Bruce Banner will be getting some company in the mean green department thanks to Marvel’s planned She-Hulk comedy series, coming to Disney+. While She-Hulk has been around for nearly 40 years, she’s not as well-known as the Hulk, who’s had his own movies, TV series, and of course a major role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in which he’s portrayed by Mark Ruffalo. But She-Hulk packs a punch of her own, and in recent years, she’s had a bit of a comic book renaissance.
Marvel boss Kevin Feige confirmed She-Hulk casting details and offered a few hints about the new show’s plot during a Disney investors meeting presentation in December 2020.
Here’s everything you need to know about the character and the show.
Who is She-Hulk? The version we’re talking about here is Jennifer Walters, an extremely intelligent lawyer who gives legal aid to various Marvel superheroes. She was created by Stan Lee and artist John Buscema, making her debut in Savage She-Hulk #1 in 1980. In that regard, the show will hew closely to the comics; in December 2020, Disney+ released a She-Hulk synopsis describing Jennifer Walters as “a lawyer who specializes in superhuman-oriented legal cases.”
While details about She-Hulk’s backstory in the new series have yet to be revealed, the comics may give us a hint about how Jennifer gets her Hulk powers. In the comics, Jen gets shot by some henchman for a crime boss who has it out for her dad, the sheriff. She needs an emergency blood transfusion, and it just so happens that the only available donor with the right blood type is her cousin… Bruce Banner. Her brand new gamma ray-infused blood lets her Hulk out, green skin and all. Like her cousin, She-Hulk is super strong, super fast, super green, and heals very quickly. Unlike Bruce in the earlier MCU films, Jen retains her intelligence and emotional control when she transforms into She-Hulk, instead of turning into a giant, green, dangerous baby-monster. In more recent comics, Jen transforms permanently instead of switching back and forth.
She-Hulk’s casting is perfect. During the Disney investors meeting in December 2020, Marvel Boss Kevin Feige announced that Emmy-winning actress Tatiana Maslany will be playing Jennifer Walters in the show, confirming the casting rumors that have been circulating since September. Maslany is a fan-favorite actress thanks to her stunning performance in BBC America’s Orphan Black, which saw her playing 14 wildly different clones over the course of the series. More recently, she starred opposite Matthew Rhys in the first season of HBO’s Perry Mason reboot.
Mark Ruffalo will appear as Bruce Banner in She-Hulk. Feige announced in December 2020 that Mark Ruffalo will be appearing in the Disney+ series as Bruce Banner, aka The Hulk.
An OG villain is coming back. Tim Roth will be reprising his role as The Abomination, the villain he played in the second MCU film ever: 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. That movie starred Edward Norton as the eponymous hero; Ruffalo took over the role in The Avengers.
Expect to see many of your MCU favorites. In a series synopsis released in December 2020, Disney wrote that She-Hulk “will welcome a host of Marvel characters to the series.” That’s not surprising given that Tom Hiddleston will star in the Loki series, Jeremy Renner will return for Hawkeye, and plenty more MCU stars are appearing in Marvel’s Disney+ shows.
It won’t premiere in 2021. A release date has not been announced, but given everything else on Marvel’s Disney+ lineup, She-Hulk likely won’t release until 2022, after The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, WandaVision, Hawkeye, and Ms. Marvel.
She-Hulk is being led by a female power team. Jessica Gao, who won an Emmy for writing the Rick and Morty episode “Pickle Rick,” is the head writer on the series. Her other credits include Silicon Valley and Robot Chicken. Kat Coiro (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Mick) and Anu Valia (Never Have I Ever) are directing.
