It’s no secret that the non-male stars of any major movie franchise are subjected to online discrimination, but, following the release of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Marvel fans are putting their foot down as misogynistic reviews of the character begin to circulate.
This recent bout of discourse seemed to have kicked off when the good folk over at IMDb posted a powerful clip from the show’s premiere, where Jennifer Walters explains to Bruce Banner why she’s an expert at controlling her anger — as a woman, she has no choice.
“Here’s the thing, Bruce, I’m great at controlling my anger. I do it all the time. When I’m catcalled in the street when incompetent men explain my own area of expertise I do it pretty much every day because if I don’t, I get called emotional or difficult or might just literally get murdered. So, I’m an expert at controlling my anger because I do it infinitely more than you.”
Naturally, this clip of a woman exerting her very real frustrations has led to an outpouring of criticism from some MCU viewers (see: trolls) claiming that a) Bruce actually knows more about controlling his anger than she does and b) women actually aren’t that great at controlling their emotions at all. Keep in mind that this outrage has sparked from a 28-second clip with fictional characters!
The comparison between Hulk’s (fictional) trauma and what She-Hulk is talking about here inherently makes no sense, mainly because trauma and anger-control are… not the same thing, nor is she saying that his experience isn’t valid. They’re different. Additionally, Jennifer Walters’ experience within her career is reflective and accurate of real-world experiences by literal millions, which feels like exactly the reason the dialogue was put there in the first place.
But this criticism of She-Hulk seems to be a recurring theme with basically any female lead within the MCU, as one Twitter user so eloquently put it.
Not only that but even if these quoted critiques were valid, they are matched if not surpassed by the male leads in the MCU that appear to get nowhere near as much hatred.
People are allowed to think whatever they want about any fictional character, sure. But let’s not try and shoot down a show before it starts simply because of misogynist dog whistles, OK?
