Is Marvel's "Minority"/PC Month trying too hard?

[Conway]

So far this month:
Thor now uses the Ladies Room
Captain America became Captain African American
Nick Fury became a geriatric and his jobs will be filled by Shaft and PTSD patient
Deadpool showed us that the offspring of a Canadian and a Latina is Rudy from the Cosby show
The one established female African character gets her own solo title
A teenaged girl of middle eastern decent hangs out with "that guy they marketed so hard they have to kill him off for a while now" and becomes a Moon Person
A rodent that you can't call a rodent became an insatiable womanizer
And the rich guy in the Iron suit is set to become a bigger d-bag than Kanye West

To be fair I'm not calling these bad ideas... I'm just wondering what's next? Is Silver Surfer going to give his surfboard to an Asian? At some point doesn't the pandering become so obvious that it loses the desired effect?

[Janobi]

Don't forget about latino ghost driver. I'm still waiting for an asian male superhero (other than shang chi)

[tsaimelemoni]

Are asians stereotypically good surfers?

[Conway]

Are asians stereotypically good surfers?

I'm not sure, but the Japanese pop-star in Invaders is too stereotypical to last long.

[HsssH]

I have to agree. Its nice that Marvel is trying to have more varied characters than just white dudes, but on the other hand its hard to take them seriously when it all happens in rather short time frame and Marvel being very public about it. Feels like they are more interested getting nice PR than in actually promoting female or black characters.

Like, if Marvel really cared about Falcon then probably we would have gotten Falcon series with big marketing push and top tier creative team. But no, we get him as replacement Cap because thats going to generate way more buzz and move more copies than actually good series with Falcon as the star.

Worst part is that we all know that Steve is going to be Cap again in a couple of years (if not sooner for next Avengers movie) and Falcon will move back to same spot that he currently occupies - supporting character of Captain America. So what is the goal here actually? To promote black character or just to create some hype in between movies? Wouldn't surprise me if 3-4 years later we are going to get another replacement story where Cap is replaced by some female.

[Xalfrea]

Defy "trying too hard".

Because Ms. Marvel is doing perfectly fine, and her actually being with Wolverine makes sense, story-wise.

[HsssH]

I don't have anything against Ms. Marvel, I think she is kinda okay all things considered, but lady Thor and Sam as replacement Cap? Cheap tricks to generate positive PR.

[Lady Warp Spasm]

I have to agree. Its nice that Marvel is trying to have more varied characters than just white dudes, but on the other hand its hard to take them seriously when it all happens in rather short time frame and Marvel being very public about it. Feels like they are more interested getting nice PR than in actually promoting female or black characters.

Like, if Marvel really cared about Falcon then probably we would have gotten Falcon series with big marketing push and top tier creative team. But no, we get him as replacement Cap because thats going to generate way more buzz and move more copies than actually good series with Falcon as the star.

Worst part is that we all know that Steve is going to be Cap again in a couple of years (if not sooner for next Avengers movie) and Falcon will move back to same spot that he currently occupies - supporting character of Captain America. So what is the goal here actually? To promote black character or just to create some hype in between movies? Wouldn't surprise me if 3-4 years later we are going to get another replacement story where Cap is replaced by some female.

the way I feel too, a stunt which will be revoked as soon as Cap 3 is on the horizon. It is unfortunate a character as good as Sam is being thrown into this as a temporary PR Move....so much is being forced right now. Shrugs.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I have to agree. Its nice that Marvel is trying to have more varied characters than just white dudes, but on the other hand its hard to take them seriously when it all happens in rather short time frame and Marvel being very public about it. Feels like they are more interested getting nice PR than in actually promoting female or black characters.

Like, if Marvel really cared about Falcon then probably we would have gotten Falcon series with big marketing push and top tier creative team. But no, we get him as replacement Cap because thats going to generate way more buzz and move more copies than actually good series with Falcon as the star.

Worst part is that we all know that Steve is going to be Cap again in a couple of years (if not sooner for next Avengers movie) and Falcon will move back to same spot that he currently occupies - supporting character of Captain America. So what is the goal here actually? To promote black character or just to create some hype in between movies? Wouldn't surprise me if 3-4 years later we are going to get another replacement story where Cap is replaced by some female.

Brilliantly said. This whole Sam as Cap business is so much garbage, I can smell the stench all way from Philadelphia.

[MrFrost]

We need more of this

[Prisoner 6655321]

No, but I'm wondering why you're so offended or felt the need to bring this up in this way. So, many of these books I don't read but you know... Loki was just a woman for a bit not to long ago, Falcon is a long standing protégé of Cap .... who I'm supposing will return to being Steve Rogers eventually and gets replaced all the time, so what if he's African American this time, it's 2014. Shaft was pretty awesome, the newer Shaft was OK but the original Shaft was pretty great, but if you wanna see a really awesome movie in that vein check out Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song but I realize you weren't complimenting Shaft so I digress, as for PTSD lots of people have it, especially a butt load of military vets .... and well... not to point out the obvious but Nick Fury is old but he's always been old, he just didn't look so old. There's nothing wrong with a Storm book and people seem to love Ms.Marvel. Ultraviolent Raccoons have nothing at all to do with political correctness and Tony Stark has always been a bigger d-bag than Kanye West. Anyway, I don't think any of this is pandering as so much business as normal.

[just another user]

Anyone online who is complaining that straight white men are losing out to minorities - no matter how you try to justify it, that it goes against canon, that it's a short term gimmick, that you don't really mind but you're just playing devils advocate - it's not a good look.

[Username taken]

I don't agree at all with the assertion that this is "too much PC or too much pandering".

The world has changed and the U.S especially is a very diverse place. Unfortunately, superhero comics are just recently catching up to the "increased diversity reality" that other forms of entertainment have already acknowledged.

My problem with all these changes is it appears to be change "just for change sake", the race or gender of the new characters doesn't bother me but what does is the frequency of all this.

Captain America was replaced only a few years ago, Spider-man was replaced recently and Thor was replaced very briefly by Tanarus (and that didn't amount to anything).

I like change in comics but all this at once does seem a little too much. That being said, I will definitely read the new Falcon Captain (I like Remender and I like Falcon) and the Superior Iron Man (because of Tom Taylor) but I'm very undecided on the new Thor. Something about the new Thor doesn't click with me as it just seems like a bolt coming out from nowhere.

[responsarbre]

The thing to remember in all this: when other stuff is getting announced all the time that stars white dudes, none of you feel like it's "pandering." Readers who aren't white dudes, though, they notice that. It's what happens in a community like this where one specific type of person is the "default."

[Username taken]

The thing to remember in all this: when other stuff is getting announced all the time that stars white dudes, none of you feel like it's "pandering." Readers who aren't white dudes, though, they notice that. It's what happens in a community like this where one specific type of person is the "default."

Very succint and well said.

It's times like these that unfortunately we see the more negative part of fandom.