Week in and week out, we have watched as the men in Jen’s life understand her power and who she is, but we’ve also seen the show highlight those less than favorable men in the world. As She-Hulk: Attorney At Law used its premiere season to poke fun at men angry at anything that didn’t include them in the grand scheme of the superhero genre, it also brought us two men who were perfect in their way of interacting with the strong women in their lives: Pug and Matt Murdock.
For all the commentary that the show has on the toxicity of the fanbase surrounding the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it does also highlight men who aren’t afraid of the women in their lives. And that’s actually really nice to see in a show that does heavily opine on how, well … horrible men can be. Getting to see the arcs of both Pug and Matt Murdock throughout the first season was a surprising delight!
And it wasn’t as if they were anything quite out of left field—it just felt lovely to have these two to go back to and know that Jen had an ally in them.
Pug
From the minute we met Pug (played by Josh Segarra), he was someone we knew we could trust. He introduces himself to Jen and Nikki and gives them a basket, tells them where the best bathroom is, and in the finale, he really showed the lengths he’ll go for his friends. Which includes making him pretend to be one of those guys. It’s so obvious throughout the finale that Pug hates being around those men who are clearly angry that women exist.
Nikki needs him to go to the Intelligencia event because after she gets the invite, she sees that the message says “bro” and knows she can’t go herself. But Pug even begs her to not make him do this and it’s throughout the whole thing, his being uncomfortable and feeling out of place, makes him that much sweeter of a character. That, and he’s just so excited to have called the Hulk, that how can you not love him?
Matt Murdock
God, do I love this sad Catholic boy. From the minute he walked into the courtroom opposite Jen, he didn’t care about her Hulk form and he didn’t care about anything other than getting to know the lawyer he just won against. Which, it’s Matt Murdock. Of course he was like that. But the show also showed how genuinely sweet he is and how much he clearly liked getting to know and hooking up with Jen.
Despite going back to New York, he shows up at the end of the finale (probably because Jen asked K.E.V.I.N. for him to come back) and he comes just in time for everything to get wrapped up because come on, of course Jen had to fix it herself! She’s not one to let the men in her life take over. But with it also came Matt Murdock getting to be with her in Los Angeles for a week, meet her family (and by extension Bruce) and honestly, this was the greatest ending to the season and I hope the two continue to explore their relationship in other properties.
Honorable mentions
The show also has some stand out men in Jen’s life that are worth noting. Her father and his willingness to support his daughter no matter what was beautiful to see in a Marvel property and there were other lawyers and men she interacted with that weren’t inherently bad to Jen but they do not stand out in comparison to that of Pug and Matt (and Jen’s dad). I’m obviously leaving Bruce out of this conversation because we know we can trust Bruce.
She-Hulk, I will miss you so much.
(image: Marvel Entertainment)
