Okay, so we’re gonna say the first part and get it out of the way: The CGI doesn’t look great? Hopefully it’ll get a little more cleaned up before the premiere. Then again, Hulk has regularly looked pretty uncanny in the MCU, so maybe that’s asking a lot.
In case you’ve never heard that name before, She-Hulk is the human persona of Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany), an attorney in the Marvel-verse who is cousin to Bruce Banner. Why being Bruce’s cousin leads to Jennifer also having giant green monster powers is clearly something the show is keen on explaining to us, if their tests in the trailer are anything to go by. But it seems as though Jennifer’s journey to hulking out will be a little different—when Bruce tells her how he finds the green guy by triggering anger and fear within him, she counters, “Those are like the baseline of any woman just existing.”
She-Hulk will be a nine-episode half-hour series, much like 2021’s WandaVision. The tone has a more comedic vibe than many of the MCU television shows, with Jennifer’s friendships and dating woes taking up equal screentime alongside her hulk test runs.
Here’s what Disney has to say about the show:
Directed by Kat Coiro (Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9) and Anu Valia (Episodes 5, 6, 7) with Jessica Gao as head writer, “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” follows Jennifer Walters as she navigates the complicated life of a single, 30-something attorney who also happens to be a green 6-foot-7-inch superpowered hulk. The nine-episode series welcomes a host of MCU vets, including Mark Ruffalo as Smart Hulk, Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky/the Abomination, and Benedict Wong as Wong. The cast also includes Ginger Gonzaga, Josh Segarra, Jameela Jamil, Jon Bass and Renée Elise Goldsberry.
She-Hulk will premiere on Disney+ on August 17 this year.
I don’t care if the effects are done with crayons. I am all in for this one.
Always thought the Hulk one of the sillier superheroes. Looks like they are playing up the humor in this one.
I definitely do not like the implication that all women live in a constant state of fear and anger. Some sure, plenty of women in bad circumstances, but not all of us!
@1/hwmayville: I grew up watching Lou Ferrigno in green makeup, so I don’t need it to be totally convincing. Besides, these characters are literally cartoons in their home medium.
@2/Steve: The Hulk has often been successfully written as a tragic figure, notably in the classic Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno TV series. But She-Hulk has been mostly approached as a comedic character ever since John Byrne’s iconic run in the ’80s and ’90s (in which She-Hulk knew she was a comic book character and routinely broke the fourth wall) and more recently in the 2004 series written by Dan Slott and the 2014 miniseries written by Charles Soule. The premise of Jen being the face of a law firm’s superhuman law division comes directly from the Slott series.
I haven’t had any interest in this one in particular but I find the shows often surprise me! I am kind of interested in what superhuman law ends up looking like and in some ways I find that aspect of the worldbuilding more interesting than the smashing things.
Definitely hoping it doesn’t fall too much into ‘omg, hysterical woman, she must be PMSing, amirite?’ territory. (Although in delicate hands it might actually be interesting to explore how hormonal fluctuations might make one more or less suscepitble to hulking out/the ability to control it).
I suspect Jennifer’s statement about anger and fear being the baseline state for women is a concept that give her a lot more control over her Hulking out than Bruce usually has – it’s a nice callback to Avengers when he tells Captain America that his secret is that he’s always mad. I’m so happy that we have women writers and directors for this show – it seems like one of the most important ones to have a fully female perspective on. Also, thank god that Marvel has people in charge now who won’t reject an idea because it features a woman. Getting more perspectives in our entertainment is wonderful -and not just in a ‘woke’ way – it’s so refreshing to see things through other people’s eyes (Turning Red making me have some level of understanding of a tween/early teenage girl, is a fantastic example).
If we do get a lot of Mark Ruffalo, I hope the underlying toxic masculinity aspect of Hulk gets some attention – I think that’s the best reason that the MCU kept Ruffalo instead of Norton (aside from Norton reportedly being difficult), Mark Ruffalo does well in roles where he isn’t as traditionally manly as he could be, but there’s never been room in the MCU to deep dive into his rage(s). I don’t really think this is the series to explore that, but I bet they could make a great him/her comparison out of a season 2.
The CGI in the trailer looked absolutely horrendous, total low budget stuff. For that reason, I’m out.
@7 I very much want at least a name drop for Carrie-Ann Moss’ Jeri Hogarth.
We’ve had Matt Murdock & Kingpin cameos, and Hogarth, Chao & Benowitz was the first law firm to get in on the ground floor of superhero law
What is so awful about turning into a big green monster anyway? As far as I can remember Lou Ferrigno’s hulk never hurt anybody who wasn’t directly threatening him or others. I can see why David Banner would want more control but his alter ego isn’t all that bad.
The CGI was distractingly bad. I know she gets bigger as the Hulk and can’t just put green makeup on, but couldn’t they have kept her face (with green makeup) and did a CGI body?
@7/Lisamarie: “Definitely hoping it doesn’t fall too much into ‘omg, hysterical woman, she must be PMSing, amirite?’ territory.”
The thing about Shulkie is that, except in her early years and recent years, being a Hulk doesn’t make her an uncontrollable rage monster — it makes her confident, assertive, fun-loving, essentially her best self. Essentially she’s more in control as She-Hulk, less ruled by doubt and insecurity. She was permanently big and green for decades in the comics, and I think it was the Slott series that established that it was because she subconsciously didn’t want to be small, shy, mousy Jen Walters anymore. After all, Shulkie is not only physically indestructible and superstrong, but an impossibly gorgeous, admired celebrity superhero who has it all.
@9. The TV show trailers are often made before the heavy-duty CGI has been rendered. At least give it a try.
After the heaviness of recent Marvel TV shows, I’m sure lots of people will enjoy a bit of light silliness. Plus Tatiana Maslany and Wong!
@6 I’m kinda down with the Lou Ferrigno look.
I’m not sure I’m vibing with the rest of the trailer though. Maybe I’m just used to portrayals of She Hulk as an established character.
@11/roxana: “What is so awful about turning into a big green monster anyway? As far as I can remember Lou Ferrigno’s hulk never hurt anybody who wasn’t directly threatening him or others. I can see why David Banner would want more control but his alter ego isn’t all that bad.”
But David didn’t know that, since he wasn’t conscious for the Hulk’s rampages. He lived in constant fear that the Hulk would run out of control and kill someone, even accidentally because he didn’t know his own strength. Not to mention that he could never settle in one place or trust himself to really get close to anyone. Even a nightmare could trigger a Hulk-out, which would not be safe for a woman sleeping next to him if the Hulk wasn’t awake enough to realize she was there. Basically, it was only thanks to network censorship that the Hulk never killed anyone by accident.
In the comics, at least the classic era, the Hulk’s life sucks because he’s constantly being hunted by the military. “Hulk just want to be left alone,” but General Ross wouldn’t let him. Not to mention the supervillains who hunt the Hulk because they want to claim his power for their own, prove themselves stronger than him, etc.
More fundamentally, becoming the Hulk means losing Banner’s intelligence or even his identity. It’s hardly desirable to black out and have no awareness of yourself, especially if an alternate personality takes over your body (which is how the Hulk was reinterpreted in the comics starting in the ’80s or so, as an outward manifestation of Bruce Banner’s dissociative identity disorder).
I hope they can capture the sheer fun of the She Hulk comics. The character is at her best when the writers let her revel in her powers, and not view them as a curse. If Hulk powers were lemons, Bruce would be moaning about them, while Jen would be sipping at her refreshing drink.
Tatiana Maslany, Tim Roth AND Wong! Plus professor Hulk obviously. I’m in!
I was always a huge She-Hulk fan. After the initial problems early days she blossomed into a really fun, fun loving character without a lot of the angst that went along with supes of the time. I hope they lean into that in the show.
As for the CGI, it’s been reported that the show has been delayed from it’s initial release date to fix some of the worst problems. We are spoiled to be honest, CGI is much better than it was, but it also shows how time consuming and expensive it is. I can live with a bit of uncanny valley as long as the script and acting are good.
Thank you Disney, I’m so grateful they are dipping into characters only fans know. Done right even the most obscure ones become household names. Someone reported that Moon Knight got half the viewers of Hawkeye. Which isn’t too much of a surprise. One was a household name, the other was a weird thing that sounded off the wall. But you know what? Moon Knight was awesome. As long as they keep making these shows and keeping up the quality they will certainly get an audience. A new Avengers roster is needed, so introducing characters this way at least helps when it comes to transitioning to new movies.
@19/Adrian Lucas: “After the initial problems early days”
Could you go into more detail about what those problems were in the early days of She-Hulk comics? I’m really only familiar with her from the Byrne Sensational She-Hulk onward. I have a vague impression that they started her out as more of an anger-triggered character like the Hulk before finding a more distinctive characterization, but I don’t know the specifics.
This trailer had my interest when Mr Tom Roth popped up with a ****-eating grin, but that boy with the bridal carry absolutely hooked me; I’ve only read bits & pieces of She-hulk, but that reminded me of some favourite moments from those comics.
@11. princessroxana: Mr Bennett does an excellent job of explaining why turning into The Hulk is more alarming than empowering for poor old Doctor Banner, but it bears emphasising that (especially in the original comics) turning into a Big Green Rage Monster severely exacerbated Banners existing mental health issues to the point where the Doc develops something like multiple personality disorder (with various personas like “Mr Fixit” cropping up to take The Hulk for a spin, often at unpredictable intervals).
Ahh, a female lead whose main concern will be what kind of relationship she can have. How original no matter what kind of CGI you put around it.
I had been dreading this and clicked on the E-mail from Marvel with considerable trepidation. Ugh. I like Ruffalo, enjoyed the comics, and love Maslany, but if the CGI is that rough in the final product I would literally be less distracted by a sock puppet.
While the meta stuff in Sensational She-Hulk was fun and Slott did some good stuff, Byrne had already explored the character’s struggle with preferring to be Shulkie 24/7 in Fantastic Four; I haven’t read the original Savage She-Hulk issues much if at all since buying a few off the racks when they were first published.
Sigh. I might have to literally squint while viewing for the CGI to be watchable.
Not to belabor the CGI point, but I just read an article that put a finger on what was really bothering me about the CGI (besides it looking like a video game cutscene interposed on live action). She-Hulk looks nothing like Tatiana Maslany. You can definitely see Mark Ruffalo’s face in the Hulk CGI, but I can’t recognize Tatiana Maslany in She-Hulk’s face.
@25/Austin: “I can’t recognize Tatiana Maslany in She-Hulk’s face.”
I can. The shape of the face has been adjusted to be more “perfect,” but I can still recognize her eyes and mouth.
Besides, the part that matters in performance capture is, well, the performance, even when the face is radically altered (e.g. turning Andy Serkis into a chimpanzee).