Joe Rogan sometimes says the weirdest stuff aloud and more often than not, they actually make sense. With a widespread interest ranging from comic books to sports to politics and everything in between, Rogan’s podcast speaks to the experience he has garnered over the years. And with guests equally equipped to deal with varied subjects and who can keep up with the host’s fast-talking approach, it makes for an interesting and saturated field of discussion.
One such episode on The Joe Rogan Experience happened to be about the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s ability to make sense of the most ridiculous aspects of sci-fi and technology, and even though the core fandom is willing to accept those things, Joe Rogan, on the other hand, is not so willing to let go of something that doesn’t make sense to him.
Joe Rogan Points Out an Essential Flaw in the Hulk’s Design
The Hulk – the gamma-radiation infected alter ego of Dr. Bruce Banner – is just as incoherent, monstrous, and illegible as Banner is intelligent. The Jekyll and Hyde duality that Banner then faces is a constant reminder that brute strength and high intelligence hardly ever go hand in hand. The only other example of such a being is Dr. Manhattan from the Watchmen comic world. As it so happens, the similarity ends there and Joe Rogan speaks to the flaws in Hulk’s design that makes him a much lesser believable character in terms of practicality than Dr. Manhattan.
“The most ridiculous thing about the Hulk is his pants. He never loses his pants. This dude is gigantic. He’s so much bigger than Bruce Banner. Bruce Banner is like a little unassuming scientist who’s built like Ben Shapiro and then all of a sudden he turns into that guy [the Hulk] and the pants somehow still fit. How the f*ck – how the f*ck do you not see that giant green d*ck?
Those pants would pop off just the same way his shirt would. This is ridiculous. Somebody needs to do a new version of the Hulk with the giant green d*ck like Dr. Manhattan in the Watchmen. It wasn’t too long ago where in the Watchmen, you were allowed to see Dr. Manhattan’s d*ck […] and he is built like the Hulk – same thing.”
The probability of Marvel redesigning one of its core characters is slim to none. But if one was to even consider what Rogan posits on a serious note, then following that thread of logic takes us to Luke Jacobson in She-Hulk and the technologically evolved suits that are now equipped to contain Banner in the Smart Hulk form. All of it essentially renders Joe Rogan’s theory void in the modern era of CBM adaptations.
The Watchmen and Marvel’s Varied Approach to Censorship
Even though Joe Rogan’s point stands, the Watchmen comics are of a much darker origin. The satirical outlook into what could happen if super-powered beings began to fall prey to the temptations of their power, begin to think of themselves as gods, or break under the weight of expectations of good versus evil is what essentially comprises the storyline of the Watchmen.
Moreover, the Watchmen comics and Alan Moore, its writer, have encapsulated an entire socio-philosophical and theological debate surrounding the primary significance of why Dr. Manhattan appearing nude is a comment on modern society and its customs – something a being like Dr. Manhattan, who has clearly transcended humanity to become more god-like need not follow for the sake of appearing polite in the company of fellow humans.
Marvel, on the other hand, is an intergenerational canon of work that has served as an inspiration to children and adults alike. It is understandable why the artwork often redacts components that won’t always be considered suitable for mass readership. Moreover, Zack Snyder’s Watchmen was an adaptation that explored the darkest niche of human nature mixed with the extremes of sci-fi and the supernatural. Marvel’s more grounded approach recently took the liberty to explain why spandex is truly a man’s best friend if he is ever in a situation that resembles what we now call Hulking out.
Source: The Joe Rogan Experience
