As I said in the title, was Thula not trying and just having fun? My reasoning is, at first glance I thought that Mark which is essentially a baby viltrimute was either much stronger at this point than he was in the comics, or thula was just really weak.
But when Mark has her by the hair, she has basically no damage or bruises, and it seems like she was only acting like she lost until she took advantage of Mark’s sympathy and stabbed him in the gut. After seeing what she was capable in the comics, I feel like she wasn’t trying as hard as she could have
She definitely had multiple opportunities to kill him and was not considering him to be a real threat. It’s like Lucan said, they had not yet determined if Mark was a real Viltrumite. Being the son of Nolan does not mean he is one of them, but it still gave him a pass to be tested to see if he qualifies. Kregg basically confirms this when he tells Mark he will be taking over for his father. Whether he likes it or not.