The Marvel Cinematic Universe is about to change in a big way. It s not going to be a super flashy,
obvious change, but it will fundamentally alter the way this world operates. At least, I think so.
Marvel s new She-Hulk series is dropping any day now, and from the pre-released footage we ve seen,
from the details we ve heard, it looks to me like this new show may well be taking a pretty
novel approach to worldbuilding, and the way it s going to introduce it s new characters or rather,
the way it won t. Now, that probably doesn t make a great deal of sense, so I m gonna do my best to
break down what I mean here, but first this video s more speculative than analytical, which is a
little rarer for this channel, and it does mean that it s entirely possible She-Hulk comes out,
does none of this, and makes me look like a bit of a silly sausage, but I m gonna take that risk,
because at the very least, I think the ideas we ll discuss here will be somewhat relevant
to the show, and bearing them in mind while we watch it, whatever route She-Hulk takes,
will make for a more interesting viewing experience. It s also probably worth saying
if you want to go into She-Hulk completely blind and unspoiled, I d avoid this video
but I won t really be talking about anything that hasn t been revealed in the trailers.
Also I m sorry if my voice sounds a bit off today, I had a pretty heavy weekend,
and I m still recovering a little. So with those disclaimers out of the way
let s start by talking about what we know so far about the dramatis personae of She-Hulk.
Outside of Jennifer Walters, the titular She-Hulk herself, we already know about a fair few of the
characters who ll be showing up across the 9 episodes. For instance, in terms of established
characters, we know Jen s cousin Bruce, He-Hulk if you will, is gonna play a big part, and we know we
ll also be seeing Wong and Abomination. We also know Daredevil s going to play a role which I m
extremely excited to see and there s even rumours that Krysten Ritter s Jessica Jones might end up
making an appearance. It s looking like these two character s ll be getting some sort of soft reboot
a fresh start of sorts that doesn t necessarily explicitly contradict their Netflix stories, but
either way not counting the kinda blink-and-you ll-miss-it No Way Home cameo, this is the first
time they re showing up in the MCU, if you define MCU strictly as the films and the Disney+ shows
and no matter how you define it, this is the first real exposure a lot of viewers ll have to them. On
top of that, we know there s quite a few utterly new characters appearing. Titania, Man-Bull,
Frog Man, El Aguila, and the whole wrecking crew. That s quite a lot of new characters,
all of whom are typically powered or enhanced in some way. And those are just the ones we
know about. I d be extremely surprised if there weren t any more little surprises in store for us.
Discussing these new additions, showrunner Jessica Gao has said the following:
"I wouldn't call them cameos because it's more that there are some characters that we
pulled from the comics that we've never seen in the MCU that was very fun and exciting,
being able to bring new characters now into the Marvel universe. That was very exciting
for us and I hope it delights people." That quote doesn t sound like something you
d say if you were just introducing comic-book characters to the MCU in the same way other
projects have done for the past 15 years. To me, Gao s words suggest a new approach.
But what is this new approach? One thing that s always separated the
MCU from the comics, from other animated or live-action Marvel adaptations, is that when it
comes to powered characters they never really come out of nowhere. We usually tend to get an origin
story of some kind, regardless of if the character s a major hero, or a comparatively minor villain.
It s a general rule, not an absolute one, but this does tend to be the way Marvel Studios does
things. The only real exception that springs to mind is the Illuminati in Multiverse of Madness,
but they can largely be understood in the same way as Daredevil or Jessica Jones soft reboots of
characters Marvel s already introduced, in-depth, in auxiliary mediums. I think this tendency is a
leftover from the relatively grounded early days of this universe. Back in Phase 1,
the MCU was very much our world with a few minor differences. Superheroes, superpowers were rare,
and remarkable. The first Thor film even went to pains to make it clear that, don t worry, there
was a rational, scientific explanation for all the Norse-themed space wizardry. In the franchise s
more recent years, this groundedness has faded, somewhat, but it s still almost exclusively
the case that when a new powered character is introduced, time is spent explaining how and why
they re superhuman. The MCU hasn t yet reached the critical mass of powered characters common
in various animated projects and print universes after which the audience is assumed to be on board
with the idea that heroes or villains with special abilities are commonplace enough to just turn up,
and exist in the world after which explanations and origins are only delved into if they re
relevant to the story being told. Or at least, it hasn t reached this point yet, as of early August
2022. I think She-Hulk will change this. She-Hulk is comprised of 9, 30-ish minute
episodes. That s roughly the same sort of length as a lot of these Disney+ projects. And even if
Jessica Jones doesn t show up, even if they skip any exposition or origin story redux for
Daredevil, even if there s no surprise cameos or new characters beyond those teased in the trailers
that s a lot of new faces, and not a great deal of screentime with which to introduce them all.
Especially since the show s protagonist and her own heroic origins need establishing themselves.
Now, is it possible that She-Hulk will give some amount of background and origin exposition,
however brief, to all these new characters? Sure. Given the irreverent tone common to
She-Hulk stories in print, I could even see the show riffing on the Suicide Squad type
approach and giving little title-cards and canned backstory montages to all of Jen s clients and
adversaries. That might happen. But I feel pretty confident predicting that even if something like
this does happen, the depth of these introductions will pale in comparison to those of pretty much
any other powered character we ve seen in these projects beforehand.
And given the nature of the show a legal comedy, allegedly I think it s fairly likely that, maybe
once an episode or so, we ll meet one of these new comic-book D-listers in court. The joke will be,
essentially look at this colourful, nonsensical nobody. Look at the way they just show up. And
partially, the joke will be: isn t it incongruous with the detailed and serious explanations we re
familiar with for why superheroes exist? Maybe it won t go down exactly like this,
but either way I think we re in for a flood of new faces, mostly one-and-done characters,
who are going to be dropped in our lap, more or less fully formed. And I think that s going to
establish a precedent with the potential to fundamentally alter this franchise.
She-Hulk has the potential to alter the way audiences understand this world,
to have them finally stop seeing the MCU as our world but tweaked . The assumption after She-Hulk
will be that this is a wider, more comic-booky world where heroes and villains can just appear,
can exist, without any explanation needed. She-Hulk can stretch the viewership s suspension
of disbelief to new levels, because if the MCU is a world where Frog-Man can just turn up one day,
then it s a world where, say, future Avengers, or future minor villains with funky powers can
also just be pulled into this setting from the comic-books. Setup can be skipped. Avengers:
The Kang Dynasty could now cold open with 3D Man on the team. If this does happen, I think you
could call this a quantum leap forward in the MCU s worldbuilding in width, if not in depth,
and I think She-Hulk s going to play a crucial role in adjusting audience expectations to this
new dynamic of adaptation. Downsides
Here s the thing, though. I m saying I think this shift is coming. I m not necessarily saying that s
a good thing. Because there are downsides to the MCU s ever-lessening sense of realism. Patreon
supporters will already know that I feel the MCU s divorce from the real limits the power and
resonance of its storytelling. And even apart from that, from a narrower, less holistic perspective,
thinking purely about She-Hulk itself? Advanced worldbuilding does not a good show make.
She-Hulk could develop this setting, this world, in fantastic ways but if the plot isn t engaging,
if the characterisation isn t compelling, if the themes aren t intriguing and explored in
thoughtful ways that d be an L in my books. But hey She-Hulk s probably going to be pretty decent
at worst, so let s keep an open mind. And let s keep this worldbuilding paradigm shift
in mind while we watch it, because if utilised wisely, this change could lead to a richer
backdrop against which our main characters stories can play out not just in this show, but in every
show and movie this franchise develops in the future. So let s see how this plays out.
As always, I wanna thank my Patrons onscreen now, especially Kevin Douglas and Ian Fyfield.
Cheers for watching, everyone, and come back in a few days, for maybe a non-Superhero video.