Photo: Disney+; Illustration: Dyllen Phelps Photo: Getty Images; Illustration: Dyllen Phelps
Being the Hulk is not easy. Sure, you get a lot of strength and invulnerability, but you literally go insane. In more than a decade's worth of movies, Bruce Banner has ceded control of his massive body to a giant loose cannon that left death and destruction in his wake. Being the Hulk has some perks, butyoudon't actually get the perks.
Not so with She-Hulk, the latest superhero to make the leap from the printed page to the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe. Banner had to work incredibly hard for an incredibly long time to fuse his mind into the incredible Hulk form, while his cousin Jennifer was just... She-Hulk. will be Jen is She-Hulk, and She-Hulk is Jen, and neither becomes an engine of unstoppable devastation in the process...the question is...how.
This must be done by Jessica Gao, lead writer ofDisney+'snew seriesShe-Hulk: Attorney at LawI had to ask her one. She's working early in the process of bringing Jennifer Walters to life. And unlike many problems that arise when producing a Marvel show, Gao couldn't look to She-Hulk's 40-plus years of comic book lore for answers. Ever since the character debuted in 1979's Savage in His She-Hulk #1, Jen retains consciousness and personality during her initial transformation into She-Hulk.
What gives. Luckily, Gao has a writer's room to solve this problem.
"Our writer's room was very, very female,"She-Hulk head writer Jessica Gao told her Decider. “When your expressions behind the camera match your expressions in front of the camera, you get more nuance because you are mining each other’s life experiences. Everyone has a different perspective on their experience as women.” So when we start talking about these things a lot, a lot of common themes, patterns and issues start to emerge. } As explained on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, this theme is rooted in what it means to be a real woman in today's real world. "Women have been socially taught to repress and control their emotions in order to survive," Maslany said. "So she's like, 'I'm very good at dealing with my anger. I'm dealing with it constantly, I'm dealing with fear all the time,' so she can navigate it effortlessly.
This isn't much of a tweak to fill a plot hole from 40 years ago. And by connecting the differences between She-Hulk and Hulk to the differences in how men and women experience the world, the writers made the heroes instantly relatable. I wanted it to feel like a real person who had all these ups and downs, emotional ups and downs," said Gao. What happened to her is that normal people aren't equipped and ready to deal with it. So did Tatiana Maslany, who was tasked with explaining the concept. "This truth in what she's saying resonates so much with me," Maslany told her Decider. "Jessica (Gao) obviously wrote that scene from a very experienced place, a deep place. She did it with a very good sense of humor and a light touch. I think many of us have experienced It's just really telling the truth, it's one of my favorite moments in the show and it's so special to see this in this big superhero story. A lot of fables are always rooted in these little human moments, so it was pretty cool to actually be able to talk about it.
But just because Jennifer Walters keeps her mind during her transformation doesn't mean that when she's in Hulk form, it's about her body. In fact, this has opened up a whole new set of storytelling, acting and directing opportunities for theAttorney team to work with.
In fact, we have actresses who are adept at exploring the duality of the self," said Kat Coiro, director of series star Maslany. "One of the key conversations I had with Tatiana was , your identity remains the same, but if your physical expression changes dramatically, how does that change your sense of self?"
} This variation of She-Hulk's powers is thoughtfully explained after 40 years of cartoons on Disney+ TV show, She-Hulk. Make it more than just another Hulk. Writers are able to explore entirely new themes with this character that Bruce couldn't explore with her banner. This wasn't lost on Coiro, who had to stage the moment Jennifer transforms for the first time and realizes she's not an angry monster. "She [loudly] realizes she still has a heart of her own," Coiro explained. her hair length. And the sense of empowerment that comes with this transformation is what we've been talking about all along.
It's also something the cast and crew can explore throughout She-Hulk: Attorney's nine-episode run. It took Bruce Banner 11 years to get to this point, a fully integrated Smart He acts as the Hulk. Jen Walters is starting at this point, so who knows how far she'll go with this Hulk... And with this new level of management will definitely come a new level of trouble. Remember: Being a Hulk or She-Hulk is not easy.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law will premiere on his Disney+ on Thursday, August 18th.
