Marvel has been on a mission to spice up their beloved characters, whether wanted or not. With Marvel’s new “She-Hulk’, T.V show release, they decided it was time to go full on buck wild. Costing a whopping 225 million ($25 million per episode), it is clear this was a huge financial risk. Esita Mallik in a Koimoi article states “Marvel undoubtedly spends millions making a film or series, but sometimes they work and flop. One of the MCU shows which cost more than the 2012 MCU film The Avengers. We are talking about she-hulk.“(Esita Mallik, January 2024). While viewing the show you could tell the main goal is to push their own narrative and ideology NOT their wallets. The main targeted downgrade of the avengers focused on in this article will be “The Hulk’.
Hulk for decades has been portrayed as a menacing, unpredictable force of nature when in his green man form, or one of the smartest men in the world as Bruce Banner human form. From his appearance in “Planet Hulk’, the superheroes on earth decide to rocket him up to destroy an alien satellite. As so he is told. Turns out this was a local satellite gone wrong. The humans know that once hulk has realized he’s been tricked and turns angry, there is nothing they can do to stop him. Right as he finishes the job instead of talking to the green guy like a humble laid back family man, they launch his ass off into space to get him on another planet, far away from earth. Boy is he ever angry about this, angry enough to destroy a whole alien race and still come back for revenge.
In Marvel’s “She-Hulk’, It is a more soy boy approach for the hulk. He needs She-Hulk to help him lift rocks when the lore clearly states he is stronger. He cracks light hearted jokes in his sleeping shirt and would rather read in his new acquired hulk glasses while letting She-Hulk do all the work. This can be seen as a push to bring strong female characters to light. As move over Hulk, we need more twerking scenes and boss bitch moments. This strong female character can be done to perfection in other films but unfortunately many fans saw this take as cringe and unnecessary. People can agree the world needs more well written strong female roles and in turn could increase women’s confidence to do well in life as an independent individual. More females are working in trades than ever before as an article from T.RU. states “More women are exploring trades, which is helping B.C. build a strong economy. The Government of B.C. website says that “about 10.5 per cent of all apprentices in British Columbia are women, up from 8.5 per cent in 2009.”. (TRU, 2024, Gov.BC). The Audience seems to prefer both genders working in harmony but instead of recognizing this the producers choose to give The hulk a soft cardigan and is told to basically fuck off and go raise children. Obviously, these are issues that impact women. However, Centering her story around these issues negates other aspects of her life such as her successful law career.
A big issue the audience had with the show is the change in attitude from not only Hulk but also She-Hulk. As a character, she is now the center of attention, rude and unbearable to listen to. This is a major change from the original calm, cool and collected role model portrayed in the original comics. It brings in the mentality of everything is gonna go your way if you just do it all yourself. A scene in episode one, She-Hulk as a lawyer is joined by a female para-legal representative and a male lawyer. The girls are seen discussing a project and turn to the man right away and say “You are gonna be of no help here”, as he is leaving the room he mentioned “you will listen to a paralegal over me?”, after which is mocked and made to look like a cuck. Again this can be done properly if all remains respectful but the public sees this as a writer’s grudge. I mean does she really hate men that much? The saying “I’d rather be with a bear lost in the woods than a man”, can also be true as let’s be honest dudes have done some heinous things. Can we all find a respectful medium instead of dividing each other by gender and make it seem like there is no peace but war?
Ultimately The new hulks appearances may match but identities and personalities are completely changed to try and fit the new worlds trends and ideologies especially from Hollywood. Does it fail? The sinking pockets of Disney may be the real reality of what people think of this bombed show. A review on “the diamondback news”, sums this all up perfectly “‘She-Hulk’ broke the Marvel canon for all the wrong reasons”. (Khushboo Rathore, DBK news).
Citation Sources
Esite Mallik, Koimoi, “Marvel’s She-Hulk: Attorney At Law’s Reported $225 Million Budget Exceeding The Avengers Has Left Netizens In Disbelief: “This Is Embarrassing”. January 2024, https://www.koimoi.com/television/marvels-she-hulk-attorney-at-laws-reported-225-million-budget-exceeding-the-avengers-has-left-netizens-in-disbelief-this-is-embarrassing/
Kushboo Rathore, DBK news, “Review: ‘She-Hulk’ broke the Marvel canon for all the wrong reasons”, October 2022, https://dbknews.com/2022/10/17/she-hulk-review-marvel/
TRU, GOV.BC, Tru trades homepage article 2024, https://www.tru.ca/trades/resources/women-in-trades.html
Images
-Greg Pak, Planet hulk, Comic cover variant, https://pullbox.ca/products/copy-of-planet-hulk-worldbreaker-1-11-30-2023
-“She-Hulk”, Screengrab Episode 3, Jessica Gao
brenna
I’m giving feedback on Hulk: From Uncontrollable Beast to Humble Family Man. I saw about three main points in the essay. First was their acknowledgment of criticism toward the Hulk’s changes as they can be seen as disingenuous calling it a downgrade of Marvel. The third paragraph highlights this point more as they examine the loss of enjoyment from the execution of Marvel’s She-Hulk character. Fan expectation is my next point of notice. From comic books to the screen, this writing highlights how the need for more accuracy is largely noticed by fans and replaced by current ideological writing choices. General character redefinition is the main opinion. Weaker depiction of the original Hulk as well as all-around dynamic shifts. For things I think might have been missed, conversations about the title of the paper might have deserved more time. It was a lot about She-Hulk and less about Hulk himself as suggested. His shift to a humble family man wasn’t something I read about. As for sources they weren’t reviewed as far as I could tell. Interesting essay.