Warning: This article contains spoilers for She-Hulk Episode 3.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe hasn’t done it much, but Marvel Comics (and its rival, DC Comics) is known for inserting real people into their fantastical stories about superheroes. Basketball player Jeremy Lin hung out with the Hulk (The Totally Awesome Hulk Vol. 3), Stephen Colbert was elected president in a Spider-Man comic (Amazing Spider-Man #573), multiple real-life presidents and celebrities have turned out to be Skrulls (in Secret Invasion), and yes, even Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire have at least had a passing reference in the Marvel comic book universe (check out Spiderverse).
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Usually a celebrity cameo is just a fun wink at an audience, a way to connect the ever-expansive superhero universe to our own reality. Because even in a world with Norse gods and kids who shoot spiderwebs out of their hands, society will always love basketball players or comedians. Otherwise, why else would Earth-616 be worth fighting for?
The long history of comics bringing in famous faces has brought us all the way to She-Hulk Season 1 Episode 3. As the MCU’s first proper comedy show, it has a lot of room to play with in comparison to other MCU shows, which often have to introduce a whole new slate of characters, a new location, and give a sound basis for the series villain.
While She-Hulk has to grapple with those same issues, the show benefits from its direct link to previous Marvel productions like The Incredible Hulk and Shang-Chi through appearances from Bruce Banner and The Abomination. We all know what the Hulk can do, and we all know the classic superhero struggle of wanting a normal life while also protecting the world. And since She-Hulk is a show centered around court cases where anything can happen, superhero or not, there’s room for Marvel to fit in a surprising celebrity appearance. So if you’re curious, here’s how Megan Thee Stallion–the one and only–showed up in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Episode 3.
Why Is Megan Thee Stallion in She-Hulk?
As a side plot throughout Episode 3 of She-Hulk, Dennis, Jen’s old nemesis from work, comes to her law firm for legal counsel. Jen refuses to take on the case, so it falls to her new coworker, Pug (short for Augustus Pugliese and played by the ever-delightful Josh Segarra, best known for his role in The Other Two). The case in question? An Asgardian shapeshifting elf named Runa convinced Dennis she was Megan Thee Stallion and started to date him, taking $175,000 in gifts, et cetera, under false pretenses.
While Jen is busy convincing a parole board to release Emil Blonsky/Abomination, Pug is stuck with the entitled Dennis, who a judge can’t believe would fall for such a ruse because, c’mon, we all know Dennis couldn’t actually pull Megan Thee Stallion. But with a biting testimony from Jen (where she calls Dennis self-absorbed and deluded), the judge is won over and closes the case in Dennis’ favor. Before the court adjourns though, the camera turns to a seat in the back of the room and guess who it is? Megan Thee Stallion—the real one, not a shapeshifting elf this time!—in the flesh.
We don’t see her again until a whimsical post-credits scene, where Jen signs her on as a client, and the pair twerk to Megan’s song “Body.” Before the final credits roll, Jen says she’d kill for Megan and while the Grammy winner is flattered, she tells She-Hulk to tone it down a bit.
Megan Thee Stallion in the post-credits of She-Hulk Episode 3.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Megan’s cameo was all thanks to Jameela Jamil (who plays Titania on She-Hulk), who worked with the rap star on HBO Max’s Legendary. While filming Season 2 of the ballroom competition show, Jamil was preparing for She-Hulk and discovered Megan was a major Marvel fan. The rest is Marvel Cinematic history.
“I just had a feeling she’d be a great actor because she’s good at everything, and she absolutely smashed it,” Jamil told the publication. “I could not have been prouder or more in awe of her and she brings out something in Tatiana that no one has ever seen before—Tatiana has moves. It’s ridiculous.”
Head writer and executive producer Jessica Gao says she and Tatiana Maslany (who plays the lead in She-Hulk) agree on the success of the scene. “Tatiana said that she thinks it’s the single most important scene in the MCU and I agree with her, it really is. It’s the single most important scene in all of the MCU.”
So will we see more of Megan? Probably not. But that just means a chance for more MCU-relevant characters to come in. Who knows, with the amount of notable faces we’ve seen so far, maybe, say, a Daredevil drop-in isn’t so far-fetched.
Milan Polk is an Editorial Assistant for Men’s Health who specializes in entertainment and lifestyle reporting, and has worked for New York Magazine’s Vulture and Chicago Tribune.
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