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As someone who watched the TV show, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, with little knowledge of She-Hulk's original comic book incarnation, I was surprised by the degree of fourth wall breaking that she did in the show. Rather than just some "mild" fourth wall breaking, like talking to the audience, or referencing out-of-universe objects or events, she was able to manipulate the reality of her world by interacting with the show's creators. I later learned that she first did a similar type of fourth wall breaking in the 1989 John Byrne The Sensational She-Hulk comic book run.

Based on her comics incarnation, I'm wondering what we can expect from MCU She-Hulk's fourth wall breaking going forward, as she interacts with more MCU characters. Does She-Hulk break the fourth wall in comic books where she is not the main character? Like when she's part of a team or doing a guest appearance? If she does, does she do the reality-manipulating type of fourth wall breaking, or is she limited to "mild" fourth wall breaking (talking to the reader or referencing out-of-universe objects or events)?

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  • For reference: related.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Nov 2, 2022 at 9:06
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    I can't recall any instances of the comicbook version of She-Hulk breaking the fourth wall outside of the solo series written by Byrne, and I've seen plenty of her appearances in other titles, including Avengers and Fantastic Four appearances, and her earlier and later solo titles. I haven't read all of her appearances though, so I can't guarantee that it's never happened outside of Byrne's run.
    – LogicDictates
    Nov 2, 2022 at 13:36

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It's always hard to prove a negative in these instances, purely due to volume of comics produced by Marvel.

I would say that (from personal knowledge) She-Hulk's main fourth wall breaking in comics, occurs in Byrnes Sensational She-Hulk and to lesser extent Dan Slott's run on She-Hulk (which was a lot more meta).

This is backed up by this recent article from Marvel.com, which states:

While She-Hulk’s appearances in other titles leave the fourth wall intact, she occasionally takes on the self-aware sensibilities that made Byrne’s run so memorable.

In universe, other characters (outside of her own series) don't know or see She-Hulk's fourth wall breaking. In contrast to other characters like Deadpool who is seen talking to the reader (they just think him crazy), or Gwenpool (who moves between comic panels similar to how She-Hulk did in Sensational She-Hulk) who other characters think has reality warping powers.

What this means for the MCU incarnation of She-Hulk though is anyone's guess.

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