Episode 9 of She-Hulk: The Lawyer has arrived on Disney+, is full of surprises and marks the finale of the MCU series (for now). That there will be a Season 2 of She-Hulk is after this finale conceivable in principle, but not yet officially confirmed. In this article, we first address the burning questions that the new episode has raised. Before we get started, a quick recap of what happened.
Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) is behind bars after her outburst of anger, which was forced by the Intelligencia group, in episode 8, or rather: in the glass cage where Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) was previously imprisoned. Jen’s fellow colleagues Mallory (Renée Elise Goldsberry), Nikki (Ginger Gonzaga) and Pug (Josh Segarra) reach an out-of-court settlement with the plaintiff and Jen is allowed to go back to freedom, but on the condition that she never turns into She-Hulk again.
Losing her job, finding shelter with her parents, and then attending Emil Blonsky’s retreat in desperation, Nikki investigates. She manages to get invited to an Intelligencia event by the HulkKing. But since only men are welcome there, she sends Pug to the event. Once there, he finds out who is behind the She Hulk hate platform: Todd (Jon Bass) reveals himself as the HulkKing. He created the Intelligencia website.
Then it suddenly happens in quick succession: Emil Blonsky appears in his subscription form as a speaker at the event. Then Jen also stumbles into the middle of the action. Todd then injects himself with the blood she stole and becomes a Hulk himself, Abomination intervenes, but then Titania (Jameela Jamil) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) also appear and the entire story drifts into a completely absurd finale. Jen, who is now finally fed up, notices that too…
Since her accident that turned her into She-Hulk, Jen also has the ability to break the fourth wall. So she’s aware that she’s just a character in a series and often speaks directly to the audience. But in episode 9 she shows the full power of this superpower for the first time. Here’s how Jen just escapes from her own show, climbs through the She-Hulk Disney+ tile, and jumps into the Invincible Together documentary series, under the title of which the making-ofs of various MCU films and series are summarized. Now on the Marvel Studios campus, Jen storms into the writers room of her own series, where she takes on the “She-Hulk” team led by head writer Jessica Gao (played by Eden Lee).
Jen complains about the generic and nonsensical action finale the writers wrote for her. But they only reply that it was all in the spirit of a certain Kevin. Of course, Marvel-affine viewers immediately think of Kevin Feige, the producer who once introduced the MCU with “Iron Man”, since then has been pulling the strings of the gigantic film and series universe in the background and has even been appointed President of Marvel Studios .
But when She-Hulk makes her way to his “office,” she makes a surprising discovery. Kevin is not Kevin Feige, but KEVIN (Complex Enhanced Visual Interconnectivity Nexus), an artificial intelligence that designs the entire MCU using sophisticated algorithms to create the perfect entertainment universe.
Disney+
The MCU version of Kevin Feige is an artificial intelligence named KEVIN
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All of this, like a lot of things in “She-Hulk”, is of course again an ironic meta-comment. The MCU and especially Kevin Feige are targeting themselves here. For many years, Marvel critics have been complaining that the MCU films in particular always follow the same pattern and that even innovative series such as “WandaVision” always end with a generic action showdown. “She-Hulk” also initially embarks on this path, but then cleverly reverses course by having Jen rewrite her own story.
In the end, She-Hulk conjures up her dream finale by convincing KEVIN to change it to her liking. Todd is arrested and faces a trial, Emil Blonsky is also jailed for betraying Jen’s trust, and Matt Murdock aka Daredevil (Charlie Cox) shows up out of nowhere to sweeten her finale. So everything happens the way Jen wants it to. But that’s not the end of the episode. Because the Hulk family is growing!
At the cookout with Matt and her family, Jen is surprised by her cousin Bruce Banner. The original Hulk has just returned from his trip to the planet Sakaar and promises to tell everyone what he was actually doing there. Yet Bruce has brought someone else with him: his son Skaar (Wil Deusner).
Disney+
Wil Deusner from the DC series “Stargirl” plays Hulk’s son Skaar in the MCU
We’re seeing him for the first time in the MCU, but comic book fans have known Skaar for a long time: in the “Planet Hulk” storyline, he was conceived by Bruce Banner during his time on the planet Sakaar with Caiera, a member of the Shadow people who live there People. Skaar ages quickly, which is why he appears to be a young man in She-Hulk. In the comics, he is almost as strong as his father and can switch between human and Hulk forms. It remains to be seen whether this will also be the case in the MCU.
But even with the reveal of Skaar, we haven’t quite gotten to the end of She-Hulk. Because, as is typical for the MCU, there is a post or mid-credit scene again this time. It features Emil Blonsky in his glass prison. When he was arrested, he was already extraordinarily relaxed. He accepted the fact that he now has to spend another ten years in prison as a result of bad karma for which he is responsible. But now it shows where his composure really comes from.
In the end credits scene, Wong (Benedict Wong) suddenly appears again to free Emil from his cell. The Sorcerer Supreme apologizes for the delay and Emil asks, “Have you ever done another marathon series?” to which Wong replies, “Television has never been at such a high level.” The two then disappear to Kamar Taj.
There is not much to explain here. Wong frees Emil and that’s about it. However, we can already speculate what the liberation action will mean for future Marvel titles. Of course, this makes a reunion with Abomination much more likely, but it is very difficult to predict which film or series he will end up in.
A few months ago, our choice would have been Thunderbolts, the Marvel version of DC’s Suicide Squad. But at this year’s Disney D23 fair, the anti-hero group was presented and there was no trace of Tim Roth and Abomination, which is why we now rather doubt it.
Another possibility would be to have him appear in Captain America 4, where there will be a reunion with the already confirmed Dr. Samuel Sterns aka The Leader (Tim Blake Nelson) who turned Emil Blonksy into Abomination in The Incredible Hulk. But if there’s one thing we learned from Shang-Chi, it’s that Abomination can show up where you least expect it…
