Long before Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk managed to “put the brains and the brawn together” for Avengers: Endgame, a certain lady Hulk was mastering the art of providing impressive legal counsel and administering green-hued justice. How much do you know about her?
Jennifer Susan Walters, created by Stan Lee and John Buscema, made her debut in Savage She-Hulk #1 in 1980. Walters earned her Junior Doctor Degree from UCLA School of Law and eventually obtained her Master’s degree at Harvard Law School. The cousin of Bruce Banner, Walters was seriously injured in an altercation with operatives of mobster Nicholas Trask and required an emergency blood transfusion. Banner provided his own blood, giving Walters a milder version of his Hulk condition. As She-Hulk she possessed powers similar to those of her cousin, including enormous superhuman strength, speed, durability, and endurance, as well as a regenerative healing factor.
Initially, the transformation into her powerful green-hued counterpart was also triggered by anger, like her cousin. The biggest difference between Walters and Banner’s Hulk form was that Walters’ still showcased her female figure and allowed her to retain her intelligence and emotional control. In later issues, Walters decided to retain her She-Hulk form permanently, preferring the confidence, and assertiveness that it gave her. After a brief solo career, She-Hulk assisted the Avengers during the Secret Wars before temporarily replacing Thing with the Fantastic Four. As a criminal defense lawyer, Walters provided legal counsel to various superheroes, including Dr. Michael Morbius in his trial for his vampiric killings.
Following her tenure with the Fantastic Four, She-Hulk once again served as a reliable member of the Avengers. She later spent some time doing legal work for Heroes for Hire, where she briefly dated Luke Cage. Over the years she has also assisted A-Force, the Defenders, Fantastic Force, Fearsome Four, Hulkbusters, Lady Liberators, Mighty Avengers, and SHIELD. In her initial comic appearances, Walters was ill-tempered and violent but later became fun-loving and feisty with a bigger emphasis placed on humor in the comics. She is also among the few comic characters that frequently break the fourth wall.
Outside of comics, She-Hulk has been featured in numerous animated series and video games with a few television projects and live-action films planned but never realized. Until now. Jessica Gao (Rick and Morty) has signed on to develop and lead the writing team for the upcoming She-Hulk series for Disney+. Details on the project are currently scarce, but Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige recently shared that there are plans to feature She-Hulk in future MCU films following her introduction in the Disney+ television series.
