Marvel Explained: Law & Order & Smash – The Sensational She-Hulk Breakdown
This 4th-wall-breaking lady of smash wins superhuman legal cases on the daily. Here’s everything you need to know about She-Hulk.
What’s big, green, and knows case law like the back of her hand? It’s Jennifer Walters, Marvel’s She-Hulk. Created after the success of the 1977 Hulk television series, this mild-mannered lawyer has fought with the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and other iconic Marvel teams. And with Shulkie getting her own TV series, we’re ready for smash! Before this show premieres, here’s everything you need to know about the lady in green.
Created by: Stan Lee & John Buscema
First appearance: Savage She-Hulk #1
Who is She-Hulk?
Jennifer Walters and her cousin Bruce Banner were really close growing up. They were both whip-smart and really loved to read. When she was young, her mother died in a car accident. Jen focused her attention on her studies, eventually earning a place at Harvard and later UCLA, where she received her law degree.
Transforming into She-Hulk
As a lawyer in L.A., Jen took on some high-profile cases. She was serving as the defense attorney when mobsters shot her and killed her father. Fortunately, she was with her cousin Bruce at the time. Refusing to allow her to die, Bruce gave her a life-saving blood transfusion.
Pumped full of gamma-irradiated blood and overwhelmed with emotion over the loss of her father, Jen transformed. She wasn’t as strong as her cousin, but she was able to maintain her intelligence and had more control over her transformations.
Breaking the 4th Wall
Jen can smash just about anything – including the 4th wall. In her second 1980s comic book run, She-Hulk becomes one of the first characters to speak directly to the audience. Or sometimes she called out the writers and artists creating her. In fact, some of her most memorable moments show that she knows quite a bit about the comic book industry.
She-Hulk, Attorney at Law
Over the years, Jen has been an active member of the Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D., A-Force, Heroes for Hire, the Fantastic Four, and Howard the Duck’s Fearsome Four. Whew! She was with the Avengers during the first Secret War event, which was the first time she fought her nemesis, Titania, a woman who gained super strength thanks to Doctor Doom.
But some of her most exciting storylines have come from her prowess as a lawyer rather than a punchy-guy. After the Scarlet Witch‘s breakdown in House of M transformed her without control of herself, and she killed the Vision and Hawkeye. After coming back to her senses, Jen quit the Avengers and focused on law for a while. As superhuman affairs became more complex, she took on several cases for heroes like Starfox and Captain America. She even sued J. Jonah Jameson once, and who hasn’t wanted to do that?!
During the first Civil War event, she supported the Superhuman Registration Act. She also served as defense lawyer for Speedball, the only hero to survive the massive disaster that inspired the legislation.
Learning to Love Jennifer Walters
Soon after she got the hang of her new Hulk persona, Jen preferred to stay in her She-Hulk form all the time. After all, her form not only made her big and strong, but gave her confidence. I mean, she basically looked like a big, green supermodel. But as Jen has grown over the years, she’s come to appreciate her qualities as Jennifer Walters, too.
In stories like Single Green Female, Jen’s good-timing attitude and busy sex life are in full swing. She even gets kicked out of Avenger’s Mansion. You know what they say, “haters gonna hate”. Regardless, She-Hulk’s comic book reputation is one of sex positivity, which we love.
All the Hulks!
Jennifer Walters has always been incredibly close with her cousin Bruce, and she’s a central figure in several Hulk-related storylines. At one point, some of the more megalomaniacal Avengers (Tony Stark and Reed Richards, did you need to ask?) shot the Hulk out into space, Jen confronted Tony about his jerk-wad choices. Making another jerk-wad choice, he injected her with a formula that took her powers away. You can’t trust anybody. After a battle to try and subdue her understandably angry cousin and some alternate dimension hi-jinx, she got her powers back.
She eventually won the friendship of the Red She-Hulk, plus an alternate-reality daughter of Bruce Banner and Titania called Lyra.
Jennifer Walters in the MCU
This summer, we’ll see Jennifer Walters join the MCU. With the help of her cousin Bruce, once again, she’ll navigate her emotions and insecurities as she Shulks out in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. It’ll be exciting to see how she folds into the MCU since her comic book character is so intertwined with other teams and storylines.
