The Incredible Hulk Vs. The Green Knight

      Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a medieval English epic that revolves around two central figures: Sir Gawain and his mysterious green counterpart, the Green Knight. Just so Sir Gawain, the hero and protagonist, is a handsome young knight characterized by nobility, honesty, and virtue, so the Green Knight, an equally important member in the story, is a disproportionately large, repulsive monster characterized by mysteriousness and immortality. Though the story of the Green Knight is centuries old and has lost its prevalent role in English society and literature, his underlying characteristics share similarities with today's modern superheroes, notably the Incredible Hulk. Both the Green Knight and the legendary Marvel Comics cultural icon share similar physical characteristics and abilities, shroud their identities in secrecy, and provide a new and unconventional meaning to the term "hero."
      On the most basic level of comparison, both the Green Knight and the Hulk share key external features that make them unique. First, they not only share similar skin tones, but also are several times larger than the average human; thus, each one has a grand but intimidating countenance. And with respect to key abilities, the Green Knight is the only character in the poem with immortality. Similarly, because the Hulk has limitless strength, the ability to breathe underwater and in outer space for indefinite periods of time, the means to regenerate his body even after fatal injuries, and an external layer of skin strong enough to withstand heavy artillery, he is essentially unable to be killed in combat and therefore immortal as well.
      On a more personal note, both green heroes have two separate identities--human and nonhuman--and must keep their human selves hidden behind their nonhuman personas. In the beginning of the poem, the Green Knight makes his guest appearance as a mysterious, alien creature whose origins are unknown. Only when Gawain meets him again in the Green Chapel again is it revealed that he is the host of the castle that Gawain stayed in during his journey. For all intents and purposes, the host deliberately uses Morgan le Faye's magic to transform into the Green Knight in order to properly assess the virtue and morals of King Arthur's knights. Similarly, the Hulk, a supernatural beast with superhuman capacities, is none other than a scientist by the name of Bruce Banner, who accidentally turns into the Hulk after his experiments with a new, nuclear bomb leads to an overexposure of Gamma Rays that consequently turns him into the emerald mutant we know today.
      Lastly, both figures are unconventional in the sense that they defy basic human assumptions of what constitutes a hero. Instead of witnessing a noble, handsome, righteous hero or heroin, the reader is presented with the Green Knight, an unsightly, questionable fellow with seemingly mixed motives and intentions. Similarly, the Hulk is an unattractive, unappealing, strangely hued gargantuan figure capable of creating widespread destruction and pandemonium. But despite their appearances, both heroes have good intentions but act upon those intentions in roundabout ways. In other words, whether the Green Knight challenges Sir Gawain and almost beheads him or the Hulk saves lives by generating superfluous amounts of chaos, each unconventionally abides by the rule that the end justifies the means.
      Several hundreds of years ago, the image of the Green Knight was born and influenced both English culture and literature of the time. Although one may assume otherwise, the image of the Green Knight still lives on; even in Marvel comic books, TV shows, and movies today, one can see the image of the Green Knight continue through the Hulk's legacy on American culture. Given the similarity between the Green Knight and the Incredible Hulk, who share similar physical, personal, and other atypical characteristics, one can assume that the past and the present are intertwined in inexplicable ways.