Before Disney+: She-Hulk's First Brush with Hollywood

Sensational She-Hulk #12
“She-Hulk the Movie”
Writer: Peter David
Penciler: Steve Leialoha
Inker: Trina Robbins
Letterer: Jim Novak
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco
Released: Dec. 5, 1989

Long before she had a show on Disney+, She-Hulk beat many of her fellow Marvel superheroes to the big screen – in universe.

“Sensational She-Hulk” #12 was, if memory serves, another flea market purchase for me, based on a cover that depicted the Jade Giantess as a member of the X-Men, rather than her traditional posts with the Avengers or Fantastic Four.

I'd forgotten until I reread it that this story was written by the great Peter David, a few issues after writer/artist John Byrne had departed the comedic She-Hulk revival and just prior to what appears to be a multi-issue storyline co-starring Howard the Duck and written by Howard's creator Steve Gerber and HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS WAS A THING?

Back to the issue at hand, She-Hulk is ambushed for an interview by non-parody-named Mary Hart of “Entertainment Tonight” about her upcoming movie. Seems she signed away the rights while in her “savage” phase, but the mysterious studio head offers her a consultant role and 10% of the box office to play along.

She-Hulk is chauffeured to the studio by... the car from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”... which was a topical reference at the time. There she witnesses some incredibly low-budget Avengers auditioning for parts, but is told she isn't right for the title role. She also meets a group of protesters organized as FROSHMAN – Fans Rescuing Our Super Heroes from Movie Awfulness Now. The more things change...

After an interlude in which it's confirmed the head of the studio has villainous ulterior motives (and I finally remembered who it was), She-Hulk meets the actress playing her: the diminutive P. Isadora. Then it's off to the scene featuring She-Hulk's first day as an X-Man, which spoke to me as someone who'd seen some strange changes in the few superhero movie adaptations we'd gotten at that point (“David” Banner on TV? Don Blake not turning into but hanging out with Thor in “The Incredible Hulk Returns?”*)

Just as She-Hulk learns Pee Wee Herman has been cast as her love interest, Wyatt Wingfoot, she's attacked by the massive robot she and her fellow X-Men were fighting on set. Turns out its a costumed Orka, the massive Atlantean bruiser. She-Hulk defeats him and an actual orca in a nearby tank, then confronts the mastermind behind it all: Krang, who started a movie studio like his nemesis Namor before him (I think I vaguely remember that from “Marvel Saga” #8, the comic that laid the foundation for most of my Marvel comics knowledge).

Krang has a scheme to raise way more money for the movie than its massive budget, let it bomb at the box office and then pocket the cash. Why, the only thing more diabolical would be shelving the movie entirely after spending $90 million on it for a tax break! But that's just too crazy!

After an even-funnier-now remark about how a superhero movie will never make $200 million, the scene shifts to She-Hulk greeting fans outside a theater showing her record-breaking movie for the 10^th week in a row. One of her loyal FROSHMAN fans asks how she can support such a terrible movie, which bankrupted the studio and was produced by a villain. But the heroine offers a dazzling smile and asks how she can give up show business.

This issue was funny when I read it as a kid, and was quite enjoyable to revisit, especially with She-Hulk arriving on Disney+. There's also a cameo by her future Disney+ co-star, Wonder Man, an honest-to-goodness superhero and actor who is also turned down for a role in the movie.

David always delivers comedy, and while I'd guess this was written at least in part due to the arrival of Tim Burton's “Batman” in 1989, it still resonates today, even if just as a reminder how far superhero movies have come. Fans are still fiercely protective of their favorite comic book characters, and one fan's cinematic masterpiece is another's slap in the face of their childhood.

David has written a number of Star Trek books and comics, so it was amusing to see She-Hulk land on a Trek set during her battle with Orka. And this one featured a face off between versions of Captain Kirk and Picard, nearly five years before “Star Trek: Generations” hit theaters.

* - Which in no way should imply I feel anything but love for that movie.