It's already been confirmed that She-Hulk: Attorney at Law will feature cameo appearances from several Marvel Comics characters (including Charlie Cox's Daredevil), but it seems certain heroes and villains were off limits from the start.
While chatting to The Direct, She-Hulk creator and head writer Jessica Gao revealed that multiple characters were considered during the writing process that Marvel Studios told them were off the table.
"We wanted a lot of characters from the comics for fun situations where we could bring in a character and think of funny reasons why they would be in legal trouble," she said. "But there were a lot of characters that were from the comics that we couldn’t use either because of a rights issue, or there were a few times where it was because Marvel... all they would say is that they had other plans. And that’s all they would tell us. And then, we tried very, very hard to poke, and prod, and get a little bit more information. Of course, they wouldn’t tell us."
This type of thing must be very frustrating for a writer, but it sounds like not being allowed to introduce one specific hero and all related characters was particularly disappointing for Gao's team.
"But I will say, the one MCU character that really bummed out a lot of the writers in our room that we couldn’t use was Spider-Man and anyone involved around – like in the Spider-Man universe. Because we had so many Spider-Man fans in the room."
Since Sony Pictures technically hold the rights to Spider-Man, this isn't too surprising. Tom Holland's Web-Slinger has appeared in Marvel Studios projects in the past, of course, but this would seem to confirm that the new deal between the studios doesn't extend to TV.
Still, there's always a chance the Emerald Amazon and the Webhead will cross paths on the big screen one day! Check out a fun new Law and Order parody promo for She-Hulk below.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law follows Jennifer Walters as she navigates the complicated life of a single, 30-something attorney who also happens to be a green 6-foot-7-inch superpowered hulk. The nine-episode series welcomes a host of MCU vets, including Mark Ruffalo as Smart Hulk, Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky/the Abomination, and Benedict Wong as Wong. The cast also includes Ginger Gonzaga, Josh Segarra, Jameela Jamil, Jon Bass and Renée Elise Goldsberry. Executive producers are Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Kat Coiro and Jessica Gao. Co-executive producers are Wendy Jacobson and Jennifer Booth.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is set to premiere on Disney+ on August 17 18.