Is Marvel’s latest push towards diversity a fad?

[mathew101281]

I feel it is, and it bothers me. I feel a lot of these newer characters aren’t built for long term success. They feel in a lot of ways like some of the more gimmicky characters created in the 90’s.Characters created to feed off of trend, but lacking a lot of the important ground work that will enable a character to thrive long term. You can only go so far on the charisma of the main character. I feel a lot them will be relegated to b and c list characters in a few years, or become throw in characters on large teams where they get very little development and that’s just sad.

[CosmiComic]

Idk how you arrived to that conclusion

[lefthanded]

You're gonna need to provide specific examples as to which current characters you are talking about, and what are the gimmicky characters from the 90s.

For me, when I think of new characters, I think of Miles Morales (Spiderman). He feels as developed as any new Marvel characters. His 'diversity' has nothing to do with how he has been developed. For example, compare the original Ultimate Spider-man (introducing a new Peter Parker), to the the Miles series. They are essentially the same in developing the characters (high schooler dealing with powers, responsibility, and being a teenager). His 'staying power' doesn't have to do with the diversity trend, but more to do with whether wants to make teenage Spider-man stories.

The only gimmicky character from the 90s I can think of the top of my head is Maggot from X-men. I do agree there that that character is entirely a gimmick that doesn't have staying power, and will only pop up from time to time in a panel.

[your_name_here]

No. It is not a fad.

[ChrisIII]

Seemed to be more of an experimental thing in the middle of the decade before & after Secret Wars, but since Legacy seems to be more of a return to the regular characters (resurrections of Banner's Hulk, Stark, adult Jean, Wolverine, regular Captain America, Male Thor's return to "worthiness" etc), although Morales and Kamala are still very popular, and Ironheart and Jane are still around just not the 'main' Iron Man or Thor.

[Iron Maiden]

I think it is a bit insulting to imply that any new character is a fad. Was it a fad when Stan and Jack created T'Challa the Black Panther with his technologically advanced kingdom of Wakanda?

[Raye]

No. It is not a fad.

^^^^^^

I feel like if characters like Black Panther, Falcon, War Machine, Luke Cage, Carol, Storm, or any other character that isn't a straight white dude, had hit the scene today, they too would have been dismissed as 'fads' or pandering or whatever terminology people want to use to paint them as inconsequential and disingenuous. But Marvel has always introduced characters that could fit some kind of minority group, this isn't particularly new. Maybe a few more groups are being covered now, as it has become more widely accepted by he public, but it's not something Marvel has never done before recently.

And ALL characters start out with kinda minimal character and backstory, you can't just plop a fully formed character down on the page in their very first appearance, it just doesn't work that way. The development of their supporting cast, their personalities, the intricacies of their abilities and so on takes time, with any character. I mean yeah you can establish a lot of broad strokes, but it takes time to get to the level of detail that characters that have been around for decades have.

[Marvell2100]

It's not a fad, just a logical expansion of the Marvel Universe.

[Anthony W]

I feel like if characters like Black Panther, Falcon, War Machine, Luke Cage, Carol, Storm, or any other character that isn't a straight white dude, had hit the scene today, they too would have been dismissed as 'fads' or pandering or whatever terminology people want to use to paint them as inconsequential and disingenuous.

You know what is interesting? Every character you listed has their own identity. Compare that to the most popular character of the new guard, Miles Morales who is a Spider-Man but not the Spider-Man. So everyone just called him...Miles.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I feel it is, and it bothers me. I feel a lot of these newer characters aren’t built for long term success. They feel in a lot of ways like some of the more gimmicky characters created in the 90’s.

Exactly which "newer characters" are you referring to?

If you mean Miles Morales it's worth pointing out that
[a] He's ten years old in publ. terms,
[b] Has been continuously published and in print since first appearance,

Kamala Khan is a little younger than miles but she's also been continuously published. I don't think that can be called fads nor can it be compared to gimmicky characters from the 90s who never had this success even remotely. Everyone in the world knows Miles Morales but only a subset of comics readers and Spider-Man fans know who Ben Reilly is. Kate Bishop Hawkeye has likewise been quite successful.

Aside from Miles and Kamala who have had more success than anyone else, I don't know which gimmicky characters you are talking about...Riri Williams? Young Avengers folk?

[Iron Maiden]

Exactly which "newer characters" are you referring to?

If you mean Miles Morales it's worth pointing out that
[a] He's ten years old in publ. terms,
[b] Has been continuously published and in print since first appearance,

Kamala Khan is a little younger than miles but she's also been continuously published. I don't think that can be called fads nor can it be compared to gimmicky characters from the 90s who never had this success even remotely. Everyone in the world knows Miles Morales but only a subset of comics readers and Spider-Man fans know who Ben Reilly is. Kate Bishop Hawkeye has likewise been quite successful.

Aside from Miles and Kamala who have had more success than anyone else, I don't know which gimmicky characters you are talking about...Riri Williams? Young Avengers folk?

I don't check into their sales on their TPB's. Sales figures are hard to get anyway since the pandemic. I think I read somewhere that Moon Girl sells well in digest form that is marketed to bookstores and schools that have book fairs.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I feel it is, and it bothers me. I feel a lot of these newer characters aren’t built for long term success. They feel in a lot of ways like some of the more gimmicky characters created in the 90’s.Characters created to feed off of trend, but lacking a lot of the important ground work that will enable a character to thrive long term. You can only go so far on the charisma of the main character. I feel a lot them will be relegated to b and c list characters in a few years, or become throw in characters on large teams where they get very little development and that’s just sad.

I'd say it's more of a trend than a fad. But I disagree about them not having long-term potential. I don't think any of the old guard was written to still be viable decades later. The fact that we are still talking about them is more accidental than intentional.

[The Negative Zone]

Considering most of the heroes no longer have books outside of Champions, one could wonder if the "fad" is over?

[MyriVerse]

Considering most of the heroes no longer have books outside of Champions, one could wonder if the "fad" is over?

Most may not have staying power, but I don't think that means the fad is over. At least I hope not. Regardless of diversity, not all characters have staying power.

[Holt]

We have some variation of this debate every few months, usually it's about how brand new minority heroes are better than legacy characters. Fact of the matter is, if you looked at all the new characters Marvel and DC introduce per year, you'd see only a small fraction ever break out big or have any sort of staying power. That's true regardless of race, religion, gender identity or sexual orientation.