Tatiana Maslany cites musician Sophie as inspiration for She-Hulk
The Orphan Black alum calls her new character "the antithesis of most superhero narratives"
Aux News Sophie
Marvel’s onscreen superhero pantheon has seen every kind of character under the sun–except for She-Hulk, according to Tatiana Maslany. In fact, Jennifer Walters “really is the antithesis of most superhero narratives,” the Orphan Black alum tells Empire.
What about She-Hulk makes her not like other girls? For one, an “element of denial” and “rejecting what’s happened” regarding her new abilities. That’s not exactly the most unique quality for a budding hero, but it does cause “the fun tension between Jennifer and She-Hulk.”
For another, there’s her “male-dominated and incredibly vicious and hierarchal,” profession as a lawyer. “When she’s heading this superhuman firm, that’s where we get some really fun characters that she’s either defending or in opposition of. It’s like this really absurd take on a legal show,” Maslany tells the outlet.
The actor reportedly did a “deep-dive into the comics” to get into Jeniffer’s mindset, but she also looked outside of Marvel for her inspiration: “I always come back to Sophie, who’s this amazing trans artist who unfortunately died last year,” she explains. “What I love about Sophie’s music is this combo of organic and electrical, industrial-type sounds that felt connected to She-Hulk.”
Devoted Sophie fans will surely appreciate that her influence now extends to a cultural monolith like the MCU. Of course, Maslany also had some more obvious avenues of inspiration, like the OG Hulk, Bruce Banner, who steps in to mentor his cousin Jennifer when her powers manifest.
On working with Mark Ruffalo, Maslany recalls, “We were so goofy, like two kids who had been handed shovels by our parents and told to go and play in the sandbox.” That playfulness is certainly evidence in the She-Hulk trailer—and the presence of a Marvel mainstay should help pave the way for a new character, especially one who is supposedly an “antithesis” of everything that came before.
16 Comments
Kit Bailey from Heartland?
Wait so is She-Hulk a different persona like OG Hulk or is that just a Bruce thing? Cuz I didn’t get that impression from the trailer.
They/Them-Hulk?
We-Hulk, not to be confused with Child-Hulk, also known as Wee-Hulk
Oui-Hulk!
I don’t think it’s a literal split personality, but it does seem like there’s a sort of duality.
It varies, but by and large She-Hulk is generally depicted as Jennifer’s personality in a big green body.
Exactly. Jennifer does act differently as She-Hulk, but that is because when you transform into a giant green hottie, your confidence sky rockets and you see the world differently and the world sees you differently. Some writers have took why she doesn’t become like Bruce as being a commentary on Women being truly more emotionally in control of themselves then men. Other theories are that she doesn’t have as much gamma contamination as her cousin(in the comics she becomes She-Hulk from getting a blood transfusion from Bruce Banner). I think the official theory after The Immortal Hulk run is that the reason Bruce Banner becomes a different person when he’s the Hulk(several different ones actually) is because his own mental health issues. Jennifer being in a much more healthy head space most the time means she is in more control, most of the time.
Green and buff aside, you could do a whole psychological riff on just being 18 inches taller.
Didn’t Sigourney Weaver do that when she was 11?
Very well said.
Being Hulked out makes her basically infinitely more confident. Whether that’s a factor of the gamma stuff or just being invincible, hot, and giant is basically never stated for sure.
From watching her on Orphan Black, Tatiana Maslany is the best possible special effect this show could have gotten
I’m a bit concerned that they’re going to force feed the CGI and push her natural acting ability to the background.BTW, when does this premiere?
Hopefully they just get out of her way as much as possible
What’s Not-Alison-Brie saying now?