{"id":96541,"date":"2022-10-14T04:05:01","date_gmt":"2022-10-14T04:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/she-hulk-finale-breaks-fourth-wall-smashes-marvel-cinematic-universe\/"},"modified":"2022-10-14T04:05:01","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T04:05:01","slug":"she-hulk-finale-breaks-fourth-wall-smashes-marvel-cinematic-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/she-hulk-finale-breaks-fourth-wall-smashes-marvel-cinematic-universe\/","title":{"rendered":"She-Hulk Finale Breaks Fourth Wall, Smashes Marvel Cinematic Universe"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tSPOILER WARNING: <\/strong>This story discusses major plot elements of the Season 1 finale of \u201cShe-Hulk: Attorney at Law,\u201d currently streaming on Disney+.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\t\u201cThis is a mess!\u201d Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) complains directly to the camera in the season finale of \u201cShe-Hulk: Attorney at Law,\u201d after several dangling plot strands from the season \u2014 the anti She-Hulk site Intelligencia run by toxic bro Todd Phelps (Jon Bass), the zen superhero retreat run by the Abomination (Tim Roth), the superhero influencer Titania (Jameela Jamil), the return of Jennifer’s cousin Bruce Banner as the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) \u2014 suddenly collided in the same showdown action sequence. <\/p>\n

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\t\u201cNone of these storylines make any sense!\u201d Jennifer says to the viewing audience. \u201cIs this working for you?\u201d<\/p>\n

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\tSuddenly, the screen cuts from her face to the Marvel Studios landing page on Disney+, and Jennifer (now transformed into She-Hulk) bursts out of the \u201cShe-Hulk\u201d thumbnail and into one for a \u201cMarvel Assembled\u201d making-of doc . From there, she walks through the actual Disney lot in Burbank to the \u201cShe-Hulk\u201d writers’ room, and demands to understand why the finale of her show is so bad.<\/p>\n

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\t\u201cThere are certain things that are supposed to happen in a superhero story,\u201d says one exasperated writer. <\/p>\n

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\tShe-Hulk slams her hands down on the table, startling the writers: \u201cWhy don’t we just do things our own way?\u201d<\/p>\n

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\tThat has been \u201cShe-Hulk’s\u201d style from the start. Marvel Studios’ first outright comedy for Disney+ has gleefully refused to adopt the accepted rhythms of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: There’s been no central Big Bad, no overarching narrative incrementally advancing with each episode, and no stakes larger than the fate of Jennifer’s unsatisfying professional and romantic life. Instead, \u201cShe-Hulk\u201d has been a throwback to the broadcast networks’ late ’90s relationship comedies, with each episode unfolding at its own particular pace as Jennifer navigates whatever situation has cropped up that week. Yes, Todd, the Abomination and Titania have all popped up more than once, but in a loosey-goosey way, each of them satirical versions of earlier, more severe MCU antagonists \u2014 in the case of the Abomination, literally himself.<\/p>\n

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\tfor some, this shaggy approach has been a welcome respite from the MCU’s usual mouse; for others, it’s a discordant misfire. In the season finale, \u201cShe-Hulk\u201d makes clear it’s all been part of a larger satire of the MCU itself, as Jennifer fights her way from the \u201cShe-Hulk\u201d writers’ room to talk to the man in charge, Kevin.<\/p>\n

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\tInstead of Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige, though, it’s an AI robot called KEVIN (or Knowledge Enhanced Visual Interconnectivity Nexus) that possesses \u201cthe most advanced entertainment algorithm in the world\u201d that \u201cproduces near-perfect products.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\tThat’s about as stinging a rebuke of the MCU as a soulless factory for superhero content as any levied at the company by its critics. And then Jennifer drives it even further by poking holes in the standard MCU finale that KEVIN \u2014 who happens to sport a baseball cap brim like the ones Feige always wears \u2014 had cooked up for \u201cShe-Hulk.\u201d <\/p>\n

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\t\u201cIt’s often said that Marvel movies all end the same way,\u201d Jennifer says, prompting KEVIN to reply nervously, \u201cWait, who’s saying that?\u201d <\/p>\n

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\tJennifer pushes on, noting the \u201cunwritten rule that you have to throw a bunch of plot and flash\u201d into the climax, which she says is just a distraction from her core emotional story of learning to be OK with her She-Hulk and human versions of herself \u2014 again, a common complaint about the MCU.<\/p>\n

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\tIn fact, this episode evokes a specific \u201cShe-Hulk\u201d issue from the Marvel Comics from 1993, in which She-Hulk storms the offices of Marvel Comics to demand better writers after she’s told her regular one, John Byrne, \u201ctripped over a dangling sub-plot and broke his neck.\u201d (There’s even a QR code linking to that issue embedded in the episode, part of an initiative started earlier this year with \u201cMoon Knight.\u201d)<\/p>\n

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\tWhat makes all of this so delicious is that part of the MCU’s gargantuanly successful appeal is that it’s never been a self-serious endeavor. At its best, Marvel movies and shows can slyly wink at their own grandiosity without undercutting our emotional connection to their characters. \u201cShe-Hulk\u201d has taken that knowingness and Hulkified it, smashing through the fourth wall and into the Marvel Studios offices. In doing so, the show has only intensified what makes She-Hulk, and the MCU, work so well: By taking control of her own story, Jennifer can be her own superhero.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n