BIOGRAPHY - page 5
Despite her status as a detached member, She-Hulk was on the west coast with the Fantastic Four the entire time Avengers Mansion came under siege by the Masters of Evil. As a result, she was unreachable during one of the team’s biggest crises to date. [Avengers (1st series) #273-277, Fantastic Four (1st series) #297-298] With the Thing back with the FF (and her break-up with Wyatt), Jennifer felt motivated to renew her commitment to the Avengers. She-Hulk made contact with the Wasp and eagerly accepted reappointment to the active roster as the team reorganized after the Masters’ attack. The Wasp quickly left the Avengers, however, citing a need for vacation after all the threats she dealt with as chairwoman. Captain America refused to accept the role of chairperson and nominated Captain Marvel instead. Monica was hesitant to accept the responsibility, but She-Hulk was one of her most ardent supporters. [Avengers (1st series) #278-279]
Jennifer had mixed reactions to her other teammates. She thought Black Knight and Sub-Mariner were both attractive (even though Namor was married to Marrina now). However, Thor’s godly arrogance rubbed her the wrong way during their tenure together this time, and the self-important Doctor Druid was immediately one of She-Hulk’s least favorite teammates. Despite her mixed
feelings on the team itself, She-Hulk was dedicated to the Avengers’ ideals. Her old buddy Hawkeye was running the West Coast Avengers now, but she told him she had no desire to return to California. Working with the Fantastic Four had convinced her she was ready for the big time, and to Jennifer that meant the “original” Avengers. This roster of Avengers had to deal with the Gods of Olympus blaming them for Hercules’ injuries during the Masters’ siege, and the Super-Adaptoid’s own aspirations towards godhood. [Avengers (1st series) #281-290]
The Avengers roster began to fall apart, however. Captain America was drawn away by personal business, and Namor’s wife Marrina was transformed against her will into a leviathan sea monster. In the climactic battle, Namor used Black Knight’s Ebony Blade to kill his uncontrollable bride, leaving to mourn her. The Knight was afflicted by the blood curse released from his blade, hampering his abilities, and Captain Marvel nearly died when her energy form was dispersed in the ocean. A new chairperson would be needed with Monica recovering on the sidelines. Doctor Druid had been subtly undermining Captain Marvel since her appointment in order to push her aside for his own ambitions. Using his psychic abilities, Druid was able to subliminally push She-Hulk, Black Knight and the departing Captain Marvel into supporting his bid to become the new
chairman of the Avengers. [Avengers (1st series) #291-294] The “Master of the Unknown” was himself being mentally manipulated by an outside force, the sinister and seductive Kang Nebula. By combining her powers with her pawn’s, Nebula was able to manipulate Druid and the rest of the Avengers for her own agenda. While obedient to Nebula, She-Hulk attacked Thor and thought she had killed the Black Knight for a time. Although both Nebula and Druid were disposed of, Jennifer was shaken by these events, and needed to leave the Avengers to sort through her feelings. [Avengers (1st series) #295-297]
At loose ends after leaving the Avengers, stopping a bombing at an abortion clinic led Jennifer to consider the idea of children. In her loneliness, she thought to fill that void with a child and reached out to her ex, Wyatt Wingfoot. Jennifer was thinking of artificial insemination, but before meeting with Wyatt she wrestled with the thought that she might love Wyatt and want him back in her life altogether. She went ahead with her original plan, though, and Wyatt was crushed that Jen
“only” wanted him as a surrogate. They parted poorly at first but, when Wyatt came to see Jennifer a second time, he impulsively proposed to her and she said yes.
Their union came about partially because of confusion over how Jennifer received a woven butterfly basket, an engagement gift originally given by Wyatt’s mother to his father. Wyatt Wingfoot was still the intended chieftain of his Keewazi tribe, and his grandmother Roberta Elk Step explained the prophecy tied to the basket. A landowner named Carlton Beatrice tried and failed to acquire the Keewazi land in Oklahoma a generation ago. Since then, he mastered a form of spirit magic which would allow him to take what he wanted, and the only element he still needed was contained in the basket. Carlton Industries claimed the land deed for the Keewazi reservation while Carlton himself claimed the literal souls of his victims. In a vision quest, Wyatt foresaw She-Hulk as his spirit guide, and left Jennifer to defend his people while he learned the ways of medicine from his grandmother.
When Wyatt was ready, he and Jennifer confronted Carlton at the new moon ceremony where he
intended to claim the spirit of the entire world as his property. Coming together as one with the basket and each other, She-Hulk and Wyatt Wingfoot defeated Carlton and returned the souls to those who lost them to his magic. Roberta Elk Step passed away after teaching Wyatt her magic, and it was time for him to finally assume the role of chieftain. Jennifer and Wyatt talked afterwards and decided they no longer wanted to marry. A connection between them had ended with the basket’s final spell, and they considered the possibility that the spiritual bond from the prophecy was misinterpreted by them as something more. Determined to remain close friends, She-Hulk left Wyatt to his new duties in Oklahoma. [She-Hulk: Ceremony #1-2]
One weekend, She-Hulk was called back to California to be guest judge to a bodybuilding contest. While she initially enjoyed being home in Los Angeles, Jen had an uncomfortable reunion with her estranged father. It seemed Jennifer had had virtually no contact with Morris Walters since leaving for New York to join the Avengers. She never even informed him that she could no longer change back into her original human form. Feeling that Jennifer was gone and he had no place for She-Hulk in his life, Sheriff Walters stormed off.
Meanwhile, Morris’ estranged sister Cassandra Walters Pike wanted revenge on him for their own family drama. Despite her brilliance and Nobel Prize in biology, Cassandra had been disowned by Jennifer’s grandfather for defying his will and marrying a man he didn’t approve of. Driven mad by her own bitterness, Cassandra transferred her hatred of their father onto her brother after the old man passed. She used a strength formula on her dutiful son David and entered him in the bodybuilding contest, making them the athlete and trainer combo of Brain and Brawn. At mother’s insistence, Brawn attacked his cousin, She-Hulk. During the fighting, Morris Walters arrived to make amends with his daughter, and shot David in her defense. Brain and Brawn escaped, but Morris saw how their father’s rejection had destroyed Cass, and vowed to reconcile with his own daughter before it was too late. Jennifer and Morris began to slowly rebuild their relationship in the aftermath. [Marvel Fanfare (1st series) #48]
The Avengers had reformed in She-Hulk’s absence but struggled to retain a set membership. Captain America instead orchestrated a new structure for the team going forwards. The team would function as a membership pool, east and west coast, assembled as necessary for the task at hand. She-Hulk joined the initial core roster on-hand at Avengers Island in New York, making herself available for conflicts with the Lava Men and Blastaar of the Negative Zone [Avengers (1st series) #305-310] as well as being possessed by That Which Endures while assisting the west coast members in Texas. [Avengers West Coast #47-49]
As time passed, She-Hulk found herself drawn more and more back into the world of law she had all but abandoned as part of Jennifer Walters’ past. Her alma mater asked Jennifer to play defense counsel in a mock trial re-staging Magneto’s trial before the world court, and she was surprised by the complexity of the case. [Fantastic Four vs. the X-Men #1] As She-Hulk, she had the opportunity to witness the real thing when the Avengers assisted the United Nations in bring Magneto back for a true ruling. [X-Men vs. the Avengers #4] Circumstances even led her to present a case before the Supreme Court of the United States, arguing against the constitutionality of the Mutant Registration Act for her client. Regrettably, the super-villain Titania repeatedly attacked the proceedings as part of the grudge against She-Hulk, and her case was postponed to the next term. [Solo Avengers #14]
[Note: Beginning with Marvel Comics Presents (1st series) #18, John Byrne began his now-iconic characterization of She-Hulk as a self-aware comic book character. With his run, Jen actively broke the fourth wall, addressed her readers, writer / artist and editor, acknowledged tropes and so on.]
More importantly, Jennifer succeeded in getting her own solo series with Marvel Comics again, thanks to writer/artist John Byrne’s interest in the character. Promoted as a “funny” book, She-Hulk and Byrne promised the readers to only have Jen fight “lame” villains to keep the humor present in the comic. Sure enough, her earliest escapades led She-Hulk to battle the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime along with Mysterio, creating illusions of an invasion by the Terrible Toad-Men. These villains had been hired by the equally ridiculous Headmen, who wanted She-Hulk’s 
body as a replacement for their member Chondu the Mystic, reduced to only a head. The silliness of the threats and lack of real danger helped establish the tone of She-Hulk’s solo adventures and ingratiate Jen to her audience. [Sensational She-Hulk #1-3]