If you had to guess which Marvel character would be the first to publicly acknowledge whether or not their show is returning to Disney+, of course, it would be She-Hulk. The self-aware, fourth-wall-breaking heroine played by Tatiana Maslany is one of several characters introduced on the streamer whose fate has yet to be acknowledged. But, it seems Maslany has an idea, and it’s not very encouraging.
Appearing on a Twitch game show, the Orphan Black star was asked if she thought She-Hulk: Attorney at Law would be returning for a second season. “I don’t think so,” Maslany answered. “I think we blew our budget, and Disney was like, ‘No thanks!’”
io9 reached out to Disney+ for comment or clarification and has yet to hear back. We’ll update this post if or when we do.
On the surface though, Maslany’s comments certainly make sense. She-Hulk was way more visual effects heavy than its superhero siblings like Ms. Marvel or Moon Knight. Those shows had visual effects, of course, but didn’t require them every single time the main character was on screen. Variety later reported episode costs were around almost $25 million, which is a lot, more than episodes of Game of Thrones and The Mandalorian. But, if the show was a massive hit, Disney would pay what it had to. Unfortunately, though reviews for the show were mostly positive, it ultimately suffered the same fate as many of Marvel’s other Phase Four shows. It came, it went, and while it had its fans and larger MCU implications, the cultural conversation around it never quite sustained.
io9’s understanding of the situation, according to a source, is that Maslany’s comments are basically accurate, just lacking some context. That context is when CEO Bob Iger returned to Disney and changed much of Marvel’s direction, everything was reevaluated. We see some of that fallout in the handling of Daredevil: Born Again, Captain America: New World Order, and the upcoming Avengers movies. So while Marvel works everything out, it’s not that a second season of She-Hulk has been completely abandoned. It just seems less likely than not at the moment. Which, yes, is in part due to its massive budget. Even if the second season did happen though, there would have to be major changes in terms of the visual effects, making the show more cost-effective.
No matter what happens or doesn’t with season two, one has to wonder: what’s the fate of She-Hulk the character overall? Will Marvel just ignore her? Or could we see her come back in another film or show, which is what happened with Ms. Marvel? Those are questions without answers at the moment, but ones we anxiously await updates on.
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