Marvel’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law sure was something. Throughout the Disney+ series’ run, Tatiana Maslany’s eponymous lawyer smashed cases, heads, and even Charlie Cox’s Daredevil. (Good for her!) But the series finale started with She-Hulk Jennifer Walters at a low point after being extremely violated by the show’s main villains, incels known as Intelligencia. However, instead of opting for a (typical Marvel) Hulk smash of an ending, She-Hulk culminates in a meta trip of a fourth-wall break full of (typical Marvel) easter eggs. So just in case you missed one (or don’t watch and want to know why people are suddenly talking about Marvel AI), here’s what we spotted:
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The retro opening
Played almost beat for beat — from a practical Hulk smashing to the deep timbre of the narrator mimicking Ted Cassidy and the classic “Don’t make me angry†line — the intro of the She-Hulk finale paid homage to the late ’70s–early ’80s series The Incredible Hulk, starring Bill Bixby as David Banner and Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk. It’s corny as hell but also provides a glimpse of Mark Ruffalo looking the hottest he’s ever looked in a Marvel project, so let’s cheers to that!
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“See You Later†mug
Okay, fine, I’m sure Jennifer’s mug isn’t meant to evoke Oscar Isaac’s sad and lovable Steven Grant — “Laters, gators!†— but the show has already referenced another popular Isaac meme, so …
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Fourth-wall smash
No, Disney+ didn’t glitch. “Whose Show Is This†sends Jennifer breaking through the streamer’s Marvel interface to land in a Marvel Assembled documentary to figure out why the hell her finale is going bonkers. It’s weird! But for comics readers, this fourth-wall break is a direct (and modern) reference to John Byrne’s run of The Sensational She-Hulk comics, specifically when Jennifer tears through a page to yell at Byrne himself. Whether it’s Byrne, Kevin Feige, or the fanboys, Miss Walters will speak her piece!
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The She-Hulk writers’ room
Maslany’s She-Hulk walks around the Walt Disney Company lot, home to Marvel Studios headquarters, until she stumbles upon the writers’ room, where they’re wondering if season two could be “one extended dream sequence†(in case you thought that’s what this episode was). Inside the room, we see actual She-Hulk head writer Jessica Gao and writer Cody Ziglar as well as lots of fun show concept art and planning, but my favorite gag is “There’s something attractive about a man’s knees†written on the whiteboard. Let this start a petition for season two of She-Hulk to be even hornier. Matt Murdock did the walk of shame with his bare feet, sure! Now show ass. Moving on.
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K.E.V.I.N. Feige
Now on to the main surprise of the finale: the Kevin the writers were talking about is not Marvel Studios’ head honcho Feige but actually an AI machine named K.E.V.I.N. — complete with a visor meant to mimic Feige’s dedication to wearing every baseball hat on Earth — created to deliver “near-perfect product.†Did that gag me as much as Wanda breaking the fourth wall in WandaVision? Absolutely not, but this is the MCU at its most self-referential (and that’s saying something). Many eyes may roll toward the backs of their heads, but honestly this was peak dumbassery that made me chuckle. And there is so much to cover in terms of sly jokes, from Jen poking at Marvel’s infamous third-act problem to her asking K.E.V.I.N. about when we’ll see the X-Men, to which he says, “I cannot tell you that†(classic Kevin).
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Oh, the VFX
From the minute Maslany’s She-Hulk appeared in the show’s teaser trailer, the look of her character has been hotly debated, to put it nicely. Looking at her is like staring into the uncanny valley! And, of course, Marvel knows that, so robot K.E.V.I.N cracks that Jen needs to transform back from She-Hulk to save money since the VFX team is working on the next project, a.k.a. Wakanda Forever. This joke would be funnier if Marvel’s VFX teams weren’t actually so overworked.
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Possible Marvel Comics adaptations?
To be fair, there are a ton of comics in K.E.V.I.N.’s lair, and most of them are probably set dressing. There’s Doctor Strange, America Chavez, Black Panther, Daredevil, She-Hulk, and more, but the optimist in me would like to think the choices here are clues to the MCU’s future. The one that has me especially pumped are the multiple (!) The Scarlet Witch comics by James Robinson on display (David Aja’s exquisite cover art is hard to miss). Like every other cool and hot Marvel fan, we are desperately waiting for the return of Miss Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) to the MCU — we’re looking at you, AI Marvel overlords!! Could this be a hint that there may be better things ahead for Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff even though we didn’t hear anything about her return at Comic-Con or D23 Expo? It better be.
World War Hulk??
We finally learn why Ruffalo’s Hulk was quickly shuttled off to Sakaar in an earlier episode of She-Hulk, which was to retrieve Skaar (Wil Deusner), his beefed-up Hulkling child with a weird haircut! For comics fans, the name should ring a huge bell, as he originated in 2007’s World War Hulk, in which Skaar hunts his father down for a huge Hulk-on-Hulk fight. It’s been rumored to be adapted for the MCU, and in K.E.V.I.N.’s talk with Jen, he mentions revealing what Hulk was up to during the majority of She-Hulk, though she quickly shuts the robot down, saying, “Save it for the movie.†Is Ruffalo finally getting his solo Marvel movie? One can hope.