We Promise, Nothing Weird Is Going on Between She-Hulk and Hulk

It won't be much longer before She-Hulk officially joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. The upcoming Disney Plus series follows Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany), a hard-working attorney whose life gets drastically altered when she suddenly comes into Hulk-like abilities. Like Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), she can assume a green, tall, and super strong form, albeit still retaining her humanity.

If you've never read the comics or don't know much about She-Hulk to begin with, you might be wondering if She-Hulk is supposed to be the Hulk's wife. After all, it's not very often that someone attains the ability to Hulk out. It would make sense for the two of them to have some close relation to each other. Well, we're here to clear the air about their relationship.

Most people know the original Hulk's origin story by now. After being exposed to high levels of gamma radiation during an experiment, Doctor Bruce Banner unwittingly gains the ability to turn into an enormous green monster with nigh-unparalleled strength and violent tendencies. Though he is initially unable to discern friend from foe on his rampages, he does his best to use his transformations to help people all while being on the run from the government.

When it comes to Jennifer Walters, her origin story as She-Hulk is considerably different. In the original comics, Jennifer is gunned down by a Los Angeles crime boss. On the verge of death, she receives an emergency blood transfusion from none other than Bruce Banner. The transfusion saves her life, but Bruce's radioactive blood has the added effect of giving Jennifer Hulk-like abilities. While they manifest to a lesser extent than Bruce's, she still becomes a formidable hero as She-Hulk.

You might be asking yourself why Bruce happened to be around Jennifer at the time of her incident. For all intents and purposes, he was there for a family visit.

She-Hulk and Hulk are actually blood relatives — cousins, to be precise. In the comics, Bruce had actually gone to visit her to confide in his cousin about living as the Hulk right before she got shot.

He helped her out the way any relative in his position might, but they are most certainly not husband and wife.

The same relationship holds true in the new MCU series. Jennifer and Bruce are cousins, and Bruce helps Jennifer acclimate to her newfound abilities. Luckily, Jennifer meets up with Bruce at a pretty good time in his life. He's currently in a state where he can maintain his Hulk form while still retaining his human intelligence. While he previously lost all sense of self when he transformed, he now maintains a decent balance between his two alter egos.

That'll definitely come in handy because Jennifer will need all the help she can get in balancing her work life and her new superhero status. And you thought your family issues were monstrous.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law starts streaming on Aug. 17 exclusively on Disney Plus.