk comics are of course focusing on environmental fears.

The last American Godzilla film dealt with a similar topic, although both Marvel and Godzilla have tackled that since the 70s (Godzilla with the weird "Smog Monster" movie).

Fair enough, but that also ties back to the critique if not wholesale condemnation of shortsighted human arrogance, greed, and power-lust as embodied by the military-industrial complex. Like Banner himself said recently, the U.S. government was spending billions on weapons to (permanently) kill him that could've been spent on providing for the betterment of its citizens and the world they all lived in, not to mention that his current foe, Dario Agger/Roxxon, was portrayed as the personification of corporate greed choking the planet and the people on said planet.