In ‘Marvel Zombies 2′ by Robert Kirkman, it continues the adventures of key Marvel comics’ ‘deceased’ heroes, who have become ‘insatiable’ flesh-eating zombies. Of course, they do not totally lose their mindfulness. If they did, they would be just another typical bunch of mindless zombie ‘clones’ – there would be no interesting stories to tell at all! Here is an interesting dialogue on the nature of their hunger.
Spider-man: It seems like the longer we go without eating, I could be imagining this but… it seems like the pain – the hunger is, well… I think it is starting to fade…
Hulk: (In a later scene) Hulk have to eat! Hulk starving!
Daredevil: No Hulk! You don’t have to eat! We’re cured – we no longer have the hunger! If you just wait – if you work through the pain – it’ll go away! You won’t have to kill anymore!
Hulk: Hulk not wait! Hulk want hunger to go away now! Hulk eat everyone he finds! Hulk not stop until everyone eaten!!
Hunger itself is an aspect of suffering, while it is a root of suffering too when it springs from greed (instead of need). If we keep feeding our cravings by giving what they demand, they will only sustain or grow. Feeding craving is like drinking sea water to quench thirst. It appears to work, but only for so long – or rather, for so short! The truth is, however hungry we might be for certain things or experiences, the hunger does not maintain itself indefinitely – it changes – it rises and falls; it is unsubstantial, even if seemingly unbearable at times.
Spider-man became mindful of the impermanent nature of his hunger (due to his sharp spider sense?) when he had to go without flesh food for quite some time due to scarcity of it. With the other Marvel ‘post-heroes’, they had scoured the known universe for food, and ran out of it… before returning to Earth! Hulk however, being his usual impetuous self, chose not to watch and wean off his hunger patiently. Now, are we more Hulk-like hungry ghosts or meditative Spideys in our daily lives? (In the end, they being essentially heroes after all, the Marvels cure themselves of their hunger.) Some extra literal ‘food for thought’ – if we continually eat animals with mindless greed without any second thoughts, are we not also flesh-devouring ‘zombies’ in a way?
[ad#marvelzombies2]