How 'She-Hulk' beat its toxic haters by making them the villains

The villain of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law isn't some cosmic evil or criminal mastermind. Instead, it's something far more sinister and far more real: a group of toxic, entitled men who call themselves Intelligencia and have devoted themselves to harassing and harming Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany), aka She-Hulk.

Intelligencia's misogynistic arguments — Jen doesn't deserve her powers, why do we need another woman superhero, the Hulk is better anyway — are reminiscent not only of real-world sexism, but also of the toxic trolls She-Hulk faced throughout its release. So did She-Hulk anticipate its own detractors?

"1,000 percent," She-Hulk director Kat Coiro told Mashable in a video interview. "We knew we were going to come under fire." Before She-Hulk even aired, the show was review-bombed on sites like Rotten Tomatoes.

However, as the show went on and Intelligencia became more prominent, Coiro noted that the trolling appeared to decrease. "I felt like a lot of the negativity at the beginning has stopped," she said. "And I think it's partly because we acknowledge the negative people in the show."

Now if someone attempts to criticize She-Hulk through a misogynistic, trolling lens, they're basically situating themselves in the same camp as someone like Todd "HulkKing" Phelps (Jon Bass), which is just instantly humiliating.

"For them to send these negative messages, it really plays right into our hands and shows that we're one step ahead of them," Coiro explained. "So I don't think it's as satisfying for them."

Having Jen face off against villains like Intelligencia also opens She-Hulk up to exploring some very real and horrifying experiences women may endure. In episode 8, "Ribbit or Rip It," Intelligencia doxxes Jen at a gala before playing footage of her being intimate with a date — footage that was captured without her knowledge or consent. The MCU drawing attention to something as insidious and violating as revenge porn is surprising, yet wildly important, and Coiro was excited to use the platform of one of the biggest franchises in the world to raise awareness for this kind of issue.

"From the opening episode, where [Jen] talks about being a woman and dealing with anger and sexism every day to ["Ribbit or Rip It"], where she does experience a big betrayal to walking in an alley and being jumped by guys at night, we explore so many facets of what it means to be a woman and how difficult it is to be a woman," said Coiro.

On a personal level, Coiro found watching these experiences play out onscreen to be cathartic. "I was recently subjected to some pretty intense sexism, and [Jen's] words from the pilot echoed in my brain," Coiro said. "I deal with this on a daily basis, I deal with men condescending to me all the time. And it was awesome to have something discussing that in popular culture. Forget about me directing; watching the episode, I thought, 'Oh, I feel seen.'"

All episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law are now streaming on Disney+.