Rumor Report: Is This When We Can Expect She-Hulk In The MCU?
The rumor mill may have finally given us an idea as to when we can see fan favorite Jennifer Walters — AKA She-Hulk — in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Sources close to Cosmic Book News have indicated that Marvel may be looking at the third solo Spider-Man film to introduce the character, and while this is pure speculation, there are a couple of factors working in favor of such a development that made us sit up and take notice.
First, there's an offhand remark that Spider-Man: Far From Home star Tom Holland made a couple months back in an interview with Fandom. Holland was bandying about the names of several interesting characters whom he'd like to one day see in the MCU, from Nick Fury, Jr. (yes, the superspy has a son in the comics) to Riri Williams, AKA Ironheart. But in the middle of this pontificating, Holland took time out to explain that he'd love to see Spidey team up with Mark Ruffalo's Hulk in a future adventure. "[Hulk] is so funny, and they're both science geeks," the star explained — and we must concur that, with Tony Stark having cashed in his chips to save the universe at the conclusion of Avengers: Endgame, Peter Parker certainly does need somebody to geek out with while on dangerous missions.
More interesting, however, is the alleged plot that Marvel is cooking up for the third solo Spidey outing. Cosmic Book News reports that YouTuber TVO, who presides over pop culture channel Lords of the Long Box, has the skinny straight from inside sources that the plot of Marvel's third Spider-Man flick will follow directly from Far From Home's mid-credits sequence, in which (spoilers) blowhard vlogger J. Jonah Jameson publicly reveals doctored footage making it appear as if Spidey, not Mysterio, had been to blame for the staged elemental attacks on various European locales. In fact, this footage even puts Spidey on the hook for straight-up murdering Mysterio — and in it, the villain, with his supposed dying breath, reveals the web-slinger's secret identity to the world.
According to TVO's sources, the third flick will see Peter Parker attempting to clear his name through the proper channels — that is, the legal system. Apparently, the idea was put forth that acting as Parker's defense attorney would be none other than Matt Murdock, AKA Daredevil, a situation for which there is ample precedent in the comics.
However, that would prove to be tricky. As part of the deal struck between Netflix and Marvel, none of the characters which appeared in the streamer's now-defunct slate of Marvel series are eligible for use in the MCU until two full years after each respective series' cancellation, meaning that Marvel Studios would have to wait for awhile before bringing Murdock into play in any capacity. Rather than deal with the possibility of having to adjust the timetable for production on the next Spidey flick, Marvel's brain trust simply defaulted to the next most well-known attorney in all of Marvel lore — Walters.
In the comics, Jennifer Walters is the cousin of Bruce Banner, who is shot and grievously injured by a vengeful gangster while in town for a visit. She receives a blood transfusion from dear cousin Bruce (since, apparently, there were no available donors not possessed of gamma-irradiated blood), leading to Walters becoming the savage She-Hulk.
The character has gone through quite an evolution in the comics; as she retains her intellect and personality post-transformation, she even eventually decides to just remain Hulked out permanently, even in the course of her day job as a defense lawyer. Although TVO's sources did not stipulate whether Walters would actually be seen in her She-Hulk persona during the film, one can imagine the comic mileage which could be gotten out of Parker having to deal with a giant, green counselor whose formidable smarts and knowledge of the law are the least intimidating things about her.
There is one additional small detail that lends credence to this rumor, although it requires a bit of stretching. Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige has gone on record saying that Far From Home's mid-credits scene will play heavily into the plot of Spidey's third outing, which he says will offer "a Peter Parker story that has never been done before on film." Marvel has long had a penchant for seeding its movies with elements of other genres; Ant-Man, for example, was a heist flick, while Captain America: The Winter Soldier was a political actioner, and so on.
Given this, how long will it be before the MCU gives us its first legal thriller? It looks quite a bit like the Spider-Man threequel could be shaping up to check that box, and if so, the involvement of Walters is not only possible, but likely. Considering the Spidey films' strong comedic bent, we're thinking of something along the lines of My Cousin Vinny, only with a giant, ripped, green woman instead of a motor-mouthed New York wiseguy. And hey, Marisa Tomei will be involved, too!
At any rate, we must reiterate that this is an unverified rumor, and should be taken with a king-sized grain of salt. But, it would be a cool way to introduce Walters into an MCU that could use a new Hulk now that Banner has been sidelined by the effects of using the Stark gauntlet to return all of those dusted heroes to life in Avengers: Endgame.
One final note: Walters is among the very few characters in Marvel comics who regularly breaks the fourth wall, seeming to demonstrate an awareness that she is a fictional character. One of the others: Deadpool, who is destined to be ported over into the MCU at some point following Disney's acquisition of the film and television assets of Fox Studios. These characters need to share a scene eventually... perhaps more than one scene. Heck, just let them riff off of each other for an entire movie, and we guarantee that Marvel would have yet another billion-dollar hit on its hands.