The "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" season finale turned out to be one of the most daring scenes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Tatiana Maslany's character, Jennifer Walters, is determined to expose the online bullies who wrecked her life by tricking her into turning into the Hulk and bringing them to justice. Jen takes over the story, however, as the decisive conflict spirals out of control with new Hulks being formed and ancient ones appearing from outer space to save the day. She shoots out of the Disney+ webpage, into the "real world," and into her own writers' room to confront them about the cliched conflict they have planned for her as the ultimate fourth wall break.
Finally, Jen finds "Kevin," whom we at home believe to be Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios. Instead, she discovers K.E.V.I.N. (Knowledge Enhanced Visual Interconnectivity Nexus), a machine that use an algorithm to decide what goes into each MCU manufacture. Jen persuades K.E.V.I.N. to let her take control of her own narrative in a moment that is evocative of Neo uncovering the Architect in "The Matrix Reloaded."
Although the sequence is unquestionably the most meta MCU moment to date, She-Hulk as a character is accustomed to having meta moments. Jen's main power throughout her decades-long history hasn't been her green muscles but rather her ability to speak directly to her creators and readers. Here is an explanation of She-fourth Hulk's wall cracks, from page to screen.
She-Hulk was initially more like her giant green relative in the early years after Stan Lee introduced her, as evidenced by runs like "Savage She-Hulk," but it didn't take long for her authors to come up with a unique approach for Jennifer Walters. Years before Deadpool appeared on the page, She-Hulk established herself as a literal and figurative wall-breaker. She could parody the clichés and traditions of the genre, much like The Onion parodies actual news headlines, and writer John Byrne recognised an opportunity to create her as such within the Marvel comics universe. In 1989, Jen became aware that she was in a comic book thanks to the "Sensational She-Hulk" series. She addressed her readers, editors, and writers directly. When other characters threatened to eclipse her, she became envious. She also made fun of the writers for their poor writing and the illustrators for pandering to men. She even tore through the pages of her own issues to get to the good stuff.
When writer Dan Slott took over in the mid-aughts for a run that would be collected under the title "Single Green Female," he maintained that concept in place. The meta, mouthy version of Jen swiftly established itself as the de-facto. Jen was employed by GLK&H, a law practise that specialised in superhuman cases, during Slott's tenure, and the show was set up as a legal procedural. The juxtaposition of superpowered individuals dealing with the American court system offered a cunning framework to parody superhero comics in its own unique way, even though it wasn't as explicitly breaching the fourth wall as Byrne's run.
Ultimately, the show's creators chose to combine the ideas of Byrne and Slott when it came time to bring She-Hulk to life for live action in "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law."
The presence of Marvel comics within the comics was one aspect of Dan Slott's "She-Hulk" run that informed "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law," aside from the legal humour. According to Polygon, every Marvel book, which the company categorises as legal paperwork, is kept in the basement of GLK&H. It sowed the seed for the Disney+ show's mind-bending finale along with John Byrne's brazen approach to fourth wall breaking. "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" was created using Byrne's direct addresses and Slott's narrative structure.
Byrne's meta-humor prompted the idea to have Jen confront K.E.V.I.N. in Episode 9, which they had been preparing the framework for all season with Jen's constant addresses direct-to-camera, according to "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" head writer Jessica Gao in a statement to Marvel. It "just felt natural" that she would protest to K.E.V.I.N., the supreme ruler of Marvel, she said.
In other words, Jen's frequent breaks of the fourth wall in "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" were more than just an example of the writers being creative. For more than 30 years, they have been a fundamental part of the character, and they might even be Jen's greatest superpower.
