When the first trailer for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law dropped online, Marvel fans immediately panicked about the quality of the CGI. Since then, this new comedy series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe faced an uphill battle in changing the perception of the quality of its visual effects. However, don't believe the negativity and harsh critiques about She-Hulk: Attorney at Law or the VFX in the show, because they are miraculous.
In the aftermath of the trailer debut, other VFX artists defended the She-Hulk character. First, they noted, that video compression rates on YouTube and Twitter -- where most probably viewed the trailer -- flatten important visual effects details. You can see wrinkles and stubble on the elder Hulk's face, but Jennifer Walters has none of those "imperfections" that make faces look real. Viewed in HD or 4K, the model used in the promo is actually quite impressive, especially knowing that the VFX artists who created it still had months of work left to do on the series.
Now that She-Hulk has debuted on Disney+, fans can get a full-resolution look at the CGI character model. The quality of this character model -- the "render" -- is mind-boggling. She-Hulk's face flushes and pales at appropriate emotional moments. In some close-up scenes, the texture of her skin looks green but human, pores and all. Her hair is incredibly realistic but moves together in an ethereal, fantastic way, like Superman's cape. During the training montage in Season 1, Episode 1, "A Normal Amount of Rage," the way that She-Hulk's body moves as she punches, throws boulders and balances is rich with subtle detail.
For those who watch She-Hulk on laptops, phone screens or sub-4K TV sets, the VFX may not look as crisp. However, at these resolutions, VFX becomes less about the quality of the work and more about suspension of disbelief. At 720p, there are some moments where there seven-foot-tall green woman doesn't look completely "real." Yet as director Kat Coiro said, some of that criticism also has to do with this being a woman-led series. It's not just that She-Hulk doesn't look like a physical being in real space; she doesn't look like people think a woman Hulk "should."
The Hulk was the first Marvel character to make it to a regular TV series, with Bill Bixby's David Banner being replaced by Lou Ferrigno as The Incredible Hulk. Less than 35 years later, there is a TV series starring not one but two fully computer-generated Hulk characters. In any rational world, this would be something to be celebrated. But many MCU fans have grown up with one mind-blowing VFX film after another, and thus their standards are impossibly high. Some DC Comics fans often point out how the VFX in the Arrowverse series pale in comparison to those of the DC Extended Universe films or HBO Max shows. This critique is levied without any thought about the fact that the CW series have to create their VFX in days on the lowest budgets for network television. Modern VFX is an age of miracles upon miracles, yet the average TV viewer doesn't seem to realize this.
Thor: Love & Thunder director Taika Waititi poked fun at the VFX in his film, which also outraged people. There is another reason that the discussion of Marvel VFX is so contentious. VFX artist Dhruv Govil recently spoke about working for Marvel, saying that the hours are long, the pay is low and the deadlines are as inhuman as Black Bolt. While this speaks more to how subcontracted VFX companies run their businesses than Marvel Studios, it does show that Marvel's VFX artists deserve more respect than they get. In fact, it seems that Marvel Studios is taking a cue from their sister company Lucasfilm and create their own in-house VFX unit for their projects.
In 1975, George Lucas recognized that the VFX he needed for his Star Wars movies didn't exist yet -- so he built his own studio. This story is told in never-before-seen detail in Light & Magic on Disney+, and anyone who has ever complained about VFX should watch it. Seeing the sheer amount of work and ingenuity that goes into VFX creation should help others understand what a massive undertaking it is. Light & Magic also makes clear how practical effects and computer-generated effects -- while different processes -- both take massive amounts of work to pull off. Knowing just how long it took to get a low-quality version of the first CGI T-Rex for Jurassic Park to even work might change how one feels about She-Hulk's fully CGI character.
"But wait," those whose entire fandom experiences are based on some sort of grievance or perceived slight might say, "does this mean we should just accept low-quality and subpar work?" The short answer: Yes. The more complicated answer: it depends on the experience a viewer wants to have. The second Marvel character to make it to TV was Spider-Man, and he was much more difficult than the Hulk. Everything from Spider-Man's signature webbing to his ability to stick to surfaces presented VFX challenges, and they did the best they could. In the late 20th century, fans starved for live-action adaptations of their favorite characters didn't care how janky the VFX were, so long as the stories made them feel the way the comic books did. If there are moments where a viewer's brain reminds She-Hulk is a fully CGI character, that viewer should relax and enjoy the show.
Thankfully, this conversation already seems to be trending towards moot. After the premiere of She-Hulk, viewers are now praising the show and its VFX rather than criticizing. Actors Tatiana Maslany and Mark Ruffalo are able to give amazing and subtle performances even through the layer of CGI. During a scene in which Bruce remembers his bromance with Tony Stark, the expressions on the Hulk's face are as subtle and devastating as any fully human performance.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is a miracle of a series, and not just for its VFX. It's a meta comedy that still finds space for substantive stories about women in male-dominated workplaces, whether it's superherodom or the courtroom. Being skeptical of VFX is a viewer's right, but this series has proven the skeptics wrong -- and there's so much magic in both the visual effects and the show itself.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law streams Thursdays on Disney+.