On August 18, 2022, right when school began, “She-Hulk” began steaming on Disney+. The show follows Jen Walters, played by Tatiana Maslany, a California lawyer who becomes a Hulk by getting in a freak car accident with her cousin, Bruce Banner. After undergoing some “unnecessary” Hulk training- and realizing that she won’t just be Jen Walters anymore- Walters takes on a new role as the Head of the Superhuman Law Division at the GLK and H. 

Unlike the previous Marvel shows that Disney has put out, “She-Hulk” reads more like a true sitcom than a six hour long Marvel movie cut up into five or six parts. Walters often breaks the fourth wall to talk to the audience about the show as a whole, like when she announces that Wong, played by Benedict Wong, will be in the next few episodes, and that we should not get used to there being a “guest star” on the show each week. Tatiana Maslany has also said that she used Elaine Benes from “Seinfeld” as inspiration for the more sarcastic and empowered character of She-Hulk; that inspiration truly does come out in the fourth wall breaks. 

The cast also includes Ginger Gonzaga as Walters’ work friend, Nikki Ramos, Josh Segarra as Pug, Renee Elise Goldsberry- most known from her role as Angelica in the musical “Hamilton”- as Amelia, and Jameela Jamil as Titania, the main villain of the series. “She-Hulk” has also featured characters from past Marvel movies, such as the Abomination, played by Tim Roth, and obviously Bruce Banner or Smart Hulk, played by Mark Ruffalo. It has also been rumored that Charlie Cox’s Daredevil will make an appearance, but that remains to be seen.

Seeing as this show is mainly comedy based, the comedy was a bit too cliche. A lot of the jokes included sounded familiar, and were not very original. When it comes to the information provided, there wasn’t a lot of She-Hulk’s origin and backstory, other than one scene showing how she obtained her powers. It didn’t feel very consistent, either. A lot of small storylines are thrown out, and there isn’t enough information to fully understand them. However, this seems to be the running theme with every Marvel spinoff.

Obviously, there are some obscure references to past comic book plotlines within this show. For one, when Walters meets with the Abomination in prison, the Abomination repeatedly says that he’s a changed man and just wants to live out the rest of his days with his “seven soulmates,” whom he found through the prison pen pal program. This could’ve been a subtle allusion to the Thunderbolts, a team of anti-heroes that exist as the complete opposite of the Avengers. A few days later, the cast that will play the Thunderbolts was announced at D23, so this easter egg turned out to be true.

Additionally- and most obviously- there is an overarching theme of willing transformation in the show. Jen Walters can turn into She-Hulk at will. Emil Blonksky (Tim Roth, The Abomination) can turn into the Abomination at will, but chooses not to. The Asguardian elf shape-shifter lady actively chose to be Megan Thee Stallion to catfish Walters’ co-worker, and instigated chaos. This could be pointing to something that fans of the comic books might recognize as the Skrull or “Secret” Invasion. During this invasion, a group of shape-shifting aliens called the Skrulls disguised themselves as superheroes and supervillains to cause global calamity that would allow them to do basically whatever they wanted. The Skrulls made their first appearance in “Captain Marvel,” so this theory might not be too far off. These themes of transformation and duplicitous disguise might be alluding to the next Avengers movie, where a new team of heroes bands together to figure out who’s who and defeat the Skrulls. It might be a stretch, but with the announcement of the Thunderbolts, “The Skrull Invasion” could be the title of the next Avengers movie.

  If you’re into the comedic side of Marvel, or just a big Hulk fan, this series would be a good watch for you. However, if you can’t stand the unoriginal jokes and the sometimes confusing plotlines, you might be better off waiting until the next Marvel movie comes out, or binging “Rings of Power” on Amazon Prime instead.