The next project under Marvel Studios has finally arrived with She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. The Disney+ series sees the introduction of Jennifer Walters, aka the titular green character, to the MCU. While many people may not be familiar with the character, that’s quickly going to change.
But, besides meeting Jen, what exactly will the show do for the MCU? After all, it seems the character will simply continue her career as a lawyer, with any superhero-ing coming second. Many might feel that this isn’t the most interesting of set-ups when it comes to the character’s future and what she has to offer for Marvel Studios’ big plan.
Now, the project’s director, Kat Coiro, has commented on how the first episode is already setting up future plot points in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Future That She-Hulk Makes Possible
In an interview with Cinema Blend, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law director Kat Coiro commented on how the first episode of the series not only sets up the rest of the show but also lends itself to upcoming Marvel Studios projects as well.
While her quote is brief, she confirmed that the large spaceship seen briefly in the opener is “tied into the narrative of our series, but it also lends itself to future projects."
In a separate interview with Gizmodo, the show's head writer Jessica Gao commented on why the show settled on the car crash and a large mysterious spaceship as the catalyst for Jennifer's origin instead of a mob hit, which was the reason for her change in the comics.
She revealed how "the head honchos at Marvel specifically didn't want it to be a mob hit," and that "it just didn't seem right and true to [Bruce Banner]" to have him willingly give his cousin a blood transfusion that would give her the powers he's considered to be a curse for over a decade now:
“Well, there are several factors. First, the head honchos at Marvel specifically didn’t want it to be the mob hit... it just didn’t feel like it fit with everything. But for me, having watched this Bruce Banner, this Hulk, through all the years and all the different MCU movies, it just felt like we saw him be really tortured by this. This was not a gift. He really saw it as a curse. It forced him to not have any relationships. He spent several years, like really, really tortured by it and not viewing it as a good thing. And it took him that long to get to a place where he can just accept it and learn to live with it. So to me, it didn’t make sense for that guy to then willingly give this curse to somebody that he cares about. His cousin, who he really loves. It just didn’t seem right and true to the character and it didn’t make sense to me. So I didn’t want to do that.”
Goa continued, noting that they "just needed to be able to start the origin story very quickly," and that shifting away from the mob hit had several benefits, including "[taking] a lot of the pressure off of the guild that Bruce would feel having given [his p[powers] to Jennifer:"
“From a practical angle, we just needed to be able to start the origin story very quickly... I didn’t want to have to spend half an hour setting something up...If you do a mob hit, it’s like, ‘Well, then why? What happened?’ Let’s just get to the meat of everything. And also the nature of making it an accident takes a lot of the pressure off of the guilt that Bruce would feel having given this to Jennifer because, in the show, we really see how she struggles with it and how she also, like him, doesn’t really view it as a gift at first. So I think that would really change their dynamic if he was completely responsible and that he made the choice for her.”
Is She-Hulk Instrumental to the MCU’s Future?
While the majority of She-Hulk may end up being a courtroom comedy, the spaceship’s arrival proves that the writers have a destination in mind for where the character is going. This all makes even more sense considering all of the rumors regarding a World War Hulk movie.
On top of that, Jennifer Walters has been a prominent member of the Avengers throughout comic history. While she may be focusing on the law right now, there’s no future timeline where she doesn’t eventually end up with the iconic group and becomes more involved in those universe-shaping events; yes, Avengers: Secret Wars would be one of those It’s all really just a matter of how she gets there, not if.
It’s hard to imagine that big Sakaaran ship not being there for something really important. But what could it be? Well, odds are it’s about Bruce’s son, Skaar—who has never been mentioned up to this point.
Bruce also seems pretty terrified of her Hulk blood getting out into the world, which would be an easy plot point to hit upon again as the streaming show progresses. That sure seems like the perfect gateway into a large-scale Hulk event.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is now available to watch on Disney+.
