Is the MCU not big enough for two characters who can break the fourth wall? Apparently not, because it seems that when Marvel Studios had to choose between keeping either She-Hulk or Deadpool, it unsurprisingly chose the one who just made the company over $1 billion at the box office.
No, we haven’t received 100% confirmation that Jennifer Walters is never coming back to our screens, but it’s not looking good. In an update that may seem slight but will still leave She-Hulk diehards (yes, we do exist) feeling green around the gills, Disney Plus has officially updated its Marvel Studios banner.
For the past couple of years, the eclectic assortment of heroes showcased in the banner displayed on the platform’s Marvel landing page included many notable Multiverse Saga stars. Namely, Shuri (Letitia Wright), Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Captain America (Anthony Mackie), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), and She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany).
Fans have noticed, though, that a new version has now gone live in which everyone else is present and correct… apart from She-Hulk, who has now been swapped for Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool.
There’s no mystery surrounding the reasoning or timing behind this alteration. The updated banner comes hot on the heels of Deadpool & Wolverine hitting Disney Plus last week and becoming as much of a smash on streaming as it was on the big screen — it’s the most-watched live-action movie debut on the service since Marvel’s own Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in February 2023.
No one can deny that Wade Wilson has earned his place on this banner — it just seems particularly cruel, and potentially telling, that he has so directly replaced She-Hulk. Hasn’t Shulkie suffered enough indignities already since She-Hulk: Attorney at Law premiered in summer 2022? No one’s saying the meta legal comedy was perfect, but it surely didn’t deserve the openly misogynistic criticism and review-bombing it was forced to face. Nor did Maslany deserve to shoulder all the sexist hate that has come her way ever since — though thankfully she’s retained a sharp sense of humor about it all.
Perhaps we’re reading too much into it, but it certainly seems notable that no other characters from this line-up but Jen have been ditched, nor have any others, barring Deadpool, been added. While the rest of that roster clearly has a future ahead of them in the franchise, this does seem to send a message that She-Hulk has been quietly rested in favor of another camera-winking character whose MCU entrance was far better received (or, at least, less triggering for a subset of women-fearing male fans).
Let’s hope there are still plans for She-Hulk to return in the Multiverse Saga. Both the Merc with the Mouth and the Jade Giantess have existed in their own corners of the Marvel Comics universe for decades without stepping on each others’ toes — the whole meta thing was Jen’s shtick first, by the way — so there’s no reason they can’t do the same in the MCU, too. This may have been a literal banner year for Deadpool, but there’s no need for She-Hulk to pay for his success.
Published: Nov 19, 2024 02:03 pm