Jessica Gao teases that She-Hulk will boldly go where no MCU Disney+ series has gone before - the hero's sex life. Audiences will be introduced to Jennifer Walters, also known as She-Hulk, on August 18. Tatiana Maslany will star in the titular role, alongside some familiar faces including Daredevil's Charlie Cox. The Kat Coiro-directed series will follow Jennifer, Bruce Banner's cousin, as she deals with her new superhuman abilities while trying to juggle her career as a lawyer. Since Jennifer gained her powers accidentally and is reluctant to embrace that side of her, she often takes on the legal cases of superpowered individuals.
Because Jennifer only gains some of Hulk's abilities due to the cross-contamination of her and Bruce's blood, she largely retains her personality when she transforms. Additionally, her hulked-out form is much more digestible than Bruce's. She appears as a green, muscular 6 foot 7 version of herself but is mostly able to keep her emotional control. As a result, She-Hulk is simply another part of Jennifer's busy life, one that she is expected to try and ignore as she navigates modern dating.
While early teasers gave viewers hints of the saucy direction the show will be taking as Jennifer pursues a love life, She-Hulk writer Jessica Gao recently confirmed in an interview with EW just how far the series will go. Describing the show as "horny-forward", Gao cites the fact that She-Hulk is looking to present Jennifer's life in as well-rounded of a way as possible, meaning they couldn't ignore that aspect. See her full comments below:
"I've been saying repeatedly that we are a very horny-forward show. We're just all very sex positive, and so this is a very sex positive show. And we don't want it to feel like a taboo, because this show is supposed to be a well-rounded, realistic portrait of a woman's life — a single, 30-something-year-old woman — and sex is a part of everyone's life. It is basic biology. It is a very normal, healthy part of human beings. We didn't want to feel like we're going to paint a picture of this woman's life, but not that part."
Though the Marvel TV Universe is no stranger to sex scenes (Jessica Jones and Luke Cage serving as prime examples), She-Hulk's "horny-forward" promise will mark a new direction for the Disney+ era of Marvel shows. Serving as the 8th Marvel Disney+ series with MCU continuity, She-Hulk will be the only one so far to follow its hero under the covers. The series is slated to break ground in multiple ways, with Jennifer confirmed to be reprising her iconic fourth-wall breaks from the comics and Daredevil's appearance officially merging the Marvel Netflix shows with the new Disney+ era of content. Gao's comments display that the show's creators are making strides to tell a nuanced and grounded story about a human woman who happens to have powers, rather than focusing on the superhero aspect of her identity.
With fans concerned about audiences becoming overwhelmed by Marvel's large catalog of new releases, the way for the MCU to maintain its place as a cultural behemoth is to branch out and tell new kinds of stories. Early fan reactions have praised She-Hulk for its comedic tone, Maslany's performance, and the new stories available to tell due to the series' courtroom setting. Though not every Marvel fan will tune in for each Disney+ series, creators are making sure that there is something for everyone to enjoy in the next phase of the MCU.
Source: EW