Avengers 4 - Introducing She Hulk? Post Credit Scene

When it comes to Marvel films, people love to speculate, and the Internet becomes an almost endless rumor mill of excited fans breathlessly discussing which characters they want to see, and their personal theories on what direction the Marvel Universe might head in. 

Normally, these supposed “theories” are nothing more than the attention seeking antics of lonely fanboys or the dope smoking permanently unemployed, ranting and raving on websites like Twitter, Medium or Reddit (the world’s single most unreliable source of information) where anybody can claim anything.

But now, a rumor is emerging that may carry some actual weight.

As the first trailer for Avengers 4 draws closer, there is growing chatter amongst industry participants and fan communities that the post credits scene of Avengers 4 will introduce “She Hulk” to the Marvel Universe.  And surprisingly, this theory does make a lot of sense.

Unlike other rumors circulating, the idea of She Hulk entering the Marvel Universe is one that has several key factors supporting it.

1. Firstly, this rumor didn’t originate on the Internet like most rumors.  It began amongst Disney staff, and yes, it’s perfectly fair to argue that people who work at Disney are just as apt to make things up for attention as other people.  But generally speaking, rumors amongst industry professionals do tend to be (slightly) more credible than rumors that originate within the fan community.  Especially when they have regular contact with Marvel Studios staff.

2. Mark Ruffalo’s contract to play Hulk is coming to an end, and unless he only plays a small cameo role of ten minutes screen time or less (which is unlikely), that final movie will be “Avengers 4”.   The cost of signing him back up would be well into the millions of dollars per film.  That is a huge chunk of change for a character whose film distribution rights (this is an entire article in itself) are owned by Universal Pictures (which is why Marvel cannot develop a Hulk centric film), so paying out that much money for a character they only have the rights to use as a supporting character seems unlikely.  If the mantle of the Marvel Universe POWERHOUSE were to be passed on to She Hulk, this would reduce the production costs of Phase 4 enormously and finally allow them to make a standalone Hulk (albeit She Hulk) film.  Two issues that Marvel would be very enthusiastic about.

3. Bringing in She Hulk would allow the original Hulk to go out with a massive bang!  After suffering defeat at the hands of Thanos in “Infinity War”, it would make sense for Hulk to go on an unstoppable rage in Avengers 4 to avenge the death of Iron Man (who is rumored to die at the hands of Thanos).  Such a rage would show the FULL POWER of Hulk, one of the strongest creatures in the Marvel Universe, and it would be almost poetic for him to be mortally wounded in the process.  And let’s be honest, who the hell wouldn’t want to see the Hulk at his most powerful?   The answer to that question is, nobody.

4. The industry has come under enormous public pressure to include more female characters.  This is especially true of Comic Book movies, who have a long history of using females as nothing more than (refrigerator) tropes to motivate their male characters.  The term comes from a Green Lantern storyline, where his girlfriend was literally killed and stuffed in the refrigerator for no other reason than to give him a reason to go on an adventure.  This, and a desire from the rapidly increasing number of female Marvel fans to see characters they can relate too, make the idea of including She Hulk seem almost like a no brainer.   And if there is going to be an “all-female” Marvel movie, which is looking increasingly likely, they’ll need a character with enormous physical strength, just because that’s how comic book films roll.

5. Add to all that the fact that She Hulk has been both an Avenger and a member of the Fantastic Four throughout her storied history, and with the Disney/Fox deal coming closer to fruition, adding She Hulk now would give Marvel a power house character for the new Avengers of Phase 4, as well as providing a method of introducing the Fantastic Four in a way that would be meaningful and make sense.   It would be a natural way in to the (fictional) world for these new characters.  And it’s no secret that Kevin Feige wants the Fantastic Four over the X-Men, who would then go over to Marvel TV, where it would be far easier to exploit their pantheon of characters without any major disruption to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  That in turn would absolutely delight Netflix who have been salivating at the mouth for a range of X-Men TV shows to reinforce the rapidly waning Marvel/Netflix deal.   They desperately need a large cast of new characters and fresh stories to tell and giving them X-Men makes a whole lot more sense than giving them the more limited Fantastic Four.

6. But the best evidence of all (if you can call it that), is the inclusion of two actresses, who are supposed to be playing minor extra rolls in the film, but who appear listed in the main cast list.  A quick check on IMDB shows that Maria Z Wilson and Renah Gallagher, are supposed to be playing tiny, almost invisible, roles in the film (a New York jogger and a military secretary respectively).  Yet they are clearly listed in the main cast???   That’s suspicious (or maybe I’m just paranoid), but let’s go with suspicious for now.   Just for fun if nothing else.

And there you have it.  Five damn good arguments to support the inclusion of She Hulk in the Marvel Universe and back up the growing rumors of her post credits scene appearance.  It’s certainly not conclusive.  It could all just be water cooler talk.  But it is an intriguing rumor and an incredibly exciting idea.

Which leads me to some SPECULATION of my own.  Remember, I said speculation. 

If Marvel was ever going to include She Hulk, a post credits scene after Avengers 4 would be the perfect time and place to do it.  Earth is badly damaged from the final battle between Thanos and the Avengers.  Hulk would be mortally wounded, and back in his Bruce Banner form, with doctors having no idea of his mean green alter ego.  Millions of people are injured, which would explain why his cousin Jennifer Walters (A.K.A She Hulk) would require a blood transfusion.  And it makes sense that a badly overstretched field hospital would transfuse his blood to save her life, without doing blood tests first.  They would just be desperately trying to save people, working on the idea that she’s probably going to die anyway, so why not at least try?   

And that, in turn, would be a natural way for Bruce Banner’s gamma irradiated powers to transfer to the next generation.  I remind you, this is just speculation, but when you think about it, such a scene WOULD make perfect sense in relation to the rest of the film.  As well as leaving us with a truly awesome post credits scene and some real hope for the future of the Marvel world as we know it.  And we all know how much Marvel likes to end its films on a positive note.  It’s almost become an obsession.
That leaves us with the question, will it happen?  Will She Hulk be in the post credits scene? 

As a screenplay writer and lifelong Marvel fan, I’m going to go with -

Maybe?