She-Hulk
She-Hulk is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Buscema, she first appeared in The Savage She-Hulk #1. Walters is a lawyer who, after an assassination attempt, received an emergency blood transfusion from her cousin, Bruce Banner, and acquired a milder version of his Hulk condition. As such, Walters becomes a large, powerful, green-hued version of herself. Unlike Banner in his Hulk form, Walters largely retains her normal personality in her She-Hulk form, in particular most of her intelligence and emotional control. Furthermore, though she is much taller in her She-Hulk form, Walters's body mass is just as dense as that of her normal human self. In any case, like Hulk, She-Hulk is still susceptible to outbursts of anger and becomes much stronger when enraged. In later series, her transformation is permanent, and she often breaks the fourth wall for humorous effect and running gags, as the first major Marvel character to do so frequently, ahead of the more famous fourth wall breaker Deadpool.
She-Hulk has been a member of the Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D., Defenders, Fantastic Four, Heroes for Hire, and Fantastic Force at various points in her history. As a highly skilled lawyer who became a superhero by accident, she frequently leverages her legal and personal experience to serve as legal counsel to various superheroes and other superhumans.
She-Hulk has been described as one of Marvel's most notable and powerful female heroes. Since her original introduction in comics, the character has been featured in various other Marvel-licensed products, including video games, animated television series, and merchandise. Walters made her live-action debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the Disney+ original series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, portrayed by Tatiana Maslany.
Publication history
She-Hulk was created by Stan Lee, who wrote only the first issue, and was the last character he created for Marvel Comics, until his return to comics with Ravage 2099 in 1992. The reason behind the character's creation had to do with the success of The Incredible Hulk and The Bionic Woman television series, both from Universal Television. Marvel was afraid that the show's executives might suddenly introduce a female version of the Hulk, as producer Kenneth Johnson had already done with The Six Million Dollar Man. So Marvel decided to publish their own version of such a character to make sure that, if a similar one appeared in the television series, Marvel would own the rights. Kenneth Johnson later said the plans for season five of The Incredible Hulk was to have Banner's sister suffering from a disease where only the blood of a sibling could save her life, which would turn her into a "woman Hulk who was crazy and scary and dangerous". But six episodes into the season, a new boss at CBS decided to cancel the show with immediate effect, ending the last season with episode seven.All but the first issue of The Savage She-Hulk were written by David Anthony Kraft and penciled by Mike Vosburg, and most issues were inked by Frank Springer. Vosburg later remarked, "The oddest thing about that book was that Frank drew really beautiful women, I drew really beautiful women, and yet, the She-Hulk was never overly attractive." The Savage She-Hulk series lasted until 1982, where it ended with #25. She-Hulk then made guest appearances in other characters' books. Her earliest guest-starring adventures followed no specific story line, besides her recurring bad luck with automobiles. She-Hulk also appeared in the limited series, Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions, in which numerous superheroes are kidnapped from Earth to fight in space.
She-Hulk becomes a member of the Avengers in Avengers #221. Her early Avengers appearances continued the running gag about her car troubles. She-Hulk also made occasional guest appearances in The Incredible Hulk. Her appearance in The Avengers #233 was drawn by John Byrne, who would later become strongly associated with the character.
At the conclusion of the first Secret Wars miniseries, She-Hulk joins the Fantastic Four. During She-Hulk's tenure with the Fantastic Four, she appeared in Marvel Graphic Novel #16: The Aladdin Effect, Marvel Graphic Novel #17: Revenge of the Living Monolith, and Marvel Graphic Novel #18: The Sensational She-Hulk. All three graphic novels appeared in 1985. The last, #18, appearing in November 1985, was written and illustrated by then-Fantastic Four writer/artist John Byrne.
She-Hulk regained a solo series in 1989, The Sensational She-Hulk. The Sensational She-Hulk ran for 60 issues. Issues #1–8, 31–46, and 48–50 were written and drawn by Byrne. Byrne's She-Hulk stories satirized comic books and introduced She-Hulk's awareness that she is a comic book character. Two issues tested the limits of the Comics Code: #34 makes reference to the 1991 Vanity Fair cover in which actress Demi Moore appeared nude and pregnant. In issue #40, She-Hulk is depicted jumping rope in the nude, with her breasts and genital area covered by blur lines; the cover of the same issue shows her covering herself with a form sporting the lines "Approved Comics Code". Other writers to contribute to this series include Steve Gerber, Simon Furman, and Peter David.
During The Sensational She-Hulk, the character continued making numerous guest appearances. In 1990, She-Hulk appeared in the two-issue limited series She-Hulk: Ceremony, adapted from a Dwayne McDuffie pitch for a cancelled She-Hulk romantic comedy ongoing series.
The Sensational She-Hulk ran until issue #60, making it the longest-running solo title of any Marvel superheroine up to that point. After the cancellation of She-Hulk's second solo series, she continued making backup, one-shot, and team appearances in Fantastic Force, the 1996 miniseries Doc Samson #1–4, Heroes for Hire #8–19, and The Avengers. Her next major appearance was in the May 2002 one-shot titled Thing and She-Hulk: The Long Night.
In May 2004, She-Hulk was given a new title and launched in a wave of six new Marvel books. Despite favorable critical notices, the new series could not escape the low sales numbers that the titles received from their initial cluster-style launch. Marvel brought the series to a close with #12 and promised a re-launch of the title eight months later. The eight-month gap is alluded to in the body of the story itself.
With the original creative team from the previous series, the book returned eight months later as promised in October 2005. The third issue was billed as the 100th issue of a She-Hulk comic book, and had story art by numerous artists, including Vosburg. There was no new artwork by Buscema or Byrne, who were represented by reprints of The Sensational She-Hulk #1 and The Savage She-Hulk #1.
Dan Slott's last issue is #21; with 33 issues, Slott has written the most solo issues of She-Hulk. Peter David became the new writer with She-Hulk #22. Marvel Comics announced that She-Hulk #38 would be the final issue of the series. Peter David commented on his blog that sales of the book were hurt due to discrepancies between his book and Jeph Loeb's Hulk series, caused by editorial error:
The mantle of She-Hulk is challenged by Lyra, the daughter of Hulk and Thundra, who is the lead character in All-New Savage She-Hulk, a miniseries written by Fred Van Lente.
She-Hulk appeared in FF by Matt Fraction and Mike Allred, which debuted in November 2012.
An ongoing She-Hulk series, written by Charles Soule and drawn by Javier Pulido, debuted in 2014. It was revealed in October 2014 that Soule and Pulido's run of She-Hulk, which had the character facing off against Matt Murdock in court, would end with issue 12.
Since May 2015, She-Hulk has appeared as one of the main characters in A-Force, an all-female Avengers spin-off being launched by G. Willow Wilson, Marguerite Bennett, and Jorge Molina during Marvel's Secret Wars crossover.
She-Hulk starred in the comic titled Hulk beginning December 2016. The series showed how she dealt with the trauma stemming from her cousin's death, and the injuries sustained at the hands of Thanos, as fallout from the Civil War II event. She appeared colored grey, similar to Hulk's "Joe Fixit" persona, and there were great differences in tone from her previous lighthearted adventures. The title was cancelled with issue #163 in March 2018.
In 2022, She-Hulk returned as an ongoing series by writer Rainbow Rowell and artist Rogê Antônio. The series returns to the lighthearted tone of the previous comics and focuses on She-Hulk's return to practicing law. The series ended in 2024 with 25 issues over 2 volumes.
Fictional character biography
''The Savage She-Hulk''
Jennifer Walters, the cousin of Bruce Banner, is the small and somewhat shy daughter of Los Angeles County Sheriff William Morris Walters and Elaine Walters. Operatives of Nicholas Trask, a crime boss who had crossed paths with her father, shot and seriously wounded her on the day that Banner visited her to tell her about his transformation into the Hulk. Since no other donors with her blood type were available, Banner provided his blood for a transfusion; as they already shared the same blood type and DNA, his gamma-irradiated blood, combined with the adrenaline from emotional stress, transformed Jennifer into the green-skinned She-Hulk when the mobsters tried to finish her off at the hospital. She then used her new powers to take down Trask, who was killed when the earth-boring device he rode malfunctioned, plunging him into the molten core of the Earth.As She-Hulk, Jennifer possessed powers similar to those of her cousin, though at a reduced level. She also possessed a less monstrous, more Amazonian appearance. Initially, anger triggered the transformation to her She-Hulk form. Like her cousin Bruce, his counterpart, the Leader, Doc Samson and most other persons mutated by exposure to gamma radiation over the years, her mutated form was originally explained as being molded by her subconscious desire to look like the ideal woman. She eventually gains control of her transformations when Michael Morbius cures her of a lethal blood disease. As a criminal defense lawyer, she defended Morbius when he was tried for serial murder and managed to reduce the conviction to involuntary manslaughter, considering his medical condition.
A geneticist called "Doc" obtains a sample of She-Hulk's blood that was given to Morbius when she was sick and attempts to capture her to get more of it, hoping to use it to create an army of super-villains. When she escapes, he uses a serum made of her blood to transform his lab assistant Ralph "Ralphie" Hutchins. She-Hulk attempted to stop him, but her unfamiliarity with Hulk strength caused Hutchins to sustain fatal injuries and resurrect into several new physical forms, each with different powers. Finally, he evolved into an incorporeal being; with no trace of his humanity remaining, Hutchins opted to leave Earth peacefully.
Jennifer eventually decides to permanently retain her She Hulk form, feeling that it not only makes her a better lawyer, but also gives her an assertiveness and confidence that she never had as a human. After her brief solo career, she joined the Avengers. This led to her being transported to Battleworld by the Beyonder and her participation in the Secret Wars, which is most notable for sparking her long-standing rivalry with the newly empowered Titania. After the heroes returned to Earth, she temporarily replaced the Thing as a member of the Fantastic Four.
During her tenure with the Fantastic Four, She-Hulk met and started a romance with Wyatt Wingfoot. One day, she had to prevent a radiation leak in a downed S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. This radiation exposure drastically affected Jennifer: she could no longer transform back into her original human form. However, this was an agreeable turn of events for her, since she preferred being She-Hulk, and it was revealed much later by Leonard Samson and Reed Richards that the block was purely psychological.
Shortly after that, she appeared before the Supreme Court, where she battled Titania again.