The Mission: The Avengers, Ultimate Diversity and the Meta of Change

[Timbales]

I really enjoyed The Ultimates, though I skipped ANAD Avengers. The line-up of that book just doesn't interest me and with the increasing prices of comics, I'm just not as willing to try as many new books. Thor on her own is a bit of a dud to me.

[Coolatta]

I hope so, but if the victimhood culture of college campuses and the internet have anything to say about it, it will never die. The left refuse to admit they are, for intents and purposes, essentially equal. In the eyes of the law, there is literally nothing but a few odd ball things (that will hopefully be dealt with one day) that separate any humans here in America. But that doesn't stop my generation from running around Ivy League college campuses bitching about being "oppressed" or "unsafe."

Institutional Racism makes surf that the the laws are not equal. What a bold face lie. Judges get paid millions to send kids to jail & the FBI even told us that white supremacists have infiltrated law enforcement.

The problems are "more than a few oddballs". But downplaying it that way, encouraging people to ignore it in "hope that it will be dealt with one day" is a good way to make sure racism will actually never die. But you know that

[Moose100]

I really enjoyed The Ultimates, though I skipped ANAD Avengers. The line-up of that book just doesn't interest me and with the increasing prices of comics, I'm just not as willing to try as many new books. Thor on her own is a bit of a dud to me.

Price I definitely the elephant in the room.

[Rene Narciso]

One of them left in the next issue, and another died the issue after that, leaving the black woman as the only person of colour on the team for more than a decade after this comic. (New Mutants did a little better; it had two people of colour who lasted for pretty much all of Claremont's run.)

Cultural diversity is important, too. But it's a problem when the only cultures shown are white cultures, which has traditionally been the case. More to the point, though, white people don't have to search for representation. People who aren't white, do. And representation matters. It matters, to a black kid, to see a black character being awesome. It matters, to a Latino kid, to see a Latino character standing as an equal with white characters. That sort of thing makes a difference.

Hispanic or Latino origin is actually independent of race.

Countries in Latin America have a racial diversity that is comparable to the racial diversity in the USA themselves. So you can actually have Latino people that are as blonde and blue eyed as any stereotypical German (because they ARE from German ancestry), and also Latino people that are of African ancestry, or Japanese ancestry, etc.

[Rene Narciso]

Eh. While he "might" have a little experience being picked on for being an "Irish outsider"... it's not quite the same thing (and certainly doesn't happen enough that it would shape his views and experiences the way it does with other minorities). Blonde haired, blue eyed, white, straight, male, gorgeous, beloved, leader Steve Rogers doesn't "really" know too much of what it's like to not be the poster child of "regular Joe"

True, the days Irish-Americans were second-class citizens are so into the past that it's hard to draw parallels to any present-day oppresion.

IMO, the aspect of Steve Rogers's experience that is still very resonant today is that he is one of the very few White superheroes that has a working class origin. He and Daredevil. Steve Rogers knew poverty. More interestingly, he knew what was to be poor in the Great Depression - the greatest blue screen of death of capitalism that ever was.

[Rene Narciso]

Institutional Racism makes surf that the the laws are not equal. What a bold face lie. Judges get paid millions to send kids to jail & the FBI even told us that white supremacists have infiltrated law enforcement.

The problems are "more than a few oddballs". But downplaying it that way, encouraging people to ignore it in "hope that it will be dealt with one day" is a good way to make sure racism will actually never die. But you know that

This is the first time I read about the infiltration. It's appaling. It's past time the US government cracked down on White Supremacists as hard or harder than they did with Muslim Terrorists.

[Miracleman]

So you're cool with having modern comics less diverse than when Wein & Cockrum were working 40yrs ago? Kinda like much of modern television is less diverse than Roddenberry's Star Trek from 50yrs ago.

It's okay, I've encountered a similar attitude from White Hispanics who are cool with contemporary entertainment since they identify more with Whites. Mestizos, Indios/Indigenas or Negritos may have a differing opinion. I was personally very happy to see that Carlos Valdes on The Flash was so noticeably Indio in appearance. Ricardo Montalban was also a noticeably swarthy Latino and I loved him for it.



Sorry I didn't think of A-Force since I was only remembering All-New All-Different Marvel Avengers squads. They were also not listed on a recent poll asking about the various new Avengers comics.

How are they less diverse now? X-men was always diverse. I mean christ they take in everything from foreigners to aliens that are made up of living technoorganic material to the handicapped. Hell,their dam leader was in a wheel chair most of the time. You're opinion of diversity is different than mine.

You apparently have you're own personal issues that you need to identify with in the comicbook world. I don't take it that far. You really don't know Latino's,so as someone who is from that group. You making an assumption based statement on how we are and how we act is way beyond the curve. If you actually knew hispanic culture you'd actually realize their is racism within the black hispanic culture amongst themselves.

Why does Carlos Valdes have to have an indio appearance to give you justification? Ricardo Montalban was actually discriminated against by other Mexican's because he had a more spaniard look to him that is common in Monterrey, Mexico. Rather than the Mesitzo features.

So again,much like the writer of this article,this is about pigmentation for you. Not about racial equality or diversification of culture. You just want color change for the sake of it. If the person is Latino and happens to have caucasian skin tone and features and blue eyes. It doesn't count in you're opinion.

Perhaps for you,Russell Wong doesn't count because his features are less in line than what other Asian's looklike.

[Rene Narciso]

How are they less diverse now? X-men was always diverse. I mean christ they take in everything from foreigners to aliens that are made up of living technoorganic material to the handicapped. Hell,their dam leader was in a wheel chair most of the time. You're opinion of diversity is different than mine.

You apparently have you're own personal issues that you need to identify with in the comicbook world. I don't take it that far. You really don't know Latino's,so as someone who is from that group. You making an assumption based statement on how we are and how we act is way beyond the curve. If you actually knew hispanic culture you'd actually realize their is racism within the black hispanic culture amongst themselves.

Why does Carlos Valdes have to have an indio appearance to give you justification? Ricardo Montalban was actually discriminated against by other Mexican's because he had a more spaniard look to him that is common in Monterrey, Mexico. Rather than the Mesitzo features.

So again,much like the writer of this article,this is about pigmentation for you. Not about racial equality or diversification of culture. You just want color change for the sake of it. If the person is Latino and happens to have caucasian skin tone and features and blue eyes. It doesn't count in you're opinion.

Perhaps for you,Russell Wong doesn't count because his features are less in line than what other Asian's looklike.

I actually am from Latin America. True, it would be great if pop culture acknowledged that "Latinos" come in all colors and shapes. However, it's also true that in pretty much all countries in Latin America, the "whiter" your look, the less discrimination you're likely to face. Also, if you see movies and TV shows in Latin America, the big proportion of Caucasian-looking stars is even more shameful than the same situation in the USA. In my own country, Brazil, we have 45% of whites (against 77% of whites in America) and I think our movies and TV shows are as "white" as American ones.

[Moose100]

Another great article. I feel the same way and have mentioned it before. How will this be treated if or when books fail? WIll we get vol 242323232 ala Wolverine or Moon Knight?

[whiterabbit]

Not that I'm complaining about this new diversity thing Marvel is doing, I highly appreciate it, but what about LGBT diversity? We have some nice ones right now like Wiccan, Hulkling, MAC, Iceman and Angela, but that doesn't seem to be a concern in that whole diversity thing. Is like pretty obvious(at least for me) that black/latinos characters are more easy to be accepted, I mean, does anyone actually doesn't like a character because of that? I think everyone agrees it would be pretty racist, but people still complain about LGBT characters like if it was totally ok to do that just because of their sexuality, always with the "Im not a homophobe, is just that..." talk.

I think there's a difference between accepting race and accepting a lifestyle. How you live your life and how others live theirs? They teach and follow certain ways, while your own may be quite different. It's just that simple. They can be fine with how people live their own lives, but don't want something in their face that they disagree with saying "see? It's okay to do this" to their kids.

[HUTHAIFA]

Price I definitely the elephant in the room.

Yeah, its hard to support everything when your funds are limited.At these current rates you want as much guarantees for enjoyment as you can, which would lead most to just buy the familiar.

[Sighphi]

Anyone remember when a couple years ago Marvel just created minority characters regularly and there wasnt this big hoopla?
It's like some of these people dont know he history of the company.

[Moose100]

Yeah, its hard to support everything when your funds are limited.At these current rates you want as much guarantees for enjoyment as you can, which would lead most to just buy the familiar.

Right that is the thing as much as they don't control that it's a hurdle. Especially in a market that seems to be against minority lead books.

[Reality]

I think there's a difference between accepting race and accepting a lifestyle. How you live your life and how others live theirs? They teach and follow certain ways, while your own may be quite different. It's just that simple. They can be fine with how people live their own lives, but don't want something in their face that they disagree with saying "see? It's okay to do this" to their kids.

Being queer isn't a lifestyle, it's just an orientation towards romance and sex with atypical partners. Can't be chosen, therefore is simply a fact of life. The actual day-to-day is extremely normal.

[j9ac9k]

Being queer isn't a lifestyle, it's just an orientation towards romance and sex with atypical partners. Can't be chosen, therefore is simply a fact of life. The actual day-to-day is extremely normal.

There's still a problem that a lot of people don't see it that way - they still see the positive depiction of LGBT characters as "promoting a lifestyle" that they don't approve of. We've come a long way in that at least there are more and more examples we can point to as positive representation in culture, but as with most things, the majority of culture is slow to catch up.