Is She-Hulk’s Secret Villain a Controversial Marvel Group?

We’re almost halfway through She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and the Disney+ series has been shaking up the Marvel Cinematic Universe at each and every turn. The world of Jennifer Walters / She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany) has been filled with some unexpected allies and antagonists, both created exclusively for the show, and ripped from the pages of Marvel Comics. Given all of the plot twists that have occurred in She-Hulk thus far, fans have wondered how they will ultimately culminate, and whether or not it could be tied to an existing Marvel villain. Based on the context clues of She-Hulk thus far, one possibility that’s come up has been a bizarre but masterful group of Marvel villains — the Intelligencia.

She-Hulk‘s premiere episode, which recounted the origin story that gave Jen She-Hulk powers, conveniently hinted at the potential consequences of her gamma-radiated blood getting into the wrong hands. After Bruce Banner / Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) discovers that Jen’s blood can heal her damaged arm, he proceeds to destroy any additional samples of it, expressing worry that it could create any other Hulks.

Cut to Episode 3, where Jen is attacked outside of her apartment by the Wrecking Crew — who try and fail to stab her with a syringe, seemingly to collect her blood for their “boss”, who won’t be happy that they failed. Episode 4 then introduced another eyebrow-raising component in the form of Todd (Jon Bass), one of Jen’s dating app dates who reveals that he’s a massive fan of hers. Todd then awkwardly begins to quiz Jen about the extent of her powers, whether or not her skin can be pierced by something like Vibranium, and even creepily calls her a “specimen.” While there are a lot of ways that these threads could shake out, one possibility is that they could be building to the Intelligencia — which, in turn, would have significant ramifications towards the larger MCU. 

Who are the Intelligencia in Marvel Comics?

Created by Jeff Parker and Paul Pelletier in 2009’s Fall of the Hulks: Alpha #1, the Intelligencia are an assembling of some of the smartest supervillains in Marvel lore, who work together to cause evil that can benefit all of them. After they initially formed and disbanded, they got back together after the events of World War Hulk, and were led by MODOK and The Leader. Their goal in the fight against Hulk was to create their own powerful being through gamma and cosmic radiation, and their work led to the creation of Red She-Hulk, A-Bomb, and Amadeus Cho. 

This directly connected with She-Hulk in the 2010 miniseries She-Hulks, which saw Jen and Lyra / She-Hulk, the future daughter of Bruce and Thundra from another war-torn Earth in the multiverse, hunt down the members of the Intelligencia and bring them to justice.

Will the Intelligencia appear in She-Hulk?

Given the circumstances of the first four episodes of She-Hulk, it doesn’t seem impossible to imagine a version of the Intelligencia playing a role in future episodes. It’s clear that the Wrecking Crew are working for another figure, and the fixation that they and Todd have with piercing Jen’s skin doesn’t feel coincidental. The idea of both of them looking to get Jen’s blood — and potentially create their own gamma-radiated being with it — would streamline the group’s origins in the comics. It would also create a tie to other comic-accurate Intelligencia members without needing to have them show up — including Samuel Sterns / The Leader (Tim Blake Nelson), who was conveniently just confirmed to be the big bad of the upcoming Captain America: New World Order movie.

Additionally, having She-Hulk adapt the Intelligencia would keep up with the series’ unique perspective on the MCU, as the group targeting Jen in particular could further tackle sexism and misogyny. Both the Wrecking Crew and Todd scenes highlighted the awkward and uncomfortable moments of Jen existing as a female superhero, between the comments Todd made and the Wrecking Crew accusing her of “flaunting her powers” by just existing in the public eye. If the Intelligencia did end up lurking in the shadows of She-Hulk, it could use their fixation with attempting to take ownership of Jen’s DNA to make a comment on the world of “men’s rights activists” and other anti-feminist groups in the process.

Do you think the Intelligencia could appear on She-Hulk? 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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