She-Hulk Marvel Series Official Poster/ Image Credit: Marvel
Jennifer Walters played by the versatile Tatiana Maslany navigates the complicated life of a single, 30-something attorney who also happens to be a green 6-foot-7-inch super-powered She-Hulk with just the normal amount of rage for a modern-day woman at work. From the very start of Episode 1: A Normal Amount of Rage of She-Hulk written by television by Jessica Gao builds into the intrigue of a whole bucket of Easter Eggs that will blow your mind.
Jennifer Walter’s Office/ Image Credit: Buzzfeed
In the staple Marvel introduction, you can spot Jane Foster as Lady Thor( Natalie Portman), Rocket Raccoon( Bradley Cooper) and Shang Chi ( Simu Lui) which could be hinting at possible links. When we progress to Jennifer Walters's office, you can notice owls sitting perched on the cabinet of her office as they are nocturnal and signal the burning of the midnight oil by lawyers and para-legal preparing for their legal cases. Her colleague is para-legal Nikki Ramos portrayed by Ginger Gonzaga and a douche bag that keeps on interrupting the Deputy District Attorney's legal statement practice. The gall is appalling. Jennifer Walters has been handpicked to argue a case against GLK&H whose name has a deeper meaning than you may think. Goodman( Martin Goodman who founded Atlas comics that later became Marvel Comics), Lieber( the middle of Stan Lee), Kurtzberg( Jack Kirby’s former last name) and Holliway ( the defendant, Holden Holliway sitting in the courtroom). All these hints to the case being a test for Jen to head the GLK&H Superhero Law Division that was included in the trailer.
She-Hulk breaks the fourth wall with the Hulk looking at her/ Image Credit: Nerdist
Breaking the fourth wall may have put She-Hulk on the map, but her status as Marvel Comics’ most dedicated lawyer made her the character she is today. In the comics, She-Hulk is one of the few countable characters who has the uncanny ability to break the fourth wall well before the crass Deadpool. The fourth wall is a concept in writing and theatre that describes the unspoken barrier between the characters being observed and the observer. It’s what separates fact from fiction. Rarely can a character look outside of their own story and recognize that they are fictional, aware of parts of their world that usually only the audience can see. It’s a head-scratcher for sure but can create some incredible, memorable moments when used correctly. And She-Hulk has already given us three moments of breaking the fourth wall in episode 1 itself.
The inhibitor on Hulk’s harm that keeps him in Bruce Banner state indicates that She-Hulk takes place after Shang-Chi as in the credit scene of the Shang-Chi and the Legends of the Ten Rings showcases the inhibitor on Bruce’s arm.
Jen and Bruce talking about Cap’s Virginity/ Image Credit: Wiki of Nerds
The defining moment occurs when Jen and Bruce are shown to be in the same car absurdly discussing Captain America’s virginity when a Sakaaran courier ship akin to the Grandmaster’s Commodore from Thor: Ragnarok appears out of nowhere. Despite it being a random appearance, but I don’t think it's so random as it could be an indication of the set-up to the World War Hulk project as Bruce was stuck as the Hulk for two years on Sakaar. According to the comics, he has a son and I wonder what will happen when he finds out Hulk has been getting laid. Anyway, now to She-Hulk, Jen panics at the sight of the ship and there is a crash where Bruce is stuck and bleeding Jen shimmies out of the car but cuts her hand in the process and pulls Bruce out of the car but his blood manages to seep into Jen’s wound and she turns. While in the comics, Bruce gave a blood transfusion to Jen to save her life after being shot, its more dramatic but the television series went a different route.
The instant sisterhood of bathroom/ Image Credit: Steam Game Guides
Jen finds herself at the Ideal Sports Bar with douchebags frequenting the joint. As Jen makes her way to the bathroom, there is a QR code on the wall which reveals upon scanning the first issue of She-Hulk free to read and special promotions. A recent genius technique to embed comic issues into the character show. While on the bathroom wall, you can also see the Ms Marvel lighting bolt but the timing is off as She-Hulk takes place before Ms Marvel. A possible explanation is that Kang who is set to ba a part of Antman and The Wasp in Quantumania drew it on the bathroom wall. The heart-warming scene ensues when a group of girls clean up Jen but as every woman who is well-dressed and has on make-up, douches try to catcall Jen while she waits for her cousin and She-Hulk comes out naturally. I am so satisfied watching it, I hope every girl and woman finds her She-Hulk to deal with scumbags as Jen does. Another interesting aspect that you will notice is the subtle board beside the sports bar of the Roxann Corporation ( seen in Agent Carter when they are successful in making the atomic bomb based on Howard Stark’s formula; Iron Man as well as in Loki during the rainstorm).
Jen as She-Hulk in Mexico/ Image Credit: Marvel
Smart Hulk bulldozes Jen and knocks her out and she wakes up at a beautiful beachside rustic estate in Mexico and wears the Led Zepplin’s t-shirt carefully laid out, another connection to Iron Man as he was a fan, so its possibly Tony’s t-shirt. The beach house has a background with objects sprinkled throughout with elements from the previous Marvel films such as an armordriod helmet from Age of Ultron, Hulk’s helmet that he wore as the prized champion while competing as their prized undefeated fighter for entertainment on Sakaar.
Smart Hulk with Jen in the underground lab/ Image Credit: TV Line
Even though she gets a dose of lethal gamma radiation from Bruce’s blood, the Smart Hulk conveys that her blood has genetic markers that syntheses gamma radiation different as Jennifer is one with the She-Hulk, not an alternate personality as Bruce has had to deal with over the years possibly due to him enduring childhood trauma. The Smart Hulk or Professor Hulk as Stephen Colbert said, spent 18 months fixing his harm that was damaged during Avengers: Endgame when he wore the gauntlet and willed the wiped out population to life. Jen’s blood completely healed Bruce’s arm which is nothing short of miraculous. The equipment in the lab is the same one that was used to fix Hawkeye’s tissue damage and in Iron Man 2 when Pepper Potts removes Tony’s damaged heart.
Smart Hulk training with Jen/ Image Credit: Show Snob
The highlight of episode 1 is the training montage of Jen and Bruce who gets his ass handed to him as Jen crams years worth of binder progress into mere days. The defining moment of this sequence is the iconic dialogue by Jen when Bruce throws her into the deep end to explore how well she channels distressed emotions such as anger and rage that are a baseline of any woman just existing. The moment she turns into the She-Hulk and smashes through the death machine chamber. Next, Bruce and Jen move onto Dialectical Behavioral Therapy to manage the stress and elevated heart rate part of the Hulk journey. Jen successfully manages to shift back and forth from Jen and She-Hulk form and reverts back to her Jen state while she sleeps. And she is coming for Bruce who is jealous of her fast-paced progress. The physical training takes off with the infamous Hulk Jump / Leap that Jen hilariously stomps out as a sign of masculinity. While only burdened with the downsides with being the Hulk, Smart Hulk explains that one upside the fast metabolization of alcohol by their enhanced bodies.
Image Credit: Fanboy SEO
The bar scene is filled with background easter eggs as a hulk pinata from the Hulk celebration on Sakaar resides on a shelf, once again hinting at the connection to the events of Thor: Ragnorok. Most probably, the bar was made during the blip to have a good time during a hard time and the carved initials of Tony Stark, Bruce Banner and now Jennifer Walters are forever etched in unison together. I miss T.S. The second to last momentous moment happens when Jen is in the courtroom about to give her closing statement but Jameela Jamil as Titania bursts through the courtroom wall( and cue the internal screams that celebrate her role) and Jen slips in and out of her heels punching Titania in the gut and knocking her unconscious to the resounding applause of the people around her that she saved.
The nerd babble ends with the LOL credit scene that I just can’t stop thinking out and apparently so does everyone online. Throughout the complete She-Hulk‘s premiere episode, Jen Walters has one question that she desperately needs to be answered;
“Is Captain America a virgin?”
In the show’s opening, Jen speculates to her cousin Bruce Banner about the timeline of whether Steve Rogers could have had sex. This conversation gets interrupted by an accident but resumes in the post-credits scene of She-Hulk‘s first episode. In the scene, Jen and Bruce Banner are having drinks drowning their sorrows and Jen freaks out about the fact that Captain America died a virgin because he was so busy being a superhero.
"Steve gave so much for his country and he never got to experience sex! Did you see that ass? That ass did not deserve to die a virgin," Jen says. "It’s, like, so sad!"
Well apparently, Bruce knew the real truth all along, and finally spills the beans as he admits Cap lost virginity in 1943 on the USO tour. Jen shows she wasn’t drunk and is happy to hear the news.
And that’s is the precise moment when Jennifer learns Captain America indeed had sex! Let's take a moment to appreciate Chris Evans's emoji response together:
The perfect response to a laugh-out-loud post-credit scene from She-Hulk, glad to know that Chris Evans is laughing with every Marvel fan watching Kat Corio ( thank you for sharing my promotional video on Instagram) directed She-Hulk on Disney+ right now.