Day: May 23, 2011

Deano’s answer to: “Were the Hulk movies accurate in portraying Hulk’s strength?”

Posted on by Deano in Q & A

It would be exceedingly difficult to claim that a movie didn’t portray the Hulk’s strength accurately, for one simple reason:

The madder he gets, the stronger he gets.

(Rarrr… Image Courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/tim…)

Thus, any time the Hulk appears to be “weaker than he should be” could be argued away as merely a reflection of his lack of sufficient anger at the given moment… Or, in general, a lack of adrenaline, which is not always induced by anger (there’s a scene in The Incredible Hulk which covers alternate potential means of transformation, but those images are all protected by copyright)

(Let’s just say this is a fair facsimile, and be done with it. Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/the…)

Given the comics’ precedent that there is no significant “upper limit” to the level of the Hulk’s strength, which can reach so-called “Cosmic Levels” under the right circumstances, it’s basically impossible that anything the Hulk does in the films could be considered to be “too strong for the character”, for similar reasons[*].

Where the movies tend to fail is in over-simplifying or misunderstanding the Hulk’s many weaknesses.

[* Actually, since the Hulk in The Incredible Hulk movie appears to have closer ties to “Ultimate Hulk” – a creature born of a mutated gamma-irradiated version of Captain America’s Super Solider Serum, there probably is a more reasonable upper power limit, we just haven’t come close to hitting it yet.]

This answer originally appeared on Quora: Were the Hulk movies accurate in portraying Hulk’s strength?

Deano’s answer to: “What does it feel like to grow up without a father figure in the family?”

Posted on by Deano in Q & A

I learned the rules of basketball mostly by fouling out my own 8th grade team during critical moments. It’s more complicated than it looks, folks.

(Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/jas…)

My best friend taught me how to wet shave. In college.

(Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/gre…)

All those times when your mom said “ask your father” as a lazy way to say no, my mom just said “no”. If she didn’t get it/like it, it just didn’t happen, including things like seeing Star Wars in the theater, at a time when movies stayed in the theater for half a year or more if they were doing really well.

(At least I got to see this cinematic gem as consolation…)

And honestly, even figuring out exactly how to not be killed or courted in the Men’s Room was a bit of trial and error I’d sooner forget…

(Where was this app when I needed it?!? Image courtesy http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjec…)

All grown up, I still find that I have an absolutely alien experience meeting someone’s dad, that simply doesn’t exist when I meet their mom. It’s hard to explain, but it’s there.

Perhaps the best part of growing up without a father actively in the picture, is that through massive overcompensation and the lowered bar of my own experience, I tend to feel that I do a pretty good job as a dad myself. Really, it’s about the only thing I’m not massively fucking up in my life on a daily basis. So, you know, that’s nice.

This answer originally appeared on Quora: What does it feel like to grow up without a father figure in the family?