The first episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is now out into the world, and it’s making us look at the past, present and future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a whole new light. The live-action series follows the adventures of Jennifer Walters / She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany) a lawyer in Los Angeles whose life is forever changed when she accidentally gets powers similar to her cousin, Bruce Banner / Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). As the first episode dove into the specifics of that origin story, it also provided fans with a surprising number of Easter eggs and references, both to She-Hulk canon, and to the larger mythos of the MCU.
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Keep scrolling to check out the biggest Easter eggs for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Episode 1, and share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
Dennis “Buck” Bukowski
The episode begins Jen preparing her closing arguments for an upcoming court battle, alongside her paralegal best friend Nikki Ramos (Ginger Gonzaga), and another lawyer named Dennis Bukowski (Drew Matthews). Dennis becomes a brief, but memorable, part of the scene, undermining some of the comments Jen is making, and suggesting that he should deliver the closing arguments instead.
In the comics, Dennis “Buck” Bukowski plays a similar role in Jen’s life, particularly being a thorn in her side at basically every available turn. Created by David Kraft and Mike Vosburg, Buck debuted in 1979’s Savage She-Hulk #2, as the prosecutor in the case against Lou Monkton, which Jen’s involvement with unintentionally led to her getting her She-Hulk powers. As colleagues, Buck mocked Jen at a number of opportunities, even though she outsmarted him in the courtroom countless times. Buck also developed an animosity towards She-Hulk (who he didn’t realize was Jen), who he blamed for the death of Jen’s best friend, Jill.
(Fun fact: Buck didn’t actually get the first name “Dennis” until 2009’s Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #10. He didn’t even get an attempt at a first name until 2007, when World War Hulk: Gamma Files #1 tried to canonize his first name as Joachim.)
Savage
When Jen stresses out about her closing arguments, Nikki suggests that she can always do her “Savage Jen Walters face”, which Jen swears she doesn’t have. Not only is this a nod to the title of her aforementioned solo run, but it plays with the comic-accurate relationship that Jen often has with her angrier “Savage She-Hulk” personality, usually being embarrassed by her or seeing her as a completely different character. One of the most prominent examples of this was in Sensational She-Hulk #51, which saw Jen getting into a tussle with an alternate-universe “savage” version of herself, who had originated in an unpublished story from that original era.
Sakarrian Ship
We see a flashback to Jen and her cousin, Bruce Banner / Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), who is recounting how his arm got injured in the battle of Avengers: Endgame. Mid-conversation, the pair get run off the road by the arrival of a spaceship, which Bruce later confirms was a Sakaaran vessel wanting to deliver a messsage to him.
Not only does this call back to Bruce’s time in space in between Avengers: Age of Ultron and Thor: Ragnarok, but it raises the question of exactly what the message is that’s being delivered to Bruce. The scene has already sparked a mountain of theories about whether or not Hulk’s comic-accurate son, Skarr, might have entered the picture while Bruce was stuck in space.
New Origin
The car accident leads to Jen getting her powers, as Jen makes it out of the wreckage but is clearly injured and bleeding, something that gets complicated once she rescues Bruce from his side of the car. Bruce’s blood from his wound mixes with Jen’s open wound, accidentally exposing her to his gamma-radiated blood and turning her into the She-Hulk.
This varies wildly from the events of Savage She-Hulk #1, which show Bruce visiting Jen in the hopes of telling her about his superpowers. Unfortunately, their meeting is interrupted by a group of mobsters working for Nicholas Trask, who was hoping to attack Jen in a revenge plot. Jen gets shot in the crossfire, and Bruce ends up being the only one who can give her a blood transfusion — even though he recognizes that doing so could expose her to the gamma radiation. Jen then wakes up, transforms into the She-Hulk, and decides to go after Trask and his men.
Helmets!
After the accident, Jen wakes up in Bruce’s beachside retreat in Mexico — and finds some pretty unique nicknacks laying around. This includes a battle-damaged Iron Man helmet sitting on a table, which many have theorized might be the Mark XX armor from Iron Man 3‘s Iron Legion. In the background, we can also see Bruce’s Sakaaran gladiator helmet. The Avengers theme briefly plays during this sequence, tying things back to earth’s mightiest heroes in a pretty profound way.
Wardrobe
During one of the days of Jen’s stay at Bruce’s Mexico retreat — which culminates in a fight between her and Bruce — she can be seen wearing an outfit that’s very familiar to Sensational She-Hulk fans. In Sensational She-Hulk #5, Jen sports an “I Heart LA” t-shirt and workout shorts on what ends up being a meta journey through the various programs on television. Onscreen, Jen’s outfit is almost identical, albeit with an “I Heart Mexico” shirt.
Thunder Clap
During the fight, Bruce also does his trademark thunder clap against Jen — which unintentionally teaches her how to do it as well. Despite arguably being one of Hulk’s most iconic moves in the comics, we haven’t properly seen it onscreen since 2008’s The Incredible Hulk.
Courtroom Fight
The end of the episode introduces us to Mary MacPheeran / Titania (Jameela Jamil), who crashes through the courthouse as Jen is preparing to give her aforementioned closing arguments. After Jen publicly transforms into She-Hulk form, the two briefly get into a fight that’s almost identical to their battle in Solo Avengers #14.
Captain America
And finally, the episode’s post-credits scene plays off of a theory that Jen suggests earlier in the episode — that because of the specific circumstances surrounding his superhero career, Steve Rogers / Captain America (Chris Evans) could have died a virgin. Bruce then debunks this, revealing that Steve lost his virginity to a girl on the USO tour in the 1940s.
This not only settles a debate that has been happening for several years now, but it leads to one of the most hilarious reactions courtesy of Jen — one that is already breaking the Internet in the process.
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New episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law will debut Thursdays exclusively on Disney+. If you haven’t checked out Disney+ yet and you want to give it a go, you can do that here.
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