‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’ Director Explains Why Jennifer Walters Isn’t as ‘Giant and Green’ as Hulk
The next Marvel Disney+ series will introduce a new Hulk to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but she looks much different from Bruce Banner. Jennifer Walters accidentally falls into the superhero business in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and the cast and crew explained that the complexity of her character is part of the reason behind her differing looks as a Hulk.
Tatiana Maslany plays Jennifer Walters in ‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’
Jennifer “Jen” Walters, played by Tatiana Maslany, is accidentally exposed to her cousin Bruce’s blood in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. And as a result, she turns into a 6-foot-7-inch She-Hulk.
As seen in the trailer, Bruce tries to train Jen on how to be a Hulk. However, Jen’s experiences will wildly differ from her cousin’s, so she’ll have to forge her own path in the superhero world. Unfortunately for Jen, she has no interest in being a superhero and fighting crime.
Jen is a lawyer who specializes in cases that involve superhumans. More specifically, she represents superhumans in the courtroom. So throughout She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Jen will try to find a balance between being a giant, green superhero and a lawyer while maintaining her dating life.
The cast and crew preview Jennifer Walters’ journey in ‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’
While speaking with USA Today, the She-Hulk: Attorney at Law cast and crew teased Jennifer Walters’ story in the series and how they developed her She-Hulk look.
“There’s something about the duality of a woman occupying two different bodies,” Tatiana Maslany explained. “Culturally, we’re so obsessed with women’s bodies in terms of control, projection, ownership, aesthetic, all of this stuff. Exploring that feels very prescient, and [it’s] very rife with interesting nuance.”
Executive producer/director Kat Coiro added, “Yes, she has to be giant and green, but we also want her to still fit into the human world and be able to go to a restaurant on a date. She stands out, but she doesn’t look like a monster who shouldn’t be there.”
Director Anu Valia elaborated that Maslany “never for a moment forgot the body she was in. She was always just very aware of what She-Hulk’s frame would feel like and how she moves, [that] she is more confident and she’s funnier.”
Creator Jessica Gao defends She-Hulk’s smaller muscles in the show
Marvel fans quickly pointed out that Jennifer Walters’ She-Hulk body was significantly smaller than Bruce Banner’s Hulk body in the MCU. And some of them weren’t happy about it.
“The Hulk is not human proportions,” creator Jessica Gao told Entertainment Weekly. “He’s not human scale. He is a monster in that way. And it was really important for us that [Jen] still operated on a human scale. It was never about, ‘Make her smaller,’ it was about, ‘How can she fit into the world and work in an office and go to a restaurant and walk down the street and still draw attention but still be within the realm of being a human?'”
She continued, “We honestly talked about strength more than aesthetics. We studied musculature, and we studied women athletes who were incredibly strong. We really leaned towards Olympians rather than bodybuilders. That’s where a lot of our body references came from, very strong Olympic athletes.”
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, starring Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters, premieres on Aug. 18 on Disney+.
