Although She-Hulk: Attorney at Law adds another gamma-fueled hero to the MCU, she’s not a carbon copy of the Hulk. Tatiana Maslany plays Bruce’s cousin, Jennifer Walters, in She-Hulk. Jennifer is a brilliant lawyer whose life is irrevocably turned upside down after being exposed to Hulk blood in a car crash. She-Hulk may be Hulk, but she’s more than just a female version of the original.
The introduction of She-Hulk is part of the MCU’s strategy to establish enduring new characters to replace the original Avengers. Each time a new person or thing takes a well-established position, they put their spin on it. And with this new Disney+ show, one thing remains a mystery: She-Hulk’s alter ego.
She-Hulk’s alter ego
The first episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law indicates that Jennifer Walters’ Hulk transformation does not have a split personality. Although Bruce Banner’s experience of having to share his body with another person has greatly disrupted his life, it’s clear that Walters won’t have the same struggles. He had been at odds with the Hulk for ten years, and that experience led him to believe that Walters would have no choice but to sympathize with him.
To a large extent, the first episode of She-Hulk focused on Hulk’s (presumably) shrewd attempts to convince his cousin that the drastic changes that had been made to his life weren’t for the best. Drawing on his own life experiences, Banner advised her to isolate herself until she learned to master her newfound abilities before reintroducing herself into society. But when they found out that Walters was in control every time she changed, they figured out that Walters was She-Hulk.
The fact about Banner’s trauma
Bruce Banner and the Hulk are often seen as two separate characters who have to live together in the same body, which makes many of his concerns meaningless. The Hulk’s brain was blown when he learned that Walters didn’t have to deal with the negative effects of having an alter ego. However, the reason for this was never specified.
She-Hulk is unlike any other superhero, but the source material explains why. Interestingly, Banner, not Walters, is the outlier here. In the Marvel Comics Universe, it’s well established that Banner’s traumatic upbringing led to the development of dissociative identity disorder.
This explains why he, and not Abomination, She-Hulk or anyone else, experienced the emergence of an alternate personality after exposure to gamma radiation. Its Marvel Cinematic Universe analogue may share this quality. If that can’t be explained, she may have gotten Banner’s blood.
