She-Hulk

Jennifer Walters is a young lawyer. She specializes in criminal defense, but is only starting to make a name for herself. The female Hulk a.k.a. She-Hulk is not yet seen to a huge degree, but she at least seems to have more control over her rampages than the male version.

Background
Jennifer Walters was born in Los Angeles, the only child of Morris and Elaine Walters. Her father was a law enforcement veteran of many years, eventually becoming the Sheriff of Los Angeles county. A solid, honorable man, he was a straight cop and a good father, who always gave his daughter the encouragement she needed.

His wife was from Ohio, and there were strong ties between her and her family, ties that were to trickle down to Jen and her cousin, Bruce Banner. Jen, though, had a far better family support network than he did, perhaps something that would explain later differences between the two.

Smart, although not a genius, Jennifer always did well in school, but she also had a work ethic her father was very proud of, some of which she allocated to more physical pursuits. From an early age, dance was to become her passion...not ballet, but modern dance, and she had a good physique for dance...or gymnastics...for she was never to grow particularly large.

However, she was not all that good at more...social things. Although she could go on stage, perform and love the limelight, in more direct social interaction, she was, quite simply, shy. Often, she preferred her own company to that of other children, and would quite regularly be found with her nose in some book or other.

Summers were often spent on the family farm in Ohio, where she developed an almost sibling-like relationship with her cousin, although they were later to grow apart. On the whole, childhood was the way it should be...a dream from which one never wishes to wake up.

Adolescence started out pretty good too, or at least as much as the teenage years are for anyone. Still shy, but growing into a pretty girl...'cute' or 'pretty' would always be the best adjective for her, she knew what she wanted to do with her life. She wanted to dance. Professionally. Her father was not over fond of this idea, not feeling it would be a stable enough income, but her mother, recognizing her talent encouraged her. And then...the dream of childhood was to end.

Jen was taking a major role in a school dance recital, one she had practiced for for literally months, prepared herself for with the dedication one needs to put to such things if one is to have success. Opening night was stormy, but the show must go on. She danced the performance of her life, yet as she took the applause, she realized a face was missing. Her mother had promised to come...why was she not there?

And as she left the stage, one of the teachers approached her...and hustled her away to the hospital. Her mother had wrecked her car on the way to the recital, trying to get there on time to see Jen dance. And her mother did not live through the night. Morris blamed the argument they had been having that made her late. Jen simply blamed the dance...and did not dance again.

Instead, she threw herself into her schoolwork and into finding a career that would not be such a reminder. It was, perhaps, her father's that gave her the idea...or perhaps it was the fact that she could set aside her shyness and shine, surprisingly, in the school debating club. She knew she was smart enough to do anything she might want to do, and thus she made the decision to go into law.

She focused on getting the best GPA she could...although she did not neglect her physical fitness, not being that kind of girl...and then went to UCLA to study political science. Law school, though, was a harder decision. It is often the hardest to get into, and Jen found herself packing and leaving Los Angeles...for New York, and CUNY. To her surprise...she found she liked the place right off the bat, preferred the energy, as it were, to Los Angeles. Perhaps it was simply the geographical tightness of New York compared to the sprawl of California. Perhaps...

Either way, Jen made the decision after only a year to stay in New York for a while. She took an internship with one of the big law films, Reznick & Reznick, and managed to build a solid networking relationship with them...that, combined with her academic record was enough to secure her a job there while she worked on passing the bar. When she did, a year later, they were quick to make sure they could keep her by offering her an associate position.

Jen's chosen specialty was criminal defense, that being where she felt she had the most skills...and while one cannot always be picky, she would do her best to pick out clients she felt were innocent. Reznick & Reznick planned on easing her into things, but events were to somewhat conspire against the young lawyer.

She was asked by one of the partners to assist with a difficult case. The client had apparently killed a young woman, but there was something odd going on, and the partner had a nose for 'trouble'...but right as they had got everything together, he apparently caught the flu. Or so he said...he was refusing to come into the office, and Jen, inexperienced or not, was the one in the position to take on the case. And she was rapidly to find out why he dropped it...their client had been framed by the mafia, and the mafia were trying to intimidate her into throwing the case.

Just to make her life more complicated, at precisely then she was contacted by her cousin...who had been reported dead several months before. She found a disheveled, paranoid Bruce in Central Park, and found out the story from him...it turned out that Bruce, a victim of the experiments he had been conducting for the government, was now the rampaging monster...the Hulk...and he was convinced there was no cure.

Jen was not one to throw a case, and unfortunately she had perhaps got that message too clearly to those trying to intimidate her. She and Bruce were attacked by mafia gunmen...and she was critically injured. Bruce transformed into the Hulk...and abducted her from the scene. She was found a couple of hours later in an abandoned crack house, alive but seriously banged up, and taken to Bellevue Hospital...where nobody was quite sure how she had avoided massive blood loss. What not even she knew at that point was that Bruce, after changing back, had saved Jen's life with a transfusion of his own blood...although she would find out later.

In hospital, she learned she was looking forward to a slow, unpleasant convalescence, and it seemed very likely that they had won in terms of eliminating her from the trial. But fate had even more twists...cornered by a friend who was trying to get her to 'disappear' from New York...Jen lost control of her emotions and her temper...and the side effect of that transfusion became very apparent. The She-Hulk stalked out of Bellevue in search of those who had tried to kill her.

She was not, of course, to be able to find them straight away. But with the help of a couple of other heroes, she eventually tracked down the family that had tried to take Jen Walters out...and did enough damage to them in terms of arrests and property damage to make sure they would be reeling for a while. On top of that, she won the case.

But now, she has to deal with her unpredictable other self and with everything that means. Life, for sure, will never be the same. She has power...that comes with a price...what will she do with it. And ultimately, which woman will she choose to be...the shy, retiring lawyer, or the force of nature...tempered by the will to do good?

Personality
Jennifer Walters

First, we have to look at Jennifer Walters. By nature, she is somewhat shy and retiring, although she is well capable of inner strength when it is called for. Her shyness comes out the most in social situations. She does not 'mingle' well, at parties and the like she will tend to be the wallflower. When she is performing professional duties, she seems to be able to rise above it, as she once did when on the stage...when she still danced.

She is overall a healthy person, mentally, but she does have problems with a lack of self-confidence, that is part and parcel of her shyness, and with a tendency to be somewhat afraid to put herself forward. She is aware of this and aware that it could be a problem, but has some difficulty working with it, and working it out. She wants to be more confident, but it is not always that easy.

She has strong professional ethics...of course, she is a lawyer, and she will do her best for her client even if she knows him to be guilty, and might even show a ruthless streak, and, indeed, a certain amount of that coldness that leads many to accuse lawyers of being 'soul-less'. On the other hand, she does still have a conscience and a moral sense, and it is certainly possible to push her too far. Also, given the choice between two cases, she /will/ take the one where she is the most convinced of the client's innocence.

She has a certain appreciation for the finer things in life...for good food, good wine, classical music and the like. She is, in fact, a bit of a hedonist, although she does take her pleasures in a rather reserved manner...she is more of a concert-goer than a club-goer, as it were. She does like to be in a relationship, but she keeps that too somewhat low key...she appreciates romance rather than passion.

She is close to her father, closer yet since her mother's death...in some ways they are all the other has, and thus, she is in regular correspondence with him despite moving to the other coast. She visits home when and as she can afford the time and the money, both of which tend to be in short supply for a junior lawyer, especially one who can get rather...driven...at times.

While it is true that Jen, at least at first sight, seems to be afraid of a lot of things...she scares and embarrasses easily, her first instinct in a bad situation is to run (Not a bad idea when you're five foot nothing and very ordinary), she is not lacking in the kind of courage that makes a woman stick by her guns even when there is risk or danger...or perhaps, it is a certain innate stubbornness that she clearly possesses...sometimes, Jen can even be rather contrary, seeking to prove wrong those would nay say her.

Jen actually actively enjoys a debate, and certainly forgets to be shy once embroiled in one. It's therefore not always smart to set her off...especially as she doesn't have quite enough conscience to avoid verbal combat with an unarmed man. She is not the genius her cousin is, but she is far from stupid and she has honed her mind in ways that make her 'dangerous' in a debate or an argument.

Jen is also most definitely a feminist...she does not appreciate being treated as a 'cute little girl', or looked down on because of her size and her gender. Unfortunately, that is always a little harder to manage when you are petite and young-looking for your age, something that can at times make her a little defensive. On the other hand, she will stick up for and with other women too, and can be quite nasty to somebody being an outright bigot....just in her own quiet way.

She-Hulk

She-Hulk, on the other hand. Unlike the Hulk, which is a bestial construct of emotions, She-Hulk /is/ Jen. She-Hulk is the woman Jen wishes she could be but dares not. The essential factor is that once she transforms she has no inhibitions, no shame and no fear. She calls a spade a spade, she is blunt, she does and says pretty much exactly what she thinks. Her sense of humor can, at times, be trying, because she is not the sort of person to tone a joke down to the audience or worry about being politically correct.

Furthermore she lives life to the full and shamelessly so. To her, no matter how high the stakes, superheroing is pretty much a game. Something she does because she enjoys it. She does not have a strong sense of obligation, or duty, or responsibility for having the power she has. She simply enjoys fighting, enjoys danger and has the moral sense to channel this into being on the side of the good guys.

This extends, also, to other aspects of her life. She has a terrible tendency to spend money when she has it, rather than saving it. She dresses well, eats well and goes out for wild nights on the town. Her costume leaves very little to the imagination. She is, frankly, a shameless flirt, even, on occasion, with married men.

At the same time, she does still possess Jennifer's sharp, analytical mind. She is a skilled lawyer, and she does know how to present a case, and she only acts like the stereotypical dumb brick when she loses her temper. Unfortunately, she does so rather easily, and when she does, her reaction tends to be physical, smashing furniture, smashing walls, or sometimes simply blowing off steam in the gym.

She also enjoys physical rough house and often regrets the fact that she has to be careful when engaging in it with most of her friends. Instead, she often resorts to verbal banter and mild bickering, including jokes at her own expense. She is the type of superhero who casually insults the opposition in the middle of the fight.

She also has a rather strong sense of, shall we say, her own self worth. She does not possess the sort of overweening arrogance that makes somebody unbearable, but at the same time, she won't take being belittled, patronized or considered a 'second choice' for anything well. She does not possess, in fact, one iota of humility, false or otherwise.

She is, nonetheless, a good person to have around in a fight and a good friend to have in one's life. She does not dwell on regrets, the past or angst, and if she catches somebody else doing that she is likely to make it her mission to cheer them up, although it's not to say that she cannot get upset, frustrated or guilty, just that these feelings tend not to linger past the situation triggering them.

She has, also, a high tolerance for humor, although granted she will retaliate in kind if a joke is made at her expense, and an extremely high tolerance for weird events, she would not raise an eyebrow if Howard the Duck showed up or giant poodles were rampaging through Midtown. She takes things like that very much in stride, but at the same time, she will take some things seriously (and angrily) that she perhaps should learn to relax over.

She does have her fair share of the sort of courage and compassion that makes a superhero, yet at the same time, she does not have much of a tendency towards order and responsibility, despite being a lawyer. She tends to do things in her own way and her own time and by her own crazy rules. She is capable of working with a team, but she does not always take orders as well as perhaps she should, and spends a lot of time getting people to lighten up.

She is often the person who gets people out of blue funks, talks them into going out and enjoying themselves and tries to /make/ people be happy, even if they do not particularly want to at that time. She does not always think through the bigger picture of what she says and does, and she has a habit of getting herself into more trouble than she should, at the same time, the fact that she does not take life all that seriously often keeps her from getting down and having her effectiveness affected by emotional problems. She is, very definitely a fun-loving girl.

Duality

The relationship between these two 'aspects' of Jen is often a trying one. In truth, deep in her heart, Jen likes being the She-Hulk, but is often ashamed to admit it. Whilst She-Hulk does not like being Jen, and often needs to be convinced to change back. At times she will deny that they are the same person, even though at the levels that are really important they most definitely are. Jen's fears still, at times, hold her back from realizing that what is within her is not a monster, but rather her true inner self, possessed of all of her reason and intellect, and with the self-confidence she has sought all her life yet never managed to claim. Until now.