If you are a reader of Secret Wars, or actually even if you aren’t, you had to have noticed the massive number of changes that are taking place with the characters. Let’s give an ever so brief, but not all inclusive, listing:
Thor: Formerly the incredibly massive male is now the not so surprising Jane Foster...female.
Wolverine: Formerly the smarmy massive male soon to be revealed in a new series as....female.
Captain America: Formerly the boy scout Steve Rogers is now a combination of Captain America, Falcon and a Tri-Athlete and....female. Or is Captain America being played by The Falcon? Will someone make up their mind please?
Hawkeye: The cocky, but not surprisingly single, Green Arrow knockoff is going to have a sidekick....female.
Captain Marvel: The former green and white Kree warrior, then the blond warrior with a star on his chest continues to be the blond haired bombshell in a skimpy leotard and....female.
Ms. Marvel: Are there two of them now? The former sex starved blond now the teenage brunette who reminds you it’s "Ms. Marvel", not "Miss Marvel", has seemingly changed faces and age, or maybe not.
Moon Boy and Devil Dinosaur: Is now in a new upcoming comic as Moon GIRL and Devil Dinosaur. So now we’re making sex changes retroactive to the beginning of time?
Before I go any further let me make myself clear....I AM NOT AGAINST FEMALE SUPER-HEROES OR, FOR THAT MATTER, FEMALES AT ALL! I’ve been happily married to one for almost 30 years and she’s the love of my life. She’s actually MY hero.
But, c’mon Marvel, really? Have you truly run out of creative energy so much so that now you have to split the Marvel Universe down the middle and make half male and half female? Why? Why would you not create new heroes so that you aren’t just conceding that you need more females in your comics? As a woman I’d be insulted.
I can picture the phone call that led up to this massive overhaul:
“Hello, Marvel Comics customer service, how may I make your day super?
Yes, hello ma’am, I’d be happy to discuss our character universe.
Um, yes ma’am, you’re right we have an unusually large male population and few females.
Um...yes ma’am, we should have more females.
Yes, ma’am, I know your angry.
How about we do this, ma'am; we will convert 30% of the Marvel Universe to female to up the count?
No, ma’am, you won’t be getting any unique characters of your own.
No...we’re just going to convert males to females.
I realize that’s a cheap and unoriginal way to up the female count but it’s the best we can do.
Yes, ma’am, I agree, originality and creativity appears to have died here at Marvel.
Is there anything else I can do for you other than offering you a consolation prize?
Yes ma’am, I realize I haven’t really done anything for you.
OK, look for those changes soon. Thanks for calling Marvel.”
Seriously, Marvel, you let Spider-Man develop in character and added a Spider-Woman with her own background. That was great!
You introduced Spider-Gwen despite having a Spider-Man and Spider-Woman. That was...well...great!
You then introduced Silk despite having Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, and Spider-Gwen. Um...OK.
During all of that you introduced the Superior Spider-Man, Miles Morales as Spider-Man, the Scarlet Spider, clones aplenty, Spider Island and the Spider-verse. That’s alot of spiders.
See? It’s not just about women getting recycled superheroes in the Marvel Universe, it’s also about beating your main bread maker, Spider-Man, to death with dozens of reproductions. It’s very Batman-esque.
Granted, you have had success with a number of those titles and are still having some success (despite some of them also now being in the bargain box). But where do you go from here? What future have you left for yourselves? Instead of making gradual changes you are making sweeping, nonsensical changes, during your reboot. Is Marvel now being run by DC executives?
My suggestion is to start to create some unique female super-heroes. Heroes that haven’t been done before. The same goes for African-American heroes, Hispanic heroes, etc. Are they so low on your list that you can’t at least come up with an original thought for them? Making The Falcon Captain America, Miles Morales Spider-Man, Thor a female and bringing back Black Panther does not count as diversity, people.
Where is the creativity?
How about someone who is a master of any type of gun, bomb, etc.? If they can touch it they can work it or defuse it. But they can’t do anything if they can’t touch it.
How about a person who can find a way into or out of anything. They can also find the weak spot in any type of structure or item. Consider them a combination of Houdini and Karnak.
How about someone who can change the atomic weight or density of anything they touch? Not themselves, just anything they touch.
What about someone who has an Aquaman type of ability on land in that they can summon and command earth’s creatures. They can summon Ravens from 10 miles away, or ants that are under their feet.
We haven’t seen Crusher Creel in awhile, what about a superhero version of Crusher Creel with some small adaptations. Perhaps their weakness is that their strength fluctuates based on their size. Large is strong, small is weak?
My point is that if you want to balance out the diversity of the Marvel Universe why not do it the right way? A female Wolverine, a female Thor, Moon Girl, hundreds of cloned spiders...none of it makes sense. Wolverine will ALWAYS be associated with Logan, Thor will ALWAYS be associated with the massive male with golden hair, Devil Dinosaur will ALWAYS be associated with a Moon BOY. You won’t change that association, it’s not the way psychology works...stop trying
Get creative Marvel, don’t insult people by “giving” them a character.
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