Jennifer Walters will become She-Hulk in the upcoming She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, but one detail suggests that her cousin, Bruce Banner, helped her become a hero before the events of Avengers: Endgame. The MCU’s Phase 4 has dealt with not only the fallout of the epic Infinity Saga (the MCU Phases 1-3) but has also introduced a new generation of heroes. She-Hulk will introduce Jennifer Walters while continuing elements of Bruce Banner’s “Smart Hulk” character development from Endgame, but Banner’s appearances in She-Hulk’s promotional material and the post-credits scene of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings suggest that Walters’ superhero origin takes place before her cousin restored half of the universe’s population.
She-Hulk will likely follow Walter’s comic book origin story, in which she’s saved from a fatal injury by Bruce Banner via a blood transfusion, which also results in her gaining similar powers to her cousin—though in her case they’re only physical, leaving her mind unaltered. Bruce Banner will not only be the source of Walters’ powers, however, as he’s also shown training She-Hulk in the show’s promotional materials, making him a key supporting character. Banner will be using his Smart Hulk persona in She-Hulk as well, which will not only make his assistance to Walters even more valuable but also indicate the show’s place in the MCU timeline.
Following his shocking defeat by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, Bruce Banner and his Hulk personality managed to reach an agreement of sorts, resulting in Smart Hulk, which combines the Hulk’s strength and durability with Banner’s mind. One of Smart Hulk’s most heroic acts in Endgame is using the Infinity Stones to restore everyone killed by Thanos’ first snap, though the sheer power of the stones severely injures Banner’s arm. When Bruce appears in Shang-Chi, he’s in his human form once more, but his arm is in a sling, indicating that he still hasn’t recovered from his Endgame snap as well as suggesting (in hindsight) that She-Hulk will take place before the Infinity Saga’s conclusion.
Bruce Banner is featured prominently in She-Hulk’s trailer, serving as a mentor to his cousin as she grows into the role of the MCU’s latest gamma-irradiated superhero, though it’s worth noting that he is not only in Smart Hulk form, but his arm also appears uninjured. The Infinity Stones are extremely powerful objects with the potential to alter the entire universe when combined. Unlike their comic counterparts, the MCU’s Infinity Stones are extremely hazardous to their users, as demonstrated in Infinity War and Endgame. Thanos used all six stones on two occasions, with the first damaging the Infinity Gauntlet and the second seemingly permanently melting it into the Mad Titan’s hand.
All six stones, tragically, are what kill Tony Stark in Endgame, as his ordinary human body is overwhelmed by their energy. While Smart Hulk survives using them once, they leave his seemingly-indestructible arm burned and extremely weakened, necessitating a sling at the end of the film. When Banner appears in the She-Hulk trailer, he’s in his Smart Hulk form but notably lacks any signs of his Endgame arm injury, suggesting that perhaps he’s healed from his Infinity Stone use or perhaps that the upcoming series takes place within the Infinity Saga.
In Bruce Banner’s brief appearance in Shang-Chi, it’s established that he’s no longer Smart Hulk yet his Endgame injury remains, even when he’s back in human form. Despite the Hulk’s durability and healing factor, the burns suffered by using the Infinity Stones are not easy to recover from—but this isn’t the only detail that conflicts with his She-Hulk appearance. Bruce Banner struggled with his Hulk persona for much of the Infinity Saga, seeking to cure it at first but learning to control it rather effectively by the events of 2012’s The Avengers. Endgame represents the latest stage in Banner and Hulk’s development, though his human form in Shang-Chi implies that he may no longer use his Hulk form (or perhaps learned how to transform at will). In either case, his human body conflicts with his appearances in the She-Hulk trailer once more.
A clever way to reconcile these issues is the theory that She-Hulk takes place during Endgame’s time jump. Following the death of the mainstream universe’s Thanos, the Avengers and the rest of the MCU’s survivors of the snap do their best to move on, and it’s only five years later that they enact Endgame's Time Heist to reacquire the stones from the past and revive everyone. Very little is known about what happens during Endgame’s five-year time skip, however, and She-Hulk’s depictions of Bruce Banner fit particularly well into it.
Bruce Banner reconciles his two forms during the time jump and became Smart Hulk, which accounts for his appearance in the She-Hulk trailer, including the lack of an arm injury. It’s also easy to imagine that during this time, his cousin, Jennifer Walters, receives her critical injury and subsequent blood transfusion, becoming the She-Hulk. Just as Bruce Banner found a new Hulk form during Endgame’s five-year time jump, so too does Walters. Not only does this theory make sense of Bruce Banner’s conflicting appearances in Shang-Chi and the She-Hulk trailer, but it also helps explore a largely unaccounted-for portion of the MCU’s history that is a fascinating setting for new stories.
Unfortunately, the theory does present several problems with She-Hulk’s MCU origin. Assuming that Jennifer Walters embraces her newfound role as a superhero during the Endgame time skip, her absence from the film’s final battle and lack of mentions in Endgame would seem odd in hindsight, though these issues are not impossible to reconcile. She-Hulk might begin her training during the time skip, but the show’s main story takes place after Endgame. The entire series might also take place during the time skip, but She-Hulk is simply not shown in the massive crowd of heroes fighting Thanos at the end of Endgame. In either case, having Jennifer Walters’ superhero origin in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law take place before Hulk’s Endgame snap would reconcile his conflicting new appearance in the MCU Phase 4.
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