Courtroom calamity: She-Hulk’s wildest cases

Court is now in session, and with She-Hulk as counsel, you know things are going to get wild. Jennifer Walters might be an effective attorney, but her gamma radiated alter ego She-Hulk has a way of bringing calamity into the courtroom. You may have seen some of Jen’s wacky trials on the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and I’m here to tell you that the comics take things to a whole new level. From a vampire bunny to a visit from Santa Claus, here are She-Hulk’s strangest courtroom cases.

She-Hulk turns a bunny into a vampire to reduce Morbius’ charges

Where it happened: Savage She-Hulk #12 (1980)

What happened: It’s Morbin’ time! After being temporarily cured of his vampirism, Michael Morbius is forced to stand trial for his blood-sucking crimes. The former vampire has recently saved She-Hulk’s life, and Jen can see that he is legitimately remorseful for his actions, so she decides to defend him in court. In order to prove that Morbius wasn’t in control of his actions, Jen bring a cage with two bunnies into the courtroom.

Jen injects one of the bunnies with the virus that turned Morbius into a vampire. The jury then watches as the bunny turns into a vampire and slaughters its mate. A courtroom veterinarian signs off on this questionable stunt, seemingly unconcerned about the apparent animal cruelty. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Jen explains that the bunnies were mates, which makes it even crueler. The questionable move works, and Morbius’ first degree murder charge is downgraded to involuntary manslaughter.

Santa Claus is coming to court

Where it happened: Sensational She-Hulk #8 (1989)

What happened: While working in the district attorney’s office, Jen is tasked with convicting a suspected murderer. The problem is there isn’t enough evidence, and the case is in danger of being dismissed. A short white-bearded man named Nick St. Christopher offers to help She-Hulk as an outside consultant. The man claims that he had a special gift of knowing if someone was naughty or nice.

Nick helps Jennifer find an apartment that links the suspect to the murders, and finds a witness to corroborate the connection. Nick has Jennifer enter the apartment via the chimney of course. It works, and Jen wins the case. If you haven’t guessed, this consultant is obviously meant to be Santa Claus, and he puts the moves on She-Hulk after the case is won. Mrs. Claus shows up to stop his romantic advances, and that is the end of that.

A malpractice claim against Doctor Bob Doom, fifth cousin of Doctor Doom

Where it happened: Sensational She-Hulk #18 (1990)

What happened: A man retains She-Hulk as his lawyer because he wants to sue his dentist for medical malpractice. His dentist had put a radio receiver into his tooth, causing the poor man to constantly pick up morning radio shows. Jen is surprised to learn that the dentist was Doctor Doom, but not the one she was familiar with. This is Doctor Bob Doom, fifth cousin to the famous supervillain.

Apparently Bob Doom is tired of living in his cousin’s shadow, so he put the radio receivers into his patients so he could send mind control signals. Hoping to nip the lawyer problem in the bud, Doom agrees to a settlement much larger than the amount he was being sued for. She-Hulk is initially excited about this easy legal resolution, but when affluent people begin getting mind controlled, she is forced to intervene. The dentist battles the lawyer, with Doom attempting to drill She-Hulk’s teeth. It doesn't go so well for him, and that is the end of Dr. Bob Doom’s dental career.

She-Hulk breaks a contract with the devil by showing her nude pics

Where it happened: Sensational She-Hulk #28 (1991)

What happened: Everyone hates taxes, even lawyers and superheroes. Facing an audit and the wrath of the IRS, Jen desperately states that she would sign a deal with the devil if it would rescue her from this dilemma. On cue, Montgomery H. Price, DA (it stands for Devil’s Advocate) shows up, offering She-Hulk a lucrative licensing contract. Entranced by this devilish offer, Jen does the worst thing a lawyer could ever do – sign a contract without reading the fine print.

Jen gets her money, but the licensing agreement puts her entire life in the hands of Mephisto. His demon underlings began following Jen around everywhere, preventing her from saving anyone’s life. They inform her that she could get hurt, which could damage Mephisto’s investment. Jen struggles to break the contract, until she finds a purity clause to exploit. She shows Mephisto nude photographs the paparazzi had taken of her, which violates the purity clause, rendering the contract void. Jen is able to terminate her Faustian contract, and thanks to the non-refundable advance, she is still able to pay the IRS.

Factory worker sues his employer for giving him superpowers

Where it happened: She-Hulk #2 (2004)

What happened: Dan Jermain is a normal factory worker until he falls into a vat of radioactive chemicals. The accident makes him larger, stronger, and more powerful. The public begins calling him Danger Man (get it?), but Dan doesn't want to be a superhero or supervillain. He wants to sue his employers Roxxon for damages, and retains She-Hulk’s firm Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg, and Holliway for that purpose. She-Hulk has a hard time believing that a man would want to sue anybody for giving him superpowers, but Dan makes the case for how his life was ruined.

In a fun subversion of typical superhero origin stories, the new powers are a nuisance to Dan. He accidentally injures his wife, his insurance companies drop him, and his neighbors begin to fear him. She-Hulk uses some legal maneuvering to argue that Dan Jermain technically died when he became Danger Man, therefore a life insurance settlement should be in play. When Dan’s wife is resistant to that strategy, Jen shifts gears and wins the case by obscuring Dan’s face so that the jury wouldn’t be prejudiced by his superpowered appearance. It worked, and Roxxon pays $85 million in damages.

A ghost testifies at the trial for their murder

Where it happened: She-Hulk #3 (2004)

What happened: A man named Maxwell Newton has been accused of killing his employee Bailey Briggs. Newton retains Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg, and Holliway to defend him, which leads to an unusual courtroom strategy. Bailey Briggs has appeared as a ghost, and wants to testify at the trial for his murder, but the judge is hesitant to allow this. Using testimony from Fantastic Four member the Thing, Jen tries an unconventional legal argument.

Jen states that because heroes have died and returned from the dead, the ghost of Briggs could still be considered a person. The judge states that this only applies to superpowered people, but Jen reminds the court about the Infinity Gauntlet affair, when Thanos temporarily killed half the world’s population. This sways the judge, who allows Briggs to testify.

Briggs tells the court that his girlfriend Evangeline killed him, but She-Hulk soon discovers that he was lying. Briggs reasoned that if his beloved Evangeline got the death penalty, they would be reunited in the afterlife. Newton is revealed as the real killer, and Briggs’ ghost is placed in an afterlife jail for committing the first case of ghost perjury.

Self-defense and time-travel

Where it happened: She-Hulk #1-2 (2005)

What happened: When Jennifer’s firm assigns her to defend Charles Czarkowski, she is initially reluctant. Charles had shot an unarmed man in the back, in broad daylight, in front of dozens of witnesses, on film. The unidentified man survived, but was in a coma. Charles claims that the attempted killing was actually self-defense, because according to his time-travel devices, that man was going to shoot Charles in the future.

In order to find an untainted jury, Jen approaches the Time Variance Authority, who pulls various jurors from different points of the timestream. In the end, the whole thing turns out to be a paradox. Charles had been using a chrono-phone to send his past self stock tips. One phone call led to a misunderstanding, causing Charles to think a time-traveler was coming to kill him.

That time-traveler was actually Charles, who had altered his appearance and wound up in the time-machine thanks to the TVA’s machinations. In other words, he had shot himself without realizing it. Once the whole matter is cleared up, the charges are dropped since Jen argues that it wasn’t attempted murder, it was unintentional attempted suicide. However, Charles is still in legal jeopardy for insider trading.

An unforgettable case that She-Hulk forgot

Where it happened: She-Hulk #1-12 (2014)

What happened: Throughout Charles Soule’s She-Hulk run, Jennifer is plagued by a mysterious blue file, which contains partial details of a case that she can't remember. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, except Jen is listed as a defendant, along with some of her superhero friends. The paperwork indicates that Jennifer was served legal papers at one point, so she theoretically should know about this. To make matters more confusing, nothing about the case comes up in any court records.

The mystery of the blue file plagues Jen and her friends for a year, until they discover that the superhero Nightwatch is behind it. It turned out that Nightwatch was once a villain called Nighteater, but he wanted to remake himself as a hero. Using a magic spell, he rewrote reality, creating a world where he had always been a superhero. The spell requires him to murder an entire town in North Dakota, which is where She-Hulk and her hero allies came in. They tried to stop Nighteater, but failed.

When Nighteater rewrote reality and became Nightwatch, She-Hulk and her friends lost their memories of the North Dakota incident. A single man survived, and sued She-Hulk and the others for the destruction of his town. Nightwatch engineered that man’s death, and erased everyone’s memory of the court case. Once She-Hulk learns the truth and regains her memories, she makes sure Nightwatch suffers for his crimes.

Honorable mentions

Some She-Hulk cases have only been mentioned in passing, often as a joke for a single panel. While these cases may not have had enough substance to earn full entries, the implications of them are humorous enough to give honorable mentions here.

In She-Hulk #18 (2007), She-Hulk’s law firm colleagues mention a recent case where they defended Multiple Man against the IRS. The agency had wanted Multiple Man to file 40 tax returns, but Jen’s firm argued that Multiple Man’s 39 duplicates were dependents, and his tax return should reflect that. In She-Hulk #2 (2022), Jennifer receives a call from Quicksilver, requesting legal help with a speeding ticket. Jen thinks the phone call is a joke and accuses Ben Grimm of putting Quicksilver up to it.

These are just a handful of the many colorful legal challenges Jennifer Walters has taken on. In the Marvel Universe there is no shortage of unusual criminal and civil cases, so we suspect She-Hulk will be busy for quite some time. These wacky legal adventures set Jen apart from most of her superhero colleagues. Because of unique storytelling like this, a She-Hulk comic feels different than a Captain America or Iron Man comic. She-Hulk might not be the only superhero attorney, but her trials are definitely the most fun.