Marvel Comics, but one recent reveal completely reframes exactly how crucial her strength is to the entire multiverse and beyond.
In Marvel cosmology, the Marvel multiverse that readers know and love is The Boys' R-Rated She-Hulk Death Unleashed the Ultimate Anti-Supe WeaponNow, as revealed in the back matter to Defenders Beyond #2 by Ewing and Rodríguez, the archetype representing She-Hulk in Defenders #4 is "Of-Strength," suggesting that in fact She-Hulk’s strength is more key to her character than to any other in the Marvel Universe. This doesn’t mean that She-Hulk is the strongest Marvel character but does suggest that she is the most representative of strength as a concept. Out of everyone in the Marvel Universe, She-Hulk is the most fundamentally built on strength.
Strength Is More Integral To She-Hulk Than It Is To Hulk
One of the reasons this is most surprising is because of the other heroes who could have some claim to the archetype of strength. The most obvious example of this is the Hulk, who is fond of saying, "Hulk is the strongest one there is." Instead, Hulk is revealed to be the "One-Is-Four," an archetype that represents the multiple personalities of the Hulk. Similarly, characters such as The Thing or the Juggernaut could have some claim to the archetype. However, The Thing is already represented through the "Four-In-One" archetype representing The Fantastic Four and, for all his strength, the Juggernaut’s true power is being unstoppable, not strong.
One of the core questions raised by the introduction of this archetype for She-Hulk is "What does ‘strength’ mean as an archetype?" Obviously, physical strength is a given in superhero comics. Super-strength is one of the most common superpowers, but strength goes beyond the physical. It can also be just as much a measure of emotional or mental resilience. The struggle with what her Hulk self represents has been a constant in Jennifer Walters’ life, but her internal strength has always been one of her greatest powers. This was never more evident than in Mariko Tamaki and Jahnoy Lindsay’s She-Hulk Vol 1 #162, in which She-Hulk is able to reconcile her own internal fears and hatreds in order to reconstitute her green form after a period where she became a gray Hulk due to her trauma. This reconciliation of self shows why She-Hulk not only is, but deserves the position as the archetypal representation of strength in Marvel Comics. Because it’s one thing to be strong enough to beat up bad guys, but another entirely to have the strength to accept yourself as you are.
