She-Hulk: Attorney At Law Breaks An MCU Series Ending Streak

The conclusions of Marvel’s Disney+ original shows have been controversial at best. While some have done better than others, viewers tended to be let down by the season finale. She-Hulk: Attorney At Law did not play into that and crafted by far the most original season conclusion of any Marvel show.

She-Hulk: Attorney At Law played with breaking the fourth wall all season. However, even that could not have prepared the audience for the total obliteration “Whose Show Is This?” portrays. It is an unexpected ending, to be sure, but one that brings a new level of daring to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She-Hulk: Attorney At Law achieved something that no other Marvel content has even dared to attempt.

Following the events that forced Jen to give up She-Hulk forever right after she finally began embracing her superpowered persona brings her to escape the broadcasts surrounding her. But, when she stumbles into Intelligencia’s meeting, led by Todd, the founder, everything blows up reasonably quickly.

Soon after Todd transforms into another Hulk, Bruce Banner, as the Hulk, appears from nowhere to help save Jen. Then, Titania arrives for no plausible reason. Every antagonist that has played a role in the season is now front and center for a large fight that ultimately diminishes everything Jen has gone through up until this point. So, rather than sit through a major fight sequence season finale that distracts from the series’ events, Jen decides to change the ending.

In a bizarre decision that was so crazy it worked, Jen jumps out of her universe, appearing on the Disney+ menu screen, before jumping back into the Assembled Marvel section to confront the writers of She-Hulk: Attorney At Law.

She eventually meets Kevin, a robot whose mind has designed the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, and directly questions his decisions about her life.

Bruce should not be appearing to save Jen in her own story, not when she is perfectly capable of saving herself. A new Hulk serum similar to the Super Soldier serum should not be the big ending, especially with how predictable it was. The villain in Jen’s life is Todd, not the serum version of his portrayal of becoming a Hulk. What is Titania even doing there?

Jen makes adjustments and fixes toward her show’s conclusion while simultaneously calling out the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Jen, in some moments, becomes the audience’s voice, and she mentions questions or concerns viewers have had toward the expanding Marvel world.

She-Hulk: Attorney At Law may be an origin story for Jennifer Walters, but emotionally, it is about her learning to balance her life as Jen and as She-Hulk, while discovering how to love and embrace both personas.

She-Hulk: Attorney At Law has been an exciting change-up for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and “Whose Show Is This?” shows just how necessary that may be. As wildly successful as the franchise has been, it is also reasonably formulaic, with an expected massive battle at every conclusion.

But character narratives taking the spotlight in the finale shows a more satisfying conclusion for Jen. Does this mean Marvel projects will change how their films or shows end? Given how long the Marvel Cinematic Universe has existed, how successful it has been, and how it is planned to go on for much longer, perhaps a shift in storytelling could help bring a new sense of excitement to future projects.