The following article contains spoilers for episode 2 of She-Hulk.
The second episode ofShe-Hulk: Attorney at Lawsets a tone for the rest of the season. While the premiere episode explored the latest hero’s origin story, this week’s offering dives deeper into the humor and breaking of the fourth wall. But, more importantly, the episode also marks the return of a forgotten villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Tim Roth returning as Emil Blonsky, a.k.a. the Abomination.
The latestShe-Hulk: Attorney at Lawepisode offers fans a new look at Blonsky, who seems to have a new outlook on life. He claims to be a reformed man, or superhuman, and just wants to go live on a farm with his “seven soulmates.” His conversation withTatiana Maslany’s Jennifer Waltersreiterates the MCU’s shift in approach towards villains, offering them a chance to return to explain their side of the story, and perhaps even clear their name in the process.
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When Walters gets a new job atthe law firm GLK&H, it comes with a few strings attached. She has to arrive at work in her She-Hulk avatar, and take on the case of former villain Blonsky. Walters agrees to meet with him face-to-face at the Department of Damage Control’s Supermax prison. But, before she does that, fans are reminded of the bad blood between Walters’ cousin Bruce Banner, a.k.a Hulk, and the Abomination.
Fans who have been following the MCU’s timeline from the beginning will remember that Abomination first appeared in2008’sThe Incredible Hulk. At the time, Hulk was portrayed by Edward Norton, before Mark Ruffalo took over in 2012’sThe Avengers. As part of the first Hulk film in the MCU, the titular character’s origins were explored. Having been exposed to gamma radiation, he transforms into the monster, who he cannot control at the time. To capture him, Blonsky is hired by the US military and given a dose of the super soldier serum. While he does achieve super strength, the serum affects him in a way where his judgment is impaired. As it turns out, he wasn’t aware of the side effects of taking the serum, and was apparently duped by the government. To make matters worse, he later gets injected with a syringe full of Banner’s blood sample, which transforms him into the Abomination and completely makes him lose his mind.
During his meeting with Walters in the prison, Blonsky explains how he was wronged by the government, which is a throwback toThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier’sIsaiah Bradley. A war veteran, Bradley was also a subject of the US government’s experiments, as part of the Super Soldier program. While Blonsky is nothing like Bradley, and possibly misleading Walters, he makes a valid point about how he was misinformed. His argument makes one wonder whether he was truly evil, or just a victim of governmental powers himself. His calm demeanor is almost convincing, and his claims of improvement seem legitimate.
As part of Phase 4 of the MCU, a few other villains have had a similar story arc. Some new villains were acting either out of desperation or being misled, whereas some older returning felons were trying to redeem themselves for their actions in the past.Spider-Man: No Way Homeis the perfect example of the latter. Not only did the record-breaking film bring three generations of Spider-Men together, it also brought back villains from some of the most popular movies in the franchise. Fans got to see the likes ofAlfred Molina’s Dr. Otto Octavius, Jamie Foxx’s Electro, Rhys Ifans’ The Lizard, Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman, and Willem Dafoe’s iconic Green Goblin.
The film’s plot had the villains pulled from their respective universes right before their deaths. This occurs due to the botched spell byBenedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange, who is immediately ready to correct his mistake. However, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker wants to help the villains correct their ways and reform into better humans before they return, to possibly change their fates. He even goes to the extent of creating cures for the villains, with the help of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s version of the character. Towards the end of the film, seeing all the villains in human form is a surprising change. It seems like they were all acting villainous either due to their powers or insanity.
Wanda Maximoff is an example of a new villain who wasn’t truly evil in Phase 4 of the MCU.WandaVisionintroduced fans to Wanda’s backstory, and the world of Westview. Living in this world with Vision and her twin boys, Wanda is truly happy. But, when she’s forced to go back to reality, she is willing to go to any extent to find her twins again, even if it means killing innocent people in the process.Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnessturned her into a villain, where she is willing to kill America Chavez to take her powers of traveling through the Multiverse. The plot argues that she isn’t a typical villain, but is instead being misled due to the love for her children, and the Darkhold’s power.
Another great example of the MCU’s approach towards villains is Xu Wenwu inShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. After making a comical appearance inIron Man 3,the character of the Mandarinfinally took shape in the 2021 film. He is willing to destroy the magical town of Ta Lo in his quest to find his dead wife Ying Li who is seemingly being held captive there. But, it isn’t his wife that he finds at the end, it is instead the Dweller-in-Darkness, a soul-consuming mythological creature. The creature was misleading Wenwu to use the ten rings and open the Dark Gate that he has been imprisoned behind. Throughout the film, even though Wenwu is established as the villain, it became impossible for fans to dislike the character, as he was acting out of love once again.
Finally, the biggest villain that Phase 4 set up,Kang the Conqueror, a.k.a. He Who Remains inLoki. He may have been the bad guy, but he justifies creating the Time Variance Authority in order to prevent a Multiversal war. His aim is to avoid variants of himself, which include Kang, fighting among each other and possibly creating branched realities, which would destroy the so-called sacred timeline. In his mind, his actions were valid. For him to arrest people who break the laws of the TVA, and either imprison them or zap them from existence is all in the name of saving the world from a bigger threat.
It seems like the MCU is turning over a new leaf when it comes to their villains.She-Hulk: Attorney at Lawis just one piece of the bigger puzzle, and thesecond episode in the seriessheds new light on the life and actions of the Abomination. It remains to be seen how Blonsky’s journey goes moving forward, but it seems like he could potentially be redeeming himself during the season.
