‘She-Hulk’ Finale Smashes More Walls, Largely the Fourth
This week, She-Hulk went where no Marvel cinematic hero has gone before … Walt Disney Studios! Today, the finale for Season One of “She-Hulk” premiered, and it was nothing short of incredible. Fair warning: Spoilers ahead for the episode and the series.
Source: Marvel Studios
Aside from the unofficial backlot tour at Walt Disney Studios, writers also tied in enough 4th-Wall-breaking hijinks into this final episode to make Deadpool’s heart grow three sizes.
Source: Marvel Studios
Entitled “Who’s Show is This,” this episode comes to an apparent climax when Jen Walters (She-Hulk) stumbles upon a secret meeting of the group “Intelligencia,” featuring The Abomination as their guest speaker.
Image Credit: Marvel
As a solid meta joke on society, the Intelligencia reveals themselves to be a pro-man, sub-Reddit-like group bent on male superheroes maintaining their dominance. Earlier in the series, their leader Todd went so far as to steal Jen’s blood and transforms himself into a Hulk during the meeting in an effort to achieve this goal.
Source: Marvel Studios
During the intense scene, season-long villain Titania busts through a wall (Does she ever use a door?) for apparently no reason. Not one to miss an entrance, the real Hulk (aka “Smug Hulk”) also breaks in shortly thereafter from the ceiling and starts fighting The Abomination.
Image Credit: Marvel Studios
Confused yet? You’re not alone. All of this mayhem leaves the viewer, and Jen, in a state of shock and confusion.
“This is a mess! None of these storylines make any sense,” Jen declares. In a moment of true hilarity, she even breaks the Fourth Wall and directly asks the audience, if this “works for you?”
She-Hulk Fixes Society (and the Plot)
After that, the screen quickly shifts back to the Disney+ homepage, making one wonder if something happened to their streaming service. Luckily though, She-Hulk quickly bursts through her poster on the screen, squelching any concerns about service, and leaps down to an episode of “Marvel Studios: Assembled,” the making-of documentaries produced for each Marvel feature.
Image: Marvel.com/Disney+
Where else would one go if they had an issue with the narrative of a Marvel show and found themselves embeded within the Disney streaming service platform? In doing so, She-Hulk finds herself looking down a corridor at Walt Disney Studios near the original animation building on the lot. With a Mickey Mouse water tower in the background, the historical landmark (home to Walt Disney’s personal office) certainly presents one of the most jarring moments of the finale.
She-Hulk continues her stroll through the studios, crossing in front of the Michael D. Eisner Building and even walks past the famous “Partners” statue of Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney, which exists in some form at most Disney resorts worldwide.
Image: Disney
Quickly, She-Hulk finds herself in the Writer’s Room in which authors are busy writing Season 2 of “She-Hulk.” Pulled directly from the comics, both She-Hulk and Deadpool have pulled this maneuver in the past.
After witnessing a writer pitching that the second season be a dream sequence like the ninth season of “Dallas,” Jen berates the writers for their unoriginal ideas for the finale. Not the only throwback utlizied in the episode, this allusion does hint at the idea of bringing characters unexpectedly, as “Dallas” did that season. With Jen growing more angry, the writers declare that this was Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige’s idea, so She-Hulk decides to confront the boss.
Image Credit: The Walt Disney Company; Kevin Feige, President, Marvel Studios
Still stuck in the episdoe of “Marvel Studios: Assembled,” Jen marches her way to the Marvel Studios floor, Lined with Iron Man suits, including the Mark II, the Mark XLII, and Mark VII, Walters finds herself forced to sign a massive Marvel NDA before fighting off Marvel security in a hallway and descending on Feige’s office.
Source: Kevin Feige | Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Here, Jen meets K.E.V.I.N. (Knowledge Enhanced Visual Interconnectivity Nexus), an A.I. responsible for the MCU complete with a Feighe-esque, baseball-like visor over its eyes. Ascending to her soap box, Jen educates K.E.V.I.N on all the tropes that the MCU is understandbly criticized for. Within minutes, K.E.V.I.N agrees with her analysis and allows Jen to rewrite the ending to this season’s finale.
“She-Hulk” Wraps Up Smashing Season
The whole sequence only lasts seven minutes, but it packs a Hulk-sized punch of references and commentary on society as well as the MCU at large. Sadly, this entry marks the end of Season One for “She-Hulk,” but as we saw in the show, the writers are actively working on Season Two.
Photo: Marvel Comics
With the debut of an A.I. version of Feige himself as well as the first introduction of Walt Disney Studios within a Marvel storyline, Season Two certainly has its work cut out for it creatively.
Along with “Marvel Studios: Assembled,” “She-Hulk” is now streaming in its entirety on Disney+.
