Iron Man – Spider-Man – She-Hulk
Episode 2 of She-Hulk showed us that revealing superhero identities has always had repercussions in the MCU. Jennifer Walters revealed herself to be She-Hulk right in front of the entire courtroom. His intentions were good, but his quick decision not to keep his identity a secret ultimately cost him a lot of humiliation.
Jennifer lost her job!
Jennifer Walters was fired for saving lives. She transformed into She-Hulk without a second thought, which has now made law firms think twice about hiring her. She was so unemployed that she started looking for a job as a park mascot. It was that bad!
She was lucky that there was an organization with a superhero law division, which recruited her because of her She-Hulk powers. Even though she’s qualified enough to be a lawyer, now everyone around her thinks she got the job thanks to She-Hulk, which Jennifer also mentions in the episode.
It’s still a kind of repercussion that makes him respect the rules of having the job in hand. She slammed the Avengers earlier in the episode saying if they had time off, incentives, health insurance, life insurance, or even getting paid. In the first episode, Jennifer also mentioned that she didn’t want to sign government contracts and live a lost life on a stranded island, just like Bruce.
But she is there! Not even the government, but she has to work for a higher authority by giving up her own freedom of choice over the cases. The first case she takes on is that of Emil Blonsky, which she initially denies, but ultimately to keep the job in hand she has to stick with it.
The Repercussions For All Identity Reveals In The MCU
The Iron Man Reveal
It all started in 2008, with Iron Man when iconic dialogue from the comics came to life in the MCU. Billionaire Tony Stark stands behind the microphone among all the press employees, confesses and says, “I am Iron Man!”
Since the day Tony confessed he was Iron Man, many enemies started painting targets on his back. The government wanted to take this idea of building a weaponized suit, which Tony denied. We also saw Obadiah steal Tony’s Arc Reactor, as he knew where to find it. Everyone else tried to steal or use Tony’s technology and win the battles.
In the movie Captain America: Civil War, we heard Vision give a brief explanation of how the revelation of Tony Stark started many events in MCU. Quoting what Vision said in Captain America: Civil War:
“I have an equation.”
“Oh, that’ll clear it up.”
“In the 8 years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced people has increased exponentially. And over the same period, the number of life-threatening events increased at a proportional rate.
“I say there may be a causal link. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict…begets disaster. Surveillance… Surveillance is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand.
This explains the repercussions Tony Stark caused after revealing his identity. Just because he was a billionaire, he didn’t care what other people thought or did at the time. He was meant to protect the Earth, and he did so until his last breath.
The reveal of Spider-Man
Later in Spider-Man: Far From Home, we saw Quintin Beck, aka Mysterio reveal the identity of Spider-Man to the media. He said, “Spider-Man’s real name is Peter Parker. And from that moment, everything changed for him.
He lost his privacy and also endangered the lives of his friends. He didn’t make it to MIT, and even his friends didn’t get the chance because they were involved with him. In desperation, he approached Doctor Strange to erase the entire planet’s memory and make them forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.
In the added desperation of wanting few of his companions to remember him, the fate was compromised and few old and new Marvel Villains entered through the multiversal gates of Earth 616. And it was the repercussion that cost Aunt May her life. But he finally realized a good thing, “With great power comes great responsibility!”.
She-Hulk has had her share of repercussions, as her family and the world have already witnessed a Hulk. And when this female version of the Hulk is calm and in control, people extend their acceptance of her.
