Walters, Jennifer

Jennifer "Jen" Walters is a talented lawyer and the cousin of Bruce Banner, the Hulk. After being shot by a mobster and seriously injured, she was saved by a blood transfusion from Bruce, and his gamma-irradiated blood mutated Jennifer into the She-Hulk, kicking off her adventuring career.
Jen wasn't as strong as her cousin, but she maintained her intelligence as She-Hulk, soon learning to control her transformations and even embracing her green form. Throughout the years, Jen fought for justice in court and on the streets, developing great rivalries and friendships, and growing to become a respected leader. She worked for the District Attorney and also fought crime as a member of countless teams, namely the world-famous Avengers and Fantastic Four.
== History ==
=== Early Life ===
Jennifer Susan Walters was born in Los Angeles, California to Sheriff Morris Walters and Elaine Banner Walters. Also, the cousin of Bruce Banner, Jen would spend hours in the public library reading books with him and sometimes even hiding at closing time to spend the night there, in order to help Bruce escape from his father's abuse.
When she was younger, Jen wanted to become a dancer, something which her father didn't approve of. One day, while her mother was driving with some friends to see one of her recitals, she was hit by a car and killed, an event that further distanced Jen from her father. Turning her attention to school, Jen was accepted at Harvard University and also attended UCLA, where she got her law degree summa com laude.
=== Blood Transfusion ===
While working as a lawyer in Los Angeles, Jen was visited by her cousin Bruce, who she hadn't seen in years. He revealed to her that he had become the Hulk, and Jen invited him home so they could talk about it. On the way there, agents of Nicholas Trask, the crime boss who had killed Jen's mother years before, shot and seriously wounded her. She had been defending a gangster who had been double-crossed by Trask, and she had spread the rumor that she had evidence to incriminate Trask, which led to his retaliation. Bruce fended off the attackers and then broke into a doctor's office to treat her. Realizing Jennifer was going to die, Bruce gave her a transfusion of his own blood as there were no other supplies available.
Jen died, but, thanks to the transfusion, she was thrown into the Below-Place, where she was able to enter the metaphysical Green Door and come back to life. After she stabilized, he had her admitted to a local hospital. However, this came to the attention of the police, who considered Bruce a suspect in Jennifer's attack, and Bruce changed into the Hulk to flee. Meanwhile, Trask's thugs attempted a second hit on Jennifer, causing the gamma radiation particles in the transfused blood to activate, turning her skin green and increasing her size to well over six feet. Dubbed "She-Hulk" by one of the goons, Jen trapped them for the police to find. With the emergency over, she reverted to her normal size and strength, successfully keeping her identity secret. From then on, She-Hulk would handle whatever Jennifer Walters could not.
=== Savage She-Hulk ===
Trask tried to kill Jen again but mistook her for her best friend Jill and ended up killing her instead. To protect Jen, however, the public was led to believe that she had truly died, and She-Hulk was reported as the killer. Enraged, Jen went after Trask in her She-Hulk form, but Trask had kidnapped her father and convinced him to face the monster that had "killed" his daughter using his advanced weaponry. During the fight, however, She-Hulk noticed that the weapon her father was using was rigged to explode to kill them both (all part of Trask's plan), so she threw him aside before it exploded, saving him from certain death.
As Jen's survival was made public, Trask constructed a massive earth-boring device called the "Silver Serpent". He planned to drain Roxxon Oil dry, allowing him to buy out the company. She-Hulk investigated and discovered the machine, but, during the fight, the drill malfunctioned and continued to go deep into the Earth with Trask inside, resulting in his demise. Even with Trask gone, Jen's life didn't exactly slow down, but she also found some happiness, namely in her relationships with Richard Rory, Zapper, and also with her father, once he learned of her 'She-Hulk' identity.
=== Superhero Teams ===
After her brief solo career (during which she met Hellcat), Jen grew comfortable with her Hulk form. When she was asked by Janet Van Dyne to join the Avengers, she gladly accepted and the two became great friends. With this new job as a super-hero, she quit being a lawyer.
As part of the team, she met and had a one-night-stand with Starfox. Later, she was transported to Battleworld by the Beyonder, where she took part in the first Secret Wars, most notable to Jen for her first confrontation with the newly empowered Titania.
She temporarily replaced the Thing in the Fantastic Four after the war on Battleworld, and was granted detached membership status with the Avengers upon joining the FF.
Being with the Fantastic Four proved even more rewarding than expected when Jen met the FF's old ally Wyatt Wingfoot and the two began dating. It wasn't all pleasantries though. When Jen visited the Microverse, she was separated from the others and forced to work on the old Mines of Nuvidia, where she was given no food nor water. There, she met Queen Pearla, an old ally of the FF, and discovered that Psycho-Man had conquered her kingdom using his armor and his emotion ray to spread fear among Pearla's forces and defeat them. She-Hulk had also been affected, hence her inability to fight back against her captors, but after seeing Pearla in danger she embraced her courage once more and fought an entire battalion to take her to safety. By the time they reunited with Reed and Susan, they'd already defeated Psycho-Man.
Upon returning from the Microverse, She-Hulk had to prevent a radiation leak in a downed S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. This radiation exposure apparently mutated her to the point that she could not transform back into her original human form. In reality, however, she simply didn't want to revert to Jennifer Walters, and Reed lied to her at the suggestion of Doc Samson. With no human form to switch to, She-Hulk gave up on her secret identity and started presenting herself as "Jennifer Walters." Around this time, she and Wyatt also followed different paths.
=== Farewell to the FF ===
She-Hulk left the Fantastic Four after the return of the Thing and rejoined the Avengers following the Masters of Evil's attack on the mansion. During this tenure with the team, She-Hulk and the other members were influenced by Doctor Druid and his lover, Nebula, to appoint him chairman of the team. After Druid and Nebula were lost in space-time, She-Hulk and the two remaining members disbanded the team for a time.
After opposing the Mutant Registration Act before the Supreme Court and battling Titania again, Jen returned to the Avengers when Captain America revamped the team. However, She-Hulk would be absent for long periods of time, in part, because she had also joined the staff of District Attorney Blake Tower. There, she met Louise Mason, formerly the superheroine Blonde Phantom, and she discovered that Mason had convinced Tower into hiring She-Hulk so that Mason could star in a comic book again and thus avoid dying of old age.
In spite of all the people counting on her, She-Hulk's solo adventures continued. Not only did she get engaged to Wyatt before parting ways once more, she also found herself in space fighting Xemnu and was even briefly transformed into a "She-Xemnu", before being saved by Al the alien. To return home, Al and his friend U.S. gave her a flying '59 Dodge capable of flying her to Earth.
Eager to go back to being a lawyer, Jen prioritized her work above all else once she got home. Unfortunately, her super-hero life got in the way when the defense counsel argued that it influenced the jury in her favor, and Blake Tower, realizing the power of this argument in future cases, had to let She-Hulk go. With her new friend leaving the D.A.'s office, Louise Mason also decided to quit and help Jen set up her new practice.
Jen had a small detour with Howard the Duck, during which she traveled to the Baloney-verse with him and ended up reverting to her human form and briefly transforming into a savage grey version of herself. Upon returning to her usual green self, Jen finally got her first client as an independent worker. She spent some time working with Mason alone, but before long, Tower asked that she returned for a case only she could handle. After taking care of the unusual case with Louise, the two were reinstated at the office as if they'd never left.
The Christmas season that followed marked the reunion of Jen and Wyatt, as the two rekindled their romance and started dating again.
Shortly after, She-Hulk was imprisoned in space and attempted an Ovoid mind switch with Louise to call for help, but the gamma radiation in her bloodstream interfered with the change, causing her and Louise to trade physical stature and powers instead. Nonetheless, Louise realized something was wrong with She-Hulk and went to her rescue, succeeding in bringing her friend to safety. After reuniting, however, they were informed that the radiation prevented them from switching back, meaning they were both stuck in their new forms.
When they asked Reed Richards for help, he was initially unable to aid with the situation, but, after remembering his own experience with the Ovoid mind switch, he realized the problem was that Louise was unconsciously unwilling to give up her new form. While stuck in her short new body, Jennifer was attacked by Titania, who wanted revenge for their last confrontations. As Titania was beating Jennifer hard, Louise was surprised when Morris interrupted a live show to tell her he loved the way she used to be. The news reverted the switch and both women got back to their original bodies, just in time for Jennifer to turn her fight around and defeat Titania.
Back in her body, Jen was attacked by the robot War Zone, and he exposed her to a toxin that would gradually remove her powers until she'd turn into plain old Jen Walters again. Desperate to prevent this from happening, she sought the help of Zapper (now an accomplished hematologist), but, when she got to LA, she saw herself battling the Rumbler and, in her weakened state, she was killed.
Zapper managed to revive She-Hulk with an infusion of gamma rays, but Zapper's father-in-law, Hector DeVasquez, who was also responsible for the War Zone robot, tempered with the procedure, hoping it would kill Jennifer and make Zapper forget about her and only worry about his wife. Unlike he expected, however, Jennifer survived and was turned into a more muscular and savage form. Going on a rampage, She-Hulk attracted the attention of her cousin, who came to calm her down, but DeVasquez stroke one more time and tried to overload her with radiation. It had surprising results again as Jen's body wasn't able to contain all the radiation, making her revert to her human form as she had feared all along. Luckily, with Bruce in town, Zapper simply recreated the original procedure that had given Jen her powers and therefore the status quo was restored.
Her relationship with Wyatt was once again put on hold, when he finally decided to return to his duties as chief of the Keewazi.
While away from the Avengers, She-Hulk joined the short-lived Fantastic Force, had a team-up with Doc Samson and left the D.A.'s office to become a private partner for Heroes for Hire, dating Luke Cage for some time.
=== Avenger Once More ===
Upon the Avengers' return from Counter-Earth, Jennifer didn't spend long periods away from the team, joining on several missions at Janet's request, despite not wanting to assume full-time duties that would jeopardize her law career. In addition to the Avengers, Jennifer once lent her services to the Defenders at the request of Hellcat and, around this time, she also rejoined the D.A.'s office.
When the Earth's Mightiest Heroes were recognized by the U.N. as a sovereign nation, Jennifer assumed a more permanent position on the team. One of their first missions after this historical event led them to South Dakota, where a mysterious red cloud started killing people in a matter of seconds upon contact. Despite some conflicts with the U.S. military, She-Hulk and the rest of the team, with the exception of the immune Jack of Hearts, donned protective suits and ventured into the red cloud to solve the mystery. There, they discovered a secret government lab and realized the cloud was an American bio-weapon. While investigating further, She-Hulk used her super strength to open a blast door that revealed a battalion of AIM soldiers locked behind it. Realizing who their saviors were, the battalion opened fire on the Avengers. She-Hulk protected Wanda, the Scarlet Witch, but her protective suit was compromised. Jack of Hearts tried to get her out of the cloud to save her life, but unintentionally absorbed her gamma radiation and made her revert to her human form, further complicating her situation.
== Personality ==
Jen was originally much like her cousin in her Hulk form, being ill-tempered and even violent (although with more self-control). With time, however, she became a fun-loving, kind, empathetic, yet still feisty woman who frequently uses humor when fighting. Walters has made it clear that she prefers not to kill those she fights, especially if her enemies have already been rendered unable to fight. Walters is also known for charitable works related to her own mistakes and actions, such as the disaster relief organization she aided after almost destroying a small town in her savage form.
Walters is known as an idealistic lawyer, that has been known for championing the rights of minorities and the rights of individuals against corporations. Walters' beliefs have sometimes led to difficulties regarding her stance on unjust laws such as the Superhuman Registration Act, and her cousin's exile to space by those she was unable to seek a lawful resolution from.
Jennifer has at times become dependent upon her powers, viewing her She-Hulk form as being better and more truthful to who she is than that of Jennifer Walters, and opting to remain transformed as much as possible. This insistence of remaining as She-Hulk has caused problems in her relationships at times, such as with John Jameson, who preferred her to stay as Jen.
Despite usually confident about her beauty and looks, Jen appreciates the additional strength and freedom of her bulkier forms. After her Celestial augmentation, she even claimed to prefer her more muscular and savage form, despite fearing she could lose control of her power.
== Attributes ==
=== Powers ===
Gamma Mutate Physiology: As a result of a blood transfusion from her cousin Bruce Banner, AKA the Hulk, Jen Walters was imbued with the power of the One Below All and became a gamma mutate with abilities similar to her cousin's.
* Physical Transformation: Jennifer Walters is able to alter her physical form into a female version of the Hulk. In her standard She-Hulk form, Walters' skin and hair turn green, as she grows several inches and gains a considerable amount of body mass. Unlike her cousin, the Hulk, or rather certain Hulk incarnations, Jennifer usually retains her full intelligence and personality in her She-Hulk form. This is not true for all her incarnations, namely Savage Grey She-Hulk, Grey Hulk, and all the times her gamma-ray levels were disturbed.
** Superhuman Strength: In her She-Hulk form, Jennifer Walters possesses immense super strength, while originally able to lift only 50 tons her strength has grown through the years to the point where she is now able to lift well over 100 tons. The Beyonder himself believes that her strength is rising almost to the level of the Hulk himself.
*** Superhuman Leaping: She-Hulk's leg muscles are sufficiently strong enabling her to leap capacity heights of at least 600 feet and a surface distance of at least 1,000 feet. Once, in a state of rage, she jumped from downtown New York to Ryker's Island, where Starfox was being held.
** Superhuman Speed
** Superhuman Durability: In addition to her strength, She-Hulk possesses a high degree of resistance to injury. Her skin is capable of withstanding tremendous pressures, temperatures from -190 F to 3,000 F, and she's capable of withstanding direct hits by field-artillery cannon shells.
** Regenerative Healing Factor: She-Hulk's body possesses high resistance to injury and pain, and her highly efficient physiology renders her immune to most Earthly diseases.
** Gamma Radiation/Energy Manipulation and Emission: Jen Walters has an underlying capacity to absorb, control and project gamma radiation, similarly to her cousin, having once absorbed excess gamma energy charged with incredible amounts of magical power in order to reinitiate her Hulk form. This ability was temporarily increased after her exposure to Eson the Searcher's cosmic energy.
Body Switch: Thanks to training by the Ovoid alien race, She-Hulk can exchange her physical characteristics and powers with the physical characteristics and powers of another being.
=== Abilities ===
Expert Combatant: She-Hulk was trained by Gamora in several martial arts of the Galaxy and she learned which nerves to strike to render an opponent unconscious.
Expert Attorney
Law Degree: Jennifer attended UCLA School of Law and Harvard Law School. She has shown great versatility in her legal practice, representing criminal defendants, corporations, and even domestic violence victims.
== Paraphernalia ==
=== Equipment ===
* She-Hulk's Vibranium Containment Suit: A bikini-like suit created by Black Panther for Jen to control her gamma emissions.
* Avengers Identicard, giving her "Full Security Clearance.
* Jupiter Suit.
=== Transportation ===
* Usual vehicles used by the team she is with.
* Her flying car
== Notes ==
* She-Hulk routinely breaks the "fourth wall".
* In her green She-Hulk form, Captain America (Sam Wilson) and Tony Stark considered her to be a Beta Level Threat.
** While going through sessions of psychoactive calisthenics to control her surge in gamma radiation levels, She-Hulk described herself as being an Omega Level threat.
* During her time as Hulk, Jen temporarily possessed the power of the Iron Fist and was empowered by the Phoenix.
* Beginning with Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 2) #10, Jen Walters' height in human form has been repeatedly and consistently reported as 5'10". In practice, however, this doesn't make much sense as 5'10" is well above average height for a woman; very inconsistent with the descriptions of "mousy little Jen Walters". Comparative height checks also fail -- Jen Walters is often drawn several inches shorter than Bruce Banner, whose height is reported as 5'9 1/2" - 5'10" by official sources. In Marvel Graphic Novel: The Sensational She-Hulk #1, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent described Jen as approximately 5'6", but that measurement has not been widely used.
== Trivia ==
* Much like Spider-Woman, She-Hulk was created primarily as a trademark effort. The popularity of the '70s "Incredible Hulk" TV series led to Marvel wanting to own the trademark to a female Hulk before someone else could do so and profit from it.
* A live-action motion picture for She-Hulk was planned in the late 1980s. Marvel Comics had been interested in producing the film for several years due to the prior success of its 1977 Incredible Hulk film. At the time Marvel Comics did not yet have the self-sustaining finances to generate big-budget films for their characters, so they often sought out outside financial backers for various projects. Marvel hired statuesque actress Brigitte Nielsen to pose for photos dressed in She-Hulk garb in order to give potential investors a visual idea of what can be done with the character. Nielsen had previously filmed a movie for Marvel Comics/MGM in 1985 ("Red Sonja") and they felt she was the best candidate for the role. Not finding success with U.S. investors, Marvel took the photos to pitch the idea overseas to find little interest there as well. Alas, the only real interest found were in comic book readers who discovered the photos printed in various magazines at the time.
** Another live-action She-Hulk project was developed in 1990. Volleyball player Gabrielle Reece would star as Jennifer Walters, with Bill Bixby reprising his role as the Incredible Hulk. A series pilot was never filmed, however, and the plans were eventually canceled.
* Jennifer went to the Moon twice before going to Europe.
* During the early stages of Marvel Graphic Novel: The Sensational She-Hulk #1 it was briefly considered to change She-Hulk's codename to "Bombshell".
* According to the "Baby's First Christmas 1960" ornament at her father's house in Sensational She-Hulk #36, Jen Walters was 31 years old at the time, which is a reference to the joke that started in Sensational She-Hulk #4: that she would forever be 31 as long as she starred in a comic book.
* She-Hulk has often taken part in the superhero poker games.
* Jennifer once used the Power Gem in her human form to defeat Titania.
* Walters knows American Sign Language.
* The Hulk had to fight the Champions while trying to get Jennifer to Cedar Sinai Hospital to have her appendix removed after it ruptured while they were stuck in traffic.
* Jennifer Walters' favorite drink is "Grape Nehi".
* Jennifer Walters is a fan of the Los Angeles Lakers.
* Despite not being a member of the X-Men, Jennifer has performed the Fastball Special with Logan, Hercules, Patsy Walker, Laura Kinney, Robbie Reyes, and Steve Rogers. She has also been thrown herself a couple of times, by The Thing and Medusa.
* She-Hulk once traveled to the 41st century with Avengers from multiple times.
* She-Hulk was once merged with Black Widow, originating the Green Widow.