She-Hulk Writer Reveals Why Abomination Returned in Shang-Chi

Last summer, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings took a trip to an underground fighting ring where the titular hero saw Wong of Doctor Strange fame fighting Abomination of Incredible Hulk notoriety. The appearance of Abomination in the film was the first time the Marvel Cinematic Universe had featured the character on screen since 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. A One-Shot short film titled The Consultant had referenced the character since but, otherwise, Abomination was seemingly all but a thing of the past for a decade. This changed when She-Hulk writer Jessica Gao decided she wanted to feature him in the upcoming She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, getting Tim Roth back into his Incredible Hulk role more than decade later.

“So Abomination, Emil Blonsky was in my original pitch and at that point, the last time we saw him was in 2008, The Incredible Hulk,” Gao told ComicBook.com in an exclusive interview. “I had no idea what their relationship to this character was anymore. I don’t know if they had any plans but it was a story I wanted to tell so I just put it in there. What’s the worst that could happen? I don’t get the job. Look, I have not gotten the job so many times at Marvel like it was old hat to me. I had no more fear. I was like Daredevil. I was the woman with no fear now.”

With Abomination’s She-Hulk story in mind, Gao took her shot. She wrote a script with the character and waited to see what would happen. “Because he was built in to be such a big part of the show in that original pitch and in the writer’s room, we really like, we were creating this whole story for him,” Gao recalled. “Because everything in Marvel is connected, that was actually why he then was put in Shang-Chi because he was in our show. That way, it was kind of to seed him so that people can get excited but also remember him and it kind of forced people to go, ‘Oh, I should go back and check in on him and remember who he is and what all of that was about.’”

While it was Gao’s idea to bring Abomination back to the MCU, she ultimately credits Marvel boss Kevin Feige for how the return included Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. “It’s Kevin,” she said. “All roads lead to Kevin.”

As for Abomination’s future, there are no known plans for the character yet. Following the Marvel Studios presentation at San Diego Comic-Con, the movie which is culminating Phase 5 might just be a safe bet for the world to see Roth return to the role again. Thunderbolts will assemble a team of villains and anti-heroes for some sort of ensemble mission in a title which drops in July of 2024. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is Abomination’s next stop along that probable journey.

Are you excited for She-Hulk? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Twitter! She-Hulk premieres its first three episodes on Disney+ this Thursday. For more exclusive MCU content, subscribe to ComicBook.com’s Phase Zero YouTube channel!