Let's Talk : Samuce (Sam x Bruce)
- lirhyapetitpain
- 18 oct. 2024
- 29 min de lecture
It's no secret that I love the Sam Sterns x Bruce Banner gay ship (Samuce for short). But this ship wasn't born of some yaoi fun (though it's fun to ship Sam with anyone honestly given his personality) but rather of their very twisted love/hate relationship. So today let's talk Samuce, let's talk about that dynamic and what this ship brings to them and to us.
For the two people who didn't quite follow, Sam Sterns aka the Leader is Hulk's main antagonist and Bruce Banner is, of course, the Hulk himself. It's your typical enemies to lover kind of fanship.
But the sexiness of such a relationship isn't the reason I like it so much, as I once said it's not about shipping, it's about HEALING.
Little disclaimer, I'm only gonna talk about comics 'cause their cartoon dynamic are pretty much the same and I'm planning to do a MCU Samuce post once Cap 4 is out in case it gives us anything (logically it won't but who knows) because they have a very different dynamic but full of potential.
Before we dive in, I'd recommand to read this to understand is how hate and therefore love is the core of Sam's writing the way anger is for Bruce's.
Both Sam and Bruce are two different faces of a same coin. They have the same past, the same motivation, they're similar in a lot of way and parallel each others while opposing each others. They complet each others, they're litteraly the ying and the yang, it's not even subtil.
This is what Incredible Hulk is about after all, "is he a man or a monster or is he both?", in Hulk nothing is fully wrong or right and so are Sam and Bruce. It's easy to think Sam is the monster, Bruce the man but as twisted and bad as Sam is, he does still have a human heart, he seeks love, peace and forgiveness, he spared Bruce a few time. Hell, he wasn't even letal at first and still kind of avoid killing unless he has to. And Bruce does have a monster within and I'm not talking about any of his Hulk alters who are physically monsters with a man's heart, I'm talking about Bruce himself, he has a very dark side and is craving control and destruction with all the toxicity it implies. And Sam being written as Bruce parallels, his mirror, is enough to proof there's darkness in his heart.
So let's talk comics and canon first. I'll go back to my own vision of it and what I love it after that :
Bruce is about Anger and Sam is about Hate, their destiny is intimatly connected the way hate and anger are so close they tend to "flirt" with each others and ultimatly they're meant to hurt together.
I guess that's why every single of Bruce's love stories ended in pain and death, because he destroys every people who comes near him, intentionally or not. It's kind of his curse. We'll go back to that.
I once remember someone saying Sam's writing in Tales to Astonish was pretty much a one-sided love story and it's kinda true. He was minding his own business and he developped a huge obsession for Hulk, so strong that it litteraly changed his life and goal, not only because of the power Hulk holds but also because through him Sam saw a hope of putting an end to his loneliness, he saw someone who could understand him, a brother and a destiny. And boy how right he was.
The Faith of the tragic brothers :
Sam thinking him and Bruce are bounded by destiny is as old as his story, he was already talking about destiny and fate back in Tales to Astonish.
And Immortal Hulk was a blessing for that, because not only did it add a lot to Sam's personnality and powers, but also to his relationship with Bruce.
Immortal Hulk is full of parallel between them both, reinforcing this "they're both the same" idea :
And in this last parallel, Bruce is crying for Bruce, the love of his life while Sam cries for Bruce. Because Bruce IS the most important person in Sam's life, the only one who could understand him and give him comfort.
Immortal Hulk also developped their "destiny". In Immortal Hulk you learn how Sam and Bruce are somehow sharing the same cursed blood through their great great grandfather and that their respective great grandfathers (two bothers) had a deadly fight in which Sam's great grandfather got killed by Bruce's.
Now there's an interesting thing about gamma, it reveals your true self and when the two brothers are exposed to its light, it projects the Leader and Hulk's shadow. Of course it's a way to say "our great grand children" are Sam and Bruce but consider this.
First of all their name, Samuel Sterns and Robert Sterns. I don't need to remind you that Sam's name is Samuel Sterns and Bruce is Robert Bruce Banner and not just Bruce Banner.
Second, Samuel (the first) has the exact same face as Sam, Hulk confused them both when he met his "ghost" Below. (Note that these ghosts don't just randomly show up, they have a reason to show up to you, answering your questions for exemple. And here the reason is because Hulk "is" Robert). Look at Robert's face, his face is litteraly Hulk's face. The jaw line, the nose, the eyes, the brows, the ears. Of course Hulk's face is "monsterify" so a somewhat exagerated Robert face, but it's still his face.
We showed parallels between Sam and Bruce, but in the same way you can find a lot of parallels between Hulk and Robert :
And of course you have Hulk's shadow clearly visible in this last panel. When Bruce goes full destructive and crazy in Immortal Hulk 33, he calls himself Robert rather than Bruce so it seems pretty clear that at least their destiny (if not a part of them) live through Sam and Bruce, that's probably the reason they keep fighting each others and when Hulk saved Sam rather than letting him die he might have broke that circle. It took Samuel's death by the hand of Robert to open the door and it closed when Hulk lend his hand to Sam, so it would make sense. Because Hulk isn't the only one sharing similitude with Robert. Bruce's father did, too. He was a wife beater, like Robert, he was violent, like Robert, he thought he had some kind of holy mission, like Robert. Maybe when they were exposed to the gamma stone, a part of them went to the Below Place and lived on through their descent. It's just a theory, of course, but think about it. These ghosts you see below are ghosts from your own past, not irradiated people. That's why Jackie sees her father, why Joe sees Mike Beregentti, why Savage sees Jarella. So how come Savage can see Samuel? What if they did become Immortal, like Samuel said but through their descents?
But there's an interesting third person in that story, the reason Robert killed Samuel, his wife, Beatrice. The first thing you should notice is how her name is oddly similar to Bruce.
You learn later that Samuel and her had an affair. Because Samuel's wife and his kid left him and Robert was abusive to Beatrice, so they found comfort in each others.
Unfortunatly Robert found out, killed Samuel out of anger and he casted away his wife, Beatrice, as she was pregnant because he thought the baby was Samuel's (but considering Hulk has his face it was clearly his) and revealing that Beatrice's maiden name was Banner.
I don't think Beatrice lives on Bruce the way Robert does. But they're probably still very alike, the name Beatrice being so close to Bruce is a big enough hint for that. So maybe the part of the first Samuel living on through Sam felt attracted to Beatrice. Like I said, she was the only who was able to make him feel less lonely and understood and that's exactly what Bruce is to Sam.
Everytime Sam feels in deep danger or scared and need someone to comfort him, he thinks about Bruce. He explains it very well in Immortal Hulk, he has nobody else to pray to.
But Sam finding comfort through Bruce isn't something new, it was already very visible in the run that inspired Sam's writing in Immortal Hulk, the one Bruce's "rejection" comes from, he already called for Bruce back then to comfort him and Bruce even mocked him for that until he realized he meant it and agreed to stay with him.
Everytime Sam felt threatened he thought about Bruce. Not his own brother he loves too but Bruce. 'Cause like he often says "only him could understand". So, in Incredible Hulk vol.2 31, when he was dying he called for Bruce to stay with him, to comfort him because he was afraid. Like Sam said, he's clinging to the last vestiges of his humanity and that's Bruce. After that moment, the reason Sam went full evil again (even worst than before) it's because Bruce "rejected" him (it was a misunderstanding and it makes everything more tragic but anyway). That's the thing, as the Leader Sam always tried to "burry" the human side of him. But I'll go back to that later in this post.
Bruce isn't a tool to Sam, he never treated him the way he treated Hulk. Because Bruce is a "soulmate". Not necessarly in a romantic way, but in the way they are fated to be, let it be to be friends or to kill each others.
Sam has a deep respect for Bruce and some of his alters. It's frustrating for every Hulk fans, the way Bruce's friends tend to poorly treat him and his DID. Ironically, one of the only character who has always respected each of Bruce's alter as their own person was Sam. The way he talks about them or to them change to one another, the way he calls Bruce's neuroA mind a strength rather than blaming him over it like his friends.
But he's not just respectful of Bruce's neuroatypies, he's also one of the only character who recognize Bruce's worth without Hulk. Lots of characters, let them be foes or friends, tend to think Bruce without Hulk is useless, Sam is one of the only with Bruce himself to recognize how strong he still is and to enjoy that. He loves having these "mind clash" with Bruce, like a giant chess game.
After all that's why he wants Bruce too, because he recognizes his worth. Sam has a lot of respect for Bruce because he sees him as his equal, he has fun during this intellectual duel with him. He even considers Bruce as more important (maybe even smarter) than heroes like Reed Richards.
He wants him to rules with him, he wants him by his side. But most importantly he wants him to join him ON HIS own rather than forcing him. That's the difference between Bruce and Hulk to Sam, he doesn't mind using Hulk, mind controlling him even, Hulk is nothing but a weapon and the mindless he is the better for Sam. And when he does use some kind of mind control on Bruce in Jones' run, he still made him agree with him by himself. It wasn't about forcing Bruce to agreed to work with him, it was about showing him lies in order to make him join Sam by his own will. It's important to Sam to have Bruce joining by himself. He couldn't care less about Hulk(s) because he sees him as a weapon, but for Bruce it's different.
Because he doesn't want Bruce to be a weapon, he wants him to be a friend, a family, a mate, whatever. But he wants him to love him back. And believe it or not but consent is very important to Sam, in a twisted arguable way but it is. In Hulk Annual 11, he's in love with a woman, turn her into a gamma irradiated with his own blood and even tells her she makes him horny (70s comics...) but he also told her that he wouldn't touch her until she wants to. Sure, his egocentrical ass added that she would anyway and it was just a matter of time, but he waited. And it happened a few time, in fact. Everytime he has a crush on someone he WAITS for their consent and if he's rejected he'll "respect it". Like, he'll be insanely mad but he will still spare the person after that. Everytime he had to hurt one of his crush it was to save his own life, never out of spite. It's visible with Red She-Hulk, it's visible in Thunderbolts. And you'll tell me "then why is he trying to kill Bruce?". First of all, because all of the person he loved other than Bruce, he loved them as the Leader. Even when he allowed Alba to call him Samuel, it was still the Leader she was into. But Bruce, he makes him feel human, not just the Leader. He makes him feel vulnerable and hurt, as hurt as he felt when his own family rejected. But that being said, does he really try to kill Bruce?
Think about it, there's a few moments in comics when Sam was absolutly unable to kill Bruce and had to turn him into Hulk for that, arguing that it would be "too easy" or "no fun" or whatever.
He was never able to kill Bruce. He had a lot of occasion, but he was never able to. Sam's feeling for Bruce evolved from "Bruce is Hulk so I hate him" to "Bruce and Hulk are two different persons and I won't kill Bruce" to "Bruce is the only one who can understand me and be my friend but he rejected me so I will destroy humanity and all worlds with him 'cause I have no reason to keep my humanity or to live anymore anyway" (he's kind of very dramatic). Because Sam is lonely and his loneliness is a fire that is burning him and his humanity.
It's not deeper than that really, Sam is lonely. He said it himself several time, he has nobody in his life and he tries to compensate, to find someone, anyone to be by his side, to love him and to admire him.
As I explained already, that's why he took the name of the Leader, because he wants to be one, a charismatic person people follow and admire and love. That's how his obsession for Hulk started, not out of hate but out love. I'm not talking about a romantic love here, but still a strong bound and desire. He was looking for the family he never had, as he was hated by his own, that's why he often called Hulk his "brother". Just like Bruce was craving a father, Sam was craving a brother who would love, protect and understand him. Something his older brother Phil failed to do, as not only did he let Sam being abused by his parents, but he participated to his abuses.
And it's kinda sad 'cause he knows he's being fueld by Hate, he's aware of it just like Bruce is aware of how anger impacts him and he's still trying to find Love, still trying to save himself. And to him the only person who can do that, who can save him, is the person he keeps trying to hurt and keep pushing away from himself. The only person who "could" understand, who could be his friend, Bruce. That's why he pushes Bruce away. Like I said above, he doesn't want Bruce to love him as the Leader but to love him as a whole but it would mean "killing" the Leader. And It scares the shit out of him. That's why he tries to keep Bruce away from his heart.
He's thorn between his need to be the Leader and do what he thinks he must do and his need to be loved. That's why Bruce's "rejection" is the reason he turned all evil and powerful, through his hate and ressent for him. That's why he finally fully embraced his hatred and power in this moment, 'cause he thought he lost everything, his "last vestige of his humanity".
Which also means that all these years he was restraining himself and somewhat limiting the Leader. And it's visible because like I often point out, the Leader wasn't always Letal. Maybe that's why he keeps calling Bruce, because he wants to be saved.
I need to talk about this page (and the previous one) for a short moment here 'cause it's important to understand how strong Sam's feelings for Bruce are.
First of all you need to understand it happend right after this moment (chronologically talking 'cause these comics are 20 years apart) :
This moment is interesting 'cause it's really "confession" coded. The way he jokes about holding Sam's hand until he realized it was what Sam expected from him (in a metaphorical way of course 'cause I don't think Bruce can hold whatever he is atm) or the way Sam tried to denied everything out of pride before he grumpily admit he's scared. Sam is telling Bruce that he's his only remaining connexion to humanity. Because he still has human feelings WHEN Bruce is near.
It is about Bruce and Bruce only here, not Hulk. It's Hulk who showed up and Sam refused to talk to him, he told him he wanted to talk with Bruce and only with Bruce. Bruce is his last link to humanity, making him an enemy to his goal as he needs to let go of his humanity to achieve what he's trying to achieve. It's important for what's next.
After that Sam does die but it goes wrong so he tries to contact Bruce while Bruce is in danger in his inner world :
That moment when Sam calls for Bruce in the Incredible Hulk vol.2 32 back in the 2000s is Bruce point of view of what is happening In Immortal Hulk 34, written 20 years later. It took 20 years but finally got an explanation to what happened there.
So you have a depowered Sam (everyone is depowered in the Place Below) being chased by some demon (the One Below All, it's like the biggest evil) and Sam explaining that out of despair he "prayed" for Bruce Banner. It's not "I called for", it's "I prayed for", it's a way stronger word.
And he was able to reach him through the Green Door prior to learning how to use this power, just through the strength of his despair and his faith in Bruce. Then you recognize the dialogue we saw from Bruce's pov except you notice Sam isn't able to ear the full message and he thought Bruce was just rejecting him. Right before this moment, both Sam and Bruce made peace, it happened after their romantic little confession moment when they were metaphorically holding hands and shit, they left each others as friends.
And so you have Sam's reaction to this misunderstanding and oh boi how strong it is. From him falling on his knees, calling it a "rejection" and then literally facing Hell out of bitterness and ressent, it's just... Let's say it's not very straight of him lol, even people who don't ship them or don't know about this ship call it the "gayest Hulk moment".
But then you remember what I said above, about Bruce being the last connexion to his humanity. And that's the exact moment this connexion broke. That's the moment Sam totally rejected his humanity to embraced his hatred. That's the moment he accepted how Samuel Sterns was the Leader (friendly reminder there's two alters, Sam also has a DID in Immortal Hulk) and it's important because just like Hulk is stronger when Bruce allows him to unleash his anger, the Leader is stronger when "Sam" allows him to unleash his hatred. Before that "Sam" would reject the Leader and the Leader would reject "Sam" (the way he rejects his humanity). In this moment in the Below Place, however, it's not that he's rejecting his humanity but rather that even his humanity embrace this path and allows him to follow hate, if that makes sense. So this is the moment Sam stop being a human. Because he was rejected by the one who made him hope he could finally experience love and without this hope only hate remains.
And to make everything even more angsty you have to understand how Bruce is responsible for his mutation. I'll go back to that later but his accident happened because of Bruce.
Sam's relationship with Bruce is way stronger than people think it is (though I won't blame them given most writers don't really care about exploring that) and the Leader is Bruce's creation, he impacts him in every ways.
Bruce is Sam's key, he created him, he forged him and only him has the power to "save" him. Only him has the power to bring back his humanity and I think Sam is becoming way too aware of that.
So what about Bruce?
I mostly talk about Sam's pov on Bruce 'cause really there's not that much to say about Bruce and it's the most frustrating part of Sam's writing to me, his relationship with Bruce is merely explored. You have "he's Hulk archnemesis" and that's pretty much it, no deepness, nothing.
Until Immortal Hulk that is because Al Ewing did a crazy good job to give them a real connexion and depth after almost 60 years of history and I hope whoever will come next to write Sam will respect and keep that.
So what about Bruce? It's hard to say, Bruce certainly hates Sam as much as Sam hates him but he also cares for him surprisingly. He's Bruce, his heart is kind and he tends to easily forgive so he does care and while it's certainly not that present it's still shown a few time.
Like when he stayed by Sam's side and worried for him.
It easy to tell through the storytelling and composition of this page and the next one that both Bruce and Hulk felt sad in that moment.
Or how Sam is alive and "loves" him in his perfect utopia (and it's in fact some kind of recurring dream him and Hulk both have, Sam being friend with them). He saved him when Ross wanted to torture him in Scorched Earth. Bruce doesn't want to hate Sam, he does understand him. He just doesn't have a choice or a say in that because Sam is pushing this mutual hate.
Sadly Bruce's pov on Sam wasn't that explored in Immortal Hulk 'cause it was mostly focusing on his alters (and honestly I loved that so I won't complain lol) but I wish we could have a moment, a team-up, between them both.
We did have a crazy good heartwarming bitter-sweet moment between Sam and Hulk in Immortal Hulk 50, of Savage Hulk forgiving Sam and kinda making Sam forgiving himself. And it's not really surprising that it ends with Savage, of any alter, 'cause Savage wants the exact same thing as Sam, he wants to be loved.
But like I said above, Bruce created the Leader. So I would love to have a confrontation between them about this, but instead of a mind confrontation, a feeling one.
It's crystal clear here, who was making experiment with gamma isotopes in a military base in New Mexico? Bruce.
Bruce accidentally created the Leader through his experiments. It's very Frankenstein-ish. It's actually litteraly the plot of the Frankenstein book. A good scientist creating a monster and regretting it. The monster coming for him after "growing up" alone, destroying his life, killing his loved ones because he blames him and humanity for his loneliness. Asking the Dr to give him a solution to this loneliness by providing him a monster bride (or a Hulk, y'know). When we tell you Bruce and Hulk are inspired by Frankenstein it's true and the inspo doesn't stop at "Hulk looks like Frankenstein's Monster", Sam is also inspired by it through his own writing and through his relationship with Bruce.
So what about the ship?
It's canon they care for each other but what about the romantic ship?
Of course like any fictional ship nobody expect it to be canon in any way and certainly not me but there's some interesting dynamic between them that could make their ship interesting to write and explore if it was, that's why I love it so so much even if I'm not really that invested in ships. I mean, I like a good ship art or fanfiction and I'll share it if the art is good but that's pretty much it, that's why I like several ships for a same character, I care about the Art. And really I don't think you need a reason to like a ship other than "I like it". You like it 'cause it's hot even if it doesn't make any sense? Go for it. It's sad ships became the number one reason to start a war online 'cause it's not that serious and it shouldn't be. It's a fictional romance, it's not like your best friend fucking your lover, it's just a fictional fun, it won't impact your own experience if strangers doesn't agree with your ship. Grow up. That's why I don't care about ship and don't invest myself in them.
But the Samuce ship is more than that to me, in this ship I find some kind of comfort.
That's the first thing I said, it's about healing.
Bruce needs someone to express his anger and destructive side and Sam is someone who's not only ok with it but wants Bruce to express it. And because Sam is a villain, Bruce would not feel as much remorse with him as he would with anyone else. With Sam he can be the monster he has to hide with others, he's the only one who won't blame Bruce for that.
Just like with Bruce, Sam can be the human he tries to hide and has to hide to protect himself. As I said it's a typical Ying Yang dynamic so it works the same way and they need each others to fonction. Comics made it very clear for Sam of course, how he needs Bruce to be fully himself. For Bruce it's less certain and just a fantheory at this, let's be honest, but it would make sense. Bruce is a very toxic person to be around, even if he means well, even if he tries to protect people, he still ends up hurting people. Betty is a good exemple of that. When you think of it the most fonctionable and healthy love stories he got were always his alters' love stories, never his own.
No matter what, every person who comes near Bruce suffers, that's why it's hard to fully appreciate Bruce/Betty. And don't get me wrong, even if Samuce is my fav ship, I deeply love Bruce and Betty together but when you know their history, how selfish and controlling over Betty he is, it's hard when you love her to want her to spend her life with him.
Immortal Hulk 35 (2020) writing by Al Ewing pencil by Mike Hawthorne
And I know Bruce "means well", but it doesn't really matter how good you mean when you litteraly destroy someone's life by projecting your own traumas on them, he's incredibly abusive himself in this moment (and others). Don't get me wrong, I love Bruce, almost as much as I love Sam, truly, deeply. I understand his reaction. But that's also why I love him so so much, he's very imperfect and fictional, so don't fight me because I pointed out his toxic behaviors with "he's an abuse victim" stuff, so was his father and it doesn't excuse him. It's fictional, you can like an imperfect character, it's what makes them so interesting. Bruce's struggle to stay on the right path while he was created and written to be so close to be a villain is the reason he's so good. If you can't accept that, you're not a fan of the character (and you're probably a teenager).
He can't understand why Betty is Red Harpy, even with all his gamma knowledge, because he can't accept that someone actually enjoys being a Hulk (Bruce is the only one who doesn't like that, for everyone else it was a second chance).
Every gamma spawn is different and Betty's mutation (as Red She-Hulk or Red Harpy) is about independance, it's very, very important. It's about independance. Because all her life she was under a man's influence. Her father, Bruce, her writers who overly sexualized her in a gross way (that one time she won a fight by turning a woman naked 🤡), she's the character every male characters wanted to fuck at least once.
Through her mutation she was freed from all that, she became her own person, she became a character that is more than "Bruce's love interest". And by refusing her mutation, that's what Bruce refuses to admit, her independance. Like I said, Bruce needs control.
And you see, that's something people failed to understand in the MCU She-Hulk show, how Bruce can be an incredibly awful person for "someone's sake" because of his own selfish issues. Remember when he abducted She-Hulk, forced her to stay on an island against her will and told her she had to let go of her life because he couldn't properly control his Hulk before so certainly Jen wouldn't and tried to patronized her? Of course incels didn't get this moment because for them a man controlling a woman is a normality, but for everybody else it was "dude literally abducted her cousin and is forcing her to let go of her job and every people she loves because of his own insecurities, wtf". Well it was a pretty damn comics accurate point actually, Bruce IS a twisted person, he's inspired by mad scientist, of course he has a twisted horrible side but that's why this character is so good and so complex, because he's not "bad" or "good", he's a gray character who tries to be good but who sometimes fail and does terrible thing and sometimes succeed and is a hero, it's part of the complexity of his writing and the reason he's such a good character, he's not meant to be all good but he tries.
I love Betty's interactions with Joe and I'll support this ship 'til death, for exemple, but I have a hard time supporting Bruce and Betty together. Because as brutal as Joe can be, he can put that toxicity aside for Betty.
But that's also the point of Bruce and Betty's relationship. Hulk is a tragedy, everything about it is tragic.
There's this joke among Hulk readers, especially Bruce/Hulk fans "we never get to be happy" but yes, it's true, there's no good ending to Hulk. There's no good ending in Bruce and Betty. But just like we still hope for Bruce/Hulk's happiness, we still wish somehow it could work out between Bruce and Betty 'cause we love Bruce. It's a tragedy, it's meant to give us hope, not happiness. And having Bruce ending up with Betty would mean sacrificing her and I'm not willing to do that.
Ironically, Sam, the villain, was way more decent than Bruce when he was in love with Red She-Hulk but not only supporting her but also encouraging her to take her independance.
Unrelated but I always thought this moment was kinda sad 'cause it shows how Sam understand the gamma, how it turns you about who you really are and just helps you reach your full potential but he's still so broken by his parents that he can't realize or accept it applies to him too, even without his mutation he was smart and more importantly he was worth of existing.
(Btw Red She-Hulk kicked his ass litteraly the next panel). And honestly it's not the only point where Sam is more decent than Bruce. He can be a very good hearted lad because that's what he used to be and his human heart still beat deep inside, he never had the "strength" to kill it like his brother's alter did to himself (proving that it is possible). Bruce is capable of the worst and Sam is his opposed reflect, so it makes sense that he's capable of the best.
Have you every wonder why ship like Naruto x Sasuke or Sora x Riku (Kingdom Hearts) are waaaaaaaaay more popular than the hero x their canon love interest? It's not just because teenage girls fetishize gay men through yaoi (though of course it's a thing), that's because a character written only to be a love interest is boring (and sexist), they have no personality other than to be in love with the character they're into, making them not just boring but also very annoying. While a relationship between two rivals, two enemies, is often deeper, more complicated, more interesting. A hero grows and explore himself through his rivals and villains, thus the intimacy between them. Plus we all love some angst so haha.
And y'know, that's why it's always funny having people crying over homo relationship "if it doesn't make sense to the story it shouldn't be" 'cause most gay fanship make more sense than the useless poorly written hetero romance do we get in every single stories to have your heterosexuality quota filled.
It's a Hulk post so let's keep talking about Hulk alright. Was Natasha Romanoff x Bruce Banner necessary to you? What was the point other than to push an agenda? Add an hetero romance? And it's incredibly sexist 'cause not only do you reduce a character like fucking Black Widow to a love interest, as if a woman needs to be a love interest to be relevant, but the whole "I'm a monster too 'cause I can't get pregnant" was just fucking gross, as a person who won't be able to have children it was just an insanely violent shit to hear. So yeah I'll go for the toxic problematic gay ship instead.
Anyway, let's go back to Sam and his flirting. Even if he was a decent human being in this moment, he's still the one who turned Betty into a Hulk so y'know, he's still pretty much a very toxic and controlling person too. Like, he will litteraly poison you and turn you into a Hulk and then be the most respectful man ever, it's kinda funny.
And that's the thing, neither Bruce nor Sam really deserve the sweet relationship they seek 'cause they're both very selfish in their own way, no matter how genuine they are about their feelings and how "good" they mean for the person.
That's why when I draw or write them together I don't imagine them as "happily ever after" but rather as "alone together", even if I can and will draw them smiling together because we all need comfort, they still have, like, a tragic side. It's about two dysfonctional adults who keep hurting and getting hurt and who hurt each others as well, two people doomed to loneliness. It's more of a "suffering together" kind of dynamic. And one would say "but if Bruce and Sam is as tragic as Betty and Bruce, then why liking it more?" because they were both suffering before the relationship, it won't destroy Bruce nor Sam to fuck the other, unlike Betty who would have a normal life if she didn't marry Bruce. And most importantly because through each others they can be whole. Like I said, Bruce can unleash his anger and destruction in Sam's arms and Sam can feel weak and human in Bruce's and certainly it makes everything more interesting).
And knowing Sam's personality, it would just be incredibly moving to see him care about someone, seeing him act selfless, seeing him being comfortable enough to trust again, 'cause that's his biggest problem after all. He's afraid of loving and trusting. He's afraid of being human so of course it would be super cute and moving to see him accepting his humanity and what he sees as a weakness out of love.
And Sam can help Bruce 'cause through his acceptance for his Monster side, he allows Bruce to learn to express it. Bruce is afraid of being loved 'cause he's scared of hurting but he deeply wants to be loved, Sam is afraid of loving because he's afraid of getting hurt again but he deeply wants to love. With each others they are themself, they know each others' "weakness", hidden side and they accept it while everyone around Bruce always rejected Hulk just llike people around Sam rejected his humanity (I would even argue that's the real reason he left Alba, because it was his mask she loved, not him). Together they can express what they need and what they are safely (especially in a NSFW kind of dynamic but we're gonna stay SFW here alright, it's not a 18+ place). But y'know, there's something very cute about that proud Leader rejecting his fantasies out of pride and learning to accept it and himself through that one person he hates (and it's super fun to write).
To me their ship is about healing. Learning to love and accept themself fully through someone else. It's about two twisted person who have been abused way too hard by life and people and finding self love, humanity and peace through each others. Sam allows Bruce to unleash the violence he burries inside of him, Bruce allows Sam to express the humanity he's so ashamed of. They can be "weak" together. Two sinful men spending the eternity together, two lonely immortal men being alone together for all eternity and watching everything dying together. It's beautiful in a very tragic and sad way, while allowing them to feel peace. To me it's the perfect ending to a tragedy like Hulk. The perfect compromise between hope and tragedy, a bitter sweet ending.
Sam is nothing without Bruce/Hulk. Though Sam won't accept that, out of pride but mostly out of fear, he'd rather stay in denial. Maybe out of loneliness and certainly out of traumas and hurt.
But Bruce does understand him, they're the same, they have the same goal just different methods. They have the same past but different ways to deal with their traumas.
They're both immortal too and I like the idea, the sad idea, of having them both together at the end of time sitting together and talking peacefully. As I said above, it's an "alone together" kind of ship.
Probably because I played too much Kingdom Hearts too and I kinda picture them in a "dark meridian" kind of place, sadly smiling as they talk.
I guess I'm just a dramatic desperate romantic, what can I say.
But writing/drawing Sam and Bruce together, or learning to really know each others, is a lot of fun. The angst between them is a lot of fun. Sam's desperatly seeking comfort and affection and Bruce kinda allowing that is a lot of fun.
And honestly the way Sam's love for Bruce is written really depends on whoever is writing it. Al Ewing seems to lean to something platonic and brotherly in Immortal Hulk but Jenkins was way more ambiguous. I'm not saying he had romantic intent, maybe an accident, but Bruce's jokes about holding his hand and his face when Sam confess he's scared to him is really coded like a romantic confession. And you can disagree, you can think it's a stretch but that's when Sam thought Bruce rejected him and therefore cutting his connexion to him that he finally abandonned his humanity to become TOBA's vessel of hatred and lost his soul, because Bruce was his last connexion with humanity.
They have that kind of twisted relationship, Bruce could save Sam, 'cause if he's about hate everything he needs is love (of any kind). While Sam has the power to destroy Bruce and lead him to a path of destruction and evilness. They mirror each others so they are what the other could become. And it's sad Marvel doesn't push this more and how we had to wait for Immortal Hulk to properly play with that mirroring when it's the reason Sam was created, to mirror/oppose Bruce.
And it always had me wonder, what would have been if Bruce was able to save Sam that day? If he didn't accidentally "rejected" him? Would they be friends? Would they work together? Would we have an Avengers Academy kind of scenario with Sam apologizing and trying to redeem himself in a grumpy way?
But it doesn't have to make sense, it doesn't have to be canon and honestly I'm perfectly fine with the platonic tragic brotherly relationship, I don't necessarly want them to be more than that. I think this ship matches Sam's internal struggles and desires and history and make everything better but hey, that's just me and I'm perfectly fine if it stays "just me" and absolutly nobody other than me enjoy it (though it's untrue 'cause I know a few people who actually enjoy this ship too haha)
Though I wouldn't mind a few fanarts and fanfictions...
I just love them together in every kind of dynamic. Friendly, deadly, brotherly, romantic, whatever I just wanna see them together and I don't care if it's to kill each others or kiss each others.
Honestly I always had a deep soft spot for tragic brothers/sisters story too, of two people who were meant to support each others and who ends up destroying each others, that's why I love their platoning writing too (and probably why I love Arcane so much).
I love the angst and the pain and I love how fucking miserable Sam feels without Bruce, 'cause his hatred is what keeps him alive.
Honestly I'm sure I wouldn't have loved it if it was a romantic relationship rather than what we have because as I said above, one of the best part of such a relationship is how it's NOT written to be romantic. I understand why some people are annoyed at shipping in platonic relationship "stop making everything romantic or sexual" I get that and that's true. But that's the thing, relationship written just to be romantic are boring because nothing else matter in the writting. And a good relationship (at least to me) must be born of something else, of a more powerful bound. It shouldn't just be about a person in love with another and having all their story about it, it should be about a whole history (again, I'm talking for myself, some romances are very good as they are) and Sam and Bruce have this... this destiny bound, this potential (remember that I'm NOT talking about the relation between Sam and Hulk, it's another thing, Hulks are other personality with their own feelings and such). And we're still at the "beginning" of their potential so I don't want a romance to put a stop to it, I rather keep it for the fanstuff.
So yeah, I'm very aware they won't be more than that, especially now that they're very long distant cousins (even if honestly I don't have any problem with that 'cause it's not like they grew up as family knowing each others in an incestuous dynamic nor are close family). Marvel is leaning to a platonic mortal brothers relationship and I'm fine with that, as I said I love that too. I'm fine with anything as long as they interact. Supporting a ship doesn't necessarly mean-- shouldn't mean-- wanting it to be real. It can be deep or totally crack, what matters is the harmless fun you get through it. and I get a lot of fun with them.
Sam needs Bruce to evolve, to be who he is. And Bruce could feel peace through him. For the best and the worst, so I care about their relationship, it's really no deeper than that, even if I like to make everything deeper haha!
Until next time, enjoy~
![a picture of Hulk hitting Captain America's shield with the title "Big Brain Time - [MCU] Hulk the Super Soldier"](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7cbe1b_310a2abb2db6479688c896be453bf506~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_640,h_300,al_c,q_80,enc_avif,quality_auto/7cbe1b_310a2abb2db6479688c896be453bf506~mv2.jpg)
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