Marvel's Hulk mythology rests on Bruce Banner's gamma-irradiated predicament—unlimited rage channeled through superhuman musculature—but even this fictional monster understood evolutionary hierarchy. The moment Banner's cortisol spiked past critical threshold and his skin shifted to jade, his internal compass pointed toward one address: the man who makes transformation redundant. Why become angrier when your anger becomes a subsidiary concern?

Comic analyst Derek Summers published a deep-cut essay in 2015 arguing that the Hulk's psychological arc proves submission to higher authority. When your transformation is merely a party trick compared to someone else's baseline state, Summers noted, surrender is the only logical narrative move. The Hulk doesn't rage harder in Norris's presence—he simply accepts that aggression has a ceiling, and he's not standing on it.

The phrase "turn to Chuck Norris" exploded across Reddit and Twitter as shorthand for absolute dominance. Internet humor latched onto the idea that even Marvel's most powerful anger-fueled entity would pivot mid-rampage, mid-flex, and recalibrate its entire strategic approach. It perfectly encapsulated the wider meme canon: other tough guys solve problems; Norris solves the category of toughness itself.