As a Dad and lifelong comic book guy I can see parts of my personality in most characters. The character that most likely fits my personality now is The Hulk. As a dad the farther down the parenting road I go the more I realize that The Hulk is also a great encapsulation of all things Dad.
This realization came full circle when I saw The Avengers. That movie is a great combination of a quality story with enough fan boy references and action to make it enjoyable for anyone over 7. The movie was also the best vehicle yet for The Hulk and there was one scene that really stood out for me.
He’s always angry
Dr. Banner returns for the final battle in human form. As he’s approaching the invading aliens he’s asked by Captain America to get angry.
Dads are not angry all the time. My anger is always here but it’s graduated into several levels. These levels can be accessed at any moment, even skipping levels and going straight to rage at the drop of a hat.
If my son is doing something silly when I ask him not to it’s merely an annoyance. If he’s throwing something when I’ve asked him not to it’s a different level and if he’s about to walk into a parking lot that’s where the rage kicks in.
It’s not rage that’s directed at him, rather it’s my vocal intonation that snaps his attention and lets him know that I am not playing around.
He’s a Dad too
Skaar is Hulk’s son. He’s a teenage looking Hulk from another planet that is the result of Hulk’s trip to Sakaar. As with most teenagers, Skaar has issues with trust, in addition to behavioral problems. Thankfully we’ve got about 12 years before we experience the teenage years. By that time Teenage Mojo will be an entirely different beast, one with technology I can’t imagine.
He’s a loyal friend
Contrary to his loner personality the Hulk has friends. He hangs with The Avengers, but also with Rick Jones, Machine Man and other folks. No man is an island and dads too need friends or distractions to keep them level and aware of how great things really are.
He’s a man
The Hulk is not some misunderstood teenager or freaky space creature. Sure the Hulk may have outer space adventures, but at his core he’s just a man that had too many gamma rays.
While we think The Hulk has attributes that can be anyone, we’re open to hearing your super side.
Facebook
Twitter
Flickr
GooglePlus
Youtube
I LOVE THE HULK!!! I love that I was not the only one who saw the parallels between the Hulk and the Dadhood: http://manvdadhood.com/2011/06/14/hulk-mm/
I also agree that there are levels of “anger” or seriousness that we maintain with our kids so they can see just how serious we are when we talk to them.
There are SO MANY layers to this character and what we can take away from him, and I wrote about him twice. http://manvdadhood.com/2012/03/22/1036/
I’m not trying to hijack your post, but I did want to share these 2 posts with you, if you delete the comment that’s fine. I just wanted to show you my take on the Hulk, because I liked yours.
-JB
I read your posts when The Avengers came out and really enjoyed them. However, in re-reading your posts I learned that our friend Bruce used to work at Marvel. In current comic Hulk we’re all about Hulk and not The Incredible Hulk. We gave Incredible a chance, but they kept changing the artists and the plot just fell apart. Hulk, on the other hand is AWESOME.