She-Hulk
| She-Hulk | |
|---|---|
| File:Shehulk01.jpg She-Hulk #1 cover. Art by Adi Granov. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Savage She-Hulk #1 |
| Created by | Stan Lee John Buscema |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Jennifer Walters |
| Team affiliations | Avengers Fantastic Four |
| Abilities | Superhuman strength and endurance, healing factor |
She-Hulk is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. She first appeared in Savage She-Hulk #1.
Biography
Jennifer Walters, the meek and mousy lawyer cousin of Bruce Banner (The Incredible Hulk), was the daughter of Sheriff Morris Walters. Agents of Lou Monkton, a crime boss who had crossed paths with her father, shot and seriously wounded her on a day when her cousin was in town. Bruce gave her a blood transfusion, as no other donors of her blood type were available; the radioactive blood mutated Jennifer as it had her cousin, transforming her into the green-skinned She-Hulk. As the She-Hulk, she possessed powers similar to her cousin, though at a reduced level and with a less monstrous, more Amazonian appearance.
Although she was at first savage while in her form as She-Hulk, she quickly came to appreciate the confidence and assertiveness that had come with it. She now feels more comfortable in her form as She-Hulk than in her "normal" form as Jennifer. After a brief solo career, she joined The Avengers and later replaced the Thing in the Fantastic Four.
She later joined the staff of District Attorney Blake Tower, where she met Louise "Weezi" Mason, formerly the Golden Age superheroine called the Blonde Phantom; during this period, she discovered that Mason had manipulated Towers into hiring She-Hulk so that Mason could again star in a comic book and thus avoid dying of old age. Mason's husband, also a former comic book character, had passed away three years ago, but other, more popular characters from the era, such as Captain America and Namor the Sub-Mariner, were still around and full of youthful vigor.
While preventing a radiation leak in a downed SHIELD Helicarrier, Jennifer was apparently mutated to the point that she could not transform back into her original form, an agreeable turn of events for her since she preferred her She-Hulk form anyway, although it was recently revealed that the "genetic block" was in fact purely psychological, shortly before a similar block locked her in non-Hulk form. It is expected that this should be temporary.
She currently works as a lawyer for the Superhuman Law division of Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg, & Holliway.
Powers and abilities
In her She-Hulk form, Jennifer possesses vast superhuman strength. When she transforms back and forth, she gains/loses considerable mass (much of it muscle) by an unknown means.
In addition, thanks to training by the Ovoid alien race, She-Hulk can exchange her physical characteristics and powers with the physical characteristics and powers of another being by simply focusing on a mental image of the person and willing the transfer to take place. It should be noted that she rarely uses this power.
Skills
The She-Hulk is a good hand to hand combatant, having been trained by Captain America in the past. She is also an extremely intelligent and highly skilled attorney.
One interesting quirk is that she apparently also has some form of "cross-dimensional" awareness, as some stories have revealed that she knows that she is a comic book character, a situation virtually unique among mainstream Marvel superheroes, and has allowed her to perform such oddities as tearing through the page and running over a page of advertisements in order to reach the otherwise inaccessible control center of an enemy.
It's worth noting that this awareness is dependent on circumstances beyond the fictional events in the Marvel Universe, and comes and goes on the whim of writers and editors. As a rule of thumb, it can be assumed that in any story that does not specifically mention or feature said ability, she is not aware of being a comic book character. Other characters write her off as delusional on this point.
More recently, in She-Hulk #1-12, as a lawyer specializing in superhuman law, actual Marvel comic books are considered legal documents, which the characters cite for legal cases. In one issue, She-Hulk discovers her origin comic.
Bibliography
- The Savage She-Hulk #1-25 (February, 1980 – February, 1982)
- Marvel Graphic Novel #18 (November, 1985)
- The Sensational She-Hulk #1-60 (May, 1989 – February, 1994)
- She-Hulk: Ceremony #1-2 (1990)
- Thing and She-Hulk: The Long Night oneshot (May, 2002)
- She-Hulk #1-12 (May, 2004 – April, 2005)
- She-Hulk v1: Single Green Female trade paperback (2005; reprints She-Hulk (2004 series) #1-6)
- She-Hulk v2: Superhuman Law trade paperback (2005; reprints She-Hulk (2004 series) #7-12)