She-Hulk

Breaking it into little pieces like the first write up focusing on only the first short run is just that a massive undertaking can seem lots easier when you break it up into little parts.

As per usual writeups.org policy, I place the beginning of the story in August, 1979, which is when the first issue actually hit the stands. I prefer that stories not keep time-shifting.

In other words, I don’t care for “updating” her origin so that it was 1979 then 1989 then 1999 then 2009. It happened when it happened and, if I do subsequent write ups, I’ll deal with her longevity. (This is also discussed in our “Ageing in the Marvel Universe” article – Ed.)

Advertisement

Background

The not-so-long arms of the law

The current Marvel Handbooks say, and have said for some time, that Bruce Banner is 5’9” and 128 pounds and that Jennifer Walters is 5’10” and 140 pounds.

Well, that presents a problem because, in the original run, there are a fair number of panels where they are standing next to each other and he was about half a foot taller than her. Every panel where we can judge verifies that this is about right.

So I go with what was shown and said in that run, not the current rewrite of history. In fact, he carries her across the street in his arms. She was presented as a small woman.

I estimate Bruce is about 5’10” in the original run and probably 150 pounds or a completely average man physically. One could compromise with early Jennifer Walters at about 5’4” (the average height for an American woman of her generation) and 115 pounds.

My values ignore official numbers and are solely based on the art in the original series.

Advertisement

Powers & Abilities

As a normal human, Jen Walters possesses no superhuman abilities except to transform into her alter ego, the She-Hulk. As the She-Hulk, she possesses superhuman strength and durability.

At first, Jen had no control over the changes. She became the She-Hulk when angry and reverted when calmed down. She soon learned to control the changes though it took extreme concentration to trigger the change to the She-Hulk and the process of her body shifting caused intense pain.

She seemed to have no trouble changing back to Jen but developed a psychological preference for staying the She-Hulk.

History

Born in 1950, Jennifer Walters and her cousin, Bruce Banner, who was 4 years her senior, were more like brother and sister. She called him “Doc” because, even when they were children, it was obvious to her that he would become a great medical doctor or scientist of some kind.

She might have completely lost it when her mother died had it not been for him. She was saddened when he had to leave for college, feeling as though she had lost her big brother and best friend.

Her mother did not just die. A gangster named Nick Trask attempted to have her father killed and they accidentally killed her mother instead. Her father, a Los Angeles County Sheriff, William Morris Walters, could not prove it and bring Trask down.

This personal tragedy may have motivated Jen to go to Law school and specialize in Criminal law.

1979

Many years later, in the summer of 1979, Dr. Bruce Banner arrived in Los Angeles to visit Jennifer Walters. He had reached the end of his rope dealing with his plight alone and needed to talk to somebody.

He chose her because, being a very introverted and shy person, he found it very hard to talk to people and make friends. But to him, she was friend and sister and he knew she had become a rather hotshot young attorney.

When Bruce walked into Jennifer’s office, she still called him “Doc” as a term of affection and he mentioned that she was the only one who ever called him that. She ran to him and hugged him. Then he explained why he was there and that he was on the run from the police and military.

She seemed completely unaware of his other existence as the Hulk and it was not known to the general public.

They talked about how life had caused them to drift apart and how much they both regretted that. Bruce then related to her the story of how he became the Hulk. It was essentially the story of the Gamma bomb, saving Rick Jones and the betrayal by Igor.

However, there was no mention of Igor being a Soviet spy and Banner stated that these events happened “a few years ago.” For purposes of the “She-Hulk continuity”, it was in 1977 (conveniently, when the Television Banner became the Hulk).

Hulk in the house, part 1

Jennifer asked Bruce to drive to her home with her. She felt there must be something she could do to help him, perhaps not scientifically but as a criminal lawyer, she might be able to help him with his status as a wanted criminal.

He warned her how dangerous it could be to travel around with the man who becomes the Hulk. But she brushed it off, saying she faced regular danger as an attorney though she was mostly joking.

When Bruce asked what was going on in her life, Jen explained that she was currently defending a “hood” named Monkton. The man was accused of murdering the bodyguard of Nick Trask. However, she believed Trask murdered his own bodyguard to frame Monkton for it because Trask hated Monkton.

Hulk in the house, part 2

She had started a rumor that she had evidence to prove it in order to draw him into doing something she really could prove. Bruce wisely told her that this was an incredibly dangerous game she was playing. If Trask really was a murderer, his most likely choice would be to kill her. Again, she brushed it off.

But deep inside, she was burning with rage over what she knew Trask had done to her mother and had, for years, carried an obsession with seeing him punished for it.

Unknown to them, two of Trask’s men had followed them to her suburban home. As they parked and got out of the car, one of the men fired a shot, mortally wounding Jen.

As the man ran up to put in a point-blank shot and insure that she was dead, Bruce grabbed a hose and sprayed him in the eyes. He dragged her into the house and locked the door just as a bullet went through it.

At this point, the gunmen panicked. There had been too much noise and obvious gunshots. They ran for their car and took off.

Fateful transfusion

Realizing that only he could save her, not the Hulk, Bruce carried her across the street where he noticed a house had a “Doctor’s Shingle” outside. This was the home of one Dr. Jonathan Ridge. Nobody was home so he broke the glass, reached in and unlocked the door, all the time trying his best to stay calm.

Knowing she was the same blood type as he was, he gave her a transfusion of his gamma irradiated blood. He waited until he was sure she would survive and then called an ambulance.

After Jen was taken to the hospital, the police took Bruce in for questioning. But he finally panicked when he realized they would find out who he was and call the military. The next thing they knew, there was a crash as his alter ego smashed through the wall and was gone.

Rise of the She-Hulk, part 1

The next day, while Jen was still recovering in the hospital, three hoods employed by Trask walked in disguised as doctors to kill her. As they tried to suffocate her, the rage at losing her life to such petty vermin, at Trask murdering her just as he had her mother and walking away free, overcame her.

Within seconds, a new creature where she had been threw them off easily.

One of the men named her by saying she looked like some sort of She-Hulk. He fired a shot that she blocked by swinging her bed into the way, implying either that she was vulnerable to bullets or simply did not know the extent of her abilities and was not going to be used for target practice.

She pursued them, pulling the elevator they were in back up by the cables and, when they still reached their car, ripping up a street sign and throwing it hard enough to knock one of their tires from their car. Yanking one of them from the car, she forced him to admit that Trask ordered the “hit” on Jennifer Walters and framed Monkton for murder.

With 2 policemen as witnesses, she ran off. Knowing her anger was fading and her ability to stay the She-Hulk, she got back to the hospital as she changed back to Jennifer Walters, vowing that, from then on, whatever Jennifer Walters could not handle, the She-Hulk would.

Rise of the She-Hulk, part 2

Immediately upon release from the hospital, Jen had her best friend, Jill, drive her to the courthouse where Lou Monkton was about to have his pre-trial hearing. Of course, in court, the “confessions” of the three hoods, made under threat from a “She-Hulk”, were thrown out and Monkton had to stand trial.

However, Jen convinced the hoods to testify against Trask in return for her dropping the attempted murder charges she had filed against them for their assault upon her.

Jen then stopped to see her father, still an L.A. County Sheriff, and learned where Trask was currently located, indicating her father had never stopped trying to bring him down. She visited Trask to goad him into making a mistake and they exchanged words.

The Trask feud

Arriving home, she was invited to a party across the street at Dr. Ridge’s home. The Ridges got a phone call saying Jen needed to go to her office and pick up some important papers. So Jen could relax, Jill offered to go get them. But then the Ridge’s son asked how her secretary would know she was across the street at a spur of the moment party?

Jen ran out front just in time to see Jill followed down the street by a car with two hoods she had seen at Trask’s office. She tried to run after them but her back still hurt from the bullet wound. The pain and rage caused her to become the She-Hulk who ignored the pain.

The She-Hulk ran fast enough to keep up with the cars. Jill realized the brakes were not working nor could she cut the engine or slow down once she reached a certain speed. The She-Hulk threw objects, even parked cars, to knock obstacles out of Jill’s path.

Jen’s legal adversary, Assistant District Attorney Dennis Bukowski, saw the chase and joined it. The She-Hulk bumped a city bus, turning it to the side to block rush hour traffic, and was preparing to grab the car with Jill as it went by, saving her.

But Bukowski rammed She-Hulk with his car at the critical instant, thinking he was stopping her from killing someone. Jill went off the overpass and crashed to the road below, dead. She-Hulk wanted to kill him but she retreated rather than fight the police.

Wanted for a murder she didn’t commit, part 1

In the aftermath, Monkton was freed because of the testimony of the three hoods and a warrant was sworn out for Trask’s arrest.

Jen was believed to have been killed in the car crash. Monkton, the presiding judge and all other present were sworn to secrecy about her being alive. This way Trask would not know he could send men after her or threaten her loved ones for her silence. This only left Jen with the guilt that her friend had died when Jen was the intended target.

The day before they were scheduled to testify, the three hoods were murdered in jail by an attacker that seemed to be the She-Hulk. Meanwhile, Jen was staying at the beach house of Dr. Ridge being cared for by his son, Danny.

Through a variety of methods, Trask found out she was alive and sent an outdated robot stolen from Stark International to kill her. The same robot, painted green and disguised to give the impression it was the She-Hulk from a distance, had killed the three henchmen.

Wanted for a murder she didn’t commit, part 2

Just before it arrived, “Zapper” Ridge realized Jen was the She-Hulk when she said as much while unconscious. When the robot broke in, she managed to become the She-Hulk and destroyed it in a pitched battle.

Jen soon realized that her She-Hulk persona was changing. At first she was intelligent enough to speak and remember her life as Jen. But, otherwise, driven by emotion.

Soon, she was able to think clearly as if there was no mental difference between them except when she got angry. Then she reverted to a more brutish mentality. Unfortunately, she was angry when she decided to track down Trask and personally meet out justice. Followed by Danny Ridge, she broke into his warehouse.

Showdown with Trask

Meanwhile, Trask had captured her father. He offered him technology with which to kill the She-Hulk as he believed she was responsible for Jen’s death. But the laser device Trask provided fed off emotions, driving the user insane.

The She-Hulk managed to tear the laser device away from him. While he was unconscious, “Zapper” dragged her away after she reverted to Jen. She then chose to end the masquerade and reveal she was alive and was reunited with her father.

The world’s largest oil company, Roxxon Oil, then started having its oil refineries mysteriously drained. Jen was asked to defend them against accusations of sabotaging themselves to hike prices. As the She-Hulk, she discovered Trask was behind the thefts using technology he had stolen.

This time, as they fought while he was in a huge vehicle shaped like a snake, his controls were damaged and he found himself plunging deep into the Earth, supposedly to his doom.

Man of iron

It was perhaps inevitable that Iron Man would be the first super hero the She-Hulk would encounter since Trask had been stealing old Stark technology. At first assuming she was a murderer and a mindless creature, he discovered she was both innocent and intelligent. He effectively cleared her of the murder charges.

Likewise, working alone, she cleared Tony Stark of knowingly having any connections to organized crime. They also met and became friends as Jennifer Walters and Tony Stark, not realizing they had already met as the She-Hulk and Iron-Man.

Jen’s next adventure netted her a temporary boyfriend and a trip into the Florida Everglades. She joined forces with a young man, Richard Rory, who had once “befriended” the Man-Thing. She ended up captured by swamp creatures that had found the secret of eternal youth at a price. The price was total lethargy.

Man of muck

As Jennifer Walters, she managed to break free of the power of the “life giving” waters. On her way out of the swamp, she encountered the Man-Thing. Becoming the She-Hulk, they battled until her overwhelming rage overloaded the empathic creature and it fell unconscious.

Jen soon returned to Los Angeles while Richard stayed in Florida nearby to the Man-Thing.

Jen then took on what started out as a legal case, a cult leader called “The Word” capable of “brainwashing” impressionable people. It ended with a battle involving the She-Hulk and a person being paralyzed for life during the fight.

Though it was not directly her fault, it would not have happened had she not lost control of her temper and she knew it.

Vampires and werewolves

For some time, She-Hulk had been getting weak spells. It seemed there was some defect caused by the very blood transfusion from Bruce Banner that saved her life to begin with. The only person who might have a cure was the former “living” vampire, Dr. Michael Morbius.

She almost died just getting to his lab. Once there he was able to awaken her and get her to drink the antidote he had prepared from a blood sample. Not only did it cure her but it made it so that she no longer transformed against her will. With extreme concentration, she could change back and forth at will.

However, because Jen was seen with Morbius, a rumor got out that she was defending him in court. She decided to go ahead and do it.

This led to people who had lost loved ones to him when he was a “living” vampire trying to get revenge against him and against Jen for defending him. This got into issues of extenuating circumstances and the desire for revenge versus justice.

Jen then got caught up in a convoluted kaleidoscope of other people’s adventures. That led to meeting John Jameson alias the Man-Wolf. She ended up helping him to save his “Other-Realm” although never understanding what was going on.

Back to reality

In a return to a far more down to earth situation, Jen helped a delusional young woman face the reality that most of her life as she “remembered” it, with a potentially glorious singing career that other people were sabotaging, was a fantasy.

Jen investigated accusations of a power company using unsafe forms of radiation. This led to conflict with her father who almost always saw the defense of the status quo as “right” and everything else as “wrong”.

It also led to conflict with sexism both in her work and as the She-Hulk, battling a young man with severe insecurity issues expressed as chauvinism.

A shady deal

While the She-Hulk battled a preposterous opponent in a suit of powered armor  calling himself the Man-Elephant, the Assistant D.A., “Buck” Bukowski, discovered that the car Jennifer’s friend, Jill, had been driving when it crashed had been tampered with.

The brakes were gone, the ignition could not be shut off once started and the gas pedal fixed so that, once pressed, could only be pressed further but could not go back.

He realized the She-Hulk was not trying to kill her but to save her and his interference caused the woman’s death. He took the information to Sheriff Walters and the She-Hulk was cleared of all murder charges.

But Jen’s problems were far from over. Her father had begun a relationship with a woman who, unknown to him, was just after his money and was doing everything she could do to alienate him from Jen.

Jen went to sleep one night and awoke the next morning as the She-Hulk. Then, her friend, Zapper, was tricked into bringing her to U.C.L.A. where a young scientist captured her and performed experiments to try figuring out how to harness her powers for himself.

Breaking free, she demolished the place while he injected another doctor with a serum that turned him into a monster that she fought. Getting home, she did not realize her friend Richard Rory was there and he discovered that she was the She-Hulk, which he had already suspected.

On her way to L.A.

Meanwhile, her father’s new girlfriend continued to manipulate him until he evicted her from the house she grew up in and which he still owned. In a fit of rage, she became the She-Hulk, demolishing the house and declaring that she was done being Jen Walters and would smash anyone that got in her way again, absolutely anyone.

Jen or, more accurately, She-Hulk journeyed around Los Angeles to coffee shops and clothing stores, all in her gigantic, green-skinned identity. Then she was drawn into a battle against a hit-man called the Seeker. He had been hired by a mysterious new gang boss called “Shade” who intended to take over the L.A. crime scene.

Realizing she could not directly beat him, she tricked Seeker into causing an overpass to collapse on top of him. He was apparently killed and She-Hulk took after the retreating mobsters, vowing a one-woman war on the L.A. mobs.

Unfortunately for her, the L.A. mobs agreed that the new top Crime boss of Los Angeles would be whichever one eliminated the She-Hulk. It started when a villain called Radius tracked her when she drove into the desert to get away from it all.

He was able to absorb and redirect all vibrations. She defeated him in a short battle. Meanwhile, her father discovered that the woman he was in love with was intentionally trying to sabotage his relationship with her.

Doctor doctor, give me the news

She-Hulk truly lost her temper when Shade sent another villain, a man in powered armor called Torque, after her. Defeating him, she started rousting the local dive bars to find Shade but was only able to find the location of a meeting of the local mobs.

She easily defeated a mobster in an outdated suit of powered armor from Stark Industries and got the location of Shade. Meanwhile, it was revealed that the “mad doctor” from U.C.L.A. was really the power and the man running things and “Shade” was only a front man.

While Sheriff Walters discovered the duplicity of his girlfriend, the She-Hulk attacked the mansion of “Shade”. She was pulled underground into a cavern where she fought the Doctor’s failed mutations.

She also fought a boy called Kyr who possessed the power to make other beings experience excruciating pain. She saw he had some sort of control device grafted to his skull.

In the mansion, the Doctor used a control helmet to force Kyr and all of the other mutations to attack her. The helmet also allowed him to link with specially prepared Earth such as all of it around the mansion and control that earth.

But something went wrong. The Earth itself became a conscious entity and took the control from him. Manifesting as an entity calling itself Earth-Lord, it attacked the She-Hulk who was already fighting Kyr.

This looks like a job for — Jennifer Walters, part 1

Enraged, she was able to tear the control device from the boy’s head and destroy it. It turned out Kyr’s powers were not dependent on the device. Free of the control, he attacked Earth-Lord since he was the only remaining manifestation of the Doctor.

To escape the pain Kyr could cause, Earth-Lord “evolved”, becoming one with the cosmos. Earth-Lord’s physical body transformed into one of the mutations She-Hulk had recently fought and then another of them and another, Torque, Radius and Seeker appeared one after the other, finally changing into the assistant that the doctor had injected to create the first monstrosity the She-Hulk had fought in the U.C.L.A. lab. They were all derivatives from his DNA.

The former lab assistant, Ralph, was “evolving” and broke free of the control of the doctor. He helped She-Hulk attack the doctor. But he too soon reached the point where he could leave his body and go on to a higher existence.

While that was happening, the nameless “doctor” donned a helmet that gave him vast mental powers and entered a “war-vehicle” to fight her.

This looks like a job for — Jennifer Walters, part 2

She-Hulk’s father and friends showed up as the departing Ralph gave them one last gift, the knowledge of how to defeat the doctor. All of his mutations were based on her DNA- as the She-Hulk.

Even his weapons and a force field he currently had her trapped in were keyed to her DNA- the She-Hulk’s DNA, not the DNA of Jennifer Walters. By changing back to Jen, she was able to escape.

While the doctor was distracted by the police and other gangsters, Jen explained that her choice to stay the She-Hulk was not a preference she had only when she was in the She-Hulk form. The mentality wasn’t different. Even as Jen, she preferred to change back to the She-Hulk and stay that way.

Changing back, she defeated the Doctor but turned him over to the police. She was finally reconciled with her father and agreed to work with him to defeat the L.A. gangs but she would remain the She-Hulk.

Description

Jennifer Walters in her original incarnation is a small woman usually dressed in a pants-suit. While not unattractive, she is not extraordinarily beautiful either, being one of those people who will be perceived as good-looking or not based upon her personality.

Her brown hair falls to about her shoulders or a bit farther. As the She-Hulk, despite the green skin, she is a voluptuous “woman” towering taller than most men. Her hair falls almost to her hips and she wears the torn remains of whatever she was wearing as Jen Walters.

Personality

Jennifer Walters has an inner fire that drives her to seek justice and despise hypocrisy. But her physical size often makes her feel helpless and insecure, holding back her true anger, internalizing it. Basically compassionate, when her rage overcomes her, the She-Hulk comes out.

Though intelligent, the She-Hulk is emotionally volatile, often unable to control her anger. She is often what Jen fantasizes being, brash and tall and out-spoken. The only thing that prevents the She-Hulk from functioning in everyday social situations is that her primitive anger overrules her intellect most of the time.

In the long term, as Jennifer, she becomes more confident knowing the She-Hulk is always but seconds away. She becomes more outspoken. As the She-Hulk, she slowly becomes more in control of herself although being a giantess with super strength perhaps inevitably affects her personality.

Ultimately, the two personas blend and integrate in the long run.

Quotes

Bruce Banner: “Jen — I’ve got to warn you ! There may be danger !”
Jennifer Walters: “Danger, cousin ? The lady’s a criminal lawyer ! I live with danger !”

(As Jennifer Walters, thinking): “If only I weren’t so frail, so powerless…”

She-Hulk: “Now, let’s see how tough you are — against me !”
Thug 1: “It’s a girl but — look at the size of her !”
Thug 2: “Her skin ! It- it’s green !”
Thug 3: “It’s like — she’s some kind’a She-Hulk !”
As She-Hulk: “You called me a She-Hulk ! And a She-Hulk I’ll be !”

As She-Hulk: “Nobody stops the She-Hulk ! Nobody !”

As She-Hulk: “I never felt like this before ! I can do anything ! I’m throbbing with power !”

As Jennifer Walters: “…From now on, whatever Jennifer Walters can’t handle — the She-Hulk will do !”

As Jennifer Walters: “I… I can’t control where or when I change. It scares me…”

As She-Hulk: “At last ! I’m the She-Hulk ! Nothing can stop me ! Nothing !”

As Jennifer Walters: “I’m me, but I’m also her ! I want to lash out at the injustice of everything ! It’s wrong, but at the same time, it feels so right ! The rage… so overwhelming ! The power… so awesome ! God help me, but I almost wish I always was… her !”

As She-Hulk: “There is no more Jenny. There is only the She-Hulk now. I will never suffer the pain of metamorphosis again. I will stay the She-Hulk forever.”

DCU History

Without the Hulk, there would have been no She-Hulk so either he would need to exist or there would need to be an alternate explanation for her powers. In more recent history, when Lex Luthor gave people powers that were doomed to fail when he decided, maybe a few people’s powers did not fail but went wrong.

Perhaps a young lawyer who wanted super strength kept it but only when she mutated into another form. Jen as a lawyer would have worked well being introduced during various attempts to discredit super heroes.

While it would be possible she would be against the heroes during her days before she was the She-Hulk, it is unlikely that she would not soon take their side given her drive for justice and to help the underdog. 

Hulk Television Series History

The whole idea of the She-Hulk began when there was a rumor that the 1977-1982 television series was considering introducing a female hulk-like character.

Marvel wanted to introduce their version of the character so they would own the rights just in case the television show ever did do that. Supposedly, it was considering eventually doing that as a spin-off with a few ideas being kicked around. I’ll go with one of them.

In one episode, David Banner’s younger sister was introduced, an agricultural specialist, Dr. Helen Banner. Around the fifth year of David Banner’s plight, he returned home again while she was using her skills to foil yet another criminal plot. When she got shot… Well, you can figure out the rest.

Or she can simply be David Banner’s cousin, an attorney named Jennifer Walters, with the same scenario. She would then go up against organized crime with the She-Hulk always appearing to save the day. Talking rather than growling might be an option but unlikely.

By Doug Mertaugh.

Source of Character: The Savage She-Hulk original series #1-25, cover dated February, 1980 through March, 1982. Created by Stan Lee, John Buscema and Chic Stone. David Anthony Kraft took over as writer starting with issue #2.

Helper(s): Roy Cowan, William Chamberlin, Psiberlord, Sébastien, Marvel Comics Database, Wikipedia and, of course, The Savage She-Hulk #1-25. M&M stats by Pawsplay.