She-Hulk Episode 8 Drops a Red Hulk Reference

The penultimate episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law made its way onto Disney+ this Thursday, and it continued to leave a unique stamp on the canon of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Episode 8, in particular, was unafraid to traverse the weirder depths of Marvel Comics canon, especially as Jennifer Walters / She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany) has gotten more self-aware about her tenure as a superhero. Towards the end of the episode, that happened to include a brief — but significant — acknowledgement of one side of the larger Hulk lore, in the form of a reference to Red Hulk. Spoilers for Episode 8 of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, “Ribbit and Rip It”, below! Only look if you want to know!

The vast majority of the episode concerned Jen’s team up with Matt Murdock / Daredevil (Charlie Cox), as they fought to stop Eugene Patillio / Leap-Frog (Brandon Stanley) from kidnapping Luke Jacobson (Griffin Matthews) and further incriminating himself. Once that got over, and Matt and Jen slept together, Jen broke the fourth wall to reveal how surprised she was that the episode wasn’t over. The plot then immediately moved into the gala where Jen was nominated for Female Lawyer of the Year, which Jen herself was surprised by, leading her to joke to the audience that there must be some kind of plot twist — and she isn’t sure if it’s the kind like “another Hulk, but red”, or the kind that would involve her getting fridged.

The former possibility proves to be the most concrete reference to Red Hulk that Phase 4 of the MCU has had yet, which is particularly interesting, considering how long some fans have wanted to see the character in live-action. In the comics, the Red Hulk mantle has been held by General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, as well as Robert Maverick, while Betty Ross eventually became Red She-Hulk.

The nature of a Red Hulk appearing in the MCU has enticed fans for a while now — but following the passing of General Ross actor William Hurt earlier this year, there’s been speculation as to whether or not it could still happen. Now that a Thunderbolts movie is confirmed to be part of Marvel’s Phase 5, theories have ranged from the role of Ross being recast, to Betty joining the team as Red She-Hulk, or even Julia Louis-Dreyfuss’ Valentina becoming a Red She-Hulk. We’ll ultimately have to wait and see if any of those end up being the case.

What did you think of She-Hulk‘s Red Hulk reference? 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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