While She-Hulk: Attorney at Law does add another gamma-powered hero to the MCU, she is not a carbon copy of Hulk. Tatiana Maslany plays Bruce’s cousin Jennifer Walters in She-Hulk. Jennifer is a bright lawyer whose life is irrevocably altered after she is exposed to Hulk’s blood in a car accident. She-Hulk may be a Hulk, but she is more than just a feminine take on the original.
The introduction of She-Hulk is part of the MCU’s strategy to establish new, enduring characters to replace the original Avengers. Every time a new person or thing takes on a well-established position, they bring their twist to it. And with this new Disney+ show, one thing remains a mystery: She-Hulk’s alter ego.
She-Hulk’s Alter Ego
The first episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law indicates that Jennifer Walters’ Hulk transformation doesn’t have a dual persona. While Bruce Banner’s experience of having to share his body with another person caused significant disruption to his life, it’s clear that Walters won’t have the same difficulties. He had been at odds with the Hulk for ten years, and that experience led him to believe that Walters would have no choice but to empathize with him.
To a significant extent, the first episode of She-Hulk focused on Hulk’s (presumably) astute attempts to convince his cousin that the drastic changes that had been made to her life were not for the better. Drawing from his own life experiences, Banner advised her to isolate herself until she learned to master her new abilities before reintroducing herself to society. But when they found that Walters maintains control every time she changes, they understood that Walters is She-Hulk.
The Fact About Banner’s Trauma
Bruce Banner and the Hulk are often seen as two separate characters who must cohabit in the same body, rendering many of his concerns meaningless. Hulk’s brain was blown when he learned that Walters doesn’t have to deal with the negative effects of having an alter ego. However, the reason for this was never made clear.
She-Hulk is unlike any other superhero, but the source material explains why. It’s interesting that Banner, not Walters, is the outlier here. In the Marvel Comics universe, it is well-established that Banner’s traumatic upbringing led to the development of dissociative identity disorder.
This explains why he, and not Abomination, She-Hulk, or anybody else, experienced the emergence of an alternate personality after exposure to gamma radiation. His Marvel Cinematic Universe analog may share this quality. If that doesn’t explain, she may have gotten Banner’s blood.
