#how Bruce really values his own intelligence and uses it to distinguish himself from the Hulk
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The Hulk! (1978) #25
#ok Bruce getting a job as an assistant at a school for mentally disabled children is interesting to me#I’m actually a bit surprised by how simply he’s compassionate here#as it was really striking to me how previous issues of this series really emphasized#how Bruce really values his own intelligence and uses it to distinguish himself from the Hulk#there's a bit in issue 22 where he responds to being told that he shouldn't refer to the Hulk as someone else with#'I'm a mature scientist and he's a brute- a childish primal monster.#You're even going to be using the same basic psychotherapy techniques employed in trying to reach retarded children...'#and in issue 14 the narration says#'At times it is difficult for him to believe. After all he is such a gentle man- a quiet man of science#and the peaceful pursuit of knowledge... Almost a scholarly sort#devoted to the noble achievement of man...#Indeed he exalts mankind's conquest of savagery and worships the divine spark which makes men not mere animals- but human.'#this all being attached to panels of the Hulk smashing#and then there's#'At times he feels the full weight of oppressive despair and hears the soft sibilant voices of the demons mocking deep in his ear:#Look Banner! Look at the vaunted man of science! See the livid green grotesquerie! See what you really are- a dumb beast#a coarse brute a berserk monster!'#it's not that I had expected Bruce to be uncompassionate towards the mentally disabled children#but I had expected him to be a bit uncomfortable#because he's obviously really uncomfortable with the topic of the Hulk and part of that is the Hulk being less intelligent than him#though it also does seem to me that Bruce is glad for the distinction between them as well#it also stands out here that Bruce has 'done a lot of spare time reading on group behavior and adolescent psychology'#which is obviously to try to understand the Hulk#which is its own complicated thing because sometimes Bruce tries to insist that the Hulk is more like a force of nature#and not a person that can be understood#but I can see how the framing of the Hulk as a mentally disabled child would also be palatable to him#marvel#bruce banner#my posts#comic panels
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