She-Hulk Episode 2: The Strange Story Of The Abomination And The Hulk MCU

Lead writer Jessica Gao shares how the series arrived at its meta-reference to the Incredible Hulk.

In episode 2 of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany), after losing her job as assistant district attorney due to an incident involving Hulking in court, is soon offered a new position in a company that wants better people and to defend other beings with super powers. Desperate for a performance, she accepts the job, only to find there are two caveats.

First and foremost, her boss wants her to perform her duties in her form of her She-Hulk, as she believes this will serve as both great marketing and advertising that will attract customers and attention. Second, she has already awarded her first client: former Royal Marine Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), known both in the press universe and in Marvel cinema as the Abomination.

Blonsky made his Marvel Comics debut in 1967, but first appeared on screens in 2008 in The Incredible Hulk. Charged by General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt) to defeat the Hulk, he gains extraordinary strength and speed for the first time when given a dose of Super Soldier Serum. When this is later combined with Bruce Banner’s gamma-rayed blood, Blonsky violently expands into the monstrous, reptilian, oversized creature known as the Abomination.

Blonsky battles the Hulk three times in the film: once as a normal human, the second time with enhanced powers, and the third time as a monstrosity, where he destroys Harlem and gets close enough to the big green boy before knocking him out. the latter’s hat overturns the cards on the table and knocks down the monstrosity – alive but wounded and held back.

When Jennifer is tasked with asking Blonsky on parole after nearly 15 years in prison after he appears to have rejected her bad behavior, she naturally wants to call her cousin Bruce and see – before fully accepting the case – if there is anything else. bad blood (hence talk) or resentment on his part for handling the monstrosity.

The good news: there isn’t. This leads to one of the funniest meta moments in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law to date. When Bruce (in his Smart Hulk form) is on the phone with Jennifer, he tells his cousin not to worry because, he says, it’s been so long since the fight with Blonsky and he (Bruce) “now has a total.” the other person is – literally. “he cuts to Jennifer, who stops and looks directly at the camera, giving us a little” ha ha. “

You see, as Marvel fans everywhere know, Bruce, played by Mark Ruffalo, is not just telling the truth metaphorically, but, as he put it, literally. The Hulk / Bruce Banner, who fought the Abomination to a bloody draw in The Incredible Hulk, was played by Edward Norton, whose tense, troubled and only foray into the MCU ended with this film, opening the road to Ruffalo to take over.

“He fits very well with the meta-essence of the classic She-Hulk,” says series lead writer Jessica Gao when asked about the Den of Geek reference. “This line was actually written by one of our writers, Jacqueline Gailes. It was just a brilliant line where she said, “Oh, it should definitely say, you know, I’m a completely different man now.” And it works on so many levels, because he’s a different actor, but also, even in his physical form than he is on the show, he’s a different guy. “

Of course, The Incredible Hulk has long been considered the marginalized black sheep, as you want to call it, of the MCU. Only the second film produced and distributed by Marvel Studios, after Iron Man two months earlier, remains the only MCU film released through Universal Pictures, as the company already owns some rights to the character (Marvel is not yet able to make a standalone movie for the Hulk, provided Universal retains its option, although there have been rumors that the deal will expire in 2023).

The film’s poor box office performance and unenthusiastic response from critics, combined with the confusion between Marvel and star Edward Norton (who reportedly rewrote much of the script himself), quickly sent The Incredible Hulk into the spotlight. the dustbin of MCU history, mainly after Mark Ruffalo made his acclaimed and popular debut as Bruce in The Avengers four years later.

Until Blonsky’s reappearance, the only other character to return from the film was the late William Hurts, General Ross, who became Secretary of State for Captain America: Civil War, the Infinity War / Endgame duo and Blac.

In the meantime, however, this latest installment of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law highlights the discrepancy and finally brings closure, not just for Bruce and Blonsky, but for fans who at least want to see the Incredible Hulk get credit for it. its place in the MCU, bugs and all. Since we doubt Ed Norton will appear as Bruce in an alternate universe anytime soon, this is probably the best we’re going to get.

New episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law premiere on Disney+ every Thursday.