Before I go further, I want to emphasize that I’m not dissing people who don’t agree with me, and I am certainly not an expert on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I wouldn’t be able to tell you things like the names of all the Nine Realms or how many children Stan Lee has.
That being said, I do consider myself a fan of MCU because I grew up on it. I’ve been a fan ever since I was 9 and first watched the earth’s mightiest heroes save New York City from Loki and his army of Chitauri.
Which is why I absolutely hate “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law”, which can be streamed on Disney+.
The show follows Jennifer Walters, a lawyer. She somehow turns into a Hulk, which I know is pretty surprising. The CGI is pretty bad and there are occasional 4th wall breaks that I think are stupid. However, my main problem with the show is the bad writing.
There is absolutely no character development. In older Marvel movies, the characters had obstacles. Tony Stark created his Iron Man suit while being held captive in a cave in a foreign country. Captain America had to watch his best friend die, then fight him again when he became a villain. My point is, every superhero has an insane amount of baggage. That’s what makes heroes who they are, and happens when you save the world over and over. With great power comes great emotional trauma.
“She-Hulk” doesn’t really emphasize that at all and has really bad character development. The first episode is primarily about Walters learning about her powers and how to use them. Her cousin (and conveniently) the Hulk, Bruce Banner, offers her guidance in both these subjects. At the end of the episode, Walters ends up on a tangent about how hard her life is. She claims she is better than Banner because she has been catcalled and ridiculed by men for her entire life and he doesn’t know anything about emotional damage.
First of all, I can sympathize and even relate to this a little bit. As women, we’ve all had our fair share of experiences like this. It’s not OK and it is a problem in society. However, I have a problem with her little speech. Keep in mind, she’s saying this to Bruce Banner of all people. At this point in the MCU, this man has been through an insane amount of trauma. If you’re a fan of the movies, you know exactly what I mean.
Walters completely overlooks her cousin’s past and talks about how much better than him she is. There’s a lot more to it, but this scene itself is a big reason why a lot of people dislike She-Hulk. It created a very unlikeable character, especially among existing Marvel fans.
I’m also not a fan of the story. In the show, Walters is fired from her job for a dumb reason that doesn’t make any sense (the writers just needed to give her an obstacle) and forced to look for a new one. She ends up joining the legal team for the villain Abomination, who tried to kill the Hulk a while back. The writers could have easily used this to cause some drama between Walters and her cousin, Banner, but in the show, he was perfectly fine with it. He said he had moved on. Then he launched himself into space.
I know how important growing as a person is. A man launching himself into space is his own business. But this show is boring. Walters doesn’t even want to use her powers except in court, of all places. She sees them as an inconvenience and wants to continue being a lawyer. What’s the point of the show then? Am I the only one wondering that?
This is America, so you can feel however you want, but my advice is this – steer clear from Marvel and give them some time to get their act togethe,r because I was not impressed with “She-Hulk”.
Lizzie Kipp is a Hutchinson freshman studying education.
