She-Hulk Flex
She-Hulk has fired some shots at haters.
Spoilers Ahead.
It was only within the last year that I heard, for the first time, the expression “a hit dog hollers.” I prefer it to “if the shoe fits,” and it’s an expression that I think should be on the minds of anyone complaining about the female empowerment themes in Jessica Gao’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law today. The show is one third of the way through its first season and has done a great job of setting its sights on fragile masculinity (formerly toxic masculinity).
There is a group of supposed comic book fans that appear to have just learned of the existence of superheroes without Y-chromosomes. Narrow-minded viewpoint aside, these folks flood social media with complaints whenever Marvel showcases a female protagonist. The grievances are a broken record: “Mary Sue,” “woke,” pandering, bad writing — the talking points propagate through the crowd like a virus.
Enter She-Hulk. Tatiana Maslany plays the titular Jennifer Walters. She is a lawyer pushed into reluctant hero territory when her cousin, our beloved Bruce Banner, accidentally turns her into a hulk. Her affliction is different, from her cousin’s, she contends, because she has had to hold her rage continuously for her adult life. Here is where the toxic masculinity jumps in. In an ironic twist (get used to this), the first episode was followed by deluge of comments from men negating Jennifer’s experiences. These men were exhibiting the same behavior the dialog was highlighting.
Then came the training montage. Jennifer Walters took to being a hulk remarkably well, passing every test Bruce threw at her. The Mary Sue talk was right on cue. The nuanced portions where Bruce showed that he was pulling his punches didn’t matter (not that it needed to be said anyway, after all, these are fictional comic book characters). The narrative was that Disney was creating a character to pander to the “woke” crowd.
Throughout this ignorant barrage, people have pushed back on various social media platforms. This mild opposition turned the toxicity into fragility. The complaints centered around feelings of being alienated. The victim complex reached a fever pitch.
Enter Episode 3: “The People vs. Emil Blonsky.” This episode was a climax in a brilliant commentary on misogyny. Dennis Bukowski, played by Drew Matthews, is the foil for some comic relief. He is basically portrayed as a toxic former co-worker that has deluded himself into thinking that Megan Thee Stallion (a fourth wall breaking cameo) wants to date him. The punch line? His actual love interest is an Asgardian shape shifter that ended up conning him out of a large sum of money.
This storyline is a humorous backdrop, but it serves as a setup for the overall not-so-hidden message in the episode: Men in this space too often objectify women, and cannot handle strong female leads. They then delude themselves into believing that these objects don’t have agency and exist only for their amusement. Which is why the numerous gags taking aim at both toxic and fragile masculinity hit so hard. They are all rooted in fact.
Less than five minutes into this episode we are shown a montage of reactions to She-Hulk’s representation of Emil Blonsky (what Tim Roth’s reprisal means is for another conversation). Peppered throughout this montage are some semi-fourth-wall breaking lamentations from men complaining about this new feminine superhero. It doesn’t stop there. Jennifer’s coworker, Augustus, gets impersonated by the shape shifter and made to look like a serial harasser of women. Later in the episode, Jennifer Walters wins Bukowski’s case for him by getting on the witness stand and calling him delusional. Even Emil, who is supposed to be reformed, appears with a squad of concubines.
It may look like these are just cleverly placed shots, but they are, in fact, very brilliant bait. The pièce de résistance is the post-credit scene, where Megan Thee Stallion continues her cameo by participating in an impromptu dance session with She-Hulk. This brief interlude has attracted too many cringy hate posts for me to list. The overall gist is that She-Hulk can’t simultaneously hate being catcalled and enjoy a spontaneous moment of fun with a friend. It’s a wonderful moment of having the entire point slap you in the face and still not being able to see it. These clowns are exhibiting the exact same mindset that led to Dennis Bukowski’s wallet being $175,000 lighter. Because, of course, women do every single thing in their life solely to grab the attention of men who complain about women on the internet.
The most poignant thing about this entire debacle, and the reason I’m labeling it the ultimate flex, is that She-Hulk: Attorney at Law wrapped filming in August of 2021. That means that the writers for this show were able to predict the exact behavior pattern that these toxic males would take over a year later. They clearly had one type of audience member in mind when they added the subtext to the show. I’m looking forward to what the rest of this season brings, and who gets in the crosshairs next.
The truth is that the MCU has been plagued by this kind of nonsense for way too long. Captain Marvel, Black Widow, and Wandavision were all review bombed before She-Hulk filmed its first frame. Of course the haters of this show were easy to trigger. A thirty second twerk session was all it took. One day they will realize that we aren’t laughing with them…
