The She-Hulk Problem

[Nyssane]

As we discussed in the Marvel's flagship female thread, She-Hulk has the most solo comic issues out of any other female Marvel heroine. By a lot. But in recent years, the character has undergone some... seemingly very unpopular development. First, there was Mariko Tamaki's highly criticized run of "Hulk" (later re-titled back to "She-Hulk"). And now it's Jason Aaron's reductive use of She-Hulk as a literal female Hulk.

Why doesn't Marvel have a tighter control on the character conceptually? Throughout the 80's and 90's, She-Hulk was one of Marvel's leading ladies alongside Storm and Rogue. In the 2000's, Dan Slott's run of She-Hulk was a critical darling among comic enthusiasts. It wasn't until Peter David came onto the book and attempted to make the character more serious that the series lost its audience. And when he returned the character to her lighter tone, the readers had already jumped ship. If this fundamental character change has de-popularized the character, why would Marvel find it wise to do the same with the character in current comics?

Is anyone even happy with the current version of She-Hulk? Why do you think Marvel has let the character slide back down into the B-List and further? Especially in this age of fun, lighter-toned heroes like Ms. Marvel, Squirrel Girl, and Spider-Gwen, shouldn't classic She-Hulk excel?

[SuperiorIronman]

Characters are unfortunately changed to fit stories as opposed to stories being made to suit characters.

[kilderkin]

I genuinely have no idea what marvel are trying to do with her

She's completely alien to her core character persona for me

Development is fine, alienation isn't imo

She's lost all her fun and I find her a dour and uninteresting character in recent years

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

I genuinely have no idea what marvel are trying to do with her

She's completely alien to her core character persona for me

Development is fine, alienation isn't imo

She's lost all her fun and I find her a dour and uninteresting character in recent years

To me, marvel comics is to bring out the character's fun side with supervillains


and superheroes from past galore.

[Snoop Dogg]

Characters can benefit from periods when they're conceptually off-base, especially when that is the entire point of the story, that the concept is off-base. Alternatively, if no one tells actual major She-Hulk stories and she remains the kind of character who's just kinda there on teams and then gets a little quirky solo every few years, she'll become kitsch and niche. You could make the argument she already was. While I think the Tamaki run could've used a better editor, the premise was compelling and it's a new challenge for the character. Now that she's a star in one of Marvel's most popular titles and being handled by a stronger office, there's going to be a plan in place for her. But it's early, so we'll have to see where it's going.

I want characters to face new challenges and I'm happy that she's in the spotlight. I don't know where she's going to end up on the other side, but that's good. That's exciting. More exciting than recent years where she's just kinda there.

[Nyssane]

I want characters to face new challenges and I'm happy that she's in the spotlight. I don't know where she's going to end up on the other side, but that's good. That's exciting. More exciting than recent years where she's just kinda there.

I agree with you that the Tamaki run had an interesting premise. But the execution was poor, and there was little to no semblance of She-Hulk in that series.

Marvel has been trying for decades to make the statement: She-Hulk is NOT just Hulk with breasts. She's far different. She's intelligent, sassy, fun. And now they're literally depicting her as Hulk with beasts. That's a huge step backward for the character, not forward.

[kilderkin]

I agree with you that the Tamaki run had an interesting premise. But the execution was poor, and there was little to no semblance of She-Hulk in that series.

Marvel has been trying for decades to make the statement: She-Hulk is NOT just Hulk with breasts. She's far different. She's intelligent, sassy, fun. And now they're literally depicting her as Hulk with beasts. That's a huge step backward for the character, not forward.

I think this is very valid

[Snoop Dogg]

Characters are unfortunately changed to fit stories as opposed to stories being made to suit characters.

This is supposed to be said when you think a character is written out of character for a story, not when a story about a character isn't the type that you're used to. That means that you're putting them in a box and saying that they're only allowed to do certain types of things. Which is an unhealthy mindset for characters who will always be around.

[SuperiorIronman]

This is supposed to be said when you think a character is written out of character for a story, not when a story about a character isn't the type that you're used to. That means that you're putting them in a box and saying that they're only allowed to do certain types of things. Which is an unhealthy mindset for characters who will always be around.

Which is what happened wasn't it? She is only in this position because somebody wanted her to be in a darker story therefore despite the kind of jokey character she became in the modern era, she is suddenly now dealing with mental trauma. As such, somebody wanted to write that particular instance of the character so they bent over backwards to make it happen. And outside of the Tamaki run, I can't verify this, but Aaron wanted to continue using that incarnation of the character. Whatever resolution occurred in the prior run, it was ignored in the interest of keeping it around. Now given how early comics get scripted to avoid delays it's entirely possible that this incarnation of the character was on the table during his scripting. Regardless of it being intentional or not, the character was indeed changed to fit whatever Bendis, Tamaki, or Aaron wanted to be doing.

I'm not against changing characters to fit different molds. My username is indicative enough of that as Iron man was pretty much the bad guy of that book. But in terms of She Hulk that is indeed what happened. A missile strike later and the franchise takes a U-turn down another avenue. Sure people would assume She Hulk is Hulk with ****, but that's also ignoring the complete other half of the character which is from what I understand the route they took in favor of the "grittier edge".

[Cmbmool]

I don’t like where they’re taking She-Hulk’s overall character. In fact the best example of my difficulty with this cane in the Immortal Hulk vs Avengers fight as even the Hulk called her out on it. She was supposed to be a the good one. The only one that could keep her sanity when she transforms into her emerald self.

What happens now is just one big mess of the character. Even Tamki at least tried to bring in some fun back with Hellcat. Still this and maybe the Defenders reunion they didn’t even consider would be interesting to see her overcome her grief.

[OBrianTallent]

I found the Tamaki run to be an interesting exploration of her personality and character that unfortunately went on too long. Tamaki did seem to put the character back in place at the end of her run, however Aaron undid that and seems to have placed her back where she was almost at the start of Tamaki's run which has done no favors to the character and as others have said, we have a mess of a character. However I have no idea if any of that has or will change as I have dropped the Avengers book.

[DevilBat66]

I liked her best when she was Deadpool before Deadpool was Deadpool.

[Mike]

Characters are unfortunately changed to fit stories as opposed to stories being made to suit characters.

Isn't that the truth!

[Ravin' Ray]

For me, Jen showing a more brutish, darker side of her Hulk persona in and of itself isn't a problem, as she has shown this before in the past (Disassembled, Search for She-Hulk, even Sensational under Gerber), but Aaron's implementation is a bit weak, though I'm more tolerant of it than other fans as a whole.

[Frontier]

For me, Jen showing a more brutish, darker side of her Hulk persona in and of itself isn't a problem, as she has shown this before in the past (Disassembled, Search for She-Hulk, even Sensational under Gerber), but Aaron's implementation is a bit weak, though I'm more tolerant of it than other fans as a whole.

I think my issue of it is that it's now her de-facto persona, especially when other writers take and run with it so we're stuck with Hulked-out She-Hulk who is barely different from the male Hulk.