Ahead of the much-anticipated comedy superhero series She-Hulk, Attorney At Law, Comic Book 101 is back to give the low down on the MCU’s newest superheroine on the block, Jennifer Walters, She-Hulk. The series will star Tatiana Maslany as the titular hero. Joining her will be Mark Ruffalo reprising Hulk, Tim Roth running it back again as Abomination, and new villain on the block, Jameela Jamil as Titania. Additionally, while we have already been re-introduced to Charlie Cox’s, Matt Murdock, fans can expect to see Murdock’s secondary persona, Daredevil, making his return to Marvel after his last outing at Netflix.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
She-Hulk was first introduced in Marvel’s The Savage She-Hulk, issue #1 from all the way back in 1980. She was created by Stan Lee and artist John Buscema. Her alter ego, Jennifer Walters, is a well-known attorney who represents super-powered people. Unlike Bruce, Jennifer prefers her alter-ego, and when she transforms, even retains her intelligence and character traits, everything that makes her, well, Jennifer. While her transformation into a green crusader is changeable like her cousin, she has been stripped of her powers before, most notably by Tony Stark before the World War Hulk storyline to take her out of the equitation as a potential Hulk ally. It isn’t until her storyline in Single Green Female that she fully embraces her human form’s role and how the role fully plays a factor in her super-powered, more preferred form.
Normally, this is where talks of the differences between comic book and possible changes to a character for the purposes of the MCU, but the biggest change has already been confirmed ahead of the show’s release: how Jennifer gets her powers. In the comics, Jennifer receives a blood transfusion from her cousin, Bruce Banner. This obviously goes terribly wrong considering Bruce’s circumstances, and Jennifer herself gains gamma-irradiated blood and becomes She-Hulk. Now, it is known that the character will be in accidental contact with Bruce’s blood, instead of intentional, after a car accident.
She-Hulk Has a Long History in the Comics
Marvel Studios
She has had a long history in the comics and has had several affiliations. She has been a member of the all-female A-Force. She has been an active member of Marvel’s First Family, the Fantastic Four. She has had memberships of S.H.I.E.L.D, Avengers, Future Foundation, Heroes for Hire, and many more. As an attorney, she has also represented many members of those particular groups and sometimes even prosecuted them. She is tasked by her father-in-law, one J. Jonah Jameson, to sue Peter Parker for fraud in Civil War. She has defended Morbius, Speedball, and in the upcoming show, will defend Abomination.
Like Deadpool, the character also has an awareness of the general audience. Much like Deadpool is famous for breaking the fourth wall, Jennifer is given this ‘ability’ as well. She uses it in much the same way as Deadpool as well: for comedic effect and running gags. Much like with the origin change, however, Marvel has already said the fourth wall breaks in the series will not always be for comedic effect.
It should be interesting to see where Marvel decides to take Jennifer and by extension, She-Hulk. She truly has touched a lot of storylines in her career as a hero and has been able to fight with and against the best of them. With two new Avengers films upcoming in 2025, Marvel has the time to flesh the character out and put her in a position to succeed, or at least fully tell her version of the story for the audience to know the information they need to know going into the next ensemble films. Her journey starts streaming on Disney + on August 17th.
