When She-Hulk first started, its lead character, Jennifer Walters, was so sure this Hulk thing was easy. She had just started out, yet she was basically a natural at everything her cousin, Bruce Banner, was trying to teach her. Well, now that mindset has caught up with her.
In the final moments of the show's Daredevil-featured eighth episode, Intelligencia ended up crashing her big Lawyer Gala Awards Event by trying to shame She-Hulk in front of everyone she knows. Needless to say, she gets angry—very angry.
One can't really blame her. What those children were doing is awful through and through; she had every right to get upset. But, with her being a Hulk, that can lead to some bad consequences for those around her.
Well, now the star of the series, alongside its directors, has sat down and explained how Jen's happy Matt Murdock ending got spoiled by the stalker group.
Tatiana Maslany Explains That Cliffhanger
In an interview with Marvel.com, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law star Tatiana Maslany and directors Kat Coiro and Ana Valia discussed the shocking final events of episode 8 following Daredevil's special guest appearance.
Corio explained how they took "very relatable experiences" and put them on a character who is "able to defend herself" in ways women usually are unable to:
“She is a woman who walks through the world and has experienced things that every woman has experienced... we just took these very relatable experiences that women have and put them on to this character who is able to defend herself and doesn't have to be polite if she doesn't want to because she has brawn that most women don't have. It really felt like an organic part of the process. As we introduce her to the MCU, we introduce a fully-formed female character who has experiences that we can all relate to.”
Anu Valia, the director of episodes 5, 6, and 7, added how she believes that "female rage is very deeply explored on the show:"
“The rage of just feeling that people can take your power from you, that you have no agency when you deserve so much more, that's definitely— female rage is very deeply explored on the show... you would think that when she becomes Hulk she really lashes out, but when she’s just Jen, she knows what it feels like to have power, and now [she] doesn’t have it. I think that was a really smart decision to be able to play with that.”
Maslany then added how initially she's able to deal with becoming her bigger, greener self "because she's spent her entire life being angry or afraid," which helped make the transition easier:
“Initially, she's sort of confidently able to deal with [becoming She-Hulk] because she's spent her entire life being angry or afraid, so that transition into She-Hulk is effortless,” Star Tatiana Maslany continues. “It doesn't have a bunch of torture in it. It doesn't have a bunch of violence in it. It's clean because that's how she's learned to deal with her emotions.”
Even though she did last out in rage by the end of the Gala, Maslany reminded that her anger at that moment is "massively justified:"
“I always wanted to remind all of us that this moment where she is so angry is massively justified. It's only because of the outward perception of that anger and how it looks from the outside that it looks monstrous. Of course, she'd want to go after this guy who just publicly humiliated her. Of course.”
Coiro hopped back in, talking about how they were "always being conscious of what the main themes [were]:"
“Within our own show, we were kind of exploring ideas that we knew would loop back around and that was tied to the meta-nature of the show,” Coiro reflects. “It was always being conscious of what the main themes are. It's about a reluctant Super Hero who has to come to terms with the duality in her nature and how you can retain your sense of self but you have to question what ‘self’ means when you're perceived so differently by the outside world.”
Maslany pointed out how she loved how the series built toward this "deeply intense and moving" endgame within a series of comedic stories and goofy moments:
“To feel like you could have control over how people perceive you, I think that's true... Jen thinks that she can be in control of this thing that is ultimately way outside of her control. I just knew that we were weaving a story within highly comedic, goofy moments that was leading to something deeply intense and moving and political and all of it.”
Let the Anger Flow
Audiences knew it was only a matter of time before Jen came at odds with the anger that comes with being a Hulk. After all, lack of control does tend to be a Hulk's Achilles heel.
Even if her rage is justifiable, there's no denying it can end up hurting those around her—something that nearly happened when she ripped the screen apart on stage. So she might need to pick her cousin's brain just a little more.
However, despite anger being a very dangerous emotion for a Hulk, it can also be their greatest weapon. Given the confidence Jennifer Walters exuded in that opening episode, if she can channel the anger she claims to feel constantly, then she could be quite powerful.
Though, if she's not careful enough, she'll become the savage She-Hulk before she knows it and loses all control—putting her more in line with her cousin's former rage monster.
After all, there is potentially a World War Hulk film brewing.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is now streaming on Disney+.
