I'd call the way her family treats her stereotypical if there weren't so many shades of truth to that experience for so many, particularly the unsolicited suggestions on how she might change her appearance. For all that Jen is extremely qualified and good at what she does, she is prized for the optics of hiring her, in the case of GLK&H, or has her skills attributed to the men in her family, in the case of coworker Dennis ( Drew Matthews) or even her name "She-Hulk" deriving from Bruce's Hulk. Director Kat Coiro and writer/showrunner Jessica Gao once again continue their explanation of what it can feel like being a woman - particularly an unmarried woman in her 30s -in this day and age. Poor Jen Walters has her work cut out for her.Īlthough this episode really ramped things up in terms of the larger superhero lore of the show, I was impressed how much personal character stuff they still managed to fit in the relatively short run time. Come for the veiled Edward Norton reference, stay for Maslany looking right into the camera and uttering a single dry "ha." Mere seconds after accepting the assignment, Jen turns on the news to see footage of Blonsky, despite his insistence that he just wants to live an honest life, having broken out of prison and taken off to Macau, where he was spotted participating in an illegal fighting ring, lining up the events of She-Hulk with those of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. After all, Bruce tells her, that's all in the past and anyway, he's literally a completely different person. She never had the agency to make that decision for herself.Ī quick phone call with Bruce eases her concerns about representing Blonsky. If she is skeptical about what it means to be a traditional superhero, it's because she never really had the chance to consider how enhanced abilities would change her life. It wasn't a necessary blood transfusion to save her life, it was purely an accident. Most of the other Avengers got their powers as an unintended side effect of something they agreed to, but the undercurrent of tragedy in Jen's story is that her life was changed purely because she did the right thing and pulled an injured family member out of a car wreck.
Naturally, she is skeptical and snarky about the whole thing. It's never something she would have chosen for herself. She has lived over 30 years with wants and aspirations of her own and has had the mantle of hero thrust on her in a way she does not want. Of course she thinks being able to do what Carol Danvers ( Brie Larson) does is the coolest thing ever. And that makes sense, Kamala ( Iman Vellani) is young.
PRISON BREAK SEASON 1 EPISODE 2 SERIES
Marvel, in that series being a superhero in the traditional flashy power sense was something to be aspired to. Perhaps it's the meta nature of this series, but I'm really enjoying the commentary on the nature of superheroes in this world. She tells Nikki she is still very resistant to the idea of being an Avengers-style superhero, unwilling to put her career and aspirations behind her as she is neither a billionaire nor a narcissist - which does beg the question, does she consider Bruce ( Mark Ruffalo) a narcissist, since he's no billionaire?
Much as she hates the nickname, Jen obliges and transforms. She and Nikki ( Ginger Gonzaga) head to a post-trial celebration at a bar packed with lawyers, all of whom want to see the "She-Hulk" who tore apart the courtroom. What is it they say? The best-laid plans of Hulks and attorneys often go awry? OK, maybe that's not quite right, but that is certainly where we find ourselves at the start of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Episode 2, "Superhuman Law." After hulking out to stop "superpowered influencer" Titania ( Jameela Jamil) from crushing the jury during an important trial, Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walters ( Tatiana Maslany) is thrust headfirst into the superhero life, whether she likes it or not.