WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Avengers #8 by Jason Aaron, David Marquez, Justin Ponsor and Cory Petit, in stores now.
There's something very, very wrong with Jennifer Walters.
As She-Hulk, Jennifer has been different from Bruce Banner's Green Goliath from the get-go. Jennifer was more in control of her Hulk persona, and she wasn't as brawny. She was leaner, and definitely not meaner. However, in her last comic book series, Jennifer lost the control that made her the She-Hulk. Now, as we pick up with her in the pages of the latest Avengers series, Jennifer transforms into a jade giant much like Bruce Banner. As the Dark Celestials arrived on Earth, Jennifer joined the fight, unleashing her Hulk persona on the evil cosmic beings.
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This She-Hulk was bigger, and she spoke in brief sentences. She was much more Hulk than She-Hulk, but her encounter with the Celestials may have changed her even more. Now that the fight is over and the battle won, the Avengers take a bit of time to settle into their new headquarters -- and Jennifer asks Doctor Strange to run a few tests on her to find out what's different about her now. And, it turns out that her powers have just changed to become something infinitely more dangerous.
After examining Jennifer, Stephen Strange tells her that, ever since the Avengers' encounter with the Celestials a few issues ago, the levels of gamma radiation inside of her body have increased exponentially. Long story short, she is now storing more gamma energy than ever before (even more than Bruce Banner ever did) and apparently she can now unleash that power "in the most explosive of ways."
This change has resulted in her becoming more of a brute with fewer mental capabilities. During the fight with the Celestials, she appeared to be more like Banner's Hulk than ever -- but it turns out she could be even stronger than him. While we don't know for certain why the presence of the Celestials transformed her, Jennifer believers that it is because the cosmic gods needed her to be stronger than ever before to defeat the Dark Celestials -- which is definitely a possibility. After all, Jennifer got involved in this fight in Avengers #2 when a dead Celestial fell from the sky and landed right next to her. In her human form, she walked up to it and touched it with her finger. Then, moments later, the insectoid Horde attacked and Jennifer transformed into the Hulk.
Perhaps that touch was all that was needed to get a bit of a power-up from the deceased Celestial. The only problem is that now Jennifer has effectively become a living, walking, ticking gamma time bomb. In her human form, Jennifer need only close her fists to produce gamma energy sparks. She loses just a bit of her temper, and what she was touching at that time melts under her very touch.
There's simply no telling what will happen when that energy is released next. She-Hulk may have received a power upgrade courtesy of the Celestials, something that will make her one of the heaviest hitters of the Avengers, but she now poses a possible threat. For now, Jennifer Walters is still somewhat in control inside the She-Hulk, but what happens when she no longer is?
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