‘She-Hulk’ was *Actually* the Gayest Marvel Series
by Ian Carlos Crawford
Step aside Thor: Love and Thunder, because the latest Disney+ Marvel show, She-Hulk, is actually the gayest thing Marvel has done.
She-Hulk stars Tatiana Maslany as our incredibly charming title character, also known as Jennifer Walters. It has an absolutely stacked supporting cast with the likes of Ginger Gonzaga as Nikki Ramos, Jameela Jamil as Titania, Josh Segarra as Pug, Tim Roth as Abomination, Mark Ruffalo as Hulk, Benedict Wong as Wong, Charlie Cox as Daredevil, and Renée Elise Goldsberry as Mallory. The show did a great job showcasing their side, non-superhero characters — something really only WandaVision and Ms. Marvel had done before.
The show was polarizing online because it starred a woman and had women existing — so of course the trolls flocked to the show. But the show itself was actually one of the most fun shows Marvel has put out on Disney+, if not the most fun show they’ve put out. It had fun superhero action mixed with legal drama mixed with sitcom comedy and there wasn’t a single character (villains aside) that wasn’t absolutely charming. We even let the side characters get their own plots — from Pug and Nikki helping get She-Hulk some new Hulk-sized outfits to Nikki and Mallory working a messy divorce case together.
We also, early on in the show, got a reveal that Nikki was queer when she delivered the line, “Oof, hetero life is so grim.” Which the actor confirmed in an interview with TV Line, “Nikki is definitely queer, she’s free, she’ll love anyone. I thought of her initially as being bi, because I’m kind of projecting myself onto this character. But in truth I think Nikki will love anyone — and she can hang with anyone, which is fun.”
While we know a passing line about queerness isn’t exactly groundbreaking, Gonzaga even went on to say, “I wish we got to see her dating more, but I will say she has a bit of a secret crush on Mallory…Nikki doesn’t have any problems dating, so were trying to focus on what needs to happen, which is getting Jen to love herself in both forms and finally go on some decent dates — without getting monkeypox, I hope!”
She acknowledged that we didn’t get to see the queerness but that it was there. She didn’t try to make it bigger than it was (I’m looking at you, everyone on the press tour for Thor: Love and Thunder). The show also never patted itself on the back for this tiny slice of queerness. She wore iconic outfits (Gonzaga herself sold her own clothes to the show’s costume department) and was ride or die for Jen right from the start — reminding Jennifer Walters to take off her heels before hulking out in the first ep. Having this really great, fun queer character be played by a queer actor was pretty great to watch.
She-Hulk also didn’t pat itself on the back when Nikki and Mallory had to represent Mr. Immortal (played by David Pasquesi) in a case against all his ex-wives and one ex-husband. Mr. Immortal in the comics is a founding member of the F-list superhero team Great Lakes Avengers and, in the comics, he’s pretty straight. So this show took a character from the comics and made them bi/queer for the show- something Marvel is not known for doing (but they did do once before in The Eternals). The episode never paused on that one ex-husband or had Mr. Immortal discussing his queerness — the character was a jerk who hated confrontation, and that’s what we focused on in his scenes. We also had Mallory and Nikki teaming up to defend him, but still get his exes what they wanted and deserved. Mallory and Nikki could barely stand him even though he was their client. It was a true blast to watch.
She-Hulk also felt like a queer show. It had queer sensibilities and was geared towards a more fem/queer audience. Which is something Marvel for sure never does — WandaVision and Ms Marvel once again being the only Disney+ Marvel shows that could also fall into that category. Jennifer Walters was allowed to care about her job, her dating life, and her clothes. We actually saw how she got her superhero costume and Hulk fitted outfits made. We saw her joining dating apps and having no luck. She may be a successful lawyer and a hulk, but she still felt like one of the most relatable superheroes the MCU has given us. There’s also always the superhero dual identity thing that the queer community can often relate to (hello, X-Men and Buffy the Vampire Slayer).
Jennifer Walters also got to be an adult who had adult relationships. She was allowed to sleep with some of her dates, like the always handsome Daredevil aka Matt Murdock. She even got to joke about how hot Daredevil was — noting during the finale, “That’s what Hulks do. We smash things. Bruce smashes buildings, I smash fourth walls and bad endings… and sometimes Matt Murdock.” It was so refreshing to watch her talk the way real adults talk about their personal life, even if she happened to be a superhero lawyer.
The show played out like a comic book — each episode feeling like a single issue. Which, oddly, was refreshing for these shows. Most of them feel more like a long movie split up into parts. One main storyline that wasn’t solved until the show ended. But with She-Hulk, some stuff from previous episodes carried over, but the main conceit of each was always mostly wrapped up at the end of every episode. The way characters from the comics like Daredevil, Titania, Wong, and Abomination were allowed to breeze in and out of the show was such a fun gag.
The show itself was incredible fun — and never did it pat itself on the back for the two queer characters that exist in it. The show, 4th wall breaks and all, never took itself too seriously and is absolutely one of the best Marvel shows to date.
About the Author:
Ian Carlos Crawford grew up in southern New Jersey and has an MFA in non-fiction writing. His writing has appeared on sites like BuzzFeed, NewNowNext, Junkee, and other random corners of the internet. He currently hosts a queer Buffy and Marvel focused pop culture podcast called Slayerfest 98 and co-hosts a horror podcast called My Bloody Judy. Follow him on Twitter @ianxcarlos!
