Marvel is set to dip its toes into another new genre this week in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. The upcoming Disney+ series will not only be the first Marvel Cinematic Universe title to break the fourth wall, but it will also be the franchise’s first legal comedy. In other words, She-Hulk will follow Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany), its green-skinned superhero, as she gets the chance to legally represent some of her fellow Marvel Comics characters.
She-Hulk’s trailers have already revealed that it will use its legal premise to introduce a number of surprisingly obscure comic book heroes and villains. Now, thanks to one new interview, it sounds like She-Hulk: Attorney at Law will also answer a question that MCU fans have had ever since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.
Whatever happened to the Sokovia Accords?
An Exciting Update — In a recent interview with The Direct, She-Hulk head writer Jessica Gao teased that the Disney+ series is going to reveal the current state of the Sokovia Accords in the MCU. “This show will answer the question of whatever happened to the Sokovia Accords,” Gao said. “It’ll happen later in the season, but you will get an answer to what actually happened to the Accords."
The Sokovia Accords are, of course, a set of laws that were created to control and oversee the actions of superpowered individuals. The Accords were ratified by the United Nations in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, but they also created a rift among the Avengers that led to some devastating consequences in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. (After the Avengers split up, they were ill-equipped to handle a major threat like Thanos.)
Despite being the cause of one of the MCU’s biggest storylines to date, however, Marvel has more or less ignored the Sokovia Accords in recent years.
The State of the Sokovia Accords — In the years since Avengers: Endgame, Marvel has only made a few passing references to the Sokovia Accords. Additionally, Phase 4 of the MCU has let many of the franchise’s heroes operate throughout the world as if the Accords don’t exist anymore. Considering just how seriously Civil War treats the Accords, it’s been undeniably weird to see the MCU essentially forget about them.
The ratification of the Accords is one of the biggest moments in Phase 3 of the MCU. In fact, it’s the division created by the Accords that prevents all of the MCU’s heroes from fighting together at the end of Infinity War, which is what ultimately allows Thanos (Josh Brolin) to come out on top in that film. The recent erasure of the Accords has, therefore, helped contribute to the sense of disconnection that has affected the entirety of Phase 4 of the MCU.
For that reason, it’s just refreshing to know that, at the very least, one of Marvel’s Phase 4 titles does actually plan on revisiting the Accords.
The Inverse Analysis — Marvel will have to give a fairly believable explanation for why the Sokovia Accords don’t seem to matter much in the MCU anymore if it wants to appease all the fans out there who have been asking questions about them over the past three years. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to say right now whether or not She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’s handling of the Accords will actually do that.
For what it’s worth though, given the series’ fourth-wall-breaking style, it seems like there’s a high chance She-Hulk may not only offer the explanation fans have long been waiting to hear, but it may do so while also acknowledging just how nonchalantly Marvel has tried to toss the Sokovia Accords into the waste basket.
Perhaps Jennifer Walter’s greatest superpower is actually fixing MCU canon.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law premieres Thursday, August 18 on Disney+.
