Entertainment
She-Hulk episode 2 recap: Tongue-in-cheek nod to Edward Norton’s Hulk film leaves fans cackling-Sabrina Barr-Entertainment – Metro
Mark Ruffalo took over as Bruce Banner four years after Edward Norton.
Mark Ruffalo took over as Bruce Banner four years after Edward Norton (Picture: Marvel Studios/Disney Plus/Rex)
Warning: spoilers for She-Hulk episode 2 ahead.
Last week’s premiere of She-Hulk: Attorney At Law proved a massive hit with Marvel fans, as they were introduced to Tatiana Maslany as the lovable, hard-working Jennifer Walters, who inadvertently receives Hulk abilities from her cousin, Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo).
In episode 2, Jennifer experiences the chaos of her superhuman and normal lives merging for the first time, while also coming face to face with the Abomination, aka Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth)… and finding time to throw in a cheeky nod about The Incredible Hulk star Edward Norton for good measure.
From Jennifer’s plight to find a new job after being fired to Bruce’s storyline possibly teasing the future depiction of comic book storyline World War Hulk, the protagonist’s world has already been turned on its head.
Let’s break down what unfolded in the second episode.
Jennifer Walters is attorney for hire after being fired
Despite Jennifer saving the entire jury in court when she transformed into She-Hulk in public for the first time, doing so meant she ended up being fired, as the opposing defence team declared the case a mistrial, considering the people she saved would likely be biased towards her.
Jennifer later gets a new job… but as She-Hulk (Picture: Marvel Studios/Disney Plus)
So, our lead ends up going from becoming the latest superhero splashed across the news – dubbed ‘She-Hulk’, much to her displeasure – to a woman facing unemployment, with no law firms seemingly interested in taking her on.
That is, until GLK & H, the firm she went up against in court who declared the mistrial, come to her offering her a job… but there are strings attached.
Abomination is back in the picture after lucrative job offer
When Jennifer arrives at GLK & H for her first day, she’s extremely excited about her new role… that is, until her boss Holden Holliway (Steve Coulter) explains she’ll be in charge of the new superhero law division, not as Jennifer, but as She-Hulk.
After the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk, Blonsky is back after 14 years (Picture: Marvel Studios/Disney Plus)
While she is disheartened by this revelation, Jennifer is still keen to crack on, but immediately faces another obstacle when she’s informed her first case will be the case of Blonsky, otherwise known as the Abomination, the antagonist who tried to kill Bruce Banner in the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk.
While Jennifer points out she has a conflict of interest given Blonsky’s fractured history with her cousin, Holliway insists this isn’t a problem, and stresses that if she’s not willing to take on the case, she won’t have a job at the firm. Cut throat.
Nod to Edward Norton’s Hulk film leaves fans cackling
After meeting with Blonsky in a top-security prison, Jennifer’s interest is piqued, and so she calls up her cousin Bruce to hear what he has to say about her potentially taking on his old enemy as a client.
Edward depicted Bruce five years after Eric Bana in the previous 2003 film (Picture: Marvel Enterprises/Kobal/Rex/Shutterstock)
Fortunately, Bruce is extremely understanding from the get-go, explaining that what went down between them happened a long time ago, and Blonsky even sent him a heartfelt haiku that helped put the water under the bridge between the pair.
‘That fight was so many years ago, I’m a completely different person now. Literally,’ Bruce says, as Jennifer then turns to the camera in one of her signature fourth-wall breaks to add: ‘Ha ha.’
Bruce was of course – literally – a completely different person… given Edward Norton played the superhero in The Incredible Hulk, before Mark took over the role for the first time four years later in The Avengers.
Bruce and Jennifer’s undeniable nods to Mark replacing Edward as Hulk left fans cackling, what with She-Hulk being one of the most self-aware and self-deprecating MCU productions.
‘Very mad that I laughed at that Edward Norton meta-joke in #SheHulk,’ one person tweeted in response to the unexpected gag.
‘That nod to Edward Norton was WIIILD,’ someone else remarked alongside a cry-laughing emoji.
Could Hulk in spaceship have teased World War Hulk?
When Jennifer is speaking to Bruce on the phone about Blonsky, it emerges that he’s actually in the Sakaaran courier spaceship – from the planet he was found on in Thor: Ragnarok – that caused their car crash in the first episode.
While it’s currently unknown why the spaceship tracked Bruce down, some fans have speculated that Bruce jetting off to space could be setting up the World War Hulk storyline from the Marvel comics.
World War Hulk in the comics has a strong emphasis on the Illuminati, the group introduced in Doctor Stranger in the Multiverse of Madness.
The storyline in the original source material follows Bruce when he returns to Earth after being exiled to space, as he subsequently seeks revenge against the Illuminati.
Considering the ‘Smart Hulk’ we’ve been accustomed to seeing on screen since Avengers: Endgame, it would make for an extremely fascinating turn of events if Bruce was to ‘Hulk out’ and lose control yet again, particularly if he can do so in his own solo movie (which Mark is yet to have in the MCU).
Is there a post-credits scene?
There is a post-credits scene… but this week, it’s not quite as exciting as Jennifer celebrating the fact that Captain America lost his virginity back in the 1940s.
This time around, Jennifer is back at home helping out with muscle-worthy tasks, having previously had to endure a family dinner where she was bombarded with comments about her losing her job and her new superhero life.
Hey, even superheroes have to do chores every now and then.
She-Hulk is available to watch on Disney Plus with new episodes released on Thursdays.
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