She-Hulk Concept Art Reveals A Scrapped Daredevil Villain

In more ways than one, "She-Hulk: Attorney At Law" is a rarity when it comes to Marvel's Disney+ shows: for one thing, it's more of a legal sitcom than an action-packed superhero saga. Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) is battling career politics, her own insecurities, and the terrible realities of online dating more often than she's facing down supervillains, which is a big part of what makes her nine-episode series feel so refreshing. Other than Deadpool (who doesn't really count yet) Jen is also the first hero in the franchise to break the fourth wall, getting extremely creative when it comes to her meta-narrative.

By far my favorite way that Jen's story stands apart is its ability to skirt past the trap that so many of the other MCU entries have fallen into: getting so wrapped up in the connective tissue that it loses sight of its core. "She-Hulk" is very much part of the established MCU, but never stops reminding us that this is first and foremost Jen's story. That being said, the series still makes time to fulfill its MCU obligation of tossing bin a few big-name cameos — Smart Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Sorcerer Supreme Wong (Benedict Wong), and Daredevil (Charlie Cox) made perfect companions for She-Hulk throughout her origin story but those A-listers have nothing on the Marvel deep-cuts who joined in on the fun.

Ahead of the series premiere, if you had asked me to guess which comic character would make a suitable addition to Jen's story, never in a million years would I have guessed Leap-Frog (Brandon Stanley) or Man-Bull (Nathan Hurd), neither of which sound like real villains. But digging into the back catalog turned out to be a wonderful choice because not one of the C-list villains managed to disappoint.

Being a legal sitcom, the episodic nature of "She-Hulk" lends itself really well to cameos, making plenty of space for lesser-known characters to shine. But with such a treasure trove to pull from, not every good idea could be fulfilled. In fact, some newly revealed concept art reveals a Marvel villain who didn't make the cut: Bushwacker.

Bushwacker — not to be confused with the cocktail, the warfare strategy, or the other Marvel villain, Bushmaster — is a lesser-known Daredevil villain. Originally a peaceful priest named Carl Burbank, he was irrevocably changed by the drug-related deaths of his young parishioners. That tragedy pushed him to join the CIA, which outfitted him with a gun arm and gave him the codename Bushwacker. He went on to take advantage of the world's hysteria to freelance as a killer, which naturally caught the attention of heroes like Daredevil.

Concept artist and illustrator Wesley Burt shared the concept art in a video posted on Instagram. Also featured in the video is plenty of She-Hulk, massive muscles and impeccable power-suits included.

Whether or not Bushwacker's backstory would have remained the same is a mystery, since he never made it to the screen, but the concept art alone proves that some changes were made. For one thing, it swaps out the flesh gun (my apologies for that image) of the comics with a cybernetic arm that looks detachable.

So where would Bushwacker have fit into the story? In place of Leap-Frog, he might have been meant as the villain who accidentally brings Daredevil and She-Hulk together. Or perhaps he's from much earlier into the process, when the creators were still floating names. While making the rounds, the "She-Hulk" writers have mentioned a few other characters who didn't make the cut, including the Hulk enemy The Leader, and *checks notes* yup, a villain called Stilt-Man. Maybe if "She-Hulk" gets the second season that it so clearly deserves, we'll get to see Bushwacker's gun hand in action and I'll get to find out if Stilt-Man is a disgruntled villain who charges into battle on stilts.

All nine episodes of "She-Hulk" are now streaming on Disney+.