Lawyers, comedy and dates with green women: ‘She-Hulk’ is not your typical Marvel series

She-Hulk’s character was not born in a burst of creativity. On the contrary. The only goal was that a female Hulk would never have a television series. Without the suspicion of Stan LeeWe wouldn’t be here. The founder of Marvel and creator of Avengers, Spiderman and the X-Men he had landed in Los Angeles to handle the audiovisual adaptations of his heroes. One of his tasks: to prevent Universal from getting ahead of the publisher and creating a female Hulk not seen before in the comic and, therefore, without copyright. The incredible Hulk It triumphed weekly on screens around the world, but it was not produced by them, but by Universal. He knew that, taking advantage of that the bionic woman razaba as a series derived from The six million dollar man, it only took someone in the studios to think of changing the sex of the emerald giant to create a protagonist and exploit her without Marvel in between. “We need a character named She-Hulk and publish it in the next 30 seconds”, was what Lee requested according to the book marvel comics the untold story. Said and done. In November 1979 she was on the shelves The wild She-Hulk 1.

The premise was worth those 30 seconds. Bruce Banner was visiting his never-before-mentioned cousin, attorney Jennifer Walters, in Los Angeles, who, like any good family reunion, ended up being attacked by a gang of mobsters. To save her, Banner donates her blood, not realizing that her transfusion contained the gamma powers that turn him into a green giant. This is how Hulka was born, although reading those pages, nobody would have foreseen that other writers would take advantage of this blank canvas to build one of the most unique and original superheroines of comics. A modern, fun, unapologetic woman who speaks directly to the reader and spends more time in court than handing out blows. This Thursday, now yes, she arrives at Disney + She-Hulk: Lawyer She-Hulkafter four decades avoiding television.

That registration of the rights of his eccentric name today becomes one more plot of the most unexpected law firm. As Dan Slott sold in his comic stage: Ally McBeal on steroids. “I didn’t know anything about the character, so when I got the audition I started reading it in order. It was funny and unexpected. If you think of Hulka you think of a strong woman, destroying everything, not a comedy of lawyers. We break the limits of the genres of a series and I think the audience is going to be surprised, ”explains actress Tatiana Maslany from New York to EL PAÍS (Orphan Black), whose body is digitally reconstructed in green to play the protagonist of this series written by Jessica Gao (rick and morty) and directed by Kat Coiro, a regular in comedies like hanging in philadelphia Y dead to me. No, it’s not your typical Marvel series. It is the Marvel of walking around the house.

“In the comics he goes on superhero adventures, but here he chooses to ignore it. Our Hulka is a person who tries to do her job. She is ashamed of the rest. We want to focus on the routine of someone with powers, on the banal, on the details”, explains Maslany. “We women hide our anger as a way of life”, she appeals to the male alter-ego played by Mark Ruffalo, who precisely has not had his series or movie due to the old agreement with Universal. “As young women, they tell us not to get angry. It’s not attractive. While for them it is manliness”, develops Coiro. Thus, modern life enters fully into the plots: villains influencershapeshifting elves who cheat on their partners, rumors and fake news TV shows, debates on TikTok and, as a counterpoint to Marvel asexuality, dating at 30.

If a few years ago, director Pedro Almodóvar said that Marvel superheroes lacked sex, she hulk It begins with the protagonist theorizing with Captain America’s virginity. Sexuality is a part of this character with atypical features who has slept with everyone in the comics. And Maslany enjoys it: “She is manifestly horny. Jen is exploring her new body, and discovering herself. And, yes, she likes her uncles a lot. A friend saw the trailer and told me that she had never felt as identified with a superhero as she did with that horny ”.

Maslany, who is 1.63m tall and perches with her legs on the chair in the interview, had to make a mental adjustment to embody the physical size of her character, dressed in a motion capture suit, on a step and with a false head on his to know where to look: “Everything serves the character. It was a lonely experience, how do you connect with your partner if you don’t see them face to face? It took up so much space that everyone had to move around me. He made me understand his bewilderment,” she explains.

‘She-Hulk: Lawyer Hulka’ poster.Marvel Studios (Marvel Studios)

That body and the verisimilitude of special effects in capturing the fine line between reality and digital have been a debate on the internet since the first advances. “Creating a CG character with his makings was very specific. Even designing the hair was an important part of the conversation”, develops Coiro: “We knew that we were going to be in the trigger. We want a modern perspective, and from the beginning we included jokes about criticism on Twitter. But my goal is that the public goes so full with the character, that the rest is left behind. I’m not getting into the tweeting debate, although my favorite comment was one that said you couldn’t believe this was directed by a woman, because She-Hulk’s body was ‘obviously’ created with a male gaze. That comment is clearly masculine.”

Both she and Maslany endorse that these criticisms partially hide an outdated view of the female body: “It is curious to read criticism that a more muscular body is missing. She-Hulk has two bodies, so she is aware of objectification. She knows that she may pay too much attention to him or not at all. I am interested in playing and defining that concept of femininity. We need to break down barriers and show more body types, but at the same time what a woman looks like is nobody’s business. Criticism is culturally relevant and, not coincidentally, that conversation was already in the series.” The painful conditions of hours and efforts that the special effects teams endure in Hollywood, and that they have only recently begun to denounce, are the other side of the debate. Coiro breaks a spear in her favor: “Personally, it is difficult to give an opinion, because in this system Marvel subcontracts companies that then hire artists, so we have intermediaries. My experience has been very positive, but I will always support them, I listen to them and I am in favor of unionizing them”.

Mark Ruffalo as Hulk and Tatiana Maslany as She-Hulk in the series 'She-Hulk: Lawyer She-Hulk'.
Mark Ruffalo as Hulk and Tatiana Maslany as She-Hulk in the series ‘She-Hulk: Lawyer She-Hulk’.Marvel Studios (Marvel Studios)

Because, despite the everyday life and the comedy, the effects are still fundamental. It’s all part of the gigantic Marvel universe, and each half-hour episode has a court case related to the supertypes. With that come the cameos. By she hulk walks the Hulk himself, but also the Supreme Sorcerer Wong, claiming copyright on his magic; Tim Roth’s Abomination, pending parole, and even Charlie Cox returning as Daredevil (the other super lawyer) after his series on Netflix. “It’s not a weekly guest series,” Hulka jokes, speaking directly to the camera. Because, although today it sounds like a seen, decades before he succeeded fleabag, this heroine already appealed face to face to the public to share jokes and tell them regrets. It’s not easy being a single green lawyer.

You can follow EL PAÍS TELEVISION on Twitter or sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.

Receive the television newsletter

All the news from channels and platforms, with interviews, news and analysis, as well as recommendations and criticism from our journalists

SIGN UP

We would love to give thanks to the author of this write-up for this awesome web content

Lawyers, comedy and dates with green women: ‘She-Hulk’ is not your typical Marvel series