She-Hulk: Attorney at Law just dropped Episode 5 on Disney+, titled "Mean, Green, and Straight Poured into These Jeans." The newest installment in the series largely delivered more of what it promised to bring fans: a fun lawyer show about the MCU's new green queen.
The show's last installment ended with Jennifer Walters being served a subpoena for misusing a trademark. The subpoena is from Titania, and the trademark she's being sued for using is the title of the streaming series: She-Hulk.
With that in mind, many fans were going into Episode 5 expecting to see how Jen would get the rights back to her own super-name; however, what audiences likely weren't expecting to see this week was Titania throwing one of the best disses in Marvel's history at She-Hulk, which also confirmed that everyone's favorite swamp-dwelling ogre exists in the MCU.
She-Hulk Confirms Shrek Exists in the MCU
Warning - The rest of this article contains spoilers for Episode 5 of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
During the fifth episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Titania takes Jennifer Walters to court over the misuse of her new trademark on the "She-Hulk" name, which she's now using to pedal shammy beauty products.
Because of this, Jennifer and her in-house attorney Amelia have to build the case that Jen is naturally She-Hulk, which leads to her calling her Matcher dates to the stand to testify that they dated her when she was Shulkie.
Due to the nature of the courtroom case, Jen once again has to go to court as the Hulkess, appearing in her oversized lawyer getup. When Titania sees Jen enter as the Gamma Gal, she shouts, "Nice suit, Shrek!"
Marvel Makes She-Hulk Even More Meta
This isn't the first time the MCU's She-Hulk has been compared to the beloved ogres of the Shrek franchise; certain VFX teams claimed during She-Hulk's marketing campaign that there were instances when the rendering for Shulkie actually looked like the layered green giant.
With that in mind, this marks yet another instance of how meta She-Hulk has become, capturing how the show is received by fans and haters alike and baking their perception right into the half-hour legal comedy.
Despite how much everyone loves Shrek these days, he was largely known in his own movies as a disgusting, terrifying creature that should be avoided at all costs. And while that doesn't seem to be the case with Jennifer Walters when she's in Hulk form, this does provide another emotional layer for the character since the "mean girl" in the story is openly bullying She-Hulk for her green form and "limited" wardrobe.
However, She-Hulk hasn't exactly been giving off "grab-your-torch-and-pitchforks" vibes through her first five episodes. The difference here is that Jen finds more confidence as She-Hulk than she does in her normal human form, which is the opposite of the beloved plot of Shrek 2 when Shrek and Fiona both ultimately chose to be "ugly 24/7" if it meant spending forever together.
So fans will have to see if Jen takes offense when being compared to Shrek or if she'll own that nickname, too. With how much flack she's been catching from her friends lately, maybe Jen will even change Nikki's name on her phone to "Donkey."
Come to think of it, Titania does have a certain Lord Farquaad energy about her. Marvel Studios' take on Titania's antagonistic behavior is far less physical than it's been in the comics, instead taking a much more modern approach depicting a social media influencer who bullies those she's threatened by.
Hopefully, it'll all be champagne wishes and caviar dreams from now on, but it will be interesting to see what Titania tries next, since fighting Jen in her own arena didn't pan out the way she had hoped.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law's fifth episode is now streaming on Disney+.
