Marvel Bashed Over 'Anti-Homeless' Bench Made For 'She Hulk' Promo

While fans were happy for Marvel's new "She-Hulk: Attorney At Law" launch, they didn't feel so good about the furniture design at their recent event. The production company, alongside Disney, was bashed for featuring a bench that fans called "anti-homeless architecture."

Many stars turned up for the world premiere of the newest Disney+ series, which was held in Los Angeles, California. Marvel stars such as Jameela Jamil, Mark Ruffalo, and of course Tatiana Maslany, the show's star, were all present to witness the launch.

The show has now joined "Ms. Marvel" and "Moon Knight" as MCU's new hot series. However, with the recent anti-homeless bench issue, some fans don't feel as great about it as they did before. 

Keep reading to find out what they had to say.

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A picture of the bench with Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk's name and phone number was taken from the launch event and posted Twitter. On the bench, the quote read, "Superheroes need a super lawyer!" Any fans who called the 1-877-SHE-HULK phone number heard a minute-long message from the superhero telling them about her services.

Another interesting fact about the bright green bench that many fans noticed was the armrests in the middle. This specific detail led to Disney and Marvel getting called out on social media for making even a promotional bench an "anti-homeless architecture."

"Why does the she-hulk bench have anti-homeless architecture," a Twitter user asked in a viral tweet with over 141,000 likes. Many more Marvel fans and Twitter users shared their opinions about the bench in the comments.

In responses to the issue (curated by Newsweek), one Twitter user wrote, "The actual She-hulk would find every one of these anti-homeless benches in town and crush them flat with her super strong a-- to make them more accessible once again."

Other fans, upset at the bench design, came out to speak against it. "Why does even a promo bench have anti-homeless bars WTF," one questioned. Another wrote, "this type of bench doesn't even serve a single purpose other than stopping people from using it as a bed like how are those bars usable at all."

Some other fans commented on boycotting the show because of the "hostile" bench. One such comment read, "I'm not even gonna bother watching, just because of this bench."

Fans were particularly focused on how the promotional bench design was unnecessarily "hostile." One fan wrote, "Even for a promotional bench, they made it anti-homeless!" 

Anti-homeless designs on benches are used to prevent individuals, especially homeless people, from resting or sleeping on them.

Per Theweek.com, the estimated number of homeless Americans was over 580,000 in 2020. Also, an average of 226,000 people were sleeping in their cars, outside, or in abandoned buildings at the time. The armrest in the middle of the "She-Hulk" bench was a typical example. However, it wasn't the only "anti-homeless architecture" fans were mad about.

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Though fans were upset at the promotional bench's design, it wasn't the first one to rile them up. There has been an increase in criticism of anti-homeless architecture on social media. Last week (as per Newsweek), a picture of a slanted bench went viral on Twitter with thousands of likes and comments. The "leaning bench" allows people to lean on it but not sit or lay down.

In a statement to streetroots.org, an executive director of "The Contributor," a Nashville street paper, criticized anti-homeless designs. As reported by Newsweek, he said, "I think [hostile architecture] sends the message that people who sleep outside are not part of the community, are not our neighbors, and that it is all right to ostracize them. This type of attitude hurts any community."

Marvel's 'She Hulk' is now available to stream on Disney+.