Warning: The following contains spoilers for She-Hulk Episode 1 on Disney Plus.Fans knew they were getting lawyer-by-day-superhero-by-night Jennifer Walters in the title role when She-Hulk was announced for Disney Plus. What they might not have realized was that they would also get to delve a little more into the life of her cousin, Bruce Banner.
Bruce appears in the first episode of the series, and really, it’s his blood that causes Jen to transform into a Hulk to begin with. The streaming series provides a slight twist on her comic book origin as it’s not a blood transfusion from her cousin that brings out the Hulk in Jen, but his gamma-rich blood getting on her during a car accident. Bruce takes it upon himself to help make sure that Jen can control the Hulk inside of her, going as far as to take her to a whole new location Marvel Cinematic Universe fans haven’t seen before - a secluded beach lab in Mexico. That lab provides a whole lot of callbacks to the first meeting of the Avengers.
When Tony Stark Met Bruce Banner
While most of the original Avengers lineup had solo movies, some interacted, like Black Widow and Iron Man, before the big team-up. That wasn’t the case for Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. The two didn’t meet face to face until they were both on SHIELD’s helicarrier in The Avengers.
When first meeting, Tony made it clear that he was a big fan of Bruce being able to turn into a “green rage monster,” and continually attempted to goad him into becoming the Hulk. While that didn’t happen, the two did spend a lot of time working together in the helicarrier’s lab before they ended up in the middle of the Battle Of New York.
Over the course of their interactions, Tony wondered why Bruce wasn’t relaxing on a beach somewhere to keep the Hulk at bay. That line appears to foreshadow Bruce’s secret lab in She-Hulk: Attorney At Law.
Bruce Banner’s Beach Lab
It’s not entirely clear when Tony Stark gifted Bruce Banner with the space that became his beach home and hidden lab. Fans can infer that it was likely after the events of Avengers: Infinity War. Why? Because the end of Avengers: Age Of Ultron sees Hulk fly into space in a quinjet and end up on Sakaar for the events of Thor: Ragnarök. One of the items in Bruce’s possession at the beach house, however, is a helmet from one of the Iron Man sentries used in Avengers: Age Of Ultron, so it seems unlikely that the beach house was gifted to him before that movie.
The space includes a living area, a secret basement lab, and a bar on the beach - originally built by Tony and Bruce. Tony’s fingerprints are all over the space, and it’s a nice window into how the friendship between the two must have progressed after the Battle of New York. Despite Tony’s teasing about wanting to see Bruce Hulk out, he made sure he had a safe space where he could live and work in peace without putting others in danger. The technology in the lab is all based on Tony and Bruce’s work together. Their initials are on the bar, before Jen and Bruce destroy it in their squabble.
Tony And Bruce’s Friendship
The glimpse of friendship the audience gets at the beach house and bar makes it clear that there was more to their friendship than Bruce falling asleep while Tony rambled in a post-credit scene, or them putting their heads together to solve a problem for the rest of the Avengers.
Tony is always portrayed as very generous with the other Avengers, despite his ego. In their first meeting, he (or more accurately, Robert Downey Jr.) constantly offered the other team members snacks during the briefing and gave them advice on their abilities, all while getting under their skin and butting heads with them. That’s especially evident in his interactions with Bruce, whom he literally poked with a stick to get a reaction out of, all while picking Bruce’s brain and being genuinely impressed with him.
Over time, he hosted parties for the entire group (Avengers: Age Of Ultron), built new equipment for them (Captain America: Civil War), and did his best to protect them (Avengers: Endgame). Tony Stark gifting Bruce Banner a house full of research materials and hanging out with him long enough to experiment and build a bar speaks to some of the best aspects of Tony, and it’s a lovely surprise for the audience to get to see how much his friendship meant to Bruce, growing out of that first introduction when they were brought together as the Avengers for the first time.
She-Hulk: Attorney At Law is currently streaming on Disney Plus with new episodes available on Thursdays.