Disney Plus series She-Hulk should be something different for the MCU. The show looks like it’s taking a lot of inspiration from Dan Slott’s Single Green Female arc, which sees Jennifer Walters balancing superhero antics with her job as a lawyer.
The superhero spectacular has already been billed as a “half-hour legal comedy“, so perhaps this could be the green-skinned take on Ally McBeal we’ve all been waiting for.
The title hero has many diehard fans, with director Kat Coiro counting herself among them. As such, the moment she heard Marvel Studios were working on She-Hulk, she began pushing for the director’s chair, as explained in a recent interview with Collider.
“I’m a huge fan of the MCU, and I was actually a giant fan of the She-Hulk comics, so when I heard they were making it, I went full court press and really sold myself as the person to bring this story to life. It was a huge and involved process. Marvel is one of the most collaborative environments in the world. Even though he’s producing so many things, Kevin [Feige], and Lou [D’Esposito] and Victoria [Alonso] and Brad [Winderbaum], have such a hand in everything.
Coiro went on to underline how every MCU production is an intensely collaborative experience:
“The process was really about getting on the same page and making sure that we were like-minded. It’s never about anybody’s ego. It’s about bringing these stories to life. It was a long process, but those processes to get a job become very easy when you’re really passionate about the material, which I was in the case of that one.”
When pressed for more details of the show, Coiro was tight-lipped, though she dropped a big hint that it’ll be a story relevant to 2022:
“I can’t say very much about the show, but I’m really happy with it. Part of what I appreciate about the MCU is that it’s an ever-expanding universe. It’s almost like an organic being that really responds to what’s going on in the culture and really listens to its fans. I will say that I think there’s a real connectedness to the people who love the MCU and listening to what they want, and I hope we satisfy the fans.”
The concept of superhero legal drama has endless possibilities. In Marvel Comics, Walters has defended Steve Rogers when he was prosecuted for causing a young man’s death in 1940, helped Spider-Man sue the Daily Bugle for libel, and legally aided masked heroes during the Superhuman Registration Act (despite personally supporting it).
Here’s hoping the format sees many MCU characters take the stand. One hero very likely to appear is Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock: he and She-Hulk have faced each other down in the courtroom plenty of times on the printed page, and it’d be great to see them lock legal horns in live-action.
She-Hulk will air on Disney Plus in mid-2022.
