Bring on the She-Hulk

EARLIER this month, in promoting The Avengers movie, Mark Ruffalo, the latest to be cast as the Hulk, revealed on NBC talk show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, that he has been signed by Marvel Studios to portray the greenskinned superhero six more times. When asked by Fallon if that includes a solo movie, Ruff alo admitted that Marvel Studios are wary of doing so due to the somewhat disappointing box-office returns of the 2003 and 2008 films which starred Eric Bana and Edward Norton respectively as nuclear physicist Dr Bruce Banner alias the Hulk.

Ruffalo was being cautious and circumspect, but there’s little doubt that it’s only a matter of time that a third Hulk movie will be greenlighted, simply because it would be ludicrous to sign up Ruffalo for six more appearances as Hulk only as a supporting character in at least two sequels to The Avengers and perhaps make guest appearances in some of the forthcoming movies featuring the other Marvel superheroes, such as Iron Man 3 (opening in May next year), Thor 2 (opening in November next year) and Captain America 2 (opening in April 2014).

Had 2008’s The Incredible Hulk been a big hit like 2008’s Iron Man was, Norton would have been rewarded with an immediate sequel for release in 2010 in the same year as Iron Man 2.

That was not to be but, ironically, that may have worked in the Hulk’s favour as most movie-goers who saw The Avengers would agree that the scene-stealer was the Hulk, especially when he thrashed Loki the Asgardian god of mischief, also when Hulk’s bellowing revived a comatose Iron Man, and not forgetting Hulk shoving aside Thor clearly because Hulk hasn’t forgiven his earlier clash-to-a-standstill with the Asgardian thundergod.

Each person who saw The Avengers would have come away with favouring a particular Marvel superhero, and at The Malay Mail Lifestyle unit, our editor Sumitra Valliappan’s favourite was, you guessed it, the Hulk, which prompted this writer to tell her about Dr Banner’s cousin, lawyer Jennifer Walters alias the She-Hulk... and in this superheroine lies the key to success for a third Hulk movie, for She-Hulk is popular among male and female fans in comicsdom, and introducing her in the next Hulk movie would also attract greater female movie-goers.

Her presence would boost the movie much more than bringing in any of the Hulk’s greatest enemies. Imagine the fun the script-writers would have by depicting Dr Banner and Walters as, say, uneasy cousins.

She-Hulk is still not yet as world-renowned as the Hulk but interest in making a movie on She-Hulk and portraying her has been gradually growing over the past two decades.

Indeed, in the early 1990s, it was announced that Danish-born actress Brigitte Nielsen will play She-Hulk in a movie to be helmed by writer-director Larry Cohen.

Nielsen, perhaps best known for being the second wife of Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone (they were married for less than two years in the mid-1980s), even posed for promotional photos, attired as She-Hulk and her alter ego Jennifer Walters, but the movie failed to materialise.

Next, back in 2009 when Marvel Studios announced The Avengers movie, there were rumours of Texasborn pop superstar Beyonce Knowles being cast as She-Hulk (clearly to boost the number of females in The Avengers), and again that did not materialise. True-blue Marvelites may object to having She-Hulk going from Caucasian to black, and that was also the case initially when Nick Fury, the director of Shield, went from Caucasian to black but much of Marvel fandom has come to accept the casting of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in the six Marvel Studios movies to date over the past five years, including The Avengers.

Last week, She-Hulk again surfaced in the showbiz world when Entertainment Weekly magazine reported that Texas-born actress Angie Harmon is lobbying to be cast as She-Hulk, and she even tweeted a photo of herself “smashing” a sidewalk pavement, and one of Harmon’s fans even showed support for her by “colouring” her green. Harmon has an on-going role, since 2010, as Boston police detective Jane Rizzoli in TV series Rizzoli & Isles which is based on the novels by Tess Gerritsen. However, age is not on Harmon’s side as she will turn 40 on Aug 10.

How the She-Hulk came about is an interesting story by itself. During the successful five-year run of the Incredible Hulk TV series starring Bill Bixby as Dr Banner and Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk, from 1977 to 1982, Marvel Comics suddenly realised that if the TV producers introduced a female version of the Hulk — just like the Bionic Woman TV series was spunned off from The Six Million Dollar Man TV series — the female Hulk would not belong to Marvel.

So, Marvel Comics decided to launch a She-Hulk comicbook, and accorded the honour to then Marvel publisher Stan ‘The Man’ Lee and artist John Buscema to author Savage She-Hulk No. 1, coverdated February 1980, with subsequent issues handled by other writers and artists. She-Hulk would also be the final major character co-created by Stan Lee for the Marvel Universe. The Hulk was one of the earliest superheroes to appear in the Marvel Universe, from May 1962, third only to the Fantastic Four (November 1961) and Antman (January 1962).

Jennifer Walters, the daughter of a Los Angeles county sheriff, is a shy person by nature, but when in the courtroom, she’s fiery in the defence of her clients.

One day, she was shot and seriously wounded by a crime synd icate whose boss has a grudge against her father. Walters required a blood transfusion urgently but her blood type is rare and as it so happens, there were no other donors available except for her maternal cousin Dr Banner who happen to be visiting. In saving Walters’ life through a blood transfusion, Dr Banner’s gamma-radioactive blood transformed her into a green-skinned goliath when the mobsters attempted to kill her at the hospital.

Initially, Walters would “go green” whenever angry or provoked, just like Dr Banner. Eventually, thanks to vampiric scientist Michael Morbius, Walters is able to control her transformation into She-Hulk and vice versa, at will. Unlike the Hulk who looks ferocious, She-Hulk is basically a larger-sized and muscular version of Walters, and she looks gorgeous.

Walters soon finds that her She-Hulk persona boosts her self-confidence and she decides to retain her She-Hulk form permanently, and so in the Marvel Universe, the public comes to terms having a greenskinned lady who argues cases in court one moment and battling super-villains another moment.

What makes She-Hulk extremely likeable is her cheery disposition, and where Walters was once reserved and timid, she’s now extroverted and vivacious. After a brief solo crimebusting career, She-Hulk became a member of The Avengers and in the mid-1980s, she joined the Fantastic Four as temporary replacement for The Thing.

As a lawyer, She-Hulk often defended superheroes (and even some baddies) in court, and significantly, she’s merely the second Marvel do-gooder to be a lawyer, after the sight-impaired Matt Murdock alias Daredevil. As a superheroine, She-Hulk has also become the Marvel equivalent of sorts to Wonder Woman in the rival DC Comics Universe.

This article would not be complete without prying into her romantic relationships. Walters was once married to John Jameson, the astronaut son of The Daily Bugle’s demagogic publisher J. Jonah Jameson... yes, JJJ who crusades against “public menace” Spider-Man.

However, Walters’ marriage to John was annulled; by the way, John’s alter ego is a destructive werewolf called Man-Wolf (but that’s another story). She-Hulk also had a fling with Tony Stark alias Iron Man, but her most serious paramour was Hercules... yes, that greatest hero in Greek mythology (Hercules’ other lovers include Black Widow... hmm, this writer should one day delve into sex in the Marvel Universe, eh).

So, what are you waiting for Marvel Studios, just bring on the She-Hulk in the third Hulk movie... and she has a nicer costume than her purplepants cousin too.