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

[Darrell D.]

It's good to see that out in the open.

I'm black, but one of my favorite characters is Iron Fist, who I like reading about more than Luke Cage, and I enjoy reading about Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel) more than both of these characters, and Karolina (from the Runaways) more than all of the above.

Why should it matter if one is white, one is black, one is muslim, and one is a lesbian so long as all are good characters to write about? Each addresses a different perspective regarding being a "superhero" regardless of their race, gender, sexuality, religion, age, etc, and I'm glad to have many different options to choose from when I visit the local comic book shop.

Reading a story about people "just like me" all the time would quickly grow boring and I wouldn't learn very much in the process. The more "diversity" the better in my opinion -- comic books have always been at the cutting edge of culture anyway and this just continues the tradition.

I like different interpretations of characters. It's good to shake up the status quo once in a while.
Until Marvel and DC start allowing creators to own the characters they create, this is the best that can be done.

[Darrell D.]

Exactly. Sam deserves his own book, not to be Captain America for what, two years if that. If Deathlok can have his own book in character, why can't Falcon? Especially with all the Falcon love on the internets as a result of CATWS, wouldn't you want to push that exact character rather give him a temporary role boost?

I have no problem with diversity when it's done right, when it's not forced. This smells like PR ruse all the way from L.A.

Well, maybe Sam taking up the Cap mantle will lead into a solo series.
Storywise, the change makes sense; there are very few people that Rogers would trust with the shield, and Sam is one of those.

[aja_christopher]

Exactly. Sam deserves his own book, not to be Captain America for what, two years if that. If Deathlok can have his own book in character, why can't Falcon? Especially with all the Falcon love on the internets as a result of CATWS, wouldn't you want to push that exact character rather give him a temporary role boost?

I have no problem with diversity when it's done right, when it's not forced. This smells like PR ruse all the way from L.A.

So why can't Marvel do both (solo and "legacy")?

And who's to say Falcon won't have his own book after his run as Cap ends?

So many people act as if this is an either/or situation without acknowledging that there are many different ways to address the matter of diversity. Truth be told, I think there are more interesting potential choices for the "new" Captain America (Warpath, Cannonball, etc -- mainly for the "mutant" angle) but Sam is the one that makes the most sense from a historical perspective.

As another poster pointed out, it's very telling that it only becomes a "PC" move when a person of color, a woman, or any other "minority" is involved in the storyline -- so where does the real "problem" lie: in the "change" itself or in the "change" of color, sexuality, religion and/or gender of the people involved in said storyline?

[Darrell D.]

Although it's a nice sentiment, it's not going to change much. Sooner or later, Falcon will become Falcon again and Steve Rogers will be Captain America, and Thor will be Thor. What Marvel's doing makes headlines and guarantees a few more sales, but they're not changing the status quo for long, so they're not changing anything at all. It's good that they're trying to make a difference, even if it's a small one. However, if they really want to be friendly to all minorities, they won't "replace" well-known characters with other well-known characters, they'd bring the the minorities forward and push them as the new holy trinity.

Falcon could have easily replaced Captain America and remained Falcon, but Marvel would have had to make a huge push in marketing to guarantee the popularity the book would get as if he was Captain America, so in the end, a lot of this feels like a marketing ploy.

Marvel is a major corporation that works on profit. Of course it's a marketing ploy.
But, the talent that Marvel has lately makes me confident that it will be done well.

[empsolo]

So why can't Marvel do both (solo and "legacy")?

And who's to say Falcon won't have his own book after his run as Cap ends?

So many people act as if this is an either/or situation without acknowledging that there are many different ways to address the matter of diversity. Truth be told, I think there are more interesting potential choices for the "new" Captain America (Warpath, Cannonball, etc) but Sam is the one that makes the most sense from a historical perspective.

Sam makes no sense because at best he is a street level hero. He really doesn't have the power set for the type of **** Steve does. If you really really wanted to put a minority character in the Captain America spot, you should do it with Luke Cage. Luke Cage makes sense being cap because he is part of the legacy of the Erskine Super Soldier Program and the weapon Plus program.

As another poster pointed out, it's very telling that it only becomes a "PC" move when a person of color, a woman, or any other "minority" is involved in the storyline -- so where does the real "problem" lie: in the "change" itself or in the "change" of color, sexuality, or gender of the people involved in said storyline?

It's pandering because the replacements don't make sense in context and other minority characters who would have a better claim to the mantle of thier mentors are being pushed aside. Which is hilarious considering the fact the same people supporting this move marvel is taking are making up excuses as to why Sif and Valkyrie shouldn't be the ones to take up the mantle of Mjolnir.

[insert90]

Honestly, I didn't really see what the big deal with diversity was until Ms. Marvel came out & as an Indian American, it really felt like the first time I've seen my culture represented in comics in any meaningful way. I really do think that if Marvel wants to expand its readership beyond what it already is, a more diverse (and well written, of course) lineup of books can only help them. Anyway, it's not like She Thor & Falcon Cap are going to be permanent. But if the books are good, I can see both characters getting spinoff solos like Bucky did.

[saucemaster]

I'm not bothered when I see women or people who aren't white. The people who complain that a black man or a woman are getting a high profile are the people I don't want to be around. I'm glad that Marvel is ignoring their complaints.

[Overhazard]

Well this thread hasn't gotten as ugly as I would imagine. It's hard to accept change. It really is. The world is changing, and comics are changing with them, though it would be nice if we had more diversity behind the scenes, rather than just on the page. I believe that more diversity, appealing to people that aren't just straight white males, is what's going to save the industry from destruction. There's no reason to get upset about these kind of changes, because we all know what people who aren't into comics don't. The big two are cyclical. Changes like these, as much as marvel likes to say are permanent, aren't. Thor will be worthy again, and Steve will sling that shield again by the time avengers 2 roll around. That's the real sad thing. There's nothing wrong with nostalgia trippin, but how much is too much?

Now I know that some will say that "why don't they just make new characters instead of replacing old ones?" Brand new characters are very hard sells. It's a little disheartening that the only way to have diversity is to have legacies, but I think that could change if there were more diversity among the writers, artists, and editors. They could tell different kinds of stories.

Also, to the people who don't like this stuff, you don't have to read it, no one said you did, or maybe do read it. You might like it.

[One]

Marvel is a major corporation that works on profit. Of course it's a marketing ploy.
But, the talent that Marvel has lately makes me confident that it will be done well.

The problem here for me is that it feels like a marketing ploy. Miles Morales was basically exactly the same thing as they're doing here, but to me it felt like a natural progression for Ultimate Spider-Man. However, with that, I knew that Miles would be the new Spider-Man, and he wasn't a placeholder, filling in the suit until Peter Parker came back, whereas I am pretty sure that the characters here will go back to their respective costume soon enough.

[empsolo]

Well this thread hasn't gotten as ugly as I would imagine. It's hard to accept change. It really is. The world is changing, and comics are changing with them, though it would be nice if we had more diversity behind the scenes, rather than just on the page. I believe that more diversity, appealing to people that aren't just straight white males, is what's going to save the industry from destruction.

This sort of thinking is what led to WCW's demise. Eric Bischoff thought he could rake in money and make WCW the #1 wrestling promotion by doing all sorts of crazy stuff to shake up the industry. The problems is that that half the stuff he did made no sense in the overall context of the storylines, **** was done with intent of creating buzzes on the internet that would bring in newer viewers who were interested in the shock but at the same time it drove all of the WCW's base support over to the competition (WWF) which was offering more traditional storylines. When the newness of the of shocking swerves were over, the casual fans left as the usally do and the base fans gone. In fact, WCW stragled fpr three years going form shocking swerve to shocking swerve to bring in newer veiwers because they drove all of thier core fans.

The point of the story is that you can't expect to keep going from shocking story to shocking story which is what marvel has been doing on a constant basis since Civil War. It drives readers away and the only way to you can get any newer readership is by doing these publicity stunts which eventually end up being flash in the pans in any event.

[RLAAMJR.]

I accept the new Thor. It's a good temporary change but I'm definitely going to miss Thor because he's one of my favorite Avengers members ( aside from BP and Scarlet Witch). I did mention I like Captain America but it the likeness kinda went down so he's not in my favorite 4 (include Sentry) avengers anymore. I like the female Thor but her costume is ugly (image above). I hope that's not how it really shows when the book comes.

I have always thought and I know some agreed with me ( there was a thread made about Falcon and I think most of us felt the same way) that Falcon is kind-of-not interesting character among the Avengers. Aside from that, I believe there are other characters who would be a better Captain America than him and I've said this on my previous post from another thread. Why not Black Panther or Iron Fist or Daredevil as Captain America?

For Iron Man, I'm not sure if I like his new costume. The black colored part of the costume could be the reason why I'm leaning to not liking it, and the trunks part I think. The design seems simple ( but maybe we'll get to see a better Superior Iron Man soon ). I always love Magneto with the red and purple and when he went with white costume, it was cool still because eventhough his red and purple costume looked more attractive, his white costume had more design.

Medusa looks like Jean Grey with longer hair.

Angela reminds me of Red Sonja and sometimes Darkchylde too. Angela's costume is too simple when compared to how she is drawn in Image. But well, we know Image artists are more concerned about how

The cape is fine but what happened to the design on Strange body costume? He looks like Strange in Nightcrawler's body. And the moustache?

I don't like the costume of Bucky, Deathlok and Captain America.

Ant-man, Scarlet Witch and Inferno are fine.

[BlackGodKing]

Am I the only person that likes the idea of Steve Rogers as an old man an consultant/Strategist? If Marvel can make that work I can see Sam being Cap for a good long while. Also it's very possible that Sam Wilson of the movieverse will assume the role as well.

If that happens then the racist troll rage is going to be epic.

As for Lady Thor cosplay made it cool so I'm down for it.

[People Of The Earth]

I'm actually stupefied about some of the posts made in this thread.

Are we all living in the same world ?
It's like there's planet white male readers, where everything's blue and fine... And planet everyone else, where everything's not so shiny.

Maybe it's a flawed attempt from Marvel...but at least it's an attempt.
And on this particular topic, trying too hard doesn't exist - if anything they should keep pushing forward for more diversity in the medium.
That's how change can be obtain: by trying, again and again.
I'm a woman, I certainly won't complain about Marvel making efforts toward their female characters, even less given how they used to be treated for years - not that it's perfect now, far from it, but things have gotten better...
And I'm pretty confident it's the same for members of every other community out there.
All I'm hoping for is that quality in term of art and stories will follow, that's all.

[Overhazard]

It wouldn't have made sense in universe for daredevil or iron fist to take the mantle. They sort of tried something like that with black panther, it wasn't well recieved.

Americanpanther.jpg

[Darrell D.]

Am I the only person that likes the idea of Steve Rogers as an old man an consultant/Strategist? If Marvel can make that work I can see Sam being Cap for a good long while. Also it's very possible that Sam Wilson of the movieverse will assume the role as well.

If that happens then the racist troll rage is going to be epic.

As for Lady Thor cosplay made it cool so I'm down for it.

I would love to see the Falcon as Cap in the movies. Anthony Mackie is a great actor.