Marvel voices: Heritage announced - To Spotlight Indigenous Stories

[Krakoa]

Maybe "Brown" people from Asia and Australasia (Idk the exact term for those ethnicities)? They've already done Black, Asian and Native American.

Ms. Marvel was included in the Asian issue, but South Asian people were definitely overall underrepresented in that issue.

[CosmiComic]

Ms. Marvel was included in the Asian issue, but South Asian people were definitely overall underrepresented in that issue.

pretty much most Asians are, but South Asian especially so, like Native Americans are. I was also including Australasian and Melanesia people. I think they're related, but regardless, not that many are in Marvel. I can't think of many besides Bishop

[MitchFox]

pretty much most Asians are, but South Asian especially so, like Native Americans are. I was also including Australasian and Melanesia people. I think they're related, but regardless, not that many are in Marvel. I can't think of many besides Bishop

The Australian aboriginal characters in Marvel are Gateway and Eden Fesi.

[CosmiComic]

The Australian aboriginal characters in Marvel are Gateway and Eden Fesi.

Whoops, I forgot about Eden.

[Dermie]

The Australian aboriginal characters in Marvel are Gateway and Eden Fesi.

Also Dreamguard (Willie Walkaway) who appeared in a couple of issues of FORCE WORKS back in the 90s, but he is pretty obscure and almost completely forgotten.

[CosmiComic]

Idk if anyone else has this problem, but when comics create new Native American characters, I hope those characters get actually interesting power sets, and not just generic strength/flight/speed powers, or none at all

[Dermie]

Idk if anyone else has this problem, but when comics create new Native American characters, I hope those characters get actually interesting power sets, and not just generic strength/flight/speed powers, or none at all

Some of the relatively recent additions have included Echo, who has photographic reflexes like Taskmaster; a new Werewolf by Night; and Snowguard, who is a shape-shifter.

I don't think generic power sets have really been a prevalent problem with Marvel's Native American characters. Sure, they've got a few muscle guys like Warpath, American Eagle and the new Red Wolf....but they've also got magicians like Shaman, Talisman and Black Crow; Portal is a teleporter; Mirage has psi-powers; Forge is a tech genius; Puma has cat-powers, etc.

[CosmiComic]

Some of the relatively recent additions have included Echo, who has photographic reflexes like Taskmaster; a new Werewolf by Night; and Snowguard, who is a shape-shifter.

I don't think generic power sets have really been a prevalent problem with Marvel's Native American characters. Sure, they've got a few muscle guys like Warpath, American Eagle and the new Red Wolf....but they've also got magicians like Shaman, Talisman and Black Crow; Portal is a teleporter; Mirage has psi-powers; Forge is a tech genius; Puma has cat-powers, etc.

Um, aren't wolf/cat powers just basically super strength, speed and senses?

Anyway, you do have a good point. But not many seem to have complex power combinations like Dr. Strange, Wasp or Vision, for example (I think Shaman and Talisman do). I don't want to complain too much, but I'd like to see an NA hero gain multiple differing powers like those

[Sutekh]

Um, aren't wolf/cat powers just basically super strength, speed and senses?

Anyway, you do have a good point. But not many seem to have complex power combinations like Dr. Strange, Wasp or Vision, for example (I think Shaman and Talisman do). I don't want to complain too much, but I'd like to see an NA hero gain multiple differing powers like those

Less animal-shifty stuff (Snowguard, Werewolf by Night) and less [color] [animal] naming conventions (Black Crow, Red Wolf, or Black Bison or Silver Deer, over at DC) would be my personal wishes.

I don't mind some themed around cultural tropes, but it's nice to have some like Mirage or American Eagle or Forge who just straight up ignore them and have powers that don't relate to their heritage.

[CosmiComic]

Less animal-shifty stuff (Snowguard, Werewolf by Night) and less [color] [animal] naming conventions (Black Crow, Red Wolf, or Black Bison or Silver Deer, over at DC) would be my personal wishes.

I don't mind some themed around cultural tropes, but it's nice to have some like Mirage or American Eagle or Forge who just straight up ignore them and have powers that don't relate to their heritage.

You're right. It is a stereotype. Which wouldn't be quite as bad if there was more than one Native America member on the same team at once. But that seems to be uncommon. I do think it's good to incorporate the specific tribal cultural heritage into the characterization, but not just through surface-level stereotypes.

It would be better if one of them could just shapeshift in general.

[Digifiend]

Less animal-shifty stuff (Snowguard, Werewolf by Night) and less [color] [animal] naming conventions (Black Crow, Red Wolf, or Black Bison or Silver Deer, over at DC) would be my personal wishes.

To be fair, Snowguard is basically a legacy character to Snowbird, who has similar powers. Amka's an Alpha Flight fan who named herself after Snowbird and Guardian. Also, she's an Inuit, more commonly known as an Eskimo - that's not the same culture as the Native Americans that used to be referred to as Red Indians.

[CosmiComic]

I think Eskimo is not a name Inuit like, right? IIRC, it's an exonym.

I think they came to North America after other Native American peoples, so I think they're more distantly related to everyone else on the continent. But even the other indigenous groups have widely varying cultural and historical differences.

[Dermie]

Um, aren't wolf/cat powers just basically super strength, speed and senses?

To an extent, yes--but there is more to it than that, since Puma transforms into a cat-man like a werewolf. Take Hellcat and Tigra for example--at the core, they both have 'cat powers', but Hellcat is a just a woman in a costume whereas Tigra is transformed into a were-cat. (Tigra is also significantly stronger, faster, etc, but my point here is that the transformation itself IS part of the power set--so its more than just "strength, speed, etc").

Red Wolf, on the other hand, does not transform into a wolf-person. Depending on which Red Wolf we're talking about it is either someone with no super powers, but special fighting skills; or a man with superhuman strength, durability, etc.

[CosmiComic]

To an extent, yes--but there is more to it than that, since Puma transforms into a cat-man like a werewolf. Take Hellcat and Tigra for example--at the core, they both have 'cat powers', but Hellcat is a just a woman in a costume whereas Tigra is transformed into a were-cat. (Tigra is also significantly stronger, faster, etc, but my point here is that the transformation itself IS part of the power set--so its more than just "strength, speed, etc").

Red Wolf, on the other hand, does not transform into a wolf-person. Depending on which Red Wolf we're talking about it is either someone with no super powers, but special fighting skills; or a man with superhuman strength, durability, etc.

So it's really more of an aesthetic difference, outside of actually shapeshifting into an animal.

Red Wolf is kind of the example of what I'm talking about. He doesn't really have anything special IIRC. So I feel like Marvel could do more for Native American heroes in terms of superpower sets

[Dermie]

So it's really more of an aesthetic difference, outside of actually shapeshifting into an animal.

In a way, I suppose -- but its still a distinct part of the power set. Look at it this way -- Tigra and Luke Cage both have super human strength, but it would be inaccurate and misleading to say that means they have the same power set. There is some overlap, sure, but that's not quite the same thing.

Red Wolf is kind of the example of what I'm talking about. He doesn't really have anything special IIRC. So I feel like Marvel could do more for Native American heroes in terms of superpower sets

I get it, but as noted before Marvel does have some more diverse power sets among its Native characters. Part of it may be though that some of the more prominent Native heroes fall into the type you're thinking of--when thinking of Marvel's Native American heroes, people tend to immediately think of Red Wolf, American Eagle and Warpath and/or Thunderbird.

I think the bigger concern with the Native characters is the point Sutekh raised before about the risk of relying too much on cultural stereotypes, since we've got a lot of magic-users, animal-themed characters, people with tracking skills, etc. Even Wyatt Wingfoot, who is more sidekick than superhero, has been noted as having keen tracking skills and has used the magic of his ancestors in at least one story.

It can be a fine line, since cultural heritage and mythology can provide a great inspiration for heroic (and villainous) identities and powers, etc, rather than just the typical "mutant" or "fell into a vat of special chemicals" origin, but too much can end up with a bunch of stereotypes and be offensive.