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daresplaining · 10 months

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Your thoughts on She-Hulk ep 8?

I loved pretty much everything!

Yes, so, I was finally able to watch the rest of She-Hulk (I lost access to Disney+ partway through, so it took some finagling) and I do have thoughts! First, as I've mentioned previously, I loved the show overall; I thought it stayed very true to the spirit of the She-Hulk runs I have read (though to be clear, I'm not a Shulkie completist), was really funny (the knockoff "Avongers" merch in that one episode got me. I was on the floor), delivered some sharp commentary on the rampant misogyny in fan spaces and towards media with female leads (often drawing from actual online responses to the show by Comicsgate-types, which was genius), and poked fun at superhero tropes in a way that felt-- again-- true to the character and also mostly in a spirit of love, which is very important. I wanted to start with this because one of the things that kind of drove me nuts while the show was airing was seeing people prioritize the various cameos over the actual fact that freaking Jen Walters, She-Hulk herself, had a TV show, and I loved that she actually broke the fourth wall to call people out on this at one point.

(I'm glad this screenshot now exists in the world, and I'm worried that I might have to pull it out again when Echo's show airs. But hopefully not...)

But the cameos were fun, and felt correct for a show dealing with superhero law and tropes-- you do need a whole bunch of superheroes and villains around for that sort of thing, and I like that they went for an eclectic mix of big names and more obscure characters. Anyone who follows my Iron Fist blog might have seen me freaking out about the surprise appearance of El Aguila, one of my favorite side characters from Power Man and Iron Fist volume 1 (more freaking out will be forthcoming; I'm going to write a post about him when I have two seconds to spare). His MCU counterpart was kind of a parody version of the character, but that was true for many of the D-listers in the show, and I'd never expected to get El Aguila in anything, so I was still pretty dang thrilled. He even had his mutant powers! Amazing! We got MCU El Aguila before, like, MCU Scott Summers.

He also appeared alongside Man-Bull, who is a wonderfully weird Daredevil villain who I also never expected to see adapted. The decision to use El Aguila rather than the more obvious Matador was a little surprising (though I didn't mind at all), but a friend told me that she thought she had heard that they weren't allowed to use the Matador...which is intriguing... Hopefully it's because he's going to be the Big Bad in Daredevil season 4. One thing I was fairly disappointed by was the fact that we didn't get an appearance from Trish Walker, whose modern-day comics counterpart Patsy Walker/Hellcat is very close friends with Jen. However, considering MCU Trish's current situation, I can see why they made that choice. Tonally, this wasn't the right place to continue her story. Fingers crossed, though, for future interactions. Someone needs to get her out of prison!

But anyway, on to the main focus of this post-- this guy:

They definitely made this Leap-Frog hype-up ad as a joke, because hahaha, who gets excited about Leap-Frog, right? Joke's on them: I get excited about Leap-Frog. I was losing my tiny Silver-Age-Daredevil-fan mind that entire night, even knowing that it would be a while before I'd actually be able to watch the episode. Do you know how amazing it is that we got Leap-Frog in this thing? Leap-Frog in a largely comics-accurate costume? Leap-Frog who was allowed to be Silver Age goofy? Leap-Frog with a CATCHPHRASE? (I'm largely allergic to MCU things being imported into the comics-- if I have to open a Daredevil issue and read "the Devil's of Hell's Kitchen" with my own two eyes ever again, it's going to be my supervillain origin), but if 616 Leap-Frog were to start saying "ribbit and rip it", it wouldn't bother me. In all honesty, I didn't think he quite lived up to the hype. He was essentially a different character, and wasn't tremendously Leap-Frog-y when you got right down to it. But seeing him bouncing around in that green rubber costume still filled me with joy, and gave me hope that this might open the door for other such characters. Other fun, wacky, classic Silver Age villains who are long (emphasis on long) overdue an MCU debut. Stilt-Man. I'm talking about Stilt-Man.

In any case, I hope that anyone who might not have checked out She-Hulk yet will give it a try. It's a fun ride.

Psyche. Okay, yes, I'm also going to talk about Daredevil.

To be brief: I really, really liked this cameo. My interest in MCU Daredevil pretty much died in 2018 with the Big Cancellation, and as many bolts of lightning as I shoot through it (or...Hand ninja I sacrifice for it? I guess that's more on-theme), I haven't managed to revive it yet. It was fun while it lasted, but it's not a version of the character that really appeals to me much in isolation, and at the end of the day, I'm a Daredevil fan because I like the comics.

I also have the same issues with Charlie Cox playing Matt Murdock that I think a lot of people have, though that's not something I really feel I need to go into in this post. On the most superficial and shallow level possible (sorry), he just doesn't look like Matt to me, which is something I was able to overcome in the Netflix shows because when you're watching something for thirteen hours straight, eventually your brain adapts. But getting this brief cameo after having not seen him for four years, it was extra jarring, and it actually threw me out of the story a few times. He walked into the courtroom in that one scene and said he was Matt Murdock, and I'm afraid my immediate reaction was, "Pfff, what? No, you're not." (Also...his American accent has not really improved, which was just something I'd assumed he would have been working on.)

But my longstanding quibbles about casting aside (and to be clear, I love that people like the asker above like him in the role! I think for many people who got into DD through the MCU, he is their Matt Murdock, and I fully respect that), this is the live action Daredevil content that I've been waiting for ever since it became clear that the Netflix show was wedded to its dark, tortured version of the character and would not be touching on many of the other attributes that make Matt interesting to me. If this had come out at least five years ago, I would have gone completely bonkers over it-- and even now, I had a thoroughly great time watching this cameo. I had hoped, but I'd never, ever imagined that we'd actually get the yellow suit--especially after the Netflix show picked the practical-but-boring Man Without Fear/"Trial of the Incredible Hulk" outfit as his origin costume. And you know what? It looked pretty good.

For a "grounded" live action take, I think they did a decent job of translating the feel of the yellow costume while being shackled to a certain expected MCU DD aesthetic as established by the Netflix show's version of the red suit. I particularly liked that...that...

No, I'm sorry. I can't do this. Let me just...

Okay, THERE we go.

As I was saying, I thought they did a solid job referencing this most classic of DD costumes, and I would love to see him wear it in more than just this cameo.

And with the yellow suit came-- my god-- the quippy, swashbuckly Matt I have been longing for. The fight with Leapfrog was fun! The banter with Jen was great! I don't know what else to say! Swashbuckly Matt = Happy Daresplaining. What a relief to finally see that side of his personality make an appearance in this universe, and from an in-character perspective, to see him finally finding that confidence and joy in his adventuring. I hope that the Daredevil show (if it ever actually happens at this rate...) pulls from this; that we didn't just get a lighthearted Matt because She-Hulk was a comedy show.

And the romance was a surprise, but I didn't mind it. It was handled with humor, and it's not a relationship that exists in the comics so it was a fun new concept to play around with. Plus, both 616 Jen and Matt are characters with pretty hefty love lives, so it fits. And even more to the point, as the third asker above mentions, it took a baffling 40 YEARS for Marvel's two most prominent superhero lawyers to even interact, finally facing off for the first time in Soule's She-Hulk run, so I cherish every new scene they have together in any medium because they're great together. I was a little--"worried" is too strong a word, but maybe "cautious"--about how this would be handled from Matt's end, since he's really not a one-night-stand kind of guy. He falls in love easily and dates a lot, but it's dating. He gets attached to people. He clings. But this ended up seeming like maybe not a one-night-stand after all. The last episode seemed to imply that they were still together, so...is this going to be a thing? Are MCU Jen and Matt a couple now? Anyway, it was fun to have a bit of the soap opera-flavored drama of 616 Matt's love life filter into the MCU, because it really didn't come up much in the Netflix show.

In any case, to make a long and much-delayed post short, while MCU Daredevil will have to work very hard to re-earn my interest, I did enjoy this, and loved She-Hulk. I highly recommend it if you're looking for a show that's an all-around good time.

#Long post #Disney+ She-Hulk #Asks #ID in alt text

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