Does She-Hulk break the fourth wall? She-Hulk, the upcoming Marvel series starring Tatiana Maslany, broke the fourth wall in a recent trailer. “If you want to go back to life as a lawyer, I respect that,” Bruce Banner, played by a returning Mark Ruffalo, says in the clip. In response, Jennifer, who is Bruce’s cousin, turns to the camera directly to say “he doesn’t mean that” before looking back at the audience again, seemingly surprised by her ability to fourth-wall break.
She-Hulk is the first MCU character to break the fourth wall, while Deadpool, who up until recently existed outside of the MCU, was the first Marvel character to break the fourth wall on-screen in Marvel movies Deadpool and Deadpool 2.
This has led to She-Hulk being compared to Deadpool while the feminist themes of the TV series also led to She-Hulk being compared to Fleabag wherein the titular character also breaks the fourth wall. But does She-Hulk break the fourth wall in the comics? Who did it first? Find out all here.
Does She-Hulk break the fourth wall?
She-Hulk breaks the fourth wall not only in the series but also in the original comics. Created by John Byrne, The Sensational She-Hulk comics were first published in 1989. Although she was originally introduced in the Savage She-Hulk comic in 1980, it was only from the Sensational She-Hulk onwards that the character started breaking the fourth wall.
Meanwhile, despite being introduced in The New Mutants 1983 comic, Deadpool didn’t break the fourth wall until issue 28 of is own comic, which was published in 1997. This means that, contrary to popular belief, She-Hulk’s fourth-wall-breaking predates Deadpool’s, even if he was the first Marvel character to do it on-screen.
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That’s right, Jennifer Walters is actually a pioneer in the area. During the Television Critics Association Press Tour, director Kat Cario reinforces this, saying, “I always like to say also that She-Hulk was breaking the fourth wall way before Deadpool, way before Fleabag.”
“You know, back in the comics she was always very meta and she was always kind of taking control of her story and her narrative and I think that’s something that Jessica really captured amazingly in the show — the essence of that spirit.”
Writer Jessica Gao added that “the show is very meta and self-aware, in the same way, that the [John] Byrne run [of comics] was very meta and self-aware, and it is present in the show, but it’s not overpowering.”
She-Hulk premieres on Disney Plus on August 18, 2022.