When I initially brought up The Untitled MCU Project to friends, asking their input for what order I should watch the film in, the answers were mixed, but the scales were heavily tipped toward excluding “The Incredible Hulk” form my watch list. But, in wanting to have a complete anthology of life and leadership lessons from our favorite superheroes by the end of this, I decided to keep the movie in the queue.

Of the 23 movies that currently exist (as of April 2020) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “The Incredible Hulk” is definitely an outlier. As soon as the intro/title credits roll, you instantly feel like “The Incredible Hulk” is different than the other films, even though technically it is only the second film of Phase One, but it already feels almost out of place. In fact, “The Incredible Hulk” premiered just one month after “Iron Man”, and unlike it’s MCU predecessor, did not launch toward the mainstream mega-fame that we have come to expect from Marvel Studios in the more than a decade that elapsed since the beginning of superhero film renaissance. Comic Book geeks have an affinity for scientist turned gamma poisoned superhuman hero that is Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk, but comparatively this film just never fully set sail. It is worth nothing, however, that even though some now leave this film as the “outsider” in the MCU, it still held the box office record its opening weekend, bringing in $55.4 million. It really teeters back and forth between being viewed as a success and being viewed as insignificant. Even the lead actor, Edward Norton, who played Banner in the film, was separated from the MCU prior to The Avengers and would not reprise his role. The jury is still out as to what truly led to the recasting of The Hulk from Edward Norton to Mark Ruffalo, but some would speculate creative differences between Marvel Studios and Norton.

Although “The Incredible Hulk” now feels almost out of place in the MCU, I still thought it was important to include all movies from Phase One - Phase Four in The Untitled MCU Project. Here are my favorite life and leadership lessons I learned from “The Incredible Hulk”.

Lesson 1: The Best way to Control Your Anger is to Control Your Body

When Bruce Banner is in Brazil, technically hiding out as a fugitive of the US Military, he is working with an Aikido Instructor (who happens to be Rickson Gracie, one of the greatest Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighters in history, hailing from the legendary Gracie fight family lineage) in order to learn to control his emotions and heart rate. As Gracie is teaching Banner different breathing exercises, he makes a very simple yet poignant declaration: “the best way to control your anger is to control your body”. In the case of Bruce Banner, he has to maintain a calm body and heart rate below 200 bpm in order to keep himself from transforming into the Hulk due to the gamma radiation coursing through his veins. Once he transforms into the Hulk, Banner leaves nothing but destruction in his wake.

How often, when we’ve been angry, do we also react in such a way that we leave nothing but destruction in our wake? Of course, in the case of Bruce Banner/The Hulk, his destruction is much more physically evident due to his superhuman strength, where our destruction is oftentimes instead characterized by the hurtful things we say in conjunction with some physical destruction. However, if we take the opportunity to step back and give ourselves time to calm down before expressing our anger, we are likely to come away with a much more successful resolution to the conflict.

There are countless scientific studies that tell us keeping anger and stress in our bodies can have extremely adverse affects on our health in the long term, potentially even shortening our lifespan. In order to keep anger and stress from causing us prolonged harm, it is essential that we find ways to release and express that anger in a healthy manner. One of the best ways to “control your anger by controlling your body” is through exercise. In the midst of a global pandemic, I think it is especially important to find ways to get the anger and stress out of our bodies in a healthy way - whether that is through running, or online workouts, or yoga or a guided meditation.

When Bruce Banner keeps his body calm, he is in a more present and capable state of mind; the same goes for us. Keep this in mind any time you find yourself making decision from a place of anger or other stress-filled emotion. Just like the Hulk, we are irrational when we are angry and upset. But with the right practice, we are able to calm our mind and bodies and instead make decisions from a much more rational place, one where we leave much less destruction in our wake.

Lesson 2: Greed and Ego Will Lead to Your Downfall

We see time and time again, in art and in life, that the becoming drunk with power, greed, and ego will ultimately lead to your demise. In “The Incredible Hulk”, the character Emil Blonsky discovers the kind of strength and power Bruce Banner exhibits when he is transformed into the Hulk and becomes instantly infatuated with the idea of also gaining superhuman strength and recognition. Blonsky demands that General Ross also includes him in the experiment that resulted in Banner’s gamma radiation transformation into the Hulk. He is initially injected with just a small amount of the serum, and quickly gains additional strength and speed. But that isn’t enough for Blonsky; he wants more. Ultimately, he is injected with Banner’s synthesized blood that Samuel Sterns (Mr. Blue) has created, and transforms into Abomination, a near-skeletal humanoid monster that much more powerful than the Hulk. Where Banner spends the entire film trying to find an antidote to the gamma radiation experiment that turns him into the Hulk, Blonsky seeks the exact opposite.

There is nothing wrong with living life with big goals and seeking the opportunity to level up. However, where we run into trouble is if we are seeking this “next level” for the wrong reasons - which in this case is Blonsky coming from a place of envy over the strength and magnitude of the Hulk and where he is totally drunk with power. Have you ever seen anyone go after a position of power, only to abuse that power for the service of his/her own ego? Have you ever seen that power go straight to their head? Unfortunately, we are currently living though the effects of a national leader who operates solely from a place of greed and ego, with little care for his country or his people. And while that type of strategy might work for a while for someone, ultimately, that overarching abuse of power and feeding only the ego will lead to destruction, just as it did for Blonsky.

Lesson 3: Embrace What Makes You Unique

We spend so much of our lives trying to become who the world says we “should” be, a boring shell of “normal” so that we may fit in, instead of embracing the things that make us stand out. Bruce Banner spends nearly the duration of the film trying to find an antidote to the gamma radiation that turns him into the Hulk, trying any means possible in order to free himself of this “curse”. However, after Abomination evolves from Blonsky, it is ultimately only the Hulk who is able to defeat him. In fact, when Bruce jumps from the helicopter, it is one of the first times where he must transform into the Hulk on purpose, as opposed to a result from a heart rate spike. In that moment, we see Banner not only physically transform into the Hulk for the final battle of the film, but we also see him embrace the Hulk as a unique part of his identity for the first time.

We all have qualities that make us a limited edition 1 of 1, yet we get caught up in the “shoulds” of this world that instead want to morph us into a standard issue copy of “normal”. Ironically though, in business, in life, and in art, it is our “limited edition” traits and qualities that lead to great innovation and change. Once we can embrace who we are as unique beings and return to who we were before the world told us who we should be, we are able to become exactly who we are supposed to be, just as Banner finally embraces who he is as the Hulk by the end of the film.

“The Incredible Hulk” might be the lowest grossing film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but there were still important lessons to learn. Plus, I certainly couldn’t pass up an excuse to wrap my hands and throw on my gloves for these photos. It’s been more than a month since I’ve last put on my boxing gloves, and it truly felt like a part of me was missing. So even though we are currently “safer at home” due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ll still take any opportunity to “lace up” my gloves and get a few shadowboxing rounds in, even if it’s just for photos.

Thanks for joining me for Chapter 2 of “The Untitled MCU Project”.

The Incredible Hulk

Photos by: Krystyn Slack