A Phase 4 hate-magnet that turned the MCU inside out spawned a canon conundrum that’s still causing headaches

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Personally, I had a blast with She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, which I found to be one of the most authentic adaptations of Marvel Comics the MCU has ever given us, in terms of replicating the House of Ideas’ penchant for poking fun at itself (something it’s done since Stan Lee’s days) and in depicting a world that is full of everything from Asgardian shapeshifters to bull-headed metahumans and everyone’s just OK with that, because that’s just a normal Wednesday on Earth-616.

However, it’s hard to deny that the full-frontal fourth-wall-bashing of the Tatiana Maslany series is worlds away from the hard work Marvel made to ground superheroes in the MCU’s Phase One, for instance, so it’s no surprise that She-Hulk is continuing to cause headaches in the Marvel fandom, even coming up to a full year since it debuted on Disney Plus in August 2022. Specifically, the canon-destroying ending to the show’s finale remains practically impossible to align with MCU continuity.

Photo via Marvel Studios

As one Redditor (who I like to imagine going crazy in front of an evidence board a la Charlie Day) asked on the r/MarvelStudios sub, “Did the finale of She-Hulk actually happen in-universe?” Imploring for help in making it all make sense, the fan questioned if “strictly speaking in-universe, is her huge 4th wall break to change her ending actually something that happened, as in it could be percieved [sic] by other beings like the watcher?” They went on to admit that “thinking about this has made me very confused” before floating the theory that “things stop being canon when she talks to the audience.”

Others, who have likely long given up on trying to fit She-Hulk‘s round peg through the square-shaped hole of MCU lore, simply assured the OP in the comments that it’s best to understand that the meta humor is there “purely for comedic effect” and is not something we’re “meant to take it seriously.”

Although maybe that’s just what they want us to think and Avengers: Secret Wars is really going to end like Blazing Saddles, with She-Hulk leading the Avengers on a siege of Marvel Studios HQ to force K.E.V.I.N. to write out Kang for them. You heard it here first.