Why Tatiana Maslany is the perfect choice to play Marvel’s She-Hulk

Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany has been tapped to play the lead role in the upcoming She-Hulk series for Disney+, and it’s honestly the best news.

It looks like Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany is joining the MCU. According to Deadline, the actress has been tapped to play the lead role in the upcoming Disney+ series She-Hulk. 

For those who are unfamiliar with the character,  She-Hulk is Jennifer Walters, an attorney and Bruce Banner’s cousin, who inherits some of his Hulk powers when he gives her an emergency blood transfusion after a life-threatening injury.  Unlike her cousin, however, when Jennifer hulks out, she retains most of her personality and intelligence to go with her green skin and super strength.

Surprise, 2020 can occasionally give us good things?

To be honest, I’d sort of forgotten that She-Hulk was even in the MCU pipeline at the moment, given that the already cast and mostly filmed DIsney+ Marvel shows The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and WandaVision haven’t exactly made it to our screens yet and likely won’t until next year. But being reminded with this perfect casting announcement felt like a breath of fresh air I didn’t even know I needed.

Plus, Maslany is an incredible choice for this part. Her Emmy-winning performance on Orphan Black saw her play five different characters on the regular – the show was about clones, just go with it – who ranged from a whip-smart scientist to a suburban soccer mom to a murderous serial killer. Her skill is such that despite the fact that Maslany often shared a screen with no one but herself, it was ridiculously easy to forget that the very different Sarah and Cosima and Helena and Alison were all actually played by the same person.

And she did all of this for five years straight.  The range that she has, is what I’m saying.

Maslany is also a deceptively physical actress, as evidenced by the fact that she not only plays such a variety of characters on Orphan Black – several of whom are established athletes or fighters in their own rights – but because she has such incredible spatial awareness of her movements and body and how those things need to change depending on which character she’s playing. A role in which the character’s size and strength shift back and forth over the course of an episode is pretty much something she’s been training to do for years.

(Plus, look at her arms. Whew! She can step on me whenever, just saying.)

In short: This is the sort of casting that is so perfect that when it’s announced you’re shocked that you never even really considered it before and kind of angry at yourself about it.

Maslany is going to be an incredible She-Hulk, and if this level of quality is what we can expect from the rest of the Disney+ MCU series going forward, we’re in for one heck of a ride. Now, where do I sign the petition to get Mark Ruffalo to regularly guest star with her?

What do you think about Tatiana Maslany as She-Hulk? Let us know in the comments.