Who Is SHE-HULK’s Intelligencia and What Is Their Plan?

Over the last five episodes, She-Hulk has taken delight in introducing some of the Marvel Universe’s most deep-cut characters. This week is no different. In episode six, we join Jen as she attends a close friend’s wedding. It’s all fun and games until the final moments of the episode. It’s here we get a hint that a darker plan is in place, and Jen’s new wedding bud may be a part of it. While Jen is having fun at the wedding, Nikki and Mallory discover a nightmarish online cesspool called the Intelligencia, which likely rang a bell for Marvel Comics fans. Who are these new villains to the MCU fold? Let’s break down the end of episode six, Marvel’s Intelligencia villains, and what they want with She-Hulk.

Who Is the Intelligencia in Marvel Comics?

First introduced in 2009’s Fall of the Hulks: Alpha #1, Marvel’s Intelligencia began as an organization for supervillains to share their nefarious information. We see that core of the Intelligencia reimagined in a very contemporary way in this episode of She-Hulk. Jeff Parker and Paul Pelletier created the to, essentially, give the Hulk his own supervillain antagonist team. And what a team it was. There have been many notable members of Marvel’s comic book Intelligencia. Doctor Doom, M.O.D.O.K.—who we know will appear in Quantumania—Chameleon, and even deeper cut villains like Awesome Android, Egghead, Wizard, Trapster, and the Red Ghost all appeared as part of the villainous group. Soon the Intelligencia evolved from an information-sharing network to actual evil plotting and scheming.

The Intelligencia’s most dastardly plan—one that feels very relevant to their appearance in She-Hulk—was revealed in 2010’s Hulk #23. There readers learned the Intelligencia were behind the creation of Red Hulk. So it’s very likely that whatever we’re seeing here could lead to that eventuality. Interestingly, in She-Hulk‘s eighth episode, Jennifer Walters mentions a Red Hulk in an aside to the audience. She discusses the possibility of a finale twist and offers that it could be, “There’s another Hulk, but this one is red.” We will have to wait and see if that’s some She-Hulk foreshadowing to do with the Intelligencia.

How Did She-Hulk Change the Intelligencia?

The MCU version of the Intelligencia in She-Hulk is a clickbait-style website with a dark secret. As members know, it’s actually a hateful anti-She-Hulk site. Multiple death threats, posts about the best ways to kill the hero, and other horrific posts fill its pages. While Mallory believes it’s just trolls, Nikki is far more worried. And it turns out she should be.

Is She-Hulk‘s Josh Part of the Intelligencia?

Nikki calls Jen to reveal all to her bestie. But she gets Jen’s voicemail as her friend is busy drunk eating fries with her handsome fellow wedding guest, Josh. And the biggest question after Jen’s wedding escapades is whether Josh is a part of the MCU’s Intelligencia on She-Hulk. Josh seems to know exactly what Jen wants to hear after her legal tussle with Titania last week. He’s kind, thoughtful, and most importantly, he’s a Jen fan, not a She-Hulk one. Though it does feel pretty coincidental that Josh just happens to be there with Jen in the exact right position for the pair to be watched.

Well, too coincidental turns out to be exactly right, in episode seven, we learn that Josh is, in fact, a member of the MCU’s Intelligencia on She-Hulk, and he’s up to no good. Unfortunately for Jen and She-Hulk, after slithering his way into Jen’s good graces, Josh copies her entire phone, and worse, he seems to be out for her blood. We see him directly texting the evil Intelligencia’s leader at the end of the episode. Josh seems to imply he managed to get a sample of She-Hulk’s blood for the organization. And that spells trouble.

The Evil Leader of the MCU’s Intelligencia

The final moments of She-Hulk episode six introduce us to a high-tech lab where it seems a team of scientists are very interested in Jen’s blood. Not only are they cyber-stalking her via security camera, but they are also monitoring her vitals.

We immediately discover this is connected to the She-Hulk Intelligencia site we saw as that site had a logo that featured a Hulk face—redrawn to look like Pepe the Frog—with a crown. And as we join the lab, we see that same avatar pop up under the name HulkKing. And he wants a status update from the lab. Other clues we get about the people behind the lab are the bent needle from episode three, hinting that the Wrecking Crew were employees of HulkKing and his crew. Plus, the Intelligencia have learned their lesson as they are preparing a new super needle to steal Jen’s blood. The identity of their villainous leader is currently unclear, though there are some likely options.

We’ve long wondered if Tim Blake Nelson’s Leader could be behind the mission to gain She-Hulk’s blood. That still seems likely, as he may want it to cure his own Hulk-tendencies. Plus, he was an Intelligencia member in Marvel’s comics. It could also be the original Thunderball, Dr. Elliot Franklin, perhaps sick of being a henchman. The nature of the MCU Intelligencia’s misogynistic website also opens new options for who is behind She-Hulk‘s Intelligencia. Perhaps this is nothing more than a hateful Hulk fan who wants to cure Jen, so his hero is the only Hulk? Could it be one of the men that Jen went on a date with? Or even Titania, the ultimate She-Hulk hater? As always, there is another option that would lean into some classic Marvel Comics and Hulk history.

What Is the Intelligencia’s Plan for She-Hulk and Her Blood? 

If we’re thinking bigger than a hateful fan, then there are two big options. One we already touched on is that it would connect to the Leader and his need for Jen’s blood. If he wants it for selfish reasons, that could explain it, but as he’s about to feature in Captain America: New World Order. There’s another potential too. As Jen got her powers from Bruce, it means her blood includes an adapted version of the Super Soldier Serum. It seems likely that the notion of Super Soldiers will play into Captain America: New World Order, so we could be seeing that seeded.

But our bet is much closer to the Intelligencia comics canon. We think that the most likely reason they want her blood is to create another She-Hulk or Hulk… with a crimson hue. If the Intelligencia is indeed trying to create Red She-Hulk that could be a great way to reintroduce Liv Tyler as Betty Ross into the MCU. It could also be something that’s just seeded in this season and continued in future MCU projects. As we mentioned above, She-Hulk does refer to a red Hulk in episode seven. And the Intelligencia is back at the end of the episode, causing Jen to Hulk out by releasing the contents of her phone.

Whatver they’re up to, the Intelligencia are up to no good, and they are clearly the big bads behind the attempts on She-Hulk’s life and blood.

Originally published on September 22, 2022.