Hulk/She-Hulk Series Rumored To Be In Development At Disney+
A new Green Goliath may be on the way to the MCU.
An inside source familiar with the situation has disclosed that Marvel Studios has begun development on a Hulk/She-Hulk team-up series for Disney+, according to We Got This Covered. As with the rest of the MCU-set limited series being fielded by the upcoming streamer, the project would have close ties to Marvel's films — meaning that Mark Ruffalo is expected to reprise his role as Bruce Banner.
It should be noted that nothing has been officially confirmed here, but even if the report turns out to be dead accurate, it doesn't mean that Ruffalo is on the hook to portray Dr. Banner and his green-skinned alter-ego for years to come — or even for very much longer. According to the source, the project would essentially serve as a vehicle for Ruffalo to pass the banner (pun definitely intended) to a new character, as the actor is said to be "almost done with the role." The good news: that character is Jennifer Walters, the She-Hulk, whose entry into the MCU simply could not come too soon.
She-Hulk has a history almost as odd and unique as her characterization. She was created in 1980 by none other than Stan Lee himself, for a somewhat dubious reason: The Incredible Hulk, the classic CBS TV series starring Bill Bixby, was in the middle of a successful run. Rival network ABC had recently parlayed the success of its own superpowered serial, The Six Million Dollar Man, into the spin-off series The Bionic Woman, which was essentially a gender-swapped take on the original show. Fearing that CBS would try to pull the same trick with the Hulk, Lee created She-Hulk so that — in the event this came to pass — Marvel would own the rights to the character. Her origin story was par for the Marvel course: the daughter of a cop, Jennifer Walters was shot and seriously injured by gangsters whom her Dad had crossed paths with. Fortunately for her, her long-lost cousin Bruce Banner happened to be visiting at the time, and — as he was somehow the only person available whose blood type was a match with hers — he offered her a life-saving blood transfusion. Shortly thereafter, gun-toting men showed up in her hospital room to finish the job... triggering her transformation into the Savage She-Hulk, which resulted in their job going decidedly unfinished.
As Walters didn't receive the full dose of gamma radiation that her cousin did, she was affected a bit differently; while her transformation (and level of strength) is similarly tied to her anger, she's not quite as strong as Cousin Bruce. On the flip side, she also retains her intelligence and personality after Hulking out, making her much less likely to attack her allies, endanger innocents, or break Harlem. After some time, Walters (feeling, understandably, much more empowered as her alter-ego) chose to make her transformation permanent; she also became a high-powered attorney, making her the only hero in the Marvel Universe other than Daredevil to also be capable of handling her peers' legal issues. (We must admit, if we were in legal hot water and were offered the choice of a Hulk or a non-Hulk lawyer, we would go for the former without hesitation.)
She-Hulk enjoyed a successful run with her solo series in the '80s, and also spent time as a member of the Avengers and Fantastic Four. In 1989, after a hiatus of a few years, her solo book was relaunched under the eye of legendary Marvel writer John Byrne, at which point the character got even more interesting. Byrne leaned into the comedic aspects of Walters' life and personality, and added one key element of her characterization that was, at the time, unheard of: her awareness that she was in fact a comic book character, and a resulting tendency to break the fourth wall. We know what you're going to ask, and the answer is yes: She-Hulk did eventually come into contact with Deadpool, and even served as his lawyer, although the pair played it relatively straight during the storyline.
At any rate, a Disney+ series seems like it would be an excellent way to kill two birds with one stone: wrapping up Ruffalo's tenure in the MCU, and introducing the character of Walters, who could theoretically cross over into the films at some point. We'd love to see such a series focusing on the character's humor, not to mention her activities as a lawyer — a seven foot-tall, green-skinned lawyer who can bench press a Mack truck. The streamer's MCU offerings seem to be going for a variety of tones; Loki will feature the titular trickster interfering in Earthly events throughout history, Falcon and the Winter Soldier looks like an action-infused buddy comedy, and the recently (and strangely) re-titled WandaVision (featuring the Vision and Scarlet Witch) is rumored to have actual romantic comedy elements. A legal comedy/drama starring She-Hulk sounds like an excellent addition, and having fan favorite Ruffalo around to help launch the series would be an extremely smart move.
We feel obliged to reiterate that for now, this is all still in the realm of rumor, albeit a really cool rumor that needs to move into the realm of reality as soon as possible. But it's also worth pointing out that WGTC is generally pretty spot-on with this type of info, and if its source has indeed let the cat out of the bag, it wouldn't surprise us if we were to get an official announcement sooner rather than later. We'll be keeping a close eye out for just such a development, and we'll report any news as it breaks.