As we've all watched the franchise shifts at Marvel, with the mantle of many of their marquee heroes getting passed on to different characters, I've shaken my head not at Marvel, but at each inevitable fandom storm of butt-hurt. I was sure I couldn't be as childish as the angry fans crying foul against Sam Wilson as Captain America, Steve Rogers as a Hydra plant, or Jane Foster as Thor.
After all, I was fine with Amadeus Cho as the new Hulk. Probably if we were talking about a different writer, I would've been more skeptical, but Greg Pak has earned some hefty benefit-of-the-doubt. And it wasn't like it would be forever. The Marvel PR machine can say what it wants. We all know Bruce will be back eventually.
But, then they killed him. Which, of course, doesn't change anything about the conclusion that he'll be back. He will. And we all know it.
But then the preview cover of U.S.Avengers #1 showed up, with good ol' Thunderbolt Ross back as the Red Hulk, even though all of Gerry Duggan's Hulk run had been about trimming the excess Hulks out of the Marvel universe, concluding in a wonderful bloody battle that ended with Ross getting the fake Hulk cured out of him.
And then there was this.
This is powerful.
When Doc Ock and Peter Parker switched minds, they didn't call the series that followed Spider-Man. They called it Superior Spider-Man, signalling not only that this was something new, but that it wouldn't last. With the shifts in the world of Captain America, Marvel signaled its temporary nature with differing titles: Captain America: Sam Wilson and Captain America: Steve Rogers. Even Thor added the adjective "mighty" to its title, which had been there before, but strangely had often not been considered part of the official title like Incredible Hulk and Amazing Spider-Man.
But this is just Hulk. No Rampaging or Incredible or Savage. Just Hulk.
That says something.
I feel, to say the least, mixed about this thing. I applaud Marvel's continued dedication to diversity, and I generally don't even bother humoring the arguments against the stronger focus on women and minorities in the comics.
But at the same time, I do not CARE that Jennifer Walters is a woman. Just as I don't care that Amadeus Cho is of Korean descent.
I just care that it isn't Bruce Banner.
And that's okay. In my noggin, I know that's okay. It was, in part, the similarities between my life and the fictional life of Bruce Banner that helped me relate to the Hulk and that continues to draw me to the character and makes it feel more relevant as the years pass. And I am not the only one in the world who deserves a character with whom I can relate.
By the time this article is posted, we will know who the next American president will be. But as I write it, it is Saturday morning, October 15th and a lying maniac who seeks executive office is bragging about sexual assault on every TV screen and every inch of Facebook. In light of this, it is not absurd to think that women and girls deserve a hero who knows anger.
I know that in my head. I know it.
But it's not Bruce Banner.
I am intrigued. I will be picking up Hulk when it comes out. I will probably do what I can to check out some of Hulk writer Mariko Tamaki's other work before the first issue comes out.
I guess it is not a bad thing that I now have more sympathy for the fans who cried, and continue to cry, foul at the dramatic shifts in their favorite heroes.
But, you know.
Those guys didn't get shot in the face.
I hate Hawkeye.
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