She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
Available on: Disney+
Reviewing Marvel’s litany of limited series feels as if it has become somewhat of an exercise in folly, given that they all tend to tread the well-worn, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach to world building.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is the latest slice of content from the comic behemoth and does at least try to do something a little different from its predecessors. Tatiana Maslany’s quick-witted take on the titular lead character means we are often invited to peer beyond the fourth wall of this realm of the Marvel universe, in an assumedly well-intentioned attempt to appeal to some of the franchise’s loudest critics.
It's an approach that certainly succeeds in lowering the show’s stakes, in the sense that it lends proceedings a breezy air of almost non-importance. Whereas Ms. Marvel felt somewhat critical to the short-term success of Phase 4 because it introduced the MCU’s first Muslim superhero, She-Hulk… feels like nine episodes of good-natured, mostly slapstick fun.
In that respect, the show holds some appeal. Maslany is a clear stand-out, but we also get to enjoy some comic turns from Mark Ruffalo and Tim Roth while getting to know some of Marvel’s lesser known characters a little better. All in all, everyone involved appears to be having a lot of fun and, ever so occasionally, that is no bad thing.
She-Hulk… also touches on some weightier topics in a way that never feels too heavy-handed, which is impressive as that’s a balancing act many comic book franchises struggle to navigate. Over the course of the show, writer Jessica Gao touches on workplace discrimination, ghosting, body shaming, loneliness, and the timeless head-fuck that is internet dating all while trying to keep her story focused on a woman who essentially turns into a big green monster when she’s angry.
And therein lies the problem. Even when Marvel is trying to be more self-aware, it cannot shake the notion that its latest intellectual property is just the latest entrant in a supposedly never-ending attempt to conquer pop culture. How can we expect to care about Ms. Marvel or She-Hulk when they will soon be pushed down the Disney algorithm by yet another limited series?
In fairness, this is a problem that is only caused by success and there’s no denying that Marvel do their shtick well. But it’s becoming increasingly hard to emotionally invest in their content when it is so easy to forget about.
