When the trailer for Disney Plus’ She-Hulk: Attorney at Law dropped at Comic-Con, fans instantly began drawing comparisons between Tatiana Maslany’s Jennifer Walters and Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson (aka Deadpool), because of the way both characters like to break the fourth wall and address the camera, and the audience, directly.
True She-Hulk aficionados who have been following the character since her comic book origins were quick to defend the upcoming comedy show, by pointing out that Jennifer used to break the fourth wall often in the first few issues of the comics, even before Deadpool started doing it.
The same thing happened under a recent Reddit post asking for fans’ opinions on this peculiar narrative device, reminiscent not only of Deadpool but also Fleabag, which Jessica Gao (the show’s creator) has cited as one of her influences for the show.
“I’ve never held a She-Hulk comic in my hand or even read one, and yet I do know that it’s a thing in the comics,” the most popular comment reads, drawing a very straight-forward response by another user who wonders “How in the actual f##k has cultural osmosis not occurred yet to just sort of passively inject into their brains that this is not only comics accurate but also that she did it before Deadpool.”
For this same reason, She-Hulk fans are pretty excited about the fact that the show has chosen to carry out this comical bit that the comics initiated. “I think it’s really awesome. Some non-comic fans might call it gimmicky but I love that they included this,” one Redditor expressed.
A few people also argue that including fourth wall breaks in She-Hulk is a clever way to introduce the style in the MCU in preparation for the future addition of Deadpool to the universe. Some are already imagining the hilarious scenarios this common feature might originate between the two characters, while warning that breaking the fourth wall doesn’t really work if it isn’t accompanied by good writing.
One user offered up one idea that Marvel might have to give them credit for come Deadpool 3‘s release. “Imagine Deadpool 3 comes out and suddenly She-Hulk just pops out and bodies Wade and yells at him that “Because of you everybody thinks I stole your gimmick when I did it first,” they wrote.
Ultimately, no one can argue that keeping a show comic-accurate isn’t a good thing, whether or not another Marvel production had tried it out first. If anything, Deadpool and Fleabag’s successes were an extra incentive to include breaking the fourth wall in She-Hulk, seeing as both shows proved that this trick works wonders in comedy.
She-Hulk: Attorney At Law debuts on Disney Plus on August 17.