In one of the most surprising returns in the whole MCU, Abomination cameoed in last year’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, marking the villain’s first appearance in the franchise since his debut in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. For his second go-around, the character looked a bit different, having been redesigned to closely resemble the comic book version and possessing a more casual personality to boot. As it turns out, he’ll undergo an even bigger transformation in She-Hulk.
Abomination’s Shang-Chi comeback was a prelude to his more substantial role in the upcoming She-Hulk TV series. Exactly how Bruce Banner’s original nemesis factors into the Tatiana Maslany vehicle remains unclear, but we can now say that Abomination will be Emil Blonksy again in the show. Speaking to The DisInsider to promote his new movie Sundown, Roth was asked whether he’ll appear as a human in She-Hulk. “Oh yeah!” the actor replied, without hesitation.
While Hulk can switch between forms, Blonsky traditionally becomes a monster full-time once he’s turned into Abomination. This seemed to be the case in the MCU, too, as he’s not been seen in his regular form since he underwent the hulk-ifying process in Incredible Hulk. Who knows how he’ll manage to change his form, but maybe it could explain his evolution in Shang-Chi as well. Did he initially take a serum that caused him to mutate further before it worked, for example?
If he’s not hulked-out, it’s hard to say if Roth will actually be appearing in an antagonistic capacity. Even if he is, he won’t be the main villain of the series, as that honor goes to Titania, Jennifer Walters’ biggest enemy from the comics, who will be played by The Good Place‘s Jameela Jamil. Mark Ruffalo is, of course, also on board as Jen’s more famous cousin. This could be Roth’s first time facing Ruffalo’s Hulk as opposed to Edward Norton’s.
She-Hulk will be smashing onto Disney Plus sometime this year.