YMMV / She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

• Alternate Aesop Interpretation: The Josh subplot following the wedding can be interpreted as either 'be wary of strange men who seem too good to be true', or else a cautionary tale directed at Jen for not being suspicious that Josh was still apparently into her after she made a spectacle of herself at the wedding - and therefore not setting such unreasonably high expectations for herself.
• Applicability: Jen scores a one-night stand as She-Hulk, and he loses interest the next morning as soon as he sees her as herself again. Several women highlighted the parallels there to the fear of what a date's reaction will be when they see them without makeup or the preparation it took for them to get ready the previous night.
• Audience-Alienating Ending: Several viewers who were otherwise enjoying the show felt turned off by the end of the season where Jen forces the writers to change the ending of her show, essentially delivering her a Happy Ending on a silver platter, instead of having to work for it in a conventional sense.
• Badass Decay: The Hulk, Marvel's most famous One-Man Army and The Juggernaut, seemingly gets hurt quite a lot in this series since he doesn't get to really show what he's made of, outside of a flinging a rock high into the atmosphere. Detractors use the scene where Jen can send him flying by hitting him with a car (albeit, it's likely Bruce wasn't trying to use his full strength, or else he would've totaled her car) as 'proof' of such, when previously in The Avengers Hulk stopped a giant spaceship mid-flight with his bare hands.
• Best Known for the Fanservice: She-Hulk twerking with Megan Thee Stallion is probably the scene best known to people who don't watch the show.
• Bile Fascination: Some people not too enthusiastic about the series just tuned in to see if the CGI and some of the writing choices are as bad as they'd heard.
• Broken Base:
  • To keep things short and sweet, you either enjoy the show for what it is and appreciate the lower-stakes plot (when compared to other entries in Phase 4) and comedy, Daredevil's cameo, as well as the Hulk IP getting some much-needed spotlights after only being part of an Ensemble Cast since 2008,^note due to rather infamous legal tape that means that, while Marvel Studios has the rights for the character, the rights to release a solo work featuring the character remain with Universal, who released the 2008 film, those who find the comedic tone and heavy-handed feminist messaging cringeworthy in its lack of subtlety, and those find the show to be just boring. Neither terrible nor even great, just... boring.
  • Regarding Daredevil, people have been split over the show's depiction of his combat skills in this show. Some people like his more flashy acrobatic style, as it reflects the comics incredibly well, while for others the gratuitous use of CGI to pull off his stunts lacks the grittiness that his show initially had.
  • The final episode where Jen break out of Disney+ and head to Marvel Studios to forcefully change her show's ending. Fans of the episode saw it as a hilarious Self-Deprecation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that was a clever subversion of the typical superhero fare. Other viewers hated the ending, instead viewing Jen strongarming the writers into giving her a happy ending a giant Deus ex Machina, that only served to undermine Jen's prior struggles, is ultimately pointless when later productions continue to do the very thing it's depreciating, and hurt their Willing Suspension of Disbelief in the franchise.
• Don't Shoot the Message: Several viewers find themselves agreeing that the workplace can be discriminatory towards women, but feel the show either bungles its messaging either because they find the Medium Awareness undermines any drama, or find it difficult to get invested in Jen's struggles.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Despite only appearing in one episode, Madisynn is incredibly popular with fans and widely considered (even by detractors of the show) to be one of the show's funniest characters for her hilariously over-the-top Cloudcuckoolander behavior. She is also loved for her interesting Odd Friendship with Wong, which many consider surprisingly heartwarming at times.
  • Pug, despite being essentially almost a background character at Jen's law firm, also became surprisingly popular for being the resident Nice Guy of the law firm, his Adorkable fanboying of the Avengers, and his endearing attempts at pretending to be a Troll in the finale. Being played by Josh Segarra, aka Adrian Chase, definitely helps too.
• Epileptic Trees:
  • With the first episode's Stinger revealing that Steve Rogers lost his virginity to one of the USO tour girls during WWII, many people wondered if she was the autograph seeker in Captain America: The First Avenger, whom James Gunn had already indicated was Peter Quill's grandmother online (due to the autograph seeker being played by the same actress who played Peter Quill's mother). Naturally, the idea of Quill being Steve's grandson became very popular rather quickly.
  • A popular theory as to why a Sakaaran ship suddenly showed up in Bruce and Jen's path that kickstarts her superhero origin story is that it's piloted by Skaar, Hulk's Sakaaran son in the comics. Although Skaar does appear in the finale, it's as The Cameo right near the episode's end and doesn't leave enough time to explicitly connect the two incidents.
• Fandom-Specific Plot: Foggy and Karen learning about Matt's relationship with Jen is a very common prompt in fanfiction, and usually they'll find out about it from someone posting his "walk of shame" outside of Jen's apartment on social media.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • In the finale, K.E.V.I.N. makes a joke about how Jen must revert to her normal form because "the VFX team has already moved on to the next project." Right in the middle of She-Hulk's release period, several reports accused Disney (and in particular Marvel Studios) of mistreating their VFX employees by overworking them (especially during "crunch periods", ie. enforced overtime within the last few months prior to release in order to meet deadlines) and underpaying them for their service, which was seen as the reason why several previous MCU films and TV shows post-Phase 3 were noted for having dodgy VFX. ^note Counted as "Hindsight", as the episodes were written and locked prior to the reports coming out, even though they aired afterwards.
  • Marvel Studios is depicted as its stories all being written by an algorithmic AI. AI programs used for artistic projects blew up in popularity months after the series's release, and became a major point of contention due to their uses in not hiring human artists and circumventing copyright laws, to the point it became one of the key grievances cited in the 2023 Writer's Strike.
  • It could be either this or Hilarious in Hindsight, but during the last episode of the show, Jen has to deal with the fact that Todd wants to use her blood to turn himself into a Hulk-style monster, which she promptly gets rid of by using her fourth wall breaking abilities to Cosmic Retcon the whole situation, even doing a Lampshade Hanging that there's too many MCU heroes who had to fight villains with their exact same powerset. A similar plot point comes up in Secret Invasion, but it most assuredly isn't Played for Laughs. Namely, Nick Fury had his Skrull network harvest the DNA of all the Avengers who fought Thanos at the Battle of Earth, with Gravik attempting to obtain it so he can become powerful enough to destroy all of humanity, meaning that Secret Invasion follows the exact same clichéd plot that Jennifer specifically called out nearly ten months earlier.
  • Adding to the irony, one thing that Jen calls out K.E.V.I.N. for is the reuse of the equally clichéd climax of an over-the-top CGI fight sequence using every superhero ever, something that Secret Invasion did too. The piece de resistance? One of the major criticisms for Secret Invasion? The fact that AI was used to make the opening sequence, meaning that, ironically, AI did helm the MCU in a sense.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Regarding the joke in the first season finale involving a caricature of Kevin Feige as an all-seeing AI, the mere idea of an AI being in charge of writing a show suddenly doesn't seem that far-fetched following the rise shortly after the series' release of AI software like ChatGPT that can do exactly that.
• Hollywood Homely: In a show that pushes Willing Suspension of Disbelief to the absolute limit, the hardest pill to swallow is that Tatiana Maslany would have a hard time getting a date. While emphasis is placed on her abrasive personality, that does very little to explain why people would see her as unattractive as her regular self.
• Iron Woobie: While Jen is a bit of a disaster, the fact is that her life changes overnight by complete accident, and even before she becomes She-Hulk, she's already had to deal with the usual pressures of being a woman in the legal world. She ends up fired because of bad PR, one of her dates rather blatantly loses interest in her when he sees her as herself rather than She-Hulk, and she later has to bring him to court to say on the stand that he never would have slept with her if she wasn't She-Hulk. She meets a guy she likes at a wedding, who seems like he could be a Nice Guy, but then he ghosts her too, and was using her to pull off a revenge porn plot. While she does angst, it's surprising how little she does so compared to everything she's had to deal with.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • There are many people tuning into this show to see Daredevil appear as a superhero again in this show, especially after Matt Murdock's cameo appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
  • Fans of The Incredible Hulk have tuned into this series just to see Tim Roth's Abomination as a major character again and are excited to see him interact with Ruffalo's portrayal of Banner.
  • Other fans have come to see Wong due to him being on friendly terms with Abomination and how Bruce and Jen would react to this.
• Les Yay: The other bridesmaids and Lulu's wedding go absolutely gaga for She-Hulk when they see her.
• Love to Hate: Titania is the queen of bad iwriters and influencers and Jameela Jamil makes her at once very entertaining, and the resulting comeuppances she gets very satisfying.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Shrek and Fiona^ExplanationDue to the CGI in the first trailer looking janky, a few people have compared Bruce and Jen to the popular Dreamworks Animation ogres. For that matter, "She-rek".
  • A few fans have jokingly compared the show to Single Female Lawyer and even said they hope the series will use Bender's improvised theme song.
  • DEATH BY SNU-SNU!^ExplanationIn response to She-Hulk carrying her date to the bedroom. The original line is from the Futurama episode "Amazon Women in the Mood". In the same vein, another older meme phrase, "God I wish that were me", was found apt.
    • The luckiest man in all of Marvel^ExplanationA Fan Nickname for She-Hulk's date, usually accompanied by (mock) jealousy.
  • “Look at me Bruce, I’m Natasha, Weeee! Here comes the soul stone” “Stop it Jen, it’s not funny” ^ExplanationThe scene where Bruce shoves Jen off a cliff is often edited to make it look like Jen is intentionally jumping off the cliff, with a big smile on her face, pretending to be Nat, to mess with Bruce.
  • CAPTAIN AMERICA FU-^ExplanationJen's cheerful reaction in The Stinger of the first episode to learning that Steve did not die a virgin.
  • Girl Explaining^Explanation The "Girl Explaining" meme was getting popular around the time of the premiere, so it was often paired with references to the episode. This could include joking responses to sexist critics or Jen's theory about Steve's virginity.
  • She-Hulk clapping^ExplanationThe scene of Jennifer hitting Bruce with soundwaves from clapping became ripe for edits and memes due to how silly it looks, not helped by the rather poor CGI on display. It's often posted as an out-of-context gif for other statements, sped up, or combined with other existing memes and sound effects played over it.
  • Saul Goodman cameo ^ExplanationDue to this show being a comedy about an attorney, people quickly joked that Saul Goodman (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) would be making an appearance in the show.
    • The meme eventually extended to other lawyer characters in media supposedly appearing in the show as well, such as Harvey Specter, Elle Woods, Phoenix Wright, Woo Youngwoo, etc.
  • The Stride of Pride ^ExplanationA retort used by many fans as a way to describe Daredevil's infamous "walk of shame" scene as an act of triumph
  • She-Hulk twerking ^ExplanationThe infamous scene of Jen twerking with Megan Thee Stallion in Hulk form was memed by both fans and detractors alike. These memes mainly consisted of either characters from other media, like Walter White and Homelander, reacting to the scene. Or She-Hulk twerking being edited into any random scene from the MCU(or even non-MCU media), like Jen twerking to stop a Chitauri ship.
  • She-Hulk the Karen ^{Explanation (MAJOR spoilers)}In the final episode, Jen decides the story is getting out of hand and steps out of the series itself to convince K.E.V.I.N., the AI in control of Marvel Studios, to change things, something a number of people, especially detractors of the series, compared to a stereotypical Karen demanding to see the manager when things don't go their way.
• Moe: Nikki Ramos is absolutely adorable, quirky, goofy, and never anything less than an amazing friend to Jen.
• Never Live It Down: Jen's retort to Bruce in Episode 1 where she lists the various problems she has to deal with in her everyday life, concluding her speech by saying that she has to control her anger far more than Bruce has to, has become the most cited scene among detractors of the character and show seeing it as Jen being entitled and unfairly hostile to compare her struggles Bruce’s (Bruce is distrusted by several allies for his powers, spent years as a government fugitive, lost both of his chances at love and so on...). This is in spite of the fact the moment is meant to be a set-up for Jen being overconfident in her abilities to handle She-Hulk as demonstrated later in the show,^note  with this episode even being originally penned as the series' penultimate episode, rather than its premiere, which would've made Jen's assertion Dramatic Irony and Jen follows up her speech by stating she doesn't want to be a superhero because of all the pain that it causes Bruce, showing she isn’t downplaying his issues. Despite these nuances, detractors see the scene as an example of Misery Poker that kills any chance of them sympathizing with Jen and her (comparatively) lesser struggles.
• Older Than They Think: Audiences familiar with John Bryne's defining comic run were confused by Jen's initial pessimistic view on being She-Hulk here. After all, many adaptations stress how empowering Jen's gamma powers make her feel, compared to her usual mousy life. The original Savage She-Hulk run, predating Bryne's, has some basis for this. The first set of issues had Jen trying to figure out how to control herself while lamenting the inherent Weirdness Magnet inferring with her lawyer duties. Once she found that balance and control, Jen's outlook improved, which Bryne used as a basis for a Soft Reboot of the character.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: The show was also known for the infamously uncanny CGI of the titular heroine, which garnered heavy criticism from fans. While the CGI in the MCU's fourth phase had already received backlash due to looking very underdeveloped and rushed, many fans found She-Hulk to be the epitome of how bad the MCU's CGI was becoming. Making matters worse, several reports would later surface of Marvel Studios allegedly forcing the VFX team into working overtime with little pay, essentially enforcing "crunch periods", which is a very controversial business tactic, with some even seeing it as a violation of worker rights.
• Preemptive Shipping: Many fans on Tumblr took to shipping Jen and Matt the moment it was announced he would be appearing in the show, before it even aired. This mainly due to both being superhero lawyers and feeling that their very different personalities would work well together. When the mid-season trailer aired and Jen said that Matt was really "doing it" for her, even more took to shipping them.
• Realism-Induced Horror: Jen becoming the victim of revenge porn courtesy of Intelligencia's agent Josh recording her sleeping naked without her consent is a fear that many women have.
• Salvaged Story:
  • After many years of being Out of Focus due to contractual issues with Universal, many fans were incredibly happy to see the Hulk franchise get some love in the form of this show.
  • Minor example, but a few people were surprised that both WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier indicated that the Sokovia Accords were still in effect the events of Avengers: Endgame, making the UN seem like Ungrateful Bastards after having the universe saved by the Avengers. In Episode 8, Matt Murdock reveals that the Accords have now been repealed, and further gives justification as to why some superheroes need their identities hidden in their day-to-day lives.
• Signature Scene: The scene where She-Hulk twerks with Megan Thee Stallion went viral not only due to the rapper's surprising appearance, but because it sparked vicious debates between those who think it's the funniest post-credits scene in the entire MCU and those who see it as an emblem of Phase Four's Seasonal Rot. Regardless, it has been featured in many articles about the series, is a popular choice for video thumbnails, has been shared countless times as an animated GIF, and shows up among the top results in Google Images.
• Special Effect Failure:
  • The CGI on the first trailer was heavily criticized online upon its release, with many pointing out that it was nowhere near Marvel's usual quality. It seems that this was the result of the trailer being released before the effects were finished, since, the CGI was significantly improved for the release of the trailer on Disney+, with the uncompressed 4K resolution showing more details and definition to her skin and face. The usual compression put onto YouTube videos didn't help much to the initial reaction. After the release of the first episode, while the complaints did die down, it wasn't by much.
  • Crossing into Fight Scene Failure, but Jen and Titania's fight in the first episode has some very conspicuous wire work with Titania's flying kick (to the point of her flying perpendicular to the ground for an unnatural amount of time), making it far too obviously a staged stunt.
• Squick: In Episode 1, Jennifer, annoyed by Bruce's approach to teaching her how to control her anger, talks about how all the yoga they're doing will give her a tight butt. Bruce is grossed out and reminds her they're cousins.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: The teaser trailer for this show uses music eerily similar to the final trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 2. That song also happens to sound eerily similar to the main theme of Hextech Mayhem, predating both trailers.
• Tainted by the Preview: The first trailer had a negative reaction in response to the special effects, with many saying they didn't want to watch the show if the main character would be falling into Unintentional Uncanny Valley.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • Many fans took umbrage with the changes to She-Hulk’s origins where instead of Bruce giving Jen a blood transfusion to save her life despite knowing it will give her the Gamma mutation, Jen is instead conscious through the ordeal and gets the blood infection by complete accident.
  • Many fans had this reaction to the show's portrayal of the Intelligencia (in the comics, a powerful super-villain organization composed of many super-geniuses, that between their achievements, include defeating Dr. Doom and the Hulk), which in this version is basically the MCU version of 4chan since all the group really does is post rude comments and death threats against She-Hulk, and even when their "master plan" is fulfilled, it's just so the leader and founder Todd can use Jen's blood to become a Hulk himself and justify the group's Insane Troll Logic.
  • Some fans of the Great Lakes Avengers dislike the changes to Mr. Immortal's character in the series, who barely resembles his comic book counterpart. His character in the show is much more villainous and isn’t even a hero.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Despite her role as a recurring antagonist, the show does not give Titania much characterization beyond being a one-note obstacle for She-Hulk, and even then, she's ultimately treated as a minor nuisance who ends up getting sidelined in favor of the Intelligencia.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The plot twist leading into the finale is that Josh recorded a video of himself and Jen having sex, which is used to try and destroy her career. While praised for showing how revenge porn can do serious harm to a woman's career and reputation, which men rarely suffer, the show doesn't follow through on this by having Jen resolve the conflict by making the writers Retcon it out of existence.
• Unexpected Character: One of the characters appearing in the official trailer is Leap-Frog (mistaken as Frog-Man until his appearance on the show), a character punching way above his weight.
• Unintentional Uncanny Valley: Jen's She-Hulk form, which had been acquiring criticism since the first trailer. In practice, while the CG itself is improved, the face still looks a little off, especially when she's talking or expressing emotion, to the point of almost looking like a video game character. Some have noted though that by nature of Jen's design from the comics, being slightly off is going to be natural as her She-Hulk form is more human looking than Bruce's, making it more likely to result in this. Bruce himself was getting Uncanny Valley criticisms in Endgame, but with Jen's more humanoid proportions, it was going to stand out even more.

• WTH, Costuming Department?: Daredevil's costume in this show wasn't universally accepted by fans upon its reveal. While it's supposed to be a Mythology Gag to his first outfit in the comics, a lot of people found the yellow accents to be rather splotchy, and clashed greatly with the red aspects of the suit in live-action.

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