Well, I should be working on my Protocol for an experiment I’m conducting in my COMM232 class… Unfortunately, I just did not feel in the mood to box score it up. So, I’m in the mood to do a Super HeroiHOT… I was browsing through some female characters the other day, and figured we needed… well… some green.
Also, for those interested, my Super HeroiHOT page is being used by Puget Sounds’ VAVA (Violence Against Vaginas Aliance) tomorrow at their meeting to discuss animated portrayals of women (avatars included). The meeting’s at 5 in the Student Diversity Center (Wheelock first floor). Unfortunately, I cannot attend because I’m having to prepare for my other job.
Now, let’s give VAVA some more fuel to their fire with She-Hulk.
Click to continue.
APPEARANCE:
Shulkie’s appearance basically fluctuates between steroid using super muscle woMAN and waif-like toned girl (like every other female comic character) who just happens to have green skin. Frankly, the whole story behind She-Hulk’s creation being a way to get a hold of rights to a female hulk really show. Sure, the purple and the white that’s stayed fairly consistent through the years is a nice throwback to the Hulk’s strange and purple pajama pants that seem magically to increase in waist size to fit his transformations. The one-piece suit works on most accounts, but it really just seems off to me. Like, it should be last resort for most characters. Then again, She-Hulk may be considered one of the more modest female characters in terms of dressing. I just don’t believe the appearance really matches the powers.
You have to admit, that it was pretty cool when She-Hulk was a part of the Fantastic Four even if her costume was a near cut copy of Sue’s.
Today’s more modern look with the camo-like pants and boots works fairly well for me. It maintains the classic one-piece which seems like she’ll only take the pants off if they get ripped or she gets hot. The boots really emphasize her power as well… I mean, before she was wearing tennis shoes… that’s not even appropriate for a superhero to go out in.
Equally strange, which I’ll elaborate more later on, is that her breasts seem to increase as she taps into her gamma radiation as if breasts = power(?)…
Shulkie’s appearance has been incredibly inconsistent and her outfits just don’t seem to match her powers…
Appearance: 5/10
PERSONALITY:
She-Hulk, herself, doesn’t really have much of a personality… I mean, to tell you the truth, guys just read the comics to look at the hot pictures of a muscle-bound green woman to have fantasies. She’s much more interesting as her alter ego Jennifer Walters which can cross the line into her as She-Hulk (unlike Hulk in most/some cases). She just seems a bit stale.
Personality: 3/10
SUPER POWERS:
Let’s face it people, the only power people care about in She-Hulk is her ability to rip her clothes off as if on command. By a mere flex of all her muscles “RRRRIIIIPPPPP” goes her clothes and readers rejoice. Does Jennifer really have so many useless clothes around to rip them all the time? Does it serve any purpose? What does she do with the scraps? Couldn’t she just donate the unwanted clothes instead? How does she decide what to wear in the morning if she may end up ripping it later in the day?
Another thing… SHE-HULK WAS CREATED TO GET THE RIGHTS TO THE CHARACTER!!! How boring is that? How uninspirational… That’s why she’s basically this guy:
Which is a darn shame… because her character really could challenge gender norms like I’ll mention later.
Super Powers: 1/10
SECRET IDENTITY:
Jennifer Walters is an incredibly more important character than She-Hulk in terms of being a powerful woman (not necessarily in terms of challenging gender norms). Jennifer is a lawyer who handles high profile cases like representing Speedball in the Civil War storyline a couple years ago. She’s made it herself and studied at UCLA and got her Masters in Law from Harvard. Pretty spiffy for a fictional character, huh? Jennifer has a lot more personality and sass than her She-Hulk form even though turning into She-Hulk is like turning on a radiated light switch of power that doesn’t actually mess with your mind.
I just don’t understand why writers and artists undervalue this side of her character? It’s like they treat becoming a professional lawyer in a high-demand, high-stress world as nothing, but if you’re green and can lift a car than you are everything to them. So, for shame on the writers who overrepresent She-Hulk.
Secret Identity: 8/10
ADDITIONAL ITEMS:
She-Hulk is basically all T & A… That seems like the sole purpose of the character. When they’re giving Jennifer bland, stale clothes, they’re making She-Hulk basically rip her real costume with her breasts alone! It’s disgusting.
Oh hey, here’s Jennifer fighting Hulk… Oh, damn, her tight, round ass and toned back are all in the way of the action…
For completely exploiting the female body and thinking the effects of Gamma Radiation mean super muscles and extra “umph umph” in the “super” areas, you get this She-Hulk:
-3
Currently, on comicvine.com, there’s a running forum on, if given the opportunity with no reprecussions, would the person “nail” She-Hulk. All of the answers disgust me because they’re all basically admitting towards willingly raping She-Hulk as long as they would not get caught. I have to argue that it’s not necessarily the forum post-ers fault, because, obviously, Marvel must be doing something to encourage this degradation of the female character and form.
However, I must admit that these forums most likely exist on many of the other characters I’ve reviewed for Super HeroiHOT’s website… So, I must resist subtracting too many points to be fair.
-2
The character of She-Hulk offers a strange opportunity to challenge gender norms. The character is super powered in the forms of strength and the radiation actually turns her green. Now, in changing to her super self, she gains increased muscle mass, size, etc. This offers to some readers a “manly” woman. However, I believe that it merely could offer a different type of woman more akin to the body builder, and yet society automatically deems these woman as man-like or “tomboys.” To counteract this breach of gender normality, Marvel then turns She-Hulk into a green supermodel figure who just happens to contain more power in her nearly normal sized pinky than 5 full sized men. So, Marvel reiterates the gender norms rather than take advantage of challenging that there’s a fluidity between male and female genders. Yes, She-Hulk’s sex is guaranteed in that her alter ego Jennifer is female, but her gender may be more elusive. Marvel has a real opportunity with the character and challenging society but instead encourages the idea that the ideal female must have a slender body with large breasts, big hips, and a slim waist.
-5
GRAND TOTAL:
7/40
OOH… Um, yeah… like I didn’t know that was going to happen. She’s a pretty exemplar case of a character that has so much potential to challenge the comic medium and societal norms, but no one’s willing to do it.
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