Big Brain Time : A Matter of Love and Hate

The Hate Inside - Tommee Profitt fear. Sam Tinnesz

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First Sam article I have to write because this is a key part of his whole writing that a lot of people doesn't know and I'll often use it for a lot of further posts about him.

When you love mainstream comics characters from big Co like Marvel and DC, the positive part is they're basically immortal and have a shit tons of design and interpretation, there's as much versions of a character as there're people who write and draw them (canon or fanstuff) and that's a lot of fun. The bad part, however, is inconsistency in canon stories. Everyone is different, everyone have their own interpretation of something. If you take two hardcore fans of a same character who both know everything about them they'll still interpret it differently and that lead to a lot of cool stories but also some incoherencies so you can't really affirm anything, you can just make theories. And when you love a character as much as I do you're seeking a continuity in plot holes and inconsistency so eventually you come up with your own theories to have one consistent big story.

I don't really mind if my theories are just theories, if it's just overthinking, a reach. It makes me happy to think about a great connected story that makes totally sense and it's all that matter.

But once in a while, though, your theories get validated by another writer who apparently saw the same thing as you and your theory is no longer a theory, it's a canon fact.

This is what happened with Sam.

Quick gamma reminder : As I just say it's complicated to make one straight canon and definition of anything involving mainstream comics, so explaining properly how gamma mutation works would pretty much be impossible as everyone have their own vision of that matter. However, everyone agree on this : it's about wanting. Bruce wanted to protect himself and people he likes so he became stronger, Jen wanted to be confident so she went stronger and taller with long hair, Sam wanted knowledge so he got a gamma brain.

But did he? Was knowledge really his wish?

There's another thing with gamma that a lot of people are missing, it's about showing your true self. Hulk was always here, Bruce has an undiag DID since he was a kid. People would just assume his alters were imaginary friends (I'll make a full article about Bruce's DID and his alters later) but that's the thing, his gamma mutation didn't create any of his Hulks, they were always here, it just gave them a new form that shows how Bruce sees his alters and himself : as a monster.

Incredible Hulk vol. 2 78 (2005) writting by Peter David, pencil by Lee Weeks

So what about Sam ? Well, in the first part of Thunderbolts his brother tells Sam he was always "very clever", doing incredibly smart shit for a child, so chances are Sam was always very smart but because of the years of abuse he went through he kind of repressed it and thought he was stupid and weak. It's quite common, in fact, kids having to deal with school failure (which Sam did) and people thinking they're dumb when they're just neuroatypical and think differently (which Sam obviously did too, given this conversation).

Thunderbolts vol. 2 4 (2013) writting by Daniel Way, pencil by Steve Dillon

That's the second point we need to talk about : Sam's childhood

We really don't know a lot about Sam's past unfortunatly, he wasn't that developped outside of his relation with Bruce/Hulk as an antagonist but it's canon he was rejected by his parents for not being "as smart" as his brother (and by this they meant "failing at school"). Sam being, like Bruce, pretty much neuroatypical. We don't really know what kind of abuse and pressure he went through but we do know his brother would often bully him and Sam eventually dropped out school and left his home to escape all this pressure. We also know he grew up alone, never had friends or anyone, being probably the reason he's so obsess with Hulk. He suffers from his loneliness and to get rid of it, again, you need to be loved.

Before his mutation Sam was a very shy and insecured lad but he was also very good hearted, so what happened ? How could he turned this bad ?

Third point : Sam is seeking love and recognition

Ok lots of people assume Sam went smart 'cause he was dumb and wanted to be like his brother. It's not completly false (in fact it's 100% canon), Sam really wanted to be "smart like his brother" and suffered a very strong love/hate kind of affection for him, he was both the man he admired the most and the reason he had to go through so much suffering. Sam wanted to be as loved as his brother and his parents kept telling him the reason he was unloved was because he was dumb so of course his deepest wish would be to be smart, but not smart just for the sake of being smart, smart to be loved, smart to get recognition, to get the right to exist. But that's the thing, the limit between love and hate is so thin they often flirt together.

That's how the Leader was born, out of ressent and bitterness for a world and people he loved but who never loved him back and made him suffer alone in silence, but also out of hate for himself. We often see the Leader blaming his old self (most likely an alter too) and he blames him more than he blames the entire world. So he became what he thought he needed to be to be accepted, or rather to force people to accept him, an evil Leader.

Incredible Hulk 129 (1970) writting by Roy Thomas, pencil by Herb Trimpe

That's the thing with Sam, his name isn't related to his brain, it's the Leader, "someone who can inspire", someone who is admired, someone who is loved and accepted. But he grew up with a very twisted vision of what a person should be to be accepted. After all, the only exemples he had were very toxic manipulative people, like his brother, so that's what he became. Also to protect himself from other, to stop loving and caring because his kindness only brought him pain and despair.

Let's talk Bruce for a second.

Bruce and his Hulks are about anger. Stress and emotions as a whole but mostly anger. Bruce can't deal with his emotions since his mother died and the emotion he fears the most is anger because it reminds him of his father. It also opposes what he and his alters always wanted : peace. So the angrier he gets, the stronger but the less in controle he is.

Well for Sam it's the same, but with hate. The more he hates, the stronger he gets (remember that strength isn't only about big muscles and for Sam it's basically his intellect) but the less control he has over himself and the colder and more heartless he becomes.

That's a theory I always loved, that every mutated are about "a feeling", an emotion, whatever. I never liked the copy/paste gamma writing, gamma folks being just copycat of other gamma folks. I like when they're different, unique, when they mean something.

I had this theory for a while, just like Bruce's Hulk is fueled by anger, the Leader is fueled by hatred, Jen's Hulk (so the version when she's not in controle) about fear/doubt (opposing confidence) which is pretty much canon in Mariko's run etc etc...

And considering how much Sam suffers from his loneliness and how obsess he is with the idea of being admired and recognized I thought it made sense he would be about hate, opposing his desire for love. After all everytime he became "stronger" it was through hate rather than anger (though these two emotions are very connected and similar).

And then Immortal Hulk happened

Immortal Hulk 13 (2019) writting by Al Ewing

Immortal Hulk made a crazy good work making that "big consistent story" I talked about above actually working, respecting everything that has been done, adressing some plot hole, even adding new lore and turning everything into one coherent gamma story. But I'm not going to talk about this today, you'll have plenty of time to hear more about Immortal Hulk here.

One of the main lore point Immortal Hulk added is the gamma origin. It's no longer just an accident and mutation through science, it's also magic and Hellish and destiny. All gamma spawns are connected to the One Below All and I don't want to say more right now because I'm trying to stay focus on what this post is about but that's basically the "Mother" of all irradiated, the source of their powers, a creature that only seek destruction.

But an interesting thing about that creature is how it's related to hate and anger and needed both Sam and Bruce. So if Bruce is Anger...

Immortal Hulk 34 (2020) writting by Al Ewing, pencil by Butch Guice

Immortal Hulk 34 is a oneshot about Sam. It's narrated by Sam, centered on him and through these ~20 pages you have the perfect summarize of his gamma life.

But the important thing here is how it focused on Sam's hatred. He will mention it a few time and everytime it was at the most important part of his own chara dev. His hatred is fueling him.

And I love that. It makes so much sense to everything related to him, from his mutation to his obsession for Hulk, his evilness etc... And it also has a huge Diablo vibe (but that's another story).

So, it has me wonder. If Bruce can get his controle back if you calm him down, would the Leader stop existing if he was loved? Well, I guess so. It was kinda implied in Incredible Hulk vol. 2 31 (in Hulk's canon it happened right before the Hate screen above), it was a very moving moment between Sam and Bruce but basically Sam wanted to go to the other side to find eternal peace (if that makes sense) and wanted Bruce to stay by his side until his last breath to reassure him (as he had to die) because he is the closest thing he has to a friend or family. Surprisingly Bruce accepted and Sam was ready to leave peacefully and leave the Leader and his evil shenanigans behind forever. But shit happened and it ended up in Sam thinking Bruce, "the one man who could have been his friend" "rejected" him (these are his own words) and that's why he gave in to the One Below All and his own Hate, through that ultimate rejection (ironically and sad enough it was just misunderstanding, Bruce didn't reject him). So yes, theorically if Sam was loved he could definitly be freed from his Leader and turn into something else. But for now the closest thing we'll ever get to that good ending would be the now dead mobile game Avengers Academy where Sam found love through friendship and became an Avengers instead. Though I think the only way to really save him would be to teach him self-love, as it is his self-hatred that made him fall Below, but to teach him self-love you have to love him first (and by love I mean any kind of love, friendly, brotherly, romantic, whatever).

But that lead to another question, is it possible to save him? Does he wants to? Does he deserve it? How could you teach love to a fallen angel who gave his soul away and helped the Devil destroying everything out of hate?

And that's another marvelous thing with Immortal Hulk, while it directly asked "does he deserves forgiveness", it did through three characters (one who forgave, one who didn't and one who said "I don't know") leaving an open door, so it's up to everyone to have their own answer.

Enjoy~