She-Hulk Season 1, Episode 2 "Superhuman Law" (Spoiler Thread)

[Roose Bolton]

Yeah. I was kind of in shock to see the family in this episode, just because of how isolated they've made Bruce. The Jen/Bruce interactions in the first episode played fine in a vacuum, even as it felt overtly "retconned". But the extended family... weird.

It paints a really weird light on the characters. I dunno, in a vacuum it’s a decent piece of domestic fluff, but knowing it was all adjacent to a whole lot of domestic abuse and trauma made the whole thing have a strange air.

This show gives me very mixed feelings, because I do mostly enjoy the comedy, Maslany’s performance and seeing Tim Roth back as one of my favourite comic baddies. But there’s that whole side of it where it kind of threatens to make light of some really dark stuff. It hasn’t gone that far just yet, but I’m sideeyeing the whole thing.

 

[Sithborg]

I mean, bold of you to assume Marvel is ever going to do that dark stuff.

 

[Roose Bolton]

I don’t think they’ll ever depict or handle any of the domestic abuse material. I’m not even asking for it, because I know they’d not deliver something valid or poignant.

But there’s a difference between not going into Bruce Banner’s childhood trauma and actively making light of it. I’m hoping that Jessica Gao knows better than to even go there and just sticks to the Jennifer Walters legal comedy aspect.

 

[Zyraquis]

MCU has ready had a character this year who suffers from DID as a survival mode due to domestic abuse from his mom when he was a kid, which was not hinted at but also shown. Don’t think that topic is off limits.

 

[LoganPool]

 

[metaphysician]

All this talk of the events of the Incredible Hulk happening 15 years ago makes me wonder how they would be able to introduce the Leader now. What has he been doing all this time since mutating and why would he only begin world conquest or some villainous plan now? Why has he been lying low? It seems almost as if they've missed their window.

I mean, they very likely *have* missed their window. Its just one of the tragic side effects of TIH being both one of the earliest, and least successful, movies. And also having a messy distribution contract hanging off it.

However, if they did want to introduce the Leader now, its not impossible. Easiest way: use the bit where he created his own secret town of gamma mutated experiments. Where has Leader been all this time? Doing experiments and building his resources and minions in secret. Why is he only showing up now? Because either his plans are now ready to go to the next phase, or else some disrupting factor forces him to surface.

 

[Iceman]

I love that that Shang Chi part got integrated with this. I’d forgotten about it.

 

[The Caped Knight]

It’s interesting that the MCU version of The Avengers didn’t get the same benefits as the team in the comics.

 

[antsman41]

Tony doesn't pay friends.

 

[Iceman]

This is too much fun, renew it now for a second season!

 

[metaphysician]

It’s interesting that the MCU version of The Avengers didn’t get the same benefits as the team in the comics. View attachment 58330

I mean, technically we don't know that they *didn't* have something like this. The only real evidence against things like an Avengers stipend/salary are "Banner didn't bring it up with Jennifer" and "Sam didn't just pay off his family's debt problems". The former could well just be that Banner didn't feel like indulging an argument that he didn't think was the real issue for his cousin; and the latter would be largely irrelevant to the "Sam really shouldn't have had this problem in the first place" plot hole, because there were lots of issues anyway.

 

[Lip]

This is too much fun, renew it now for a second season!

That's what I was thinking.

She Hulk needs to be a regular show, not a minisseries.

 

[squeekness]

That's what I was thinking.

She Hulk needs to be a regular show, not a minisseries.

If they can maintain this level of fun, I agree.

 

[Dark Raven]

That's what I was thinking.

She Hulk needs to be a regular show, not a minisseries.

I'd also like it to be longer in episode length, like Ally McBeal was.

 

[Elayis]

Hard to get invested in a show this weightless. It'd be one thing if the humor was on point, but there's no cleverness or wit to the dialogue. And the CGI (which I thought was fine in the first episode aside from Marvel's usual grey filter) was pretty bad here. Jennifer's Hulk form looks completely apart from her environment, and there's a floatiness to the animation that looks off.

This episode was way too short; not much actually happens. It was barely 20 minutes excluding the recap & credits.

And why even bring back Tim Roth when his characterization is completely different than in TIH? He didn't remotely resemble his initial performance as Blonsky.

 

[metaphysician]

I mean, the setting its been more then twenty years. Is it really that unbelievable that a person's personality would change in two decades. . . especially if they've had very strong external incentive to change it? Before Blonsky became a rage monster, he was a spec-ops commando, and commandos lean to both the smart and the adaptability. Even if putting on the appearance of being a reform-minded hippy didn't come naturally, he had years to learn.

 

[Dark Raven]

I mean, the setting its been more then twenty years. Is it really that unbelievable that a person's personality would change in two decades. . . especially if they've had very strong external incentive to change it? Before Blonsky became a rage monster, he was a spec-ops commando, and commandos lean to both the smart and the adaptability. Even if putting on the appearance of being a reform-minded hippy didn't come naturally, he had years to learn.

More than 20 years? It's not 2029 in the MCU. More than 15 years perhaps.

 

[metaphysician]

More than 20 years? It's not 2029 in the MCU. More than 15 years perhaps.

I think I double counted the Blip, yeah. Still, plenty of time for change, sincere or learned.

 

[Elayis]

I think I double counted the Blip, yeah. Still, plenty of time for change, sincere or learned.

The problem for me is that it all happened offscreen (just like Smart Hulk). It sometimes feels like the MCU is the cliff notes version of events.

 

[Iceman]

The problem for me is that it all happened offscreen (just like Smart Hulk). It sometimes feels like the MCU is the cliff notes version of events.

Not covering the change to Smart Hulk was a mistake IMO. Not sure why the Russos built up a Hulk issue in Infinity War and then didn’t bother to see it through and suddenly he’s Smart Hulk. I am glad that the She-Hulk show is giving Smart Hulk a good outlet and chance to be useful though.

 

[AndrewGilkison]

Not covering the change to Smart Hulk was a mistake IMO. Not sure why the Russos built up a Hulk issue in Infinity War and then didn’t bother to see it through and suddenly he’s Smart Hulk. I am glad that the She-Hulk show is giving Smart Hulk a good outlet and chance to be useful though.

Banner originally changed to Smart Hulk in the final battle of Infinity War but they cut it because it felt tonally off (which also forced them to change certain scenes in Endgame, including adding that diner scene where Bruce explains his new form to Ant-Man).

 

[Iceman]

Banner originally changed to Smart Hulk in the final battle of Infinity War but they cut it because it felt tonally off (which also forced them to change certain scenes in Endgame, including adding that diner scene where Bruce explains his new form to Ant-Man).

Many of us were really looking forward to Hulk bursting out of the Hulkbuster as the trailer suggested might happen (especially when you see Hulk running with the others in the final trailer scene) but I can see why Smart Hulk being the one to burst out and immediately start fighting might not have worked. I would have been happy with a Savage Hulk bursting out and doing the business in that scene and then all the traumas to that point causing him to go unconscious. Then wake up in EG as Smart Hulk - his body's way of trying to find the best solution for the imbalance - could have still used the diner scene to help explain the changes.

 

[metaphysician]

Endgame had a five year gap as part of its fundamental story structure. It logically *should* have some major character shifts from the interim time to make that time gap real. "Banner changes his relationship with the Hulk" isn't really any more 'glossing over' than "Hawkeye invents a new secret ID and goes on a global vigilante murder rampage" or "Thor resettles the Asgardian survivors in Norway than crawls into a bottle".