She-Hulk episode 3 called out toxic men’s views on a female superhero in a meta humor moment. Then the internet immediately proved them right.
One of the great cornerstones of the MCU show She-Hulk has been it’s meta commentary.
Obviously, the fourth-wall breaks and Jen constantly referring to the “lawyer show” and “A and B plots” make the show more than just the typical Marvel superhero fare. But She-Hulk has also taken to including meta-commentary within episodes.
In the third episode, She-Hulk shared some of the backlash that Jennifer Walters, aka She-Hulk, has been receiving from haters. Not only was it hilariously similar to backlash the show has received, but unhappy fans immediately began to echo these sentiments after the episode aired.
She-Hulk’s call out of toxic men elicits toxic responses
In episode 3, several news stations discussed the reaction to Walters’ transformation into She-Hulk, airing clips, and threads of angry men complaining about the newest hero.
Apparently, the writers didn’t have to work hard to find inspiration.
According to the Twitter account She-Hulk Updates, a lot of the comments from the MCU were actually borrowed from comments “outraged men” that were left when the show was first announced three years ago.
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It seems like Marvel took some inspiration. In 2019 when Marvel announced She-Hulk the comments were spammed with outraged men. Even some of the exact words shown in the video. “So we have a metoo movement now and all the male heroes are gone?” #SheHulk #SheHulkAttorneyAtLaw pic.twitter.com/YQoJGcnAP6
— She-Hulk Updates (@shehuIkupdates) September 1, 2022
This irony, however, was lost on some men who made the same comments in response to episode three.
Ok She-Hulk & Marvel, we get it, you hate men! It's up to the point that it's tiresome & it isn't funny anymore. Marvel is becoming a joke & sexist assholes & everything that they put out is nothing but political messaging. #SheHulk #SheHulkAttorneyAtLaw #Marvel #MarvelStudios
— JoKoBod 🐺🐾 (Vtuber) 🏳️🌈 (@howlingwolfjoey) September 1, 2022
I’m over #SheHulk I fully agree with women empowerment but this show is making a mockery of the hero. The fact that She-Hulk is probably top 5 strongest hero isn’t woman empowerment enough ? Nope Disney has to take it further and shit on men in the show as well.
— RG | Wr3ckless (@J_ohellya07) September 1, 2022
The fact that some viewers feel that the MCU highlighting a female superhero, one who is an independent, self-assured, individual, is an attack on the franchise or men is proving the exact point the show was making with this joke.
Marvel comics and the MCU have always tried to be a place where anyone could find a character who looks, acts, thinks, and believes like them. The inclusion of a diverse character does nothing to invalidate any characters who came before, but only makes the world that much richer and more authentic.
The fact that the She-Hulk writers were able to anticipate this backlash before it even happened speaks to how incredible the show’s writing has been and how important it is to the MCU.