The Final Boss Of She-Hulk Borrows From One Of The Best Video Games Of All Time
Spoilers ahead for "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" episode 9.
"She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" has never been afraid to be meta with its fourth-wall breaking, but the season finale takes the cake, by a long shot. Although Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) often cracks jokes at the expense of the series, she also makes fun of certain aspects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The finale is no different, as it literally propels the character onto the Marvel Studios lot, with Walters invading the offices in charge of writing and producing the show itself. Yes, this really happened.
"She-Hulk" also introduced the being in charge of creating and maintaining the MCU, a sentient AI aptly named K.E.V.I.N. — it's a very direct nod towards Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and his power over the cinematic universe he created. The series pokes fun at the algorithmic nature of the Marvel formula, and even the finale's own poorly conceived storyline (which is certainly a choice). But shockingly enough, the computer's design also references another pop culture icon: A seminal video game villain that similarly controls the events surrounding its main character.
Meet GLaDOS, the evil robot
K.E.V.I.N. bears a strong resemblance to GLaDOS, the villain in the "Portal" game series from Valve. Both are similar in design and nature and serve as the final boss to the protagonists (even their lairs look the same). Like her MCU counterpart, GLaDOS is a super-intelligent machine that hangs from above and dictates the course of the story. In "Portal," the computer torments the human protagonist, Chell, with difficult puzzles to slowly lead her to her death. "She-Hulk" is a lot less morbid per se, but it's arguably equally terrifying how aware the show seems to be of the MCU's formulaic nature.
In all seriousness, it's great to see a clear nod to the antagonist of one of the best video games of all time. And "She-Hulk" is just the latest project to borrow GLaDOS. Guillermo del Toro famously used the voice of GLaDOS (Ellen McLain) for Gipsy Danger in "Pacific Rim." More recently, a similar voice can be heard in the trailer for "M3GAN," which features a sentient robot doll. GLaDOS is everywhere if you look hard enough, it seems. Although it's not clear if we'll see K.E.V.I.N again in the MCU, at least GLaDOS has reached another level of cultural relevance. Maybe this was her plan all along.
All episodes of "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" are available on Disney+.