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Not all Marvel characters wear capes. Some, like She-Hulk newcomer Nikki (Ginger Gonzaga), have their own inimitable sense of style that doesn't involve spandex. During our recent interview, Gonzaga spoke to us about the paralegal's "splashy" look - and her killer chemistry with titular star Tatiana Maslany.
"It's fun," the actor says of joining the MCU, "but I think, because I'm in office wear, I was so particular about my clothing on this show. They let me kind of design a lot of my looks.
"I was like, 'Listen, if I'm gonna be in an office, Nikki's gonna look rad and her makeup's gonna be really cool and show how free she is. She doesn't really pay attention to any office rules. She's like, 'My boss can’t tell me not to wear glitter makeup'. I made it as splashy as I could, and that ended up being very Nikki. Nikki would always take normal life and try to make it more interesting."
Much like how Hawkeye introduced Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), whose archery skills will likely see her adopt the titular mantle one day, She-Hulk is set to introduce Bruce Banner's cousin Jennifer Walters (Maslany). When a Sakaaran ship interrupts a family-bonding trip, Bruce and Jen both end up injured, which leads to some of the former's blood making its way into the latter's. Cue her getting Hulk-like abilities.
When she's not being taught how to keep a lid on her rage by Bruce, going on lackluster dates or roughing up dodgy pickpockets in the street, Jen is a lawyer, and Nikki is both her colleague and best friend. After turning green in the courtroom one day, Jen is shifted to the Superhuman Law Division, forcing her to embrace her 6-foot-7-inch alter ego – something Nikki has been trying to get her to do for ages.
"She's so wonderful and I'm so glad she's got this platform; she's definitely the right person to play She-Hulk and to get that powerful voice," Gonzaga says of Maslany to Total Film. "It was just this lucky thing. Tatiana and I have some mutual friends and we both were kind of fans of each other – one of her best friends, Blake Lee, I've known for years, we did a show together. But we actually met because of Scott Aukerman, who does this Comedy Bang Bang thing.
"We met at his Christmas party, and we were just gushing about each other as actors, like, 'I hope we get to work with each other someday'. Then the next job we both booked was She-Hulk, and I just love Tatiana. She's very vulnerable, she's very brave as an actor, and that's what made me very comfortable because I like to be the same way and I don't want to be judged for how fearless I am when I work. And she’s just the easiest person to love. In the chemistry test, they had to actually shut us up, because we just kept chatting with each other. Filming this was a blast, it was very special to me."
Created by Rick and Morty's Jessica Gao, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law will consist of nine episodes and also stars Josh Segarra Jon Bass, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jameela Jamil, and Tim Roth. While we wait for it to land on Disney Plus on August 18, check out our breakdown of the Marvel timeline to get you up to speed on the MCU.
