Every MCU Cameo Planned For She-Hulk (That Didn't Happen)

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law contained many a cameo from MCU characters, from Wong to Hulk, with many more initially planned that did not happen for one reason or another. Due to She-Hulk's nature as a lawyer procedural show, the format allowed plenty of fun side characters to pop up weekly. These include Bruce Banner (Jen's cousin), Wong, Emil Blonsky/Abomination, and the Man Without Fear himself Daredevil, alongside many surprising, obscure characters in episode 7.

Since She-Hulk's run ended, the writers and directors of the show have confirmed that other cameos of Marvel characters, both obscure and integral to the MCU, were planned. Unfortunately though, for a variety of reasons, these cameos could not happen. From the MCU's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and the subject of insane fan theories in The Leader to more obscure characters like Stilt-Man and the Matador, She-Hulk had a vast rotation of characters in play that were, unfortunately, left in the writer's room.

Stilt-Man

One of the more obscure characters from Marvel Comics' varied roster that was considered to be part of a She-Hulk episode was Stilt-Man. In Marvel Comics, Stilt-Man is an alias held by a few different characters, with Wilbur Day being the most well-known. Wilbur Day is a very competent engineer who creates a suit that allows him to commit high-story heists in New York through the extendable legs, hence the name Stilt-Man. The character is often considered one of Daredevil's arch foes, though he has come into opposition with Iron Man and Thor at different points.

In an interview with ComicBook, writer Zeb Wells, who penned the script for She-Hulk episode 7 in which Jen goes to Blonsky's wellness retreat, revealed that Stilt-Man was initially one of the characters in the episode. This makes sense, given all the different cameos at Blonsky's retreat were adaptations of some of Marvel Comics' most obscure characters. Despite the cast of characters chosen for She-Hulk episode 7 really working, Stilt-Man would have been another likely hilarious addition to the show's colorful roster.

The Matador

In the same interview with ComicBook, Wells also confirmed another character that was looked at for use in She-Hulk episode 7. The Matador, another enemy of Daredevil from Marvel Comics that was confirmed by Wells to have been looked at as part of the episode. However, for a reason Wells does not divulge, Matador could not be used. This likely explains the episode's usage of El Águila instead. In the comics, Matador has a partnership with Man-Bull, one that was attributed to El Águila in She-Hulk. The show even went as far as to make a joke that El Águila looking similar to a matador triggers Man-Bull, which is a neat tongue-in-cheek reference by Wells to the potential inclusion of Matador.

Edward Norton's Hulk

One of the greatest things about She-Hulk was the reintroduction of Hulk-centric elements to the MCU, meaning that the showrunners' decision to almost bring back Edward Norton as Bruce Banner/Hulk would have been perfect. According to director Kat Coiro in an interview with The Direct there was plenty of talk on set about how the last time Hulk and Abomination had seen each other, Hulk was played by Edward Norton instead of Mark Ruffalo. Because of this, as well as Ruffalo himself mentioning it a few times, the team at Marvel Studios considered swapping out Ruffalo for Norton. Unfortunately, the cameo did not manifest and Norton was nowhere to be seen in She-Hulk, which likely explains the very self-aware joke from Hulk in She-Hulk episode 2 about being a different person since seeing Blonsky.

The Leader/Samuel Sterns

Arguably, the most popular subject for many online theories about She-Hulk's villains was Samuel Sterns/The Leader. As mentioned, She-Hulk brought back a lot of elements from The Incredible Hulk into the MCU, leading many to believe that The Leader was behind the villainous group Intelligencia. Fans can not be blamed for this, however. For one thing, The Leader is a crucial part of Intelligencia in Marvel Comics. For another, head writer Jessica Gao confirmed to ComicBook that Samuel Sterns was initially part of the project.

Gao revealed that The Leader was part of her initial pitch to Marvel Studios, though she cannot remember why the idea was dropped. This is likely due to the character's upcoming appearance in Captain America: New World Order. Jessica Gao has revealed that some characters that the She-Hulk team wanted to include were not used as Marvel Studios simply told them that they had other plans for the characters. The Leader is likely one of these, as he will potentially be a big part of the MCU's Phase 5.

Spider-Man

When talking to The Direct about the characters Gao wanted to use in She-Hulk, one of them was Spider-Man himself. Gao revealed that the writers room that was put together for She-Hulk included many Spider-Man fans and that many of them wanted to use either the web-slinger himself or characters from that facet of the universe. However, unfortunately for both the team behind She-Hulk and many fans across the world, Spider-Man was not part of She-Hulk. Out of the hundreds of characters at Marvel's disposal, Spider-Man is one of the many that would perfectly fit with the tone of She-Hulk. However, it is likely that Spider-Man not being used is a combination of the aforementioned reason of Marvel having upcoming plans for the character, and the deal struck between Marvel Studios and Sony for the rights of Spider-Man.

As is known from the production of the MCU's Spider-Man trilogy, Sony is directly involved with that character and collaborates with Marvel Studios to produce the films. Given that She-Hulk is solely a Marvel Studios property for release on Disney+, it is unlikely that Sony wanted to produce something with Marvel that had no direct benefit to them. After all, Sony takes a large portion of any MCU Spider-Man film's box office revenue, something that would not have been the case with a Tom Holland She-Hulk cameo, that being said, there has been no word on a Spider-Man 4 film in the MCU as of yet, meaning that Marvel likely has plans behind the scenes with Sony to announce that film soon, also partly explaining his absence from She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.

Next: All 16 Marvel Movies Releasing After She-Hulk