She-Hulk director Kat Coiro says MCU show sees Tatiana Maslany take over from Mark Ruffalo: ‘She is ready as a new Hulk’

Marvel’s new superhero show She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is all set to stream on Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar from August 18. Not only does the show introduce a new Marvel hero to the MCU in She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany), it also brings back several familiar characters such as Hulk, Abomination, and Wong. The show’s director Kat Coiro spoke to Hindustan Times about the starry cameos, where the show stands in the larger MCU, and the criticism female superhero titles receive. Also read: Daredevil arrives in MCU with She-Hulk cameo, gets own series

The show has Mark Ruffalo, Tim Roth, and Benedict Wong. With so many cameos, how do you ensure they don’t distract and the audience’s focus is on the protagonist Jen Walters aka the She-Hulk?

The truth is this is a very grounded in reality show. Our lead happens to be a lawyer, who works at a superhuman law firm. So, all of the cameos are very organic. We are not bringing them in just for the sake of it, but because they need legal representation.

So, apart from these three names, were their any other actors or characters from the MCU that you wanted to get for She-Hulk but couldn’t for whatever reason?

No, one of the brilliant things about working for Marvel is that you get any actor you want.

And is that a big draw for you? Because being a Marvel director today is almost like being a child making a story with all your favourite superheroes.

Absolutely! I think so many people have a nostalgic connection to the comic books or with the younger people even the movies as something they experienced in their formative years. Because Marvel keeps making high-quality content, you have people keep wanting to be engaged. It was, as a director, a true dream.

A USP of She-Hulk in the Marvel Comics is that she breaks the fourth wall so often. But no character has done that in the MCU yet. How did you go about incorporating it in this universe?

The idea comes directly from the comic books, and She-Hulk was breaking the fourth wall way before Deadpool or Fleabag. We just wanted to honour the comic books. The trick was in finding how much was enough and how much was too much.

In shows like Hawkeye and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we have seen one of the original Avengers make way for a newer, younger hero, kind of like passing the baton. Is that what Bruce Banner is doing for Jennifer Walters here, passing the baton for the future of MCU?

Absolutely! Part of the beauty of their relationship is that he has had this huge experience that he thinks will really help her if he shares it with her. But what he learns is that she has a new and completely different experience and she is ready to approach the world as a totally new Hulk.

The show has faced criticism about supposedly bad CGI in the first teaser. It has almost become a trend where a female superhero-led project faces negative comments even before its release. We saw that with Captain Marvel, Black Widow, Ms Marvel, and now She-Hulk. Do you think it’s a gender-based issue where some people simply get riled up about female superheroes?

Yes absolutely, because comic books historically are a male art form. We are at a point in our culture where we are seeing a shift in representation in gender, ethnicity and that’s always an adjustment period for people. But I think the show is entertaining enough and has so many great qualities to it that it’s going to draw everybody in–men, women, the whole world.