AVENGERS Movie Outs Little Known Fact About Hulk: Will There Be Fallout?
It could be my recent semester spent in philosophy in religion beefing this up a bit, but I can't help but think this line will cause a slight hub-bub in more ways than one when The Avengers premieres stateside May 4th. The line can be found below, which was found on Rotten Tomatoes.
Granted I don't know the context of the situation or the way in which it was spoken (maybe a UK reader can fill us in), but I do know a fair bit about Marvel history and would go out on a limb to say that this line is no accident. In "Incredible Hulk #662" (released February of last year, special thanks to Rich Lane) last year, the above panel ran in Marvel comics, revealing Hulk to be an atheist in the monotheistic sense. This is specifically noted by Hera (red haired Greek goddess reading his mind) specifying the singular, and of course the capital "G" in the place of the lower case "g." Notice in the dialogue taken from the movie above, you see the exact same emphasis placed in the line.
So what's the point? We've had atheist/agnostic/religious characters before right? I think the game changer this time around will be audience. With The Avengers being marketed just as heavily to children as adults, and with the mass exposure it is receiving from the media, I wouldn't be surprised if some backlash were to result from this line in the movie, and not just from the religious side. Who's to say an atheist might not be so keen on being categorized as angry?
It could become a big deal or it could not, but since this is Geektyrant and we thrive on Geek discussion, what do you think? Was the line intentional? Was someone making a statement? Do you think there will be a backlash? Please refrain from hate speech and bashing and keep things as civil as possible. While we may differ in religious views, we all are united by our geekdom.
Email Me: MickJoest@Geektyrant.com Twitter: @MickJoest