The powers of Marvel’s Dr. Bruce Banner are well-known for being attached to his suppressed anger. After his exposure to gamma radiation in a freak accident, Bruce transforms into the Hulk any time his anger peaks, a transformation often colloquially referenced as a “Hulk-out” that has been seen in every adaptation of the character. Ang Lee’s 2003 superhero movie Hulk has a divisive reputation, to say the least, but it also has easily the scariest Hulk-out moment of all time. While Ang Lee’s Hulk movie makes some changes to the backstory of Eric Bana’s Bruce Banner, along with carrying a very dark, dream-like tone, the movie’s Hulk-out sequences remain some of the most stunning ever put to film, and even include one such Hulk-out that is simply straight up terrifying.
The Hulk-out in question comes when Glenn Talbot (Josh Lucas) barges into Bruce’s house and starts verbally and physically berating him over the duo’s scientific work with General Ross (Sam Elliot), with Talbot aggressively interrogating Bruce in the belief that Bruce would “go behind my back and get Ross to cut me out?” Bruce, meanwhile, has a pressing emergency to save Betty Ross (Jennifer Connelly), and Talbot’s assault eventually angers Bruce to the point of unleashing the green beast within him. Despite an abundance of Hulk-outs in movies and television, no Hulk-out before or since has been as genuinely frightening as Bruce’s Hulk-out on Talbot.
Talbot Beating Up Bruce Is The Most Relatable Movie Hulk-Out
While the sci-fi and military-industrial complex elements of the situation remove the scene from most people’s day-to-day experiences, at its core, Bruce’s Hulk-out on Talbot comes in a situation almost everyone has either witnessed or experienced first-hand – being the victim of a bully. As Talbot pushes Bruce around and punches him in the face, many viewers can undoubtedly relate to the feeling of being powerless and unable to fight off an aggressor. That also makes the scene one of vicarious wish-fulfillment for many viewers (since Hulk, only 2008’s The Incredible Hulk has really put Bruce in a similar situation of standing up to people harassing him via Hulk-out).
As Bruce begins to transform, he’s being given the power to unleash retribution on a bully that none of us ever have, but that anyone who has been on the receiving end of a bully’s attack have surely wished they could have. The look of pure terror in Talbot’s eyes as the Hulk marches towards him and gets up in his face is one of a bully getting a cosmic level of comeuppance. The scene also is as effective, and scary, as it is because of everything that leads up to it.
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The Build-Up To The Hulk-Out Is Perfect
Right before Talbot storms into Bruce’s house, Dr. Banner already has a problem on his hands after a phone call with his estranged father Dr. David Banner (Nick Nolte), learning that he has send his trio of mutated Hulk dogs to attack Betty Ross. With the urgency to save Betty that Bruce already feels, Talbot’s attack is an obstacle in his way to saving the woman he loves as much as it is a culmination of Bruce’s antagonistic relationship with Talbot.
Once Talbot enters the house and starts shoving him around, Bruce tries to reason with him, while both Talbot’s aggression and the movie’s soundtrack keeps building to a crescendo (peaking with Talbot sweeping Bruce to the floor and punching him in the face). At that moment, the audience knows that Talbot has pushed the “Hulk-out” button inside of Bruce, and so too does Dr. Banner with his warning “Talbot! You’re making me angry!”
Once Bruce’s transformation begins, it masterfully captures everything that happens in a Hulk-out, from Bruce’s face turning green, his rage becoming visibly impossible for him to suppress, and Bruce finally morphing into the towering green monster. Even the Hulk’s wrathful growl and facial expression when the Hulk-out is complete acts as a kind of visual punctuation, as if the Hulk has just climbed out of the dark abyss inside of Bruce and burst back into the light at last with nothing but pure rage fueling him. There’s also one added element that makes Bruce’s Hulk-out on Talbot the all-time scariest.
The Setting Makes Bruce’s Hulk-Out On Talbot Even Scarier
Between Ang Lee’s Hulk and the Hulk’s various appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Hulk has been shown transforming in a variety of different environments, including the S.H.I.E.L.D. Hellicarrier and the streets of New York City and other urban landscapes. Bruce’s Hulk-out against Talbot, however, occurs in the comparatively tight setting of Bruce’s living room. With the sheer size of the Hulk himself and the setting this transformation occurs in, there’s a feeling of deadly claustrophobia not seen in any other big-screen Hulk-out.
With Bruce having already transformed once by this point in Hulk, his warning to Talbot that he’s angering him is a truly dire one urging Talbot to leave the house as quickly as possible, as Bruce knows by this point that what’s going to happen and the lack of control he has over the Hulk after he’s unleashed. Once the Hulk is out, Talbot is cornered on Bruce’s couch and at the mercy of a monster who could easily tear him limb from limb. Fortunately for Talbot, the Hulk exercises a degree of mercy, kicking Talbot through the window and tossing him back towards Bruce’s house before leaping off to help Betty. The enclosed setting that the Hulk-out takes place in, however, really drives home that it could have been far, far worse for Talbot.
With the Hulk’s subsequent role as an Avenger in the MCU, his transformations have often been portrayed in a far more triumphant light, such as Bruce’s crowd-pleasing “I’m always angry” Hulk-out in The Avengers. While the Hulk’s life as a superhero has led to some unforgettable and truly victorious Hulk movie moments, it also makes it easy to forget that his is still a monster whose emergence is triggered by Bruce Banner’s anger growing out of his control. Bruce’s Hulk-out on Talbot in Ang Lee’s Hulk is a visceral reminder of just how scary it would to be an individual who managed to push Bruce Banner’s anger past the point of no return.
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