Has She-Hulk Truly Given Abomination The Biggest Heel-Turn For An MCU Villain?

This article contains major spoilers for episode 7 of "She-Hulk: Attorney At Law"

If there's one thing "She-Hulk: Attorney At Law" has been able to do more than most projects in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's showing superpowered, supernatural, and otherwise mythical beings just existing within this world. While Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) was one of the first notable lawyers in the MCU, his clients were largely grounded beings, such as Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal).

Although Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) hasn't been on hand with all of these specific cases, the superpowered law division of Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg, and Holliway have already dealt with a light elf, a disgraced sorcerer, a superhuman influencer, and an indestructible being simply known as Mr. Immortal (David Pasquesi). The biggest detriment against "She-Hulk" is that most of these cases feel like afterthoughts, while Jen tries to adjust her living situation alongside the big, green rage machine living inside her.

The client that Jen has spent a considerable amount of time with throughout this season, however, is that of Tim Roth's Emil Blonksy, otherwise known as the Abomination. In the MCU, we've even seen heroes such as Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) turn into villains, but on the villains to heroes front, it gets pretty complicated. However, Blonsky appears to come the closest to atoning for his actions, barring Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), who actually started as a hero, then turned into a villain before becoming a good guy again.

Is Blonsky truly a reformed Abomination? Let's take a look at his history and see what we can gather.

When we first meet Blonsky in "The Incredible Hulk," he's a Royal Marine in the British Armed Forces that Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (William Hurt) recruits to track down Bruce Banner (Edward Norton). After seeing the extent of Banner's strength as the Hulk, Blonsky finds himself very interested in the brute force of his target.

Where Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) volunteered for the Super Soldier Program to do some good, Blonsky ultimately becomes one of Ross' guinea pigs for his eternal mission against Banner. He's able to hold his own in narrowing avoiding Hulk's rampage, that is, until he's kicked in the chest, breaking nearly every bone in his body.

A tired, vengeance-fueled Blonksy tracks Banner down to the laboratory of Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson), forcing the scientist to merge the Hulk's gamma-radiated blood with the Super Soldier serum coursing through his veins. Predictably, this goes horribly wrong, transforming the resilient soldier for hire into a grotesque being who goes by the name of the Abomination. It probably wasn't a great idea to call him that right off the bat, Ross.

After a one-on-one rampage rumble in the streets of Harlem, the Hulk is able to momentarily subdue the Abomination before Ross' team rolls in. While one of the first villains in Phase One of the MCU, it wouldn't be until Phase Four where we would even see or hear from Blonksy again.

Initially spending out his prison tenure in a cryo-cell in Alaska, Blonksy is later transferred to the Damage Control Supermax Prison. Having been locked away for over 14 years, it reaches the point where he's up for parole. As her first client, Jen takes on Blonsky as a pro bono case, shocked to see him in his human form.

As it would appear, Blonksy has spent his incarceration trying to be a better person, and ultimately becomes more in tune with an internal spiritual nature. Given that this is the first time we see Blonsky in his human form since "The Incredible Hulk," much like Jen, you're initially apprehensive about whether he's actually changed as a person or if he is putting up a front until he escapes the facility.

Not only does Blonsky claim to have reconciled with the Abomination, channeling his anger to enlarge himself while under his own sense of control, he also found love through seven soulmates through the prison pen pal program. I am all for polyamorous representation, which is a point in Blonsky's favor. Although the white gowns and flowers can't help but give off the warning signs of a cult.

Even Smart Hulk, now played by Mark Ruffalo, ensures Jen that it's okay to represent Blonsky, considering he sent him a nice letter and one of his signature Haikus a few years back. All in all, Blonsky seems to be on the up and up, except for one tiny issue.

When it comes time for Blonsky's parole hearing, Jen makes a strong argument that, while in full control of his Abomination form, her client never even made an attempt to leave his cell. Blonsky could have broken out at any point, but decided to serve out his sentence. It's a sound and insightful argument from Jen. There's just the small matter of that one escape. You know the one.

In "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," the Abomination is seen fighting in the arena of the Golden Daggers Club with Wong (Benedict Wong). This was essentially the first time we've caught a glimpse of the character since his 2008 debut, which led to all sorts of questions. Thankfully, "She-Hulk" has the answers.

Of course, the board brings up the incident, because China is a long way from California. Blonsky claims that he was forced out of his cell by Wong to fight as a means of helping him with his path to becoming the Sorcerer Supreme. At which point, Blonsky was immediately returned back to his Supermax cell.

You would think he's making this up as an excuse, but to everyone's surprise, Wong corroborates his story before the parole board. With everything in place, Blonsky is set free on the condition that he never again transforms into his Abomination form.

It would have been enough to believe in his reform through his trial in "She-Hulk," but this week's episode shows Blonsky putting his words into action. When an electrical malfunction goes off on his Abomination inhibitor, Blonsky's parole officer begs Jen to come with him to check out the scene in the event the big guy is roaming about. As the two arrive, Blonsky assures them that it was merely a case of being too close to an electrical fence.

Seeing that Jen appears to be carrying some stress, Blonksy offers her a chance to relax at his wellness retreat known as Summer Twilights. Some of his other retreat folks include Man-Bull (Nathan Hurd), El Águila (Joseph Castillo-Midyett), Porcupine (Jordan Aaron Ford), Saracen (Terrence Clow), and lastly, Wrecker (Nick Gomez), one of the men who tried securing Jen's blood for her gamma blood.

In a surprising turn of events, Jen is able to confront some of her anxieties, namely the lack of communication from her new dating prospect Josh (Trevor Salter) over the weekend. We get to see Blonsky actually practice what he preaches by guiding the group to help alleviate Jen during her crisis. One group therapy session and a trip inside the sweat yurt later, Jen walks out feeling more rejuvenated than ever.

I wasn't expecting Blonsky to come back, so I think it's pretty cool to see Jen actually interacting with him outside of her legal duties. With all of our eyes on Blonsky, episode 7 assures us that Josh is the untrustworthy person in Jen's life that we should be focusing on.

Keeping in tune with the show, in gathering all of the evidence, it would appear to me that Blonsky, and therefore the Abomination, has successfully changed his ways to become a better person. No longer an MCU baddie, Blonsky appears to have had the most radical transformation from villain to a warm-hearted citizen.

I don't entirely count Bucky, given that he was under mind control while harming folks. Meanwhile, Blonsky, although influenced by the serum, wrecked Harlem as a result of his own functions. A big throughline in "She-Hulk" so far has been Jen attempting to figure out who in her life genuinely wants to interact with her as she is, rather than her "She-Hulk" form, after all.

If both Smart Hulk and Wong can vouch for his atonement, then it's safe to say that there's a great chance that Blonsky is being sincere. Although the vague explanation for his inhibitor malfunction, coupled with the Wrecker's appearance, leaves some room for Blonsky to launch a sneak attack. The mid-season trailer released a few weeks back even shows him in his Abomination form for a brief second, and with two episodes left to go, it'll be interesting to see if Blonsky stays on the right path or embraces his antagonist status once more.

In the event I'm proven wrong, I'll be sure to add a "we were rooting for you" addendum at the top of this article.

"She-Hulk: Attorney At Law" is currently streaming on Disney+.