Captain America once said that patience is one of the “most valuable traits a soldier or student can have.” And my dear Marvel pals, patience is not something many She-Hulk viewers have had. As the last seven episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law have rolled by, fans have gotten angrier, and angrier (like Hulk-style angry) about a certain vigilante not showing up until Episode 8. Well, I personally think it’s genius we haven’t seen Mr. Murdock yet. Unlike all of the impatient people, I think it’s an absolute power move that we have to wait until the last few episodes to witness Daredevil’s return to the MCU.
If you have been following along with Marvel’s projects in order, you know that Matt Murdock surprisingly showed up for just a few minutes in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Then it was announced in She-Hulk’s trailer that we’d be seeing Daredevil again. We also learned Charlie Cox would be playing a lighter version of Daredevil, and that the She-Hulk writers got to use the character more than they thought they would. However, when he would specifically show up was not discussed, and, to be frank, there are a lot of fans who are pissed about this.
Now I sympathize with you fans who are mad that Daredevil hasn’t shown up yet. I love the lawyer so much, and Daredevil: Born Again is one of the shows I’m most excited about among the MCU’s upcoming projects. For a minute, I was also curious when he’d show up, and I started to get a bit flustered that they’d reveal his appearance and then make us wait. But then, I quickly realized I was missing the point.
The show has made an active effort to subvert superhero tropes. It’s self-aware within the MCU and within the landscape of comedy. It pokes fun at comedy formatting and provides an excellent commentary on female superheroes and having women lead a show. This is a show about a woman trying to find herself as a superhero, not about some guy showing up for an episode or two. By making us wait, the show is actively pointing out an issue of viewers overlooking the woman the show is literally named after. As Jen explicitly says on the show and in the trailer:
Just remember whose show this actually is.
That’s right, Jen, this is She-Hulk, not Daredevil. As she said, this is not a cameo every week kind of show; we are here for Jen Walters (who is a great character, by the way), and everyone else is just there to enhance her story.
It’s become clear to me that She-Hulk is proving this point to the extent of low-key trolling fans by making them wait eight weeks to see Daredevil, and I'm here for it. The prime example of this is when we got a little tease of his helmet in Episode 5, but then Episode 6, aptly titled “Just Jen,” ended up being a standalone episode. As Jen said:
It’s a self-contained wedding episode. And if you think this is happening at an inconvenient time in the season, you’re right, because that’s how weddings always are. But I’m gonna look great, so let’s go.
And she did look great, but did fans notice? No, and some started whining that Daredevil still wasn’t there, which is exactly the point. I think this show is making an active effort to exploit viewers who just get angry when they have to wait to see something, and I am so here for it.
It makes sense that they’re waiting to put Matt Murdock into the story because he’s so loved by fans. The payoff of waiting to see Daredevil will be so much better than if he showed up in episode 1. The stakes will be higher and Jen will know her powers better, making a team-up more exciting and action-packed. Hopefully people can come around to this idea, and tune into She-Hulk: Attorney at Law with a Disney+ subscription before they miss the rest of a really funny, different and female-led superhero show (and Daredevil too).
