Many of the stories told in the Marvel Cinematic Universe deal with heavy themes, such as the possible destruction of everything we hold dear about Thanos and Kang the Conqueror. But what also makes the MCU so special are the moments of laughter, hope and fun that keep that darkness at bay. With She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Marvel aims to delve deep into this source of happiness and shed an even more comedic light on the MCU and its characters.
IGN sat down with She Hulk stars Tatiana Maslany, Mark Ruffalo and Ginger Gonzaga, director Kat Coiro and executive writer Jessica Gao, and they shared why the laughs in this 30-minute legal comedy are exactly what the MCU is about needed.
From the galactic menace of Thanos to a half-hour legal comedy
She-Hulk broke her way into the comic book world in 1980’s The Savage She-Hulk and, as Gao puts it, “she was always a lot of fun.” This made She-Hulk the perfect candidate for a comedy series set in the MCU, and the plan to make it a lighter and funnier story was decided from the start.
“She-Hulk was always going to be a comedy,” Gao said. “Not only because I originally wrote for TV comedy, but if you know her from the comics, she’s always been very funny. The most iconic run, the John Byrne run, was so irreverent and fun and confident and meta that it broke the fourth wall there. So for me that’s the essential She-Hulk and she just lends itself well to comedy.”
One of the most important parts of bringing this plan to life was obviously finding the perfect actor to play Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk. After countless auditions, Tatiana Maslany was chosen by Orphan Black, and she spoke about being nervous about auditioning for the role at first, but the humor and the uniqueness of the script made everything feel just right.
“It was like every page I laughed at and it had this very specific sense of humor that felt like it could only come from a brain like Jessica Gao’s and it was so much about the character.” said Maslany. “It really didn’t fall into those tropes of a big superhero story, it really was about a person going through their own things when this other thing happened to them and they kind of wanted to ignore it completely.
“She worked really hard to become a lawyer. She has a good group of loyal friends around her, people she cares about, and yet there is a rigidity and stubbornness about her. Her thoughts are so fixated on how she wants her life to be that when something like this happens to her and she can’t internalize it, she just denies it.
It probably didn’t hurt either that Mark Ruffalo, the actor who has played Dr. Bruce Banner/The Hulk would play such an important role in the series. According to Coiro, the script and the “incredible instant chemistry” between the two Hulks helped the show find its footing.
“The real secret of comedy is to allow the actors to play and to allow for improvisation and looseness. Mark and Tatiana had this incredible instant chemistry with each other. And a lot of what you see in that first episode is actually influenced by its dynamic, and there are definitely moments that weren’t on the page. And you see, it takes great footage for the actors to do that, so it’s part of the script-to-shoot development.”
These comments were echoed by Maslany and Ruffalo themselves.
“He was so much fun playing with him,” Maslany said of Ruffalo. “He really is like a big kid in the way he approaches this role in a way that you may not have seen every time he plays the Hulk. There was something about the tone of this show that made us like two big babies running around in little gray suits yelling at each other. Yes, and he is very in the moment. He’s really about connecting. He’s really about connecting and being present, so he’s like my ideal actor to work with.”
Much like babies, Ruffalo has a self-proclaimed short attention span. He’s been doing this acting for quite some time and realizes that if something doesn’t feel “fresh” he can get bored pretty quickly. Among other things, She-Hulk ticked that box and gave Ruffalo a chance to walk some paths he’s never walked before.
“I haven’t done a lot of television and I’ve mostly done films and I have a very short attention span,” Ruffalo said. “I get bored easily. And that’s probably my fear that I’ll just get bored and [She-Hulk has] keeps it fresh for me and I think keeps it fresh for everyone else. And that’s just another iteration and we get into his personal life and just the silly things like how he doesn’t bang his head through doors? And how does his furniture keep him from collapsing every time he sits on something? Or what does he like when he’s drunk and all these things that we never got to explore before.
“What’s great about Marvel is how much work has already been done on their personal lives, on these other characters, and on their relationships with these other characters, over the years of comics. So it just gives you this huge opportunity to explore so many different trails. And this is a different and personal family relationship that is very close. It’s surprising how well they fall into each other and how familiar it feels and yes. And now we have found that. Now there is just a completely different way to do it.”
This so-called “fresh” feeling sparked an adjustment period for other MCU characters who might appear in She-Hulk, and Coiro spoke about how the team encouraged them to embrace this new style of MCU storytelling.
“All the actors that came out of the existing MCU world had a little adjustment period where they realized they really were the same characters in a new genre because it’s the first time Marvel has done a half-hour legal comedy Has. ‘ said Corio. “And the most common question I got was, ‘Am I going too far?’ And my answer was always, ‘No, you can go further. You can play.’ This is a real comedy in many ways.”
This is what happens on a superhero’s day off
As mentioned, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law focuses more on the day in the life of superheroes when they’re not saving the universe. A sharp left turn from standard MCU fare, this new series is being touted as a breath of fresh air in some ways.
“I think it’s fun for people who are used to doing one thing and then taking a kind of break from the very dramatic and sometimes dark and then really just taking a break and playing in the tone of our show , because you have the benefit of knowing that on our show, the world is not going to end, the universe is not at stake. So they actually have the time and space to let this character breathe and show what happens on their day off when they’re not saving the world.
The Essential She Hulk Comics To Read Before The MCU Series
“My favorite kind of humor is to take on these huge, big concepts. These high profile things, extraordinary things, like superheroes and saving the universe and being an avenger and really reducing that to a grounded, real world scenario where instead of focusing on the spectacle of those big action things that are in the Filming happens, we focus on a bit of life, normal stuff. To me, the juxtaposition of those two things is comedy gold. This is my favorite area to explore.”
Ginger Gonzaga, who will play Jennifer Walters’ girlfriend Nikki Ramos, also spoke about giving downstairs heroes the spotlight as it tends to make them much more approachable. As much as many of us would like to, most of us don’t fly through the air or transform into big green superheroes.
“I keep saying that we’re incredibly human and it’s really awkward and weird to be one person,” Gonzaga said. “And that’s why I love comedy. i love the office I love Arrested Development. I love comedy when it really has that much to do with a person’s humanity and character. Because Jen doesn’t want to be a superhero, we kind of manage that and still get all these really human moments that are funny despite being a superhuman.”
For more, read our review of She-Hulk’s first episode, all the burning MCU questions the series has already answered, and a look at She-Hulk’s story and how she got her powers.
Francesca Rivera is a video producer at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @fbrivera.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.