Misandry is an issue in the first episode of She-Hulk. Why this particular woman believes she can punch a male family member in the face is odd.
It wasn’t as bad as I was expecting in many ways, it was far worse in a few ways. Here are my thoughts on the origin story of She-Hulk in the MCU.
Right at the beginning of the show we get a reason for why Jen is now a “hulk.” It turns out that if any little bit of blood from Bruce Banner touches you, you’re getting hulkified. That had my mind racing. Surely there have been other people who have come into contact with Bruce’s blood given all his fights he’s been in. Not all of those fights were as the Hulk either, right? So why aren’t there hundreds of hulks out there now?
The next thing that came to my mind is that the show clearly isn’t interested in many answers. Jen can switch back-and-forth from Hulk form at will. Why? Who cares. Jen doesn’t have an alter ego when she goes into her hulk form. Why? Who cares. From a programming standpoint, it’s clear the writers just want to skip the last ten years of Bruce Banner’s journey when it comes to Jen Walters. Doing so in a few minutes without any explanations is tough to buy though. Maybe this is one of those “turn your brain off” shows if you want to enjoy it?
Coming into this series, one thing I was very concerned about was the CGI. But now that I’ve seen the first episode, I can confirm that it doesn’t look real but it’s also not terrible. Well… except for a few scenes on the island. The fight in particular looks like its running on my kids’ PS5. And speaking of the fight, let’s just get straight into the misandry that is a real problem in this show. I can skip over the issue of Jen acting as if just existing as a woman is a horrendous experience with men constantly treating you like it’s the 1950s. If you can believe it, that’s not a big deal in comparison to my bigger issue. Why can she punch Bruce in the face and the writers think that’s okay? Men suffer from domestic abuse with women hitting them (often not being made open because they tend to do less damage to their partners when they do so), so why are we acting as if that’s not real? I don’t like at all that Jen punches Bruce right in the face, just after the show has told us that she’s still just Jen when she’s a hulk. Does she punch other men in the face when she’s mad too? And then Bruce of course never actually hits her back — it’s handled carefully so that all his moves involve light pushes, clapping to make wind blow in her direction, etc. To me, more than the negative portrayal of men in the show, that one thing is just totally over the line. It makes me not like Jen whatsoever. And treating Steve Rogers’ sexual encounters like she does in the show… I don’t think she’s a likeable character.
On the bright side of things, the banter between Jen and Bruce feels pretty organic. They actually pull off chemistry well together. And the story, as flawed as it is in terms of treatment of men, still moves along at a good pace. I’m not necessarily giddy about getting back into the second episode, but I wasn’t bored either.
I just want the MCU churn to not be a burn on men. Both men and women deserve respect. That includes in TV shows.
Review Score: 4/10
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