Jennifer Walters

FIRST APPEARANCE: The Savage She-Hulk #1 (February 1980)

Jennifer’s parentage is inextricably linked to her eventual transformation into the She-Hulk. She was born to William Walters, a sheriff in Los Angeles County, and Elaine Walters, who died in an accident when Jennifer was 17. Though innately shy and often struggling with confidence issues, Jennifer became an attorney with a thriving career, until a crime boss, Nicholas Trask, shot and seriously injured her to get back at William. Luckily for Jennifer, her cousin Bruce Banner, the Incredible Hulk himself, happened to be in her native Los Angeles when it happened.

A blood transfusion provided by Bruce helped heal Jennifer, but it had a side effect, producing a gamma-powered, green-skinned hero dubbed the She-Hulk in her first encounter with criminals.

At first, She-Hulk was savage and dim-witted, much like the Hulk, but her personality soon evolved into a fun-loving, less inhibited version of Jennifer Walters while retaining all the intelligence she had as a normal human. Emboldened by her newfound confidence as She-Hulk, Jennifer continued to fight crime while rarely transforming back into her human self.

Initially transforming into She-Hulk when agitated, like her cousin, Walters fought various criminals in Los Angeles early in her career. Learning she was dying from a blood disease, Jennifer’s life was saved by Michael Morbius, which resulted in her now being able to change into She-Hulk at will—even as She-Hulk’s persona evolved from a savage creature into a vibrant, enthusiastic version of Jennifer’s normal personality, complete with all of her memories and intelligence.

Moving to New York, Jennifer joined the Avengers, taking part in several missions with the renowned team. As part of the Avengers, she was shipped off to Battleworld when the Beyonder wished to learn more about humanity by pitting heroes against villains. By the time she returned, Ben Grimm had decided to stay behind, and She-Hulk agreed to become his replacement in the Fantastic Four. Serving as a member of the Fantastic Four, Jennifer met and began dating the team’s ally and mechanic, Wyatt Wingfoot. During this period, Jennifer also was exposed to radiation during a solo battle on a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier that seemed to stop her from being able to change back into her human for. (Later, it was revealed this was all psychological.) But she shrugged it off, revealing she preferred to be She-Hulk.

The Thing eventually returned to the Fantastic Four, and after a brief return to the Avengers, Jennifer’s life took an odd turn after she left the team, as she began to believe she was a character in a comic book. While acting as an assistant district attorney in New York under Blake Tower, she began to fight crime alongside the Golden Age Blonde Phantom, versus such odd threats as Doctor Bong, Spragg the Living Comet, and Xemnu the Titan.

After spending time as a member of the Fantastic Force, She-Hulk provided legal assistance for the Heroes for Hire, which resulted in her joining them on some adventures and dating Luke Cage. Another stint with the Avengers followed, but exposure to her teammate Jack of Heart’s radiation unleashed Jennifer’s usually subdued savage side, and she fled the team. When Bruce Banner tracked her down, the resulting fight destroyed the small town of Bone, Idaho. She would later assist in the efforts to rebuild Bone.

Jennifer began to spend more time practicing law, going to work as a defense attorney for Goodman, Lieber, Kurzberg and Holliway. This employment was predicated on her remaining as Jennifer Walters while practicing law, not the She-Hulk. As a result, and learning that it was a mental block, not physical that had stopped her transformations, she began to be comfortable in both forms for the first time since gaining her powers.

Still a member of the Avengers, Jennifer was manipulated by the Scarlet Witch, who had betrayed the team. She caused She Hulk to turn savage once more and rip Vision in half as a result. On a rampage in the aftermath, She-Hulk was subdued by Iron Man and taken into custody. Due to the Scarlet Witch’s actions, Walters was not deemed responsible for what occurred.

She-Hulk was on the registration side during the Civil War between the Super Heroes, fighting alongside Tony Stark, even as she challenged him in court while defending Robbie Baldwin AKA Speedball. At the same time, Jennifer had been dating John Jameson, but when the two had an argument, her former Avenger teammate, Starfox, used his powers to cause her to fall madly in love with John. The two eloped, but when Starfox’s actions were revealed (and Jennifer’s false feelings removed), the marriage was annulled.

While also utilizing her attorney skills during the legal battles that accompanied the Civil War, Jennifer was drafted as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and trained many heroes under the Initiative program.

Jennifer soon learned that the secret group known as the Illuminati—including Iron Man—sent the Hulk off-planet. Anticipating this discovery, Tony Stark injected her with technology that stole her powers. She vowed to sue Tony for this violation, but first confronted the Hulk just after he returned to Earth and destroyed Stark Tower. She swiftly lost against her enraged cousin and was forced to fight in a makeshift gladiatorial arena set up by the Hulk in Madison Square Garden.

True to her word, Jennifer took Tony Stark to court in the aftermath, demanding he remove the nanobots that were inhibiting her powers. In the meantime, she managed to acquit the Leader for his crimes, reasoning that he was addicted to the gamma radiation that gave him his abilities. In the midst of this, Jennifer realized that she too shared this addiction.

Jennifer regained her abilities as She-Hulk thanks to Reed Richards, but was disbarred after her client, Arthur Moore, tricked her with false evidence of his crimes after she got him acquitted. She reverted to a mindless rage and the New York bar didn’t take kindly to the privileged information she told everyone.

Jennifer then pursued a new career as a bounty hunter alongside a partner, Jazinda the Skrull. Though Jennifer joined a new incarnation of the Defenders for a short time, the group was disbanded shortly before it was revealed that many Skrulls had secretly infiltrated the Earth.

Jennifer and Jazinda confronted one such Skrull, the Super-Skrull, who happened to be Jazinda’s father. Though the Super-Skrull shot his daughter in the head, Jazinda is capable of resurrecting from the dead and survived the attack.

Later, She-Hulk and a group called the Lady Liberators secretly infiltrated the country of Marinmer to distribute aid after an earthquake, an action that didn’t sit well with several world governments, including the United States. She-Hulk couldn’t be arrested as it would be politically embarrassing, and she used this leverage with the public to try and get her law license back.

Before she could, though, Jazinda was captured and tortured by the Behemoth. She pleaded with She-Hulk not to disclose their relationship and pretend that she didn’t know Jazinda was a Skrull. When Jazinda was about to be sliced open, She-Hulk rescued her, with the help of her fellow Lady Liberators, and She-Hulk and Jazinda realized that they cared for each other as more than friends.

She-Hulk ran into an alternate reality daughter of Hulk and Thundra named Lyra and took the young woman under her wing. She-Hulk then appeared to die during a battle with Thundra, who was now the Red She-Hulk. Jennifer survived, though, and after her rescue by Lyra, teamed up with Lyra and Red She-Hulk to take down the organization Intelligencia, who was behind Jennifer’s capture.

When the Hulk was treated with the Extremis virus, he gained super intelligence and began a path to becoming the Maestro, the evil future mastermind version of the Hulk. To that end, Hulk began hunting down everyone powered by gamma radiation, eventually finding She-Hulk, who convinced him to abandon this path before it was too late.

When a group of heroes ambushed Thanos, thanks to precognitive knowledge gained by the inhuman Ulysses, the attack went horribly wrong and She-Hulk was nearly killed. During the second Civil War that broke out between the heroes over the use of Ulysses’ abilities, Hawkeye was forced to shoot Banner with his arrows to stop an attack by the Hulk, killing him. Explaining he’d acted at Banner’s own request, Hawkeye was acquitted of his charges at a tribunal held by the Avengers, a decision which She-Hulk could not accept.

Her license to practice law back in her possession, Jennifer attempted to quit the Super Hero business and returned to full-time attorney life, though she then began to frequently turn into a more savage and powerful grey-skinned incarnation of her alter ego.