Disney + | Marvel Studios
Marvel’s newest show, She-Hulk, offers fans a first look at how a humorous, half-hour format will fit a Marvel series. Jennifer Walters, Bruce Banner’s cousin, is a brilliant lawyer who wants to advance her career and win cases. However, an accident leads to her becoming infected by the same gamma radiation that turned Bruce into the Hulk, and now she’s got a big green rage monster brewing just under the surface, too.
Or not. Unlike Bruce, Jen can control her “Hulk” at will and has complete control over when she transforms. It makes her a much better lawyer – it wouldn’t be good for her to Hulk out in the middle of a closing argument, after all. It also makes her a compelling superhero, as she avoids the dual nature that made the Hulk such a curse for Bruce earlier in his superhero career.
Before the pilot can introduce audiences to a brave new (comedic) frontier for the MCU, Jen addresses the audience and, breaking the fourth wall, offers to explain how she got her powers. We’re treated to a brief detour in which Jen and Bruce get into a car accident and she’s exposed to his gamma-irradiated blood. Since she shares some unique genetic markers with her cousin, rather than dying as a result of this gamma exposure, Jen becomes She-Hulk.
After some brief training, she proves that she’s perfectly capable of controlling her Hulk form. Bruce is jealous, but he’s happy his cousin won’t have to battle the same demons that haunted him when he first became the Hulk.
It’s refreshing to see Bruce again after his starring role in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, and it reminds us that he’s the only member of the original Avengers team that hasn’t either lost his life or settled in with family.
Jen is emphatic in her asides with the audience that this show is going to be a fun legal comedy. However, as she offers her closing argument in a case against a misbehaving corporation, a mysterious super-strong woman named Titania breaks into the courtroom and causes havoc. Jen Hulks out and goes toe-to-toe with her rival, ruining her nice suit in the process.
While it was fun to catch up with Bruce, the series will clearly focus on Jen’s adventures as a super-powered lawyer, balancing drama in the courtroom with her reluctance to become a world-saving Avenger.
