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She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (Initial Thoughts)


As Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) draws to a close, the cinematic juggernaut's latest Disney+ outing has arrived with She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (henceforth referred to as She-Hulk). Marketed as a superhero lawyer comedy, this 9-episode series follows Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany), a lawyer who just wants to work hard at her job. Oh yeah, she also happens to be the cousin of Bruce Banner aka Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). Taking place sometime after Avengers: Endgame, Jen's mundane life is gets turned completely upside down after an accidental gamma-irradiated blood transfusion from her cousin gives her the ability to turn into a Hulk as well. Jen now has to learn to juggle her superhuman side with her everyday job as a lawyer so without further ado, let's see what goes on in the first episode.

INITIAL THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS (SPOILER ALERT)

She-Hulk's first episode is a short and sweet one, clocking in at only around half an hour. We get introduced to our titular heroine in Jennifer Walters, a lawyer trying her best to succeed and within the first 5 minutes, the tone of the series is set with a clear comedic direction at the forefront. Majority of the episode is occupied by a flashback sequence to a few months before the series' "present day", where we see Jen and Bruce on a road trip. Their peaceful drive is unfortunately interrupted by a Sakaaran spaceship, with the cousins' car swerving off the road and crashing down a hill. While Jen manages to pull Bruce out of the wreckage, some of his gamma-irradiated blood unfortunately finds its way into an open wound and she instantly Hulks out. When Bruce finally finds his cousin and brings her to his gamma lab in Mexico, he reveals to her that they share a genetic anomaly that allows them to synthesise gamma radiation and turn into a Hulk. Moreover, Jen's genetic makeup goes a step further, as Bruce is able to use her blood to heal his injured arm (recall the Blip from Avengers: Endgame). 

The ex-Avenger attempts to educate and train Jen in everything that being a Hulk entails, including learning how to control her emotions, and strength and balance training. Our titular heroine is a natural though, as she has the ability to transform to Hulk form and back at will, and maintains her intelligence even in Hulk form, something her cousin couldn't do for a long time. While Bruce tries to get her to stay at the lab until she fully masters her newfound abilities, Jen chooses to go back to her life as a lawyer in America, with her secret of being a Hulk known only to her family and her best friend Nikki Ramos (Ginger Gonzaga). Although Jen thinks everything's going to be fine, her cousin's words ring true as trouble finds its way to her shortly afterwards when supervillain Titania (Jameela Jamil) crashes into a hearing that our heroine is part of. Making the decision to protect the innocent, Jen ditches her secret identity and Hulks out, saving those in the court and defeating Titania. 

This series marks our first look at She-Hulk in the MCU and I think it has huge potential. I'm quite curious to see how they develop her character from here. The first episode has clearly demonstrated that comedy will be a big focus and so far, I find it to be executed quite well. Maslany and Ruffalo play off each other very well in their portrayal as cousins, and their interactions were really fun to watch so hopefully we can get more of that in later episodes. I also like the inclusion of Jen's fourth-wall breaking, a standard trait of the character since her earliest days. It really adds to the comedy and I can't wait to see more of it in future. I foresee this series to be really entertaining and with lots of possible character cameos as the series progresses, I hope you'll join me as we follow Jennifer Walters on her journey as She-Hulk.

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