The Minority Report! Diversity in the DCU!!

[jbmasta]

but John Stewart had solo adventures for Van Jensen entire GLC run, Kyle Rayner had a solo book for 40 issues then Omega Men and people still act like DC doesn't give the other Lanterns a shot

Guy was also the main protagonist of Red Lanterns in the second half of the run. For a couple of years each of the main Earth Lanterns had their own book, it was just Simon Baz who was reduced to drop in character.

[JediKage]

Right again when was the last time John and Kyle got what your boy Simon Baz has? The Main Green Lantern Book and The Justice League Spot? I will wait while you go research it. Just because your favorite minority is doing great doesn't mean things are peachy for everyone elses. Its disingenuous to pretend John Stewart has got a real fair shake since Geoff Johns came to power.

Hmm you make a decent case El Gato or course maybe DC gets a bad wrap because they deep sixed some of their most popular POC. Some of whom haven't recovered and others are just coming back.
Blue Beetle: Sure he is back now but that was after a few years in the wilderness. After a comic in New 52 that is the opposite of what any fan wanted. He is now sharing a book.
Cass Cain: Victim of some of the worst character assassination ever. All so she could get replaced by a spunky underqualified Blonde.
Static: Much like Blue Beetle a horrible solo series where the writer was replaced by the artist and he was moved from Dakota.

You get the point. Honestly for most of these characters Vixen, Blue Beetle, John Stewart, Static, Vibe, Artemis, Aqualad etc they can thank multimedia for keeping them afloat and popular.

As for Cyborg....perhaps DC should take some notes from Dues Ex or a long list of Animes on how to do Cyborgs the right way in the modern age.

[Samm]

I don't think that's true. When DC put Cyborg in the JLA, Static, Mr Terrific, and Batwing all had solos. Skinny Amanda Waller had a one shot. They just announced a Vigilante solo with a black lead.

That's true. I may have overreacted a bit but I must say that sometimes it does feel that way. Like DC will let some minority titles fall to the way side in favor of the POC they feel like pushing. Then again DC does that with their non A-list White characters too.

This I have a problem with. Cyborg seems a bit... forced on the DC universe. He does not have a rich background, like the others leaguers - not even like some of his Titans mates. There's not a clear answer to why one should care for him.
On the other hand, they don't seem to have faith in Static, a character with his own world, not connected with Batman, Superman, Flash. And, thanks to the cartoon, he has some public recognition. Yes, Cyborg is on a cartoon too, but who he is outside the Titans?
That's a problem I see with the publisher, from New 52 on: they kill titles too fast, without giving people time to connect with the characters. A pity.

Give Cyborg some time to develop! He only recently received his own solo series so it'll take some time to build up his supporting cast, villains, home...etc. Rome wasn't built in a day and building a character up takes time! Granted if they had started during the New 52 we would be off to a better start than we are now but hey we can't change the past. I have faith in Cyborg as a character and DC as a publisher.

but John Stewart had solo adventures for Van Jensen entire GLC run, Kyle Rayner had a solo book for 40 issues then Omega Men and people still act like DC doesn't give the other Lanterns a shot

Exactly!! Some fans are acting as if John and Kyle were pushed aside or something. They've lead their own titles before and probably will in the future as well. Jessica and Simon are new characters that need to be built up and so far their title is enjoyable!

[BradleyFan]

That's true. I may have overreacted a bit but I must say that sometimes it does feel that way. Like DC will let some minority titles fall to the way side in favor of the POC they feel like pushing. Then again DC does that with their non A-list White characters too.



Give Cyborg some time to develop! He only recently received his own solo series so it'll take some time to build up his supporting cast, villains, home...etc. Rome wasn't built in a day and building a character up takes time! Granted if they had started during the New 52 we would be off to a better start than we are now but hey we can't change the past. I have faith in Cyborg as a character and DC as a publisher.



Exactly!! Some fans are acting as if John and Kyle were pushed aside or something. They've lead their own titles before and probably will in the future as well. Jessica and Simon are new characters that need to be built up and so far their title is enjoyable!

He's had 5 years to develop and he's still in the same black token space he was at the beginning of new 52. It's not Cyborg's fault that people aren't responding positively to him. It's DC's fault. DC placed him on a team and left him there with no development for 5 years. The only thing they did with him before his solo was break him down over and over, and when he finally got a solo, Johns fought the writer of that solo every step of the way, and now that Walker is no longer on the book, DC's already erasing everything Walker did (his redesign for example).

Even Sempter, the new writer for Cyborg, has talked about how DC's treated the character.

And for all the talk that Cyborg's supposed to be the most modern hero on the Justice League, his design looks like something out of a bad made-for-TV film from the 80's. Modern tech is sleek, and aesthetically pleasing. DC really thinks Cyborg's design is going to appeal to people who're used to Iphones? Really?

So, DC's premiere black hero is a machine whose main function is to get broken down to make the threat the JL is facing more credible. How exactly is that anything besides tokenism? How is that doing Cyborg any favors when his greatest accomplishments include getting his already mangled body broken down further?

5 years is plenty of time to develop a character beyond tokenism. If Johns can give Baz and Cruz a book immediately after they were placed on the Justice League, why couldn't they do the same for Cyborg? Why wasn't DC working over time to sell their premiere black hero to the world? Hell, if they don't even believe in Cyborg how can they expect others too?

And Sempter can give us all the interviews, and talks he wants. He can crow on about how he wants to find "The Man in the Machine" with Cyborg (because apparently that's all anyone can think to do with him). As soon as Sempter does something an editor at DC doesn't like with Victor (like, I dunno, treating him with some respect) Sempter will be gone, and we'll get another writer who wants to "Do something totally different with Cyborg!!!!!"

Cyborg's a good character. He deserves a better comic company.

[Nicanor]

Let's also ignore the whole issue of the fact that it's only been in the past 5 to 6 years that Marvel at all has been pushing these characters and prior to that they were all about the Spider man etc.

Sure, we can dig up all kinds of things about both publishing companies if we look through history, but what I'm most concerned with is now, and from Marvel, I'm seeing a Miles Morales film on the way, a Black Panther film on the way, and a Luke Cage show on the way. Nothing from DC is interesting me.

DC does back it's heroes

Sure. Its old white heroes from the 60s and back. When DC does back minority characters, like Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz, it's often at the expense of other minority characters that actually deserve it more. Therefore, they don't make any headway there as far as I'm concerned. They're just pissing off their fans even more and making them wonder why they don't use John Stewart instead of creating two needless characters in an already overcrowded franchise.

Let's not forget that YJ, Teen Titans, JL and several other series have had lead characters of minority as well. Neither is perfect.

Those shows have minorities in ensemble roles, while Marvel has Blade, Luke Cage, Miles Morales, and Black Panther, all of whom are leads in their respective franchises/shows/movies. The only thing DC has like that worth mentioning is the Static Shock cartoon, and that is barely DC, as it is really Milestone. You can bring up Catwoman and Steel, but again, I think you're better off not mentioning them.

I'm surprised anyone would argue that DC is successfully competing with Marvel at diversity.

[Agent Z]

Sure, we can dig up all kinds of things about both publishing companies if we look through history, but what I'm most concerned with is now, and from Marvel, I'm seeing a Miles Morales film on the way, a Black Panther film on the way, and a Luke Cage show on the way. Nothing from DC is interesting me.



Sure. Its old white heroes from the 60s and back. When DC does back minority characters, like Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz, it's often at the expense of other minority characters that actually deserve it more. Therefore, they don't make any headway there as far as I'm concerned. They're just pissing off their fans even more and making them wonder why they don't use John Stewart instead of creating two needless characters in an already overcrowded franchise.



Those shows have minorities in ensemble roles, while Marvel has Blade, Luke Cage, Miles Morales, and Black Panther, all of whom are leads in their respective franchises/shows/movies. The only thing DC has like that worth mentioning is the Static Shock cartoon, and that is barely DC, as it is really Milestone. You can bring up Catwoman and Steel, but again, I think you're better off not mentioning them.

I'm surprised anyone would argue that DC is successfully competing with Marvel at diversity.

Well Wonder Woman and Aquaman will be played by people of color in their upcoming movies, Suicide Squad is far more diverse than any movie Marvel's put out and we have a Cyborg movie on the way.

[NexusTenebrare]

Pathetic LGBT representation, but I knew that going into Rebirth. So it's hardly a surprise at this point.
*sigh*

[blaster86]

Well Wonder Woman and Aquaman will be played by people of color in their upcoming movies, Suicide Squad is far more diverse than any movie Marvel's put out and we have a Cyborg movie on the way.

And Vixen cartoon and the Ray who now gay getting a cartoon

[Aahz]

Use in Young Justice and also the Suicide Squad movie for the Arkham Vs.

In both he was just a relatively minor character.
In Young justice he was just one out of group of several assassins, the important villain of this episode was iirc Cheshire.
In Assault of Arkham he was only so that Batman could replace him and to got his head blown up.

And on top of this he probably looks to much like a Spiderman character to really push him as big character.

[Nicanor]

Well Wonder Woman and Aquaman will be played by people of color in their upcoming movies, Suicide Squad is far more diverse than any movie Marvel's put out and we have a Cyborg movie on the way.

Here are the problems I have will all of that.

About Wonder Woman, this might be somewhat contraversial to say, but if Gal Gadot spoke with a regular 'ol American accent, I wouldn't even know she was a minority. So the effect there is lessened for me.

Aquaman is a race bent character, which is a practice I have some issues with. One of those issues is that outside of the films, he'll just be the white blond guy still. Even if DC does change him in other media (which I doubt, but we'll see), someone at DC will inevitably make him the blond white guy in an orange shirt again. So that doesn't do much for me, either. You can apply all of that to Deadshot, too. So Aquaman, as a character in general, will likely still just be a white guy. Making him a sometimes minority doesn't excite me, and it's even kind of weird.

Everything to do with Cyborg is disappointing, imo, and I'll be surprised if he gets a solo film of his own.

Because of those reasons, it's hard for me to fist pump those efforts at diversity. They seem half assed or not done right.

[HereNThere]

Well Wonder Woman and Aquaman will be played by people of color in their upcoming movies, Suicide Squad is far more diverse than any movie Marvel's put out and we have a Cyborg movie on the way.

While I applaud it, at the end of the day, Aquaman is still going to be mostly portrayed as a blond white dude. Unless that diversity goes to the comics, it's not going to help in the long run. 10 years from now, they could reboot the Justice League movie and Aquaman could be played by a blond, white actor, rather than a Polynesian actor. I would rather we have diversity that will last for years and be able to be spread across all aspects of media, not just quick flashes in the pan.

Speaking of Suicide Squad, let's go through that.

Deadshot: Same potential problem with Aquaman. At the end of the day, he's a white dude, so him being black in the film won't stick across media. The recent Rebirth just pulled motivations from the film, but not his race.
Katana: Let's be honest, she was mostly in the background. And she was just there to look badass. Nothing wrong with that, but she was a shallow character.
El Diablo: While the most complex and 3 Dimension character in the film, imo, he was still depicted as a stereotypical gang banger. spoilers:

Plus, he's "dead".

end of spoilers
Killer Croc: Can't even tell he was black until that spoilers:

BET moment.

end of spoilers
Slipnot: spoilers:

According to some cuts, he was a misogynist and serial rapist.

end of spoilers

I feel we should be past the Superfriend-esque on the nose stereotypes.

Basically, what the person about me already said, lol.

[AcesX1X]

Pathetic LGBT representation, but I knew that going into Rebirth. So it's hardly a surprise at this point.
*sigh*

well there is the midnighter and apollo mini coming. and batwoman is featured heavily in detective.

[Atlanta96]

well there is the midnighter and apollo mini coming. and batwoman is featured heavily in detective.

And there's the new gay Aqualad who will be on the Teen Titans eventually, and Constantine is still bisexual and so are Harley Quinn and Catwoman who will be in some things. And I think Wonder Woman was implied to be bisexual in one of Rucka's issues, which is a pretty big deal.

[Sirzechs]

Right again when was the last time John and Kyle got what your boy Simon Baz has? The Main Green Lantern Book and The Justice League Spot? I will wait while you go research it. Just because your favorite minority is doing great doesn't mean things are peachy for everyone elses. Its disingenuous to pretend John Stewart has got a real fair shake since Geoff Johns came to power.

As for Cyborg....perhaps DC should take some notes from Dues Ex or a long list of Animes on how to do Cyborgs the right way in the modern age.

Fair Shake? Simon Baz was buried directly after his introduction appearances for years, which is the same thing as death for a comic book character while JOhn Stewart has consistently appeared in Titles and yes he has gotten a better shot than Simon directly after Van Jensen run he went to Lost Army which he led then EOO and now he's back again when has John Stewart been benched like how his fans try to make it seem? I won't even discuss Kyle as he's had it better than all the others. Green Lanterns isn't even the main GL book, HJ&GLC is.

[Sirzechs]

Well Wonder Woman and Aquaman will be played by people of color in their upcoming movies, Suicide Squad is far more diverse than any movie Marvel's put out and we have a Cyborg movie on the way.

In Films DC outclasses Marvel when it comes to diverse cast on screen this is not even debatable, I don't how if this is some form of hypnosis or whatr but these fan tend to ignore that Marvel went to the box office with 13 films so far and not one has been headlined or feature a heavy diverse cast while DC did it in 3 films with the next film starring a female hero not just having her appear in male led films and when exactly will Marvel do the same? oh 2019 such diversity from the king of the hill. The only thing Marvel films are diverse in is the last names for actors named Chris.