That ‘She-Hulk’ Wolverine Easter Egg Hits Different Now That the X-Men Are Coming
Marvel fans love digging through background details, and the ‘She-Hulk’ Wolverine Easter egg has suddenly found new life online. ‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’ followed Tatiana Maslany’s Jennifer Walters, a Los Angeles lawyer whose life changes when she accidentally gains powers similar to her cousin Bruce Banner.
The series was packed with tiny nods for eagle-eyed viewers, many of them hidden on screens and websites in the background. One of those blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments is now back in the spotlight as the mutant era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe draws closer.
A post on the Marvel Studios subreddit has reminded fans that Wolverine might already exist in the main MCU timeline, thanks to a sneaky detail in Episode 2. While Jen searches for new jobs after being fired, she browses a list of offbeat career ideas, and a related article in the corner reads “Man fights with metal claws in bar brawl.”
The headline never names the brawler, but the meaning seems obvious. As ComicBook.com noted, the clip didn’t let viewers read the full story, yet the reference to metal claws and a bar fight points squarely at the iconic mutant. The bar brawl detail is especially telling. In the first ‘X-Men’ film from 2000, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine fights in a cage inside a bar, which is where Rogue first meets him.
A new trailer for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law has been released. https://t.co/3oZKRYPIHs
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) July 24, 2022
The same set of related articles also teased another loose thread. A second headline asked why a giant statue of a man was sticking out of the ocean, a reference to the Celestial left behind at the end of ‘Eternals’.
‘She-Hulk’ didn’t stop there with its Wolverine teases. Later in the season, a character jumps out holding makeup brushes between her fingers like adamantium claws and even mimics the famous “snikt” sound of the claws extending.
Not everyone loved the follow-up gag. Screen Rant argued the more obvious joke undercut the subtlety of the original headline and raised questions about how well-known Wolverine is in Jen’s world.
The timing explains the renewed buzz. At D23 in August, Marvel Studios unveiled the first cast for its ‘X-Men’ reboot, directed by ‘Thunderbolts*’ filmmaker Jake Schreier and set for May 5, 2028.
The lineup includes Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, Kit Connor as Cyclops, Christopher Abbott as Charles Xavier, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Inde Navarrette as Rogue, and Maya Boyd as Storm, with Adam Driver playing villain Mister Sinister. Kevin Feige stressed that this isn’t the complete roster, leaving plenty of room for fan speculation about who might wield the claws.
Mutants have already been creeping into the MCU for years. ‘Ms. Marvel’ delivered the franchise’s first mutant reveal in its main universe, while Jackman’s Wolverine arrived through the multiverse in ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’.
Before the reboot arrives, the Fox-era X-Men take center stage in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’, with Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, James Marsden, and others returning. However, those actors represent alternate-universe versions of their characters rather than the main MCU timeline.
That makes the ‘She-Hulk’ headline all the more intriguing. If a clawed brawler was already making news in Jen’s world, Marvel may have quietly planted the seeds for its own Wolverine long before the mutants officially assemble.
Feige has described the upcoming film as a youth-focused take on the team, with ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ acting as a reset before the new era begins. Whether that bar-fighting mystery man ever gets a face remains to be seen.
Do you think the Wolverine Easter egg in She-Hulk was Marvel’s plan to introduce Wolverine into the main MCU timeline?
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