She-Hulk: Attorney at Law appears to be bringing a different kind of storytelling to Disney+ as the MCU's first legal comedy introduces Tatiana Maslany's Jennifer Walters. Even with all the fourth wall breaking and hilarity the series is expected to deliver, every hero needs a villain, and She-Hulk looks to go up against a few.
On top of Tim Roth returning as Abomination, The Good Place's Jameela Jamil will play the series' main antagonist in the Kardashian-inspired influencer Titania. They won't be She-Hulk's only antagonists as the Wrecking Crew, a group of Avengers villains, make their MCU debut, along with the strange Porcupine.
Even with all these threats scattered throughout the series, Titania appears to be at the center of things, but her motivations remain unclear.
Just a few weeks out from the Disney+ premiere, the actress behind Titania explained why her MCU villain is so annoying.
She-Hulk Actress Opens Up on MCU Villain
During a recent interview with Screen Rant, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law's Titania actress Jameela Jamil discussed her MCU villain and promised she will be "the most annoying of them."
On top of being able to "annoy you to death," Jamil also described Titania as being "very glamorous" and "completely unselfconscious:"
“Titania stands out because I think she’s the most annoying of them, actually. I think she almost doesn’t need to use her strength; she could just annoy you to death. And I think that is a superpower that we haven’t really utilized enough. She’s also very glamorous. I like the fact that she’s a bit curvy, and I like the fact that she’s completely unselfconscious. She’s completely unselfconscious and so, so weird. We’ll see.”
The original casting call for the She-Hulk villain called for "a glamorous social media influencer, Kardashian-esque with a dark side."
Later speaking with Entertainment Tonight Canada, Jamil explained why "being a woman is a bit like being Batman" before going on to say how she embodies that feeling in Titania:
“I mean, some people online think I am a villain. Being a woman is a bit like being Batman… ‘Die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain.’ I feel like that about… that all women feel that way. That we’re only given so long before we’re just demonized and so it’s nice to just come straight out the gate as a bad person. And it was really fun to play this character because when you see it, you’ll see that she embodies the antithesis of everything like that I stand for. And all these things that I fight against, I get to play and embody in her.”
In another interview with E! News, Jamil revealed she "did 90% of [her] own stunts," discussing how the show has changed her life:
“I got to learn how to use my body in this whole new way, because I’ve always been so gangly, and pathetic, and Mr. Bean-esque. And for the first time, they made me feel strong and powerful. And I did 90% of my own stunts. I don’t know how much of it actually made it into the show, because notoriously with Marvel, there’s only so much that they can actually bring within the context of the whole thing. But I transformed and the way that I stand has changed, and my confidence has changed, and the way that I feel about my body…"
The Good Place actress went on to open up about how she has been recovering from an eating disorder for some time and has now "actually cracked it, because of playing Titania:"
"I’ve been working on eating disorder recovery my whole life and I feel like, for the first time ever, I might have actually cracked it, because of playing Titania, where I want to be big. I want to be strong. That’s her whole thing. And she sees it as beautiful and powerful. And we’ve been taught for so long not to take up any space. And I feel like she wants to take up as much space in a room as she possibly can. And I think that’s really inspiring and a much-needed message and may I hold on to that feeling in an industry that always encourages the opposite.”
Why Is She-Hulk's Titania So Annoying?
Who knows exactly what will make Titania so annoying, but the promises of her being an online influencer with Kardashian inspiration may suggest she is someone driven by fame. So, whenever she eventually gains superpowers that allow her to break down walls and go toe-to-toe with She-Hulk, she will undoubtedly only be using those powers to further her celebrity goals.
There's no telling for now whether Jameela Jamil and her villain may have a future in the MCU, but perhaps she may be back in the rumored World War Hulk movie. Hopefully, She-Hulk doesn't go so far with Titania's annoying nature that fans end up disliking her as a character but rather becomes somebody audiences love to hate.
Marvel Studios' one-off villains have famously proven controversial as many find them to be bland, uninteresting, and throwaway characters. Phase 4 has taken strong strides to fix that with Scarlet Witch, Gorr, Kang, Agatha, and Spider-Man's five Multiverse-hopping villains. But that's not to say there haven't been some duds like Taskmaster, the Flag Smashers, and the Clandestines.
Kathryn Hahn's WandaVision threat even proved so popular she earned her own Disney+ spin-off, Agatha: Coven of Chaos. There's no telling whether Marvel Studios is willing to apply this principle to more villains moving forward, but Agatha, Loki, and Thunderbolts are all good signs there may be more focus placed on these antagonists down the line. Maybe Titania will even be next.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law will premiere on Disney+ on Wednesday, August 17.
