She-Hulk Smashed Her Way To TV Plenty Of Times Before The Disney+ Show

Unsurprisingly, considering the combo of Tatiana Maslany, Jessica Gao, and one of the most charismatic and beloved characters in the Marvel Comics gallery, the Disney+ series "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" is proving to be one of the strongest shows (no pun intended) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far. With its embrace of a lighthearted and snappily entertaining tone — which is, in fact, consistent with the source material — the long-awaited series has so far been able to give fans everything they could want out of a "She-Hulk" adaptation.

The success of the series marks a triumph for Marvel Studios, as the cap to years and years of eager anticipation. Any Marvel fan has long known that Jennifer Walters and her green alter ego were among the comics characters who most deserved to make a debut in the MCU — and the cycle of hype surrounding the Disney+ show, including all that speculation about whether Tatiana Maslany was really going to play her or not, only served to drive up curiosity about what a Walters-centric show would ultimately look like. "She-Hulk" is, after all, a capital-E Event: the first TV production ever to be focused specifically, and individually, on this classic character.

Which does not mean that this is She-Hulk's first time on TV, mind you. Even outside the MCU, let's not forget, Marvel characters have been inspiring small-screen projects left and right for years. And, in fact, She-Hulk made appearances on five such projects — all animated — prior to her Disney+ spotlight.

There was a time when the Hulk was arguably the Marvel character with the biggest media presence outside the comics proper — due, of course, to the massively successful CBS series "The Incredible Hulk," which ran from 1978 to 1982, spawned three TV movies, and is still considered in some circles to be the best live-action Hulk to date. 

The "Hulk fever" that swept over the American public in the eighties also birthed at least one more notable television project, and that was the NBC animated series "The Incredible Hulk." Narrated by Stan Lee and featuring the voice of Michael Bell as Bruce Banner, the original "Incredible Hulk" cartoon endeavored to be a much more faithful take on the comics compared to the fast-and-loose live-action adaptation, and that mission entailed bringing in several characters the CBS "Hulk" had overlooked — including She-Hulk.

Voiced by Victoria Carroll, Jennifer Walters was introduced to the show much like she was in the comics: As Bruce Banner's Los Angeles-based cousin who gains powers after getting a blood transfusion from Bruce. Her appearance happened on the spotlight episode "Enter: She-Hulk," on which Bruce and his confidante Rick Jones (Michael Horton) travel to L.A. to try and brainstorm the ever-elusive "cure" with Jennifer's help. Once there, they become stunned at Jennifer's ability to retain her intelligence and autonomy after transforming into She-Hulk, and Bruce is ultimately forced to put his plans on hold and join forces with Jennifer against an ongoing attempt by the Supreme HYDRA to take over the city.

Despite its faithfulness to the comics, the first "The Incredible Hulk" animated series didn't last very long. More than a decade after its modest one-season, 13-episode run, another attempt was made to fashion the Hulk's adventures into successful kids' entertainment — this time over at the now-defunct United Paramount Network (UPN). With the distinction of featuring Lou Ferrigno himself (aka the Hulk of the CBS live-action show) as the voice of the Green Goliath, UPN's "The Incredible Hulk" ran for two seasons between 1996 and 1997. The show banked on darker, more serialized storytelling compared to the eighties show, pleasing longtime fans of the character. And, right in the first season, Jennifer Walters made two appearances, voiced by Lisa Zane, first on the She-Hulk origin-story episode "Doomed," then on the Fantastic Four team-up "Fantastic Fortitude."

Even having a major role on those episodes was little compared to what lay in store for She-Hulk on the show, however. On Season 2, "The Incredible Hulk" was retooled as a two-hander, following both Bruce Banner and Jennifer Walters, sometimes together, sometimes in parallel. It was even given the new title of "The Incredible Hulk and She-Hulk," which is what those who caught the series towards the end of 1997 may remember it as. With Cree Summer taking up the mantle as the character's voice, the nineties "Incredible Hulk" pioneered She-Hulk-centric storytelling on several episodes, even if Banner himself remained the series' overarching focus.

Fans of the France-U.S. co-produced animated series "Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes," which bounced wildly between networks in the United States during an erratic one-season, four-year run, were used enough to confusion by the time the show's American broadcast went into a three-year hiatus. But even then, they couldn't have expected the sheer disorientation that would come with the very first post-hiatus episode, which opened on a scene of the titular quartet typically engaged in battle with a lineup of Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch... and She-Hulk.

The episode, titled "The Cure," threw viewers right into this unusual arrangement for the First Family of Earth, and then went back in time to explain how they got there. In the plot, the Thing (voiced by Brian Dobson) finally manages to cure himself with the help of Reed Richards (Hiro Kanagaw), but the cure also takes away all of his memories formed after the exposure to cosmic rays. So the group is forced to hold auditions to bring in a new fourth member, and Jennifer Walters (Rebecca Shoichet) beats out a list of illustrious applicants including Squirrel Girl and Captain Ultra. Ultimately, of course, Ben Grimm ends up saving the day even sans-powers, and, as much chemistry as She-Hulk turns out to have with the team, she eventually realizes that they're a close-knit family, and decides to "quit while [she's] ahead" instead of trying to replace anyone.

There have been many film and TV outings based on Marvel comics lore in the past two decades, but none were quite so extra as "The Super Hero Squad Show," a Cartoon Network animated series that aired between 2009 and 2011. Developed as a tie-in to the Marvel Super Hero Squad line of Hasbro action figures, the show was just about as brash, outlandish, giddy, and filled with self-aware humor as a child's imagination, with the chibi-esque character designs and constant appearances by lesser-known Marvel characters only adding to the playtime vibe.

In general, "The Super Hero Squad Show" was centered around the titular team, consisting of Iron Man, Thor, Falcon, Wolverine, the Hulk, and the Silver Surfer, with frequent appearances by Captain America and Carol Danvers (going by "Ms. Marvel") — talk about an all-star lineup. In one of the show's many spotlights on other Marvel fan favorites, the Season 2 episode "So Pretty When They Explode!" saw Iron Man (Tom Kenny) recruit She-Hulk, as well as Hercules (Jess Harnell), to rescue Nova (Jason Marsden) from season big bad Thanos (Jim Cummings). And this particular iteration of Jennifer Walters was brought to life by none other than Bo Katan herself, Katee Sackhoff, whose signature sass was perfectly deployed in gags like She-Hulk showing childhood pictures to her ditzy cousin when he can't remember who she is, or confronting the team's resident genius billionaire playboy about his ghosting of her years prior.

Given what a mighty shadow the Hulk has cast over American TV history, it was pretty much a given that any post-MCU show centered on the character would have to take it upon itself to shake things up a bit. Between 2013 and 2015, Disney XD's "Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H." rose to the occasion by trying on a format that was and remains all the rage in contemporary television: the mockumentary-style comedy. Presented as a fictional reality show produced by Rick Jones aka A-Bomb (Seth Green) via robotic flying cameras to cast the Hulk (Fred Tatasciore) in a more positive light for the public, the show boasted a zippy, dynamic combination of witty jokes and lavish smashing action. And, with She-Hulk (Eliza Dushku) as a primary character, it also offered arguably the most fleshed-out portrait of the character prior to the MCU "She-Hulk."

Like every TV version of She-Hulk, the one on "Agents of S.M.A.S.H." is fiery, sharp-witted, and intensely capable in battle — but this show adds an extra layer to her character by framing her in the context of a peculiar team dynamic. With the titular Agents of S.M.A.S.H. — herself, her cousin, A-Bomb, Skaar (Benjamin Diskin), and Red Hulk (Clancy Brown) — all being brawny Hulk-adjacent gamma mutates, the "S.M.A.S.H." team often scans as a gruff, potty-humor-favoring counterpart to the Avengers. And, for all her smarts and quips, this She-Hulk is not above the occasional gross-out gag.