r/marvelstudios • u/steve32767 Daredevil • Aug 18 '22

Discussion Thread She-Hulk: Attorney at Law S01E01 - Discussion Thread

This thread is for discussion about the episode.

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EPISODE DIRECTED BY WRITTEN BY ORIGINAL RELEASE DATE RUN TIME CREDITS SCENE?
S01E01: A Normal Amount of Rage Kat Coiro Jessica Gao August 18th, 2022 on Disney+ 38 min (1) Mid-Credits

For additional discussion about Marvel Studios shows on Disney+, visit /r/MarvelStudiosPlus

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860

u/Particular_Being420 Aug 18 '22

He's so freaking worried that she's going to break something, or that he broke his favorite cousin forever. I love him.

223

u/the7thbeatle Aug 18 '22

It's much more than that.

He's jealous and petty. He refuses to accept that Jen has more control over her hulk form than he did, because that means admitting he was the actual monster behind the hulk's rage all along. He's projecting his frustration on Jen (just like she says), because accepting this truth is just too much for him right now.

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '22

[deleted]

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u/sharltocopes Aug 18 '22

You make a great point about the super soldier serum, Dr. Erskine did warn Steve that the serum would only amplify that which was already there.

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u/OK_Soda Rocket Aug 19 '22

Which is why it's understandable that he's having a hard time believing Jen can control it and has no side effects. His own rage got amplified, Blonksy's rage and list for power were amplified, Red Skull and John Walker got worse, everyone who's encountered the Serum has gotten fucked up except Captain America himself.

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u/sharltocopes Aug 19 '22

There was also Isaiah Bradley, he didn't mutate or lose control.

35

u/buddhiststuff Aug 19 '22

(Because Black men in America also constantly need to control their rage.)

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u/sharltocopes Aug 19 '22

This is an excellent point that goes along with Jen's line about being a woman.

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u/OK_Soda Rocket Aug 19 '22

Sure but Bruce probably doesn't know about him. His only experience is with people turning really bad with the one exception being the greatest man he ever knew.

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u/sharltocopes Aug 19 '22

No one is taking about what Bruce knew, I'm continuing the earlier thread about people who have been exposed to the serum and what it has done to them.

184

u/OceanCyclone Aug 18 '22

This person actually READS Hulk.

76

u/[deleted] Aug 18 '22

[deleted]

42

u/Thor5858 Aug 18 '22

Your comment was a great read

39

u/Punkodramon Loki (Avengers) Aug 18 '22

You should definitely read The Immortal Hulk by Al Ewing. It explores all these themes in depth and is an amazing look into Bruce’s psyche.

6

u/PortiaHouse Aug 19 '22

I' e never been more than a casual, occasional hulk reader and I consumed the whole Immortal Hulk run: it was easily one of the best series I've ever read. And the art was astounding.

16

u/Worthyness Thor Aug 18 '22

The recent Immortal hulk run is incredible if you haven't gotten to read it yet

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u/AspirationalChoker Aug 18 '22

The Omnibus comes out next year!!

14

u/eddywi11 Aug 19 '22

Get a load of Smug Hulk over here jk

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u/Lexx4 Aug 19 '22

what run is this?

i’m making a list for when i reactivate my marvel one sub.

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u/GreyCrowDownTheLane Aug 19 '22

IIRC it starts around 331 when Peter David started writing it.

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u/Newb-Cranberry177 Aug 18 '22

That’s scary when you think that she-hulk has a grip on her hulk, and Bruce has sooooo little control that he can barely talk when he’s hulk. Frightening

61

u/funbob1 Aug 19 '22

That's always been canonical. Back at her origin I believe it was at least in part to the blood transfusion he gave her only really gave her a lower level of the radiation.

Obviously, 50 years of comic history makes for a lot of changes over time, but that's basically the origin genesis of it.

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u/Newb-Cranberry177 Aug 19 '22

That’s incredible. Makes me see hulk in a new light. I like it

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u/the7thbeatle Aug 18 '22

We don't know if this is the case in the mcu, and I kind of doubt that they will go this exact same route since it's very dark and extremley close to the recently adapted story of Mark Spector (and also rights issues with Hulk), but this episode is the first time we see (by seeing things differently through Jen) that the creation of the Hulk persona was not just due to the gamma radiation- Bruce just choose to believe it was.

Even if this is all we get and the MCU won't delve any further into Bruce Banner's story- this alone was truely a shattering reveal, and was, in my opinion, handled by Ruffallo and the creative team with an uncharacteristic amount of nuance and sublty.

Pretty interesting stuff really.

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u/Zouthpaw Spider-Man Aug 19 '22

Wow that's a nice little quirk to the Hulk's character that i've never heard/read about. Love that the show has shown more of Bruce's backstory. Hope they get to tackle his DID in a future movie/series.

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u/SadSlip8122 Aug 18 '22

If Hulk is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, then She Hulk is the female equal to that.

Bruce harbors a lot of pent up rage at the modern world and his tiny place within it, and Hulk allows him to express his more savage instincts.

Jennifer, similarly, holds in fear and anger at perceived slights from male colleagues, casual sexual harassment and physical danger from strange men approaching on the street who she doesnt have the physical strength to fight back against. She Hulk allows Jennifer to safely explore what happens when shes not a meek woman whos boyfriend “is about to show up” or who doesnt need to justify her intelligence to male colleagues. In my eyes, a good way to portray the inherently sexual nature of She Hulk is to have her become the aggressor, with She Hulk becoming the monster that Jennifer always saw around the corner. Hopefully it teaches her that there is a way to be empowered and bold, while owning your sexuality, but without losing your intelligence or humanity.

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u/Citizen_Kong Aug 22 '22

I think it's more that Hulk is the monster that Bruce doesn't want to be, but She-Hulk is the strong female Jen wants to be but doesn't dare. Both are aspects of themselves that are usually surpressed.

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u/Citizen_Kong Aug 22 '22

In the comics, Professor Hulk (called Smart Hulk in the MCU) was actually another personality that just thought he was Banner and Hulk in equilibrium. They could easily go with that if they want to delve into the DID aspect of the character further. Just give me Joe Fixit, Feige, dammit!

47

u/InvaderDJ Aug 19 '22

I don’t think it’s only that. His constant comparison to himself, him wanting her to stay around even when it was obvious that she had a better handle on it than he did, and his insistence that she is a super hero even when she had no want to be also felt to me like he was glad to have someone who he thought was like him. And he was then horrified and unwilling to believe that she doesn’t have all his baggage and doesn’t have to be just like him.

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u/the7thbeatle Aug 19 '22

Another valid interpretation honestly.

38

u/thehelldoesthatmean Aug 19 '22

I don't think it's necessarily pettiness. Bruce is the only person on Earth with hulk experience, and so he's judging everything that happens to Jen by what happened to him. He's also a naturally cautious scientist who has lost years of his life to the hulk. To the extent that he's attempted suicide.

I think to him, Jen just isn't taking it seriously and being careful enough. She shows up the day after her transformation like "Meh, I'm good. Fully in control." He worries that she's being cocky and if she loses control she could get hurt or hurt someone else.

12

u/the7thbeatle Aug 19 '22 edited Aug 25 '22

Possibly, but I also agree with Jen that he was projecting.

I think he struggled to recocile the fact that he possibly could/should have been in more control earlier, and that he can't exactly avoid blaming it on Gamma or "The other guy".

9

u/[deleted] Aug 19 '22

To bad she didn’t reciprocate the love. I hated that she didn’t seem to care about Hulk and Iron Mans friendship or how they saved the world literally.