Is Marvel’s latest push towards diversity a fad?

[jwatson]

No. The last one was a fad set up to fail imo. In what world was replacing your white heroes with black characters going to last or work for that matter. It is imo a much more genuine push when they are developing these characters where they may connect to a franchise but not replace them as imo that is one of the biggest hesitancy to diversity, the fear of being replaced. I mean it can be done in smaller roles where you want to keep a mantle or something but it never took off but you can't just place Sam in the Cap outfit while Steve is still alive and seriously go into it think "yes this is what we need for diversity" unless your trying to make it fail. but thats jmho.

[gonnagiveittoya]

Children of the Atom also, but that's less trying to score diversity points than trying real hard to capture the lightning of Young Avengers

[CosmiComic]

No. The last one was a fad set up to fail imo. In what world was replacing your white heroes with black characters going to last or work for that matter. It is imo a much more genuine push when they are developing these characters where they may connect to a franchise but not replace them as imo that is one of the biggest hesitancy to diversity, the fear of being replaced. I mean it can be done in smaller roles where you want to keep a mantle or something but it never took off but you can't just place Sam in the Cap outfit while Steve is still alive and seriously go into it think "yes this is what we need for diversity" unless your trying to make it fail. but thats jmho.

The fear of being replaced is a stupid fear, especially since the majority were the ones suppressing the minority cultures, and not the other way around

[Shadowcat]

Are reactionary threads questioning any attempts at diversification like this a fad?

[JudicatorPrime]

I am growing to love these types of threads more and more. Some truly excellent responses here. Carry on.

[gonnagiveittoya]

I think the overall move towards introducing more diverse characters isn't a fad.

I do think some specific pushes of specific characters have been, though.

[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.

[gurkle]

It's not a fad, but it does wax and wane. I think Marvel comics in the '80s were more concerned about diversity and gender balance than the '90s. Things can go backwards as well as forwards.

[CosmiComic]

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.

I think it could help Miles if he has is own codename

[CosmiComic]

It's not a fad, but it does wax and wane. I think Marvel comics in the '80s were more concerned about diversity and gender balance than the '90s. Things can go backwards as well as forwards.

I think now with the modern diverse characters, there's a bit more involvement of their experiences as minorities into their characterizations, but in a less stereotypical way

[Timber Wolf-By-Night]

I think now with the modern diverse characters, there's a bit more involvement of their experiences as minorities into their characterizations, but in a less stereotypical way

Yeah, the 80's default position of depicting many POC characters could be boiled down to "They're drawn or colored by the colorist to look POC, but they're going to be written to talk and act exactly the same as the white characters. No acknowledgment of any African-American, Asian, Latino, Indigenous, or any other kind of minority culture that is distinct from prevailing Caucasian peoples' culture, let alone the history of those communities in America, shall be made outside of a throwaway reference to whatever is happening in immediate pop culture."

[Snoop Dogg]

It is a fad editorially because Marvel will be perfomative by pretending to be progressive and then doing things that are not. It's genuine from the creators.

[Tofali]

I think it could help Miles if he has is own codename

It really wouldn't help Miles to have another codename because being Spider-Man is his codename. Also when you consider between Kamala Khan and Ms. Marvel which is the bigger identity in the long run - Kamala will always come up top and Ms. Marvel second.

[9th.]

It really wouldn't help Miles to have another codename because being Spider-Man is his codename. Also when you consider between Kamala Khan and Ms. Marvel which is the bigger identity in the long run - Kamala will always come up top and Ms. Marvel second.

Thank you, I don't know why this is such a hard concept for people to grasp.

[Besouro]

Honestly, a better discussion should be on why comic sales and comic industry is falling/ in decline despite the massive superhero adaptations in cinema and tv....compared to manga sales, anime and industry being on the ascent.

What does manga/anime have which make them succeed enough to sell manga in many millions of issues (even in the U S) that comicbooks do not have struggling to sell at 20s of 1000s?

Now after we discuss and find what makes anime/manga successful how can those factors be applied to the comicbook industry in order to revitalize it towards higher sales success.