She-Hulk: Attorney at Law has thrown the usual superhero formula out the window in favor of an episodic series of Jennifer Walters' legal comedy adventures. But there has been some sense of a greater conspiracy working in the shadows as a mysterious group endeavors to steal She-Hulk's blood.
The villainous plot was first teased in the third installment as Walters was attacked by the Wrecking Crew, who tried and failed to steal her blood for "the boss." But the mystery didn't truly come to the forefront until Episode 6 when Nikki and Mallory uncovered Intelligencia, a group promoting death threats toward She-Hulk.
Intelligencia was even revealed to be the group behind the Wrecking Crew's attempt to acquire She-Hulk's blood, with plans forming to try again. Now, She-Hulk has added a little more to its conspiracy mystery in the latest episode, setting the stage for the final moments (and possibly even for future movies Captain America: New World Order).
She-Hulk Episode 7's Intelligencia Twist Explained
WARNING - The rest of this article contains spoilers for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Episode 7, "The Retreat."
After meeting a friend of the groom, Josh, at Lulu's wedding in Episode 6, Jen spent much of Episode 7 obsessing over her newfound love. The couple is featured in a montage of their first three dates together as the episode opens, but Josh ditched her after they spent the night together and still hasn't texted her back, and Jen spent much of the latest episode waiting for a message from him that never came.
However, the ending of Episode 7 threw a twist into the mix with a flashback to the aftermath of their intimate encounter, three days before the events of the actual episode.
With Jen comfortably fast asleep, Josh placed his phone on top of hers which displayed a "copying" message as he seemingly stole her private data.
Josh then took a picture of a sleeping, naked Jen and sent it to a contact in his phone labeled "HulkKing," also typing the emoticons for a bloody needle, a green vial, and a thumbs-up.
The twist reveals Josh to be working for the HulkKing, which is the same person that messaged the person in the lab that was attempting to gain access to She-Hulk's blood in the previous episode.
In that episode, the HulkKing asked the mysterious scientist if "the next phase of the plan is ready to go," but the plan itself has still yet to be revealed to the audience.
Both the Wrecking Crew and Josh are clearly working for Intelligencia as they endeavor to steal She-Hulk's blood. After the villain group failed to acquire the sample in their attack on Jen earlier in the season, Josh was clearly sent to try this other strategy, which appears to have been successful.
Interestingly, a member of that crew, Wrecker, returned in this episode as a member of Emil Blonsky's Abomaste group. Perhaps that may indicate Abomination has ties to Intelligencia as well, so either Blonsky is also at risk, or his supposed redemption was a ploy all along.
Who is the Boss of She-Hulk's Intelligencia?
The Intelligencia conspiracy has certainly set She-Hulk on an intriguing path going into the final episodes-one that closely follows the established MCU Disney+ trope of introducing a major antagonist in the final episodes.
The chances are that HulkKing is truly at the top of the group scheming for She-Hulk's blood. So, who could be behind this conspiracy, and is their intent to make more Hulks?
Samuel Sterns/The Leader
First and foremost, Tim Blake Nelson's The Leader, who debuted in The Incredible Hulk and will return as the main villain of Captain America: New World Order, may have a stake in Intelligencia. After all, he was the one to found the group in Marvel Comics. She-Hulk has also recently been rumored to appear in Captain America 4, increasing the possibility for the projects to share a main antagonist.
The Leader, aka Samuel Sterns, already has a history with Hulk's blood in the MCU as exposure to Bruce Banner's blood in an open wound was what triggered his gamma transformation almost 15 years ago, similar to what fans saw happen to Jan Walters in She-Hulk Episode 1. Sterns was even studying samples of Bruce's blood in an effort to find a cure for Banner's condition, so his expertise here is established.
On one occasion of forming Intelligencia in Marvel Comics, The Leader even manipulated an obsessive She-Hulk fan into capturing Jennifer Walters and stealing her blood to gain gamma-infused powers. So, there's plenty of history with The Leader both in the comics and the MCU to suggest he may be involved.
Abomination
Next up comes Abomination, who appears to be redeemed, but perhaps there may be something more going on - especially after the tease of a potential rematch with Hulk on the way.
It's tough to ignore the presence of the Wrecker - who had already tried to steal She-Hulk's blood - at his retreat for super-powered people, especially after his previous mention of "the boss."
Who knows what kind of scheme Abomination could be cooking up, if his redemption was indeed revealed to be false, but there would have to be others involved. After all, whoever was behind this scheme was shown to be working in a lab, suggesting scientific expertise which Emil Blonsky does not possess.
Perhaps Abomination could even be working in cahoots with The Leader, Samuel Sterns was the one to originally give Blonsky his powers after all. Not to mention both debuted in 2008's The Incredible Hulk and are both suspiciously returning after a long absence around the same time.
It is worth nothing, though, that Abomination's inner transformation may be legit, and the Wrecking Crew could be finding a way to deceive Emil Blonsky as well.
Todd
Another contender comes with Jon Bass' Todd, She-Hulk's creepy Tinder date from earlier in the season who referred to her as a "specimen." That line of dialogue alone was suspicious enough after a group had just tried to steal Jennifer's blood.
Todd even appeared once since at GLK&H as a major client of the firm, indicating he certainly has the resources to pull off a scheme such as this. Nonetheless, much like Josh, it's tough to imagine Todd being the one running this scheme, but rather another with some stake in Intelligencia.
Jennifer's search for love has been so critical to She-Hulk, ao one can only wonder if all the dates she has been on came from Intelligencia. It would certainly be a heartbreaking twist for Jen, but also entirely possible given the latest development with Josh and the established creepiness of Todd.
Whatever the case, all will be revealed in the coming weeks as the climactic finale looms to set the stage for the future. But first, She-Hulk is expected to deliver the long-awaited Daredevil episode next Thursday, October 6, exclusively on Disney+.
The first 7 episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law are now streaming on Disney+.
