Warning: This article contains spoilers for the season finale ofShe-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
Director Kat Coiro and head writer Jessica Gao have wrapped upShe-Hulk: Attorney at Law’s first-season run with the most self-aware episode of the series by far. For its first couple of acts, “Whose Show Is This?” follows the familiar formula of Marvel’s finale episodes. The hero finds herself at her lowest point – jobless, homeless, and legally forbidden from using her superpowers for good – and all the storylines intersect for a big climactic battle sequence. But just as Bruce Banner prepares for a rematch with Emil Blonsky, Todd Phelps gives himself Hulk blood, and Titania crashes through the wall to steal the spotlight, Jen uses her greatest power – breaking the fourth wall – to stop the episode dead in its tracks and remind the audience who’s really the star.
She escapes from the trappings of her own series, swings across the Disney+ streaming library to anAssembledbehind-the-scenes documentary, and makes her way onto Marvel’s studio lot. This is even more meta thananything Deadpool has ever done on-screen. Jen goes to her own show’s writers’ room and criticizes their storytelling decisions: “What kinda stupid finale is this?” The writers tell her that the action-packed finale was requested by “Kevin,” so she fights her way through the Marvel security team to confront Kevin about rewriting the ending. As it turns out, Kevin is actually K.E.V.I.N. (Knowledge Enhanced Visual Interconnectivity Nexus), an advanced A.I. using a proven algorithm to turn characters and storylines from Marvel Comics into hit movies and TV shows.
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On K.E.V.I.N.’s elaborate, high-tech edit bay, Jen pulls up theShe-Hulkscene she abandoned and makes a few radical changes to suit her own vision of the finale. It’sone of Marvel’s boldest movesto date; Jen throws out entire plot threads on a whim before returning to the show. With its trip to the production office followed by the on-the-spot rewrites of its own ending, theShe-Hulkfinale evokes two other classic fourth-wall-breaking comedies: Mel Brooks’ spot-on western spoofBlazing Saddlesand Mike Myers’SNL-based gemWayne’s World.
Blazing Saddles’ Third Act Spills Onto The Studio Lot
In the third act ofBlazing Saddles, the climactic showdown between the townspeople and the hired guns of the tycoon trying to drive them out of their homes spills onto the adjacent set ofa lavish Hollywood musical, then into the studio cafeteria where an epic food fight breaks out between the stars of various productions. When the dust has settled, Sheriff Bart and the Waco Kid go to Grauman’s Chinese Theater to watch the end of their own movie. Like Bart, Jen steps out of her own show, runs amok at the studio, and ends up watching her own on-screen adventures.
At the end ofBlazing Saddles, Brooks used this meta turn to point out the artifice of the western genre.Actors like John Wayneand Clint Eastwood might play gruff, gun-toting, tough-as-nails antiheroes on the silver screen, but in real life, they’re primped and pampered Hollywood celebrities. This message is hammered home in the final shot of the movie when the sheriff and his sidekick ride off into the sunset before dismounting from their horses so a chauffeured Cadillac limousine can take them back to their hotel rooms.
InShe-Hulk, the self-awareness isn’t just used to call attention to the artifice of superhero stories; it’s also used to avoid some ofthe pitfalls of the MCU itself. When Jen sees yet another battle scene coming to cap off an MCU project, she climbs through the fourth wall to tell Marvel’s head honcho that not every movie and streaming show needs to culminate in an overstuffed action set-piece. She calls out the franchise’s commonly criticized shortcomings when it comes to endings and female representation.
Wayne’s World Rewrites Its Own Ending
At the end ofWayne’s World, Cassandra breaks up with Wayne, goes to a tropical paradise with sleazy producer Benjamin, Stacy reveals that she’s pregnant with Wayne’s child, and Wayne’s house burns down in a fire that kills Garth. Wayne is unhappy with this ending, so he decides to give “theScooby-Dooending” a try, in which Benjamin is unmasked as “Old Man Withers” before being taken away by the cops. This is a fun ending, but Wayne is still dissatisfied, so they try yet another ending: “the mega happy ending.” Cassandra gets back together with Wayne, Garth starts dating the waitress he has a crush on, and Benjamin learns the valuable lesson that fame, fortune, and beauty won’t bring true happiness.
InShe-Hulk, Jen interrupts the formulaic, action-centric finale to give herself a “mega happy ending.” She switches out the gloomy nighttime setting for a sunny daytime setting. She takes away Todd’s Hulk powers,gets rid of Titania, and removes Bruce’s perfunctory, spotlight-stealing cameo. The cops arrive to arrest Todd and Emil, Jen gets her life back, and Daredevil makes one last fan-pleasing appearance.
From the beginning,She-Hulkwas much more interested inbeing a legal procedural sitcomthan a comic book action series. If the finale had indulged in explosive spectacle, it would have felt disingenuous to what came before. Not only is the meta route taken by the writers more ingenuous to the intention and approach of the series; it also makes this show totally unique in a franchise that’s often criticized for its homogeneous house style.
