She-Hulk is finally here! Thursdays are becoming our favourite days with not just Harley Quinn but She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, where actress Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters is some serious fun and her frenemy-like relationship with her cousin, Bruce. Yes, THAT Bruce (Mark Ruffalo).
For our first She-Hulk review, we thought we’d have a bit of fun and do a highlights reel, too, as this episode where Jen’s MCU origin is explained to be different from her comics counterpart. A while ago, we questioned how Bruce could appear in She-Hulk.
Throwing Out The Hulk Rule Book
After getting into a car wreck during a road trip triggered by a Sakaarian spaceship, Bruce’s blood ends up on Jen, who Hulks out for the first time. She faces sexist remarks from a few guys at a bar she ends up at after the crash. After being wrestled by Bruce, Jen finds herself in his bungalow in Mexico. It’s this place where he dealt with Tony [Stark] (Robert Downey Jr) during the Blip.
Bruce attempts to train her to become a Hulk and tells her she can’t return to being a lawyer. After a while and a massive fight later, it becomes apparent that Jennifer’s abilities differ. She does not have an alter ego the same way her cousin does.
Bruce’s Envy Of Jen
Despite having wrestled with Hulk for over fifteen years, Bruce’s “Hulk syllabus” is quickly dismantled as meaningless. During his training sessions with Jen, he finds she can do things better than he can, and she’s only a beginner.
It would not be She-Hulk without a bit of family competition. When he throws a boulder, she throws one even further. When he makes a yoga move, she does a fancy one. Later, when she punches the ground, she makes the trees collapse. He then pushes her off the cliff, which she calls a dick move.
She-Hulk vs. Titania
The last portion of the episode revolves around a fight in the courtroom between Jen and the villain Titania (Jameela Jamil), who bursts in before Lady Hulk can deliver her closing argument. The social media influencer is quickly knocked out and arrested, with the story continuing next week.
Titania has no idea who Jen is, but she will now. First, though, how does this play into Emil Blonsky’s appearance? We’ll have to wait and see.
Questions
1. Will Hulk’s Son Skaar Show Up? Will This Lead To Planet Hulk Or World War Hulk?
The ship from Sakaar that caused Jennifer and Bruce to crash their car has led to fans wondering if it was hinting at the appearance of Skaar, Hulk’s son. We did a post on the potential of the character appearing. It’s not out of the realm of possibility.
Also, there is more to the story hinted at in the episode when Bruce tells Jen what type of ship it is and that he needs to look into it more. This also brings us to whether the story will lead to Planet Hulk or World War Hulk. These are both well-known Hulk storylines in Marvel Comics. It’s possible as Universal has been rumoured to lose the rights to the Hulk in 2023.
A recent article by The Direct explains that Universal has the rights to refuse solo projects for the character. This explains why Hulk has spent the last decade as a supporting character and hasn’t had a solo project since Edward Norton played the character in 2008’s Incredible Hulk. Universal also has the rights to solo Namor projects. Namor will make his MCU debut in this year’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as a supporting, possibly antagonistic character.
Be sure to check out the article linked for more information.
2. Will Titania And Abomination Join The Thunderbolts?
It’s hard to know who else is joining Valentina’s team. We don’t know exactly if that’s what Val is doing, but we assume she is. She mentioned in the post-credit scene of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier that she recruited two people; John Walker and Yelena Belova. Or at least, that’s what she says. She mentions that she has six spots on her “team.” Two of those are now filled. This leaves just four.
Now, given the group is called “The Thunderbolts”, it will not feature Thaddeus Ross as actor William Hurt recently died. Again, though, we can see the group is named in his honour. Hopefully, they’ll explain what happened to Thunderbolt after the end of Endgame.
Final Thoughts
I wish the episodes were longer, but if it’s a legal comedy, I’ll play along. It was a TON of fun with She-Hulk episode 1. I cannot wait to see what else is thrown out there. I want to find out how Wong and Blonsky factor into the show. Seeing them interact in Shang-Chi was satisfying and intriguing to see.
Also, I wasn’t lying when I said that Tatiana Maslany is incredible as Jennifer. She embraces the character well, and her chemistry with Mark Ruffalo makes it believable that they’re related. Finally, I could give zero effs as to what the toxic YouTubers say. I haven’t watched their videos, nor do I plan to do so. They’re stuck in the 19th Century, where they didn’t allow women to thrive and be their person.
They’ve review bombed almost every title in the current MCU phase because they don’t like that things are changing. They would prefer the franchise to be a white boy’s club where the women are sexualised for pleasure. I hate to break it to them, but Kevin Fiege wants to move forward and expand to be more inclusive. That is the whole reason why Ms Marvel was introduced. I could go on, but there’s no point.
