She-Hulk Head Writer Reveals Her Failed Black Widow Movie Pitch

By Jenna Anderson

The first episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law has arrived, putting a unique stamp on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In and amongst introducing audiences to the story of Jennifer Walters / She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany), the first episode proved to have some surprising connections and references to larger lore, spearheaded by head writer Jessica Gao. In interviews leading up to She-Hulk's debut, Gao revealed that she got the job after pitching an idea to Marvel Studios for their Black Widow movie — and in a recent interview with The Wrap, Gao shed more light on what it would have entailed. As it turns out, Gao's idea for a Black Widow movie would have seen Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) returning to her high school reunion, something complicated by her past as an assassin.

"It was basically a Grosse Pointe Blank story for Black Widow," Gao revealed. "Basically you find out that in high school, as a teenage spy/Russian agent, she was planted at an American high school, because she had to assassinate someone's dad and then 20 years later, she goes back to the high school reunion and has to deal with the fallout of this fake identity where she betrayed all these people in high school."

As Gao previously revealed to variety, that pitch for Black Widow had also included She-Hulk as a supporting character — ultimately leading to the circumstances working out the way they did.

"The first thing I ever pitched on was for the Black Widow movie, and I actually had She-Hulk in my pitch," Gao explained. "She was my favorite character from the comics, and I just wanted to see her in the MCU. At one point, I think it was [Marvel executive] Brad Winderbaum who said, 'It kind of feels like you're pitching us She-Hulk movie with Black Widow in it.'"

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law follows Jennifer Walters as she navigates the complicated life of a single, 30-something attorney who also happens to be a green 6-foot-7-inch superpowered hulk. The nine-episode series welcomes a host of MCU vets, including Mark Ruffalo as Hulk, Tim Roth as Abomination, Charlie Cox as Daredevil, and Benedict Wong as Wong. The cast also includes Ginger Gonzaga as Nikki Ramos, Josh Segarra as Augustus "Pug" Pugliese, Jon Bass as Todd, and Renée Elise Goldsberry as Mallory Book. Executive producers are Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Kat Coiro and Jessica Gao. Co-executive producers are Wendy Jacobson and Jennifer Booth.

What did you think of the first episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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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