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Jennifer Walters belongs in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And if you don’t believe it, just ask Bruce Banner, Wong, and Daredevil: all important Marvel characters who got to know Jen (some better than others, in the case of Matt Murdock) in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. But for She-Hulk star Tatiana Maslany, Jen works best when people come to visit her and become part of her story.
“There’s something about She-Hulk being the star of her own show that makes sense,” Maslany said on the Bingeworthy podcast. “Because of the direct address, she is our narrator. So, I think it would be a real cool challenge to see her in some other context, but I do think like the sort of joy of She-Hulk is in the singularness of it.”
Maslany has a point. Even Deadpool had to exist in his own corner of the MCU, restricted to interacting with the TVA and with Happy Hogan (in a scene that doesn’t totally make sense, but don’t worry about it). And the John Byrne comic book run from the late ’80s and early ’90s, which emphasized fourth-wall breaking and set the tone for Attorney at Law, certainly had a different tone than the rest of the Marvel Universe. In fact, the first issue of that run featured She-Hulk threatening to rip up readers’ X-Men comics if they didn’t buy her book.
But even more than the Merc with a Mouth, the comics also have found a way to include her in the mainline Marvel Universe. In particular, She-Hulk was a member of the Avengers when Byrne began working with her. He liked Jen so much that he brought her onto the Fantastic Four during his legendary run on the book, using her to replace the Thing after the events of Secret Wars.
In fact, those two plot points put Maslany’s concerns into greater context. The Fantastic Four are coming into the mainline MCU with Avengers: Doomsday later this year, moving from the retro 1960s of their universe and into ours, to deal with the problem of their arch-enemy, Doctor Doom. And after Doomsday comes Avengers: Secret Wars, which will likely draw more from the 2015 storyline by Jonathan Hickman than the 1985 crossover that briefly took Ben Grimm out of action, making room for Shulkie. But given the mix-ups we’ve already seen in Doomsday, with the Thing hanging around Wakanda, this is a great opportunity to let She-Hulk join the Fantastic Four.
Of course, Maslany’s point had less to do with roster space and more to do with tone. But even there, the comics help, as it was both John Byrne who established the metatextual tone that Maslany likes, while also giving Jen mainstream superhero adventures. For sure, the MCU could follow suit, letting Shulkie do cool superhero things alongside the FF in Doomsday and Secret Wars, while letting her yell at a Kevin Feige machine and get it on with Matt Murdock on her own show.
The Marvel Universe is a wonderful and diverse place, with room for more than one type of She-Hulk. And we’re the better for it.
Avengers: Doomsday arrives December 18, 2026.
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