The Hulk may be best known for being angry, and it is known that people don't like when he gets angry – but according to one Marvel creator, the Green Goliath’s rage is actually misunderstood pain due to him being separated from none other than Marvel’s Superman, the Sentry.
Speaking at the 2023 Dragon Con “Marvel’s Sentry: A Superhero Identity Crisis,” original Sentry series from 2000: “My favorite thing about [the first Sentry series] was that the Hulk was always in pain, but when the Sentry was around, he didn’t hurt anymore.”
The Sentry Gave Comfort To The Misunderstood Hulk
“The tragedy of the Hulk,” Jenkins explained, “is that after the Sentry disappears, he’s always in pain.” In the Sentry/Hulk one-shot by Paul Jenkins and Bill Sienkiewicz, readers witnessed the first meeting between the two characters, which started out with the Hulk lashing at his new attacker, only to discover that merely being around the Sentry made him feel better. It was stated the reason the Hulk is in a constant state of rage is that his skin feels like it is constantly on fire. Being near the Sentry placed the Hulk within the hero's golden aura, which immediately made Hulk's pain go away.
The Hulk Stopped Hurting Around “Golden Man”
Following this revelation, Hulk made fast friends with the “Golden Man,” learning to control his transformations when teaming up with the Sentry. For Paul Jenkins, this all accentuated the metaphor of mental health he was exploring through the characters. “There was a beautiful metaphor in there about people not realizing that the hidden pain of others often leads to them lashing out. The Hulk wasn’t just some angry rage monster destroying everything - he was just misunderstood.” It’s a fascinating notion, and one that certainly plays into the larger metaphor of the Jekyll/Hyde duality present in Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s original conception of the character.
By having the Sentry “heal” Hulk with his aura, Jenkins' Sentry was able to develop another relevant concept: the idea that people should stop and take time to listen to those who seem like actual monsters, because they are often in fact dealing with incredible pain, in some form another. Individuals who can't articulate their pain often lash out because they do not know how to ask for comfort – something Hulk embodies. By revealing that the Hulk’s misplaced rage was nothing more than a way of dealing with his pain, Sentry co-creator Paul Jenkins added to the proud tradition of deeper, more grounded Marvel Comics heroes.
Source: “Marvel’s Sentry: A Superhero Identity Crisis,” Dragon Con 2023
