The main actress for She Hulk (I hesitate to use the word “star” in this case) is still attacking so-called “toxic” Marvel fans over her now-canceled and failed “super hero” “legal” “comedy” series.
Tatiana Maslany just can’t seem to let She-Hulk: Attorney at Law go. In a new interview with Newsweek, Maslany praised the show’s writers for “predicting toxic fan responses” and weaving that backlash into the series itself. One might normally stop short of praising the writers of a show that failed as spectacularly as She-Hulk given that they objectively failed in their one and only goal, but Maslany loves to blame “toxic fans” for the fact that she’s no longer a super hero.
Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer “Jen” Walters/She-Hulk in Marvel Studios’ She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL
Instead of taking any responsibility for the show’s poor reception, she once again doubled down, blaming the toxic fans for daring to criticize the splendor that was She-Hulk.
“I love that it was predicting what the response was going to be,” Maslany said, seemingly gloating over how the show framed any potential criticism as misogynistic before the series even aired and framed “toxic fans” themselves as the antagonists of She-Hulk.
She described the move as “meta,” but for audiences, it came across as arrogant and dismissive of legitimate concerns about the show’s writing, humor, and overall quality.
This is nothing new. From the moment She-Hulk premiered, Maslany and the show’s creators were on the offensive, branding any and all negative feedback as the work of “toxic” fans and trolls. When audiences rejected the show’s bizarre humor, cringeworthy twerking scene, and lackluster storytelling, the creative team refused to engage with the criticism in good faith. Instead, they insisted that their show was perfect and that the only possible reason people disliked it was sexism.
Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer “Jen” Walters/She-Hulk in Marvel Studios’ She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL
But here’s the reality: She-Hulk was a disaster.
It was a legal show written by people with no understanding of the law. It was a super hero show created by people who don’t read comic books. And it was a comedy written by people who are woefully not funny.
It bombed in viewership, received poor audience scores, and left little cultural impact beyond being a punchline. Marvel itself seems all too eager to erase its existence. She-Hulk has been quietly removed from the Marvel Studios banner, replaced by Deadpool. In fact, Marvel appears to be ignoring that Matt Murdock’s embarrassing She-Hulk cameo ever happened in Daredevil: Born Again, choosing to move Daredevil’s story forward with no acknowledgement of his walk of shame in Jennifer Walters’ disastrous series.
(L-R): Charlie Cox as Daredevil/Matt Murdock and Tatiana Maslany as She-Hulk/Jennifer “Jen” Walters in Marvel Studios’ She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2022 MARVEL
This erasure speaks volumes. Marvel, which once heavily promoted She-Hulk as a new, important pillar of the MCU, now wants nothing to do with it. Even as Maslany desperately tries to keep the conversation alive, Marvel is sweeping it under the rug, treating it like a mistake best forgotten.
It’s especially ironic that Maslany keeps bringing up She-Hulk as some kind of a cultural victory when Marvel itself seems embarrassed by it. If the series was such a resounding success, why has Marvel sidelined the character entirely? Why has there been no announcement of a second season? Why has She-Hulk been removed from Marvel’s promotional branding while other characters—ones the fans actually liked—have taken her place? The answer is simple: She-Hulk didn’t resonate with audiences, and Marvel knows it.
The most telling part of Maslany’s latest comments is that she still doesn’t seem to grasp the core issue: She-Hulk didn’t fail because of some orchestrated campaign of hate. It failed because it didn’t deliver what audiences wanted. Fans weren’t upset that Jennifer Walters was a female superhero—they were upset that the show was poorly written, filled with unfunny jokes, and more interested in mocking Marvel fans than entertaining them.
(L-R): Ginger Gonzaga as Nikki Ramos and Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer “Jen” Walters/She-Hulk in Marvel Studios’ She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.
Rather than taking accountability, Maslany continues to reframe everything as the audience’s fault. But here’s the truth she refuses to acknowledge: If your project doesn’t please the fans, that’s not their fault. It’s yours.
Marvel has moved on. Maybe it’s time she did too.