We couldn’t believe last week how many Avengers references She-Hulk episode 1 had, showing that Marvel can deliver great Avengers Easter eggs in MCU Phase 4 adventures without breaking the bank. She-Hulk episode 2 continues the trend, featuring a few exciting Easter eggs that brilliantly explain some of the MCU plot holes that Marvel has to patch up.
Before we get to the big reveals in episode 2, you should know that spoilers follow below. The good news is that She-Hulk is streaming on Disney Plus, so you can watch the first two episodes immediately.
The Incredible Hulk Easter egg in She-Hulk
Tatiana Maslany plays the MCU’s second Hulk after Mark Ruffalo’s beloved Hulk. But only the actress got a standalone show. Ruffalo is yet to appear in a standalone Hulk project, and that’s only because Marvel doesn’t hold the rights to the character. We’ve had Hulk’s story developed across Avengers movies so far as a result.
There is an exception, The Incredible Hulk, or the MCU’s only standalone movie. But Edward Norton played Banner/Hulk at the time before Ruffalo replaced him.
The recast isn’t exactly a plot hole, as Marvel doesn’t need to address the actor change. We saw it happen with War Machine as well. And we just ignore these recasts.
The multiverse’s arrival in MCU Phase 4 can also offer an alternate explanation. The Incredible Hulk is a story from a different reality. Hence the different Hulk variants. But it’s identical to what happened in the MCU with the Hulk in his early days.
She-Hulk episode 2 drops a great reference to that movie during the talk between Jen and Hulk about Abomination (Tim Roth). Hulk says he’s changed since then, and he’s literally a different person, as he explains that he has no problem with Jen defending the man who wanted to kill him once.
The Wong vs. Abomination fight in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Emil Blonsky was in prison since he became Abomination. He’s finally up for parole. That’s why he needs Jen’s help. That’s when the world learns about the fight between Abomination and Wong (Benedict Wong) from Shang-Chi.
As we already know, She-Hulk happens about a year after Shang-Chi. That means Abomination escaped prison to have that fight with Wong in the movie. And She-Hulk episode 2 practically addresses this minor Shang-Chi plot hole. Marvel never explained how Abomination turned up in the MCU just like that.
She Hulk’s family has questions about Hawkeye
Hulk and Abomination aside, She-Hulk also deals with other plot holes from the MCU so far. For example, we explained back in December that Hawkeye’s most annoying plot issue concerns the lack of Avengers action.
Specifically, Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) fires an enlarged arrow in one episode, which gets stuck into a bridge. That’s the kind of event that should trigger some sort of response from other Avengers. If Clint Barton had to use a weapon like that, he might need assistance.
It turns out that She-Hulk’s family has similar questions about Hawkeye and his arrows. They wonder what he does with them after he uses them, just like we do. After all, we never saw him remove the giant arrow problem in Hawkeye.
How does being an Avenger work?
After the Earth’s confusing times in Infinity War and Endgame, we know the world adores the Avengers. They fought Thanos in Infinity War despite the Sokovia Accords. And they continue to police the planet and space after that. It all culminated with the big win in Endgame.
Yet Marvel hasn’t addressed the legality of the group. In fact, the MCU Phase 4 largely avoided dealing with the Avengers. Their absence is the central plot hole of the MCU Phase 4 so far.
It turns out that She-Hulk has similar questions. Like us, she doesn’t know how being an Avenger works. Whether the superheroes have salaries, benefits, and retirement plans.
Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) touched on that in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. And it’s something that will need explaining sooner than later. The Avengers can’t just operate without oversight and control.
The Eternals’ Celestial in the ocean and the Avengers Easter eggs
The Avengers are nowhere to be found in Eternals, despite the massive threat. They might not have been able to do much, as defeating the emerging Tiamut would have been out of their league.
But having that giant man-like statue sticking out of the ocean is still a big MCU plot hole. That’s because none of the Marvel stories that followed the Eternals addressed the event, even in passing.
She-Hulk fixes that with the help of this handy headline: “Why there is a giant statue of a nan sticking out of the ocean” The title appears on a web page that Jen is surfing while dealing with losing her job on account that she is a superhero.
The same page has a hilarious Find Ant-Man tab at the top. And an ad for Iron Man Threes sneakers. The site also has Norse Mythology and Avengers sections.
Wolverine is the most exciting She-Hulk Easter egg so far
Wolverine isn’t an MCU plot hole on his own. The entire X-Men are. Marvel could not mention X-Men in the MCU as it didn’t hold the rights to the characters. That changed since Disney bought Fox, but Marvel is yet to introduce them officially.
Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) is the first prominent mutant of the MCU that we got to encounter. Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) will be another. And we did meet a Professor X (Patrick Stewart) variant from a different reality.
But She-Hulk episode 2 casually drops an X-Men Easter egg that will help Marvel fix its X-men plot holes. The same website that Jen reads has an article titled “Man fights with metal claws In bar brawl.”
There’s only one Wolverine that does that. And Marvel seems keen on introducing him. We can only wonder how these articles that Jen is reading are related to the main jobs articles. Not to mention there’s another title in there starting with “Scientists discover….” But we’re never told what it is they discover.
That QR code, by the way, will get you access to a free She-Hulk comic on Marvel.com
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