Relationship Spotlight: Matt Murdock & Jennifer Walters (She-Hulk)

*Spoilers.*

Is it too soon to be hoping for Jen appearances in Daredevil: Born Again? Just kidding, that question is rhetorical—of course it’s not too early. In the span of a single episode, Jen and Matt jumped into my Top Five MCU romances. In fact, to go one further, in the span of a single episode, they made me decide, “I should make a list of my Top Five MCU romances.” I dare anyone to withstand the awesomeness!

Throughout season 1, a big part of Jen’s struggle with her new circumstances deals with the different ways people react to both sides of her identity. In particular, as she starts coming to terms with being She-Hulk, she quickly realizes how much everyone seems to gravitate toward She-Hulk and ignore “just Jen.” On dating apps, She-Hulk’s profile wracks up way more matches than Jen’s, and after a great date with a guy who’s practically been crafted in a lab to be perfect, he bails the following morning when he sees her as Jen rather than She-Hulk, later admitting that Jen just “isn’t his type.” Part of why Josh ghosting Jen hits her so hard is because he seemed to be the one guy who liked her specifically for Jen.

Enter Matt, who meets her in the courtroom as She-Hulk, flirts with her off hours as Jen, first fights her and then fights with her as She-Hulk, and then goes home with her as Jen. Regardless of which body Jen is inhabiting, Matt simply regards her as herself, no differentiation needed. He’s not “perfect,” but the way he treats her is just what she wants, and it’s no accident that when she crafts her own ending for the season, it involves Matt literally dropping out of the sky so they can see each other again.

In recent years, my patience for fragile dudes who can’t handle being with smart, strong women has entirely run out, and I celebrate every time a show or film models a cishet romance in which both parties really feel like equals. Jen/Matt have that in spades. Even when they’re fighting, be that in court or with fisticuffs, there’s a “game recognize game” feeling between them. They’re sparring, and even as Jen asks the camera, “Who’s this asshole?”, there’s a part of her that’s impressed by his abilities. Such that, when he approaches her at the bar after having beat her in court, she moves quickly into flirty verbal sparring instead of trying to brush him off.

With these two, there’s lots of fun banter and implied good sexytimes—it kills me that Jen can’t figure out how to get Matt’s Daredevil suit off, and I love how happy he seems during his walk of non-shame in his suit the next morning—but it’s not solely uncomplicated fun. They also connect in a real way. They’re both powered people with careers that they care about, and neither wants to give that up for the sake of superheroing. But even before Jen learns about his secret identity, Matt tries to offer her some genuine advice about the potential of She-Hulk helping people both in and out of the courtroom. Yes, she punches a couple of baddies in the earlier episodes, but when she actually dons her suit for the first time and infiltrates a villain’s lair, she has Daredevil with her. The two of them giving Leape-Frog legal advice as they bust him and his goons is one of my favorite things.

I’m so glad that the finale establishes that their thing isn’t a one-and-done. In the closing scene of the season, Matt is meeting Jen’s family at a cookout, gamely putting up with her relatives grilling him about his prospects and good-naturedly waiting for Jen to come to his rescue. I don’t know what the MCU has planned next for Jen, and I don’t know how Daredevil: Born Again is going to fit into everything (including what came before,) but whatever the future holds, I hope it involves giving us more scenes of Jen and Matt together!

Favorite Characters: Jen Walters (She-Hulk)

*Some Jen-related spoilers.*

As I said in my review, She-Hulk was kind of hit or miss for me, but I did come away with a net positive impression of the show, and much of that was down to She-Hulk herself, one Jen Walters.

I don’t think we’ve seen any MCU hero more thoroughly refuse the call than Jen. When she’s given Hulk powers due to a sudden accident, she has all the understandable reactions initially, basically going through all the stages of grief in rapid succession. But once she realizes that she can control her abilities, and that as her Hulk, she still retains her own personality, she’s quick to want to return to her ordinary life. She trains with Bruce long enough to be assured that she has a handle on things, but she wants nothing to do with becoming an Avenger.

And that’s a recurring theme throughout the season. It’s not that Jen is a bad or selfish person. Far from it—rather, she’s already worked hard to help people through the law, and she doesn’t want to throw all that away now. I’m not saying she’s a self-denying do-gooder or that she isn’t paid handsomely for her work, but I am saying she’s very good at what she does and doesn’t intend to let her newfound Hulk powers get in the way of everything she’s worked for.

Needless to say, keeping her powers under wraps only lasts so long, and when Titania busts into a courtroom where Jen is presenting arguments, Jen feels obligated to subdue the rampaging superpowered influencer. In an instant, the cat is out of the bag. The DA’s office thinks having a Hulk on staff will get too messy, and her new job, at the superhuman law division of a high-powered firm, is predicated on appearing in court as She-Hulk, not Jen.

And so, the main thrust of She-Hulk isn’t really about Jen becoming a hero. Even though she does finally don the super suit she didn’t ask for and helps rescue someone from a bad guy’s lair, her story is about her coming to terms with the two parts of her identity. At first, she wants nothing to do with She-Hulk: she didn’t come up with the name, which she finds lazy and insulting, she doesn’t like the way people gawk at her Hulk body, and she worries that she got her new job, not for what she can do, but because of what She-Hulk is.

This puts her in an awkward position, continually trying to shy away from an identity that everyone is clamoring for. Whether it’s dodging media invites, feeling self-conscious over the limited selection of professional wear that fits She-Hulk, or getting the sinking realization that She-Hulk draws far more matches on dating apps than Jen does, she feels increasingly forced to become She-Hulk, and as she explains later in the season, that does a real number on her self-esteem. She likens it to having the ability to suddenly become that pretty, popular friend from high school that you always envied, but it feels like “cheating.” She-Hulk may be a shortcut to attention and success, but in the process, Jen is left out.

As the season goes on, however, Jen is also put in positions where She-Hulk is taken away from her, and she finds that she doesn’t like that either. Titania trademarks her moniker and sues her over the use of it, and even though Jen doesn’t even like the name She-Hulk, she’s suddenly forced to defend it in court. She shows up at a friend’s wedding ready to show off She-Hulk but is accused by the bride of hogging all the attention, which leaves Jen to spend the day drowning in a dress that was made to look great on She-Hulk. And when she’s fitted with a power inhibitor after losing her temper in extreme circumstances, she realizes she doesn’t want to just be Jen anymore.

She wants to be Jen and She-Hulk, and that’s what she fights for. And that’s important too. A lot of superhero stories are outwardly focused, be that on fighting villains, rescuing people, or saving the world. But stories about people standing up for who they are have a place in any genre, and it’s cool to see a narrative like that in the context of someone with superpowers.