Behind The Numbers: Marvel’s ‘More Diverse’ Avengers

By Arturo R. García

All three covers for Marvel Comic’s “Avengers” #1. Via Newsarama.com

While Marvel Comics seems intent on doubling down on racefail within the X-Men titles, the new writer guiding portions of the company’s Avengers line has been promising a more diverse line-up.

As Kendra noted in her New York Comic-Con preview, Jonathan Hickman has gone on record as saying he wants half of his eventual 24-member cast to be comprised of PoC or women.

“One of the first things we all agreed on is that the roster should look more like the world,” he told Comic Book Movie.com. Looking at the line-up thus far, that “or” is a troubling distinction on what would otherwise be an admirable effort to follow through on his pledge.

Let’s start with the three covers shown above, which can be seen in more detail here. From left to right, the PoCs shown on the roster are:

• The shadowy figure in the back of the left-hand cover has been confirmed to be Eden Fesi, an Aboriginal hero who appeared in Hickman’s Secret Warriors book.
• Moving to the cover in the middle, not only has team stalwart The Falcon been added to the mix, but Sunspot, a core member of the New Mutants, has been promoted, along with Cannonball (seen in flight on the left-hand cover).
• There do not appear to be any POC on the cover on the right-hand side, even though Iron Man’s armor there looks a lot like War Machine’s. 
• It has also been confirmed that Shang-Chi will eventually be added to the cast.

Notice any group not represented?

That’s right. There’s as many white women as there are PoC in that triple cover. But no characters who are PoC and women, a wound that rubs deeper when you see Carol Danvers continue to get fast-tracked to the company’s movie platform, Monica Rambeau be damned. So counting Shang-Chi, Hickman’s math currently stands up–barely. Here’s to hoping things turn for the better for women of color–not to mention LGBT characters–under Hickman’s pen, because the situation seems bleak in at least two more Avengers books.

The Black Panther (left) in Marvel Comic’s “New Avengers.”

Right now T’Challa, now established once again as The Black Panther, appears to be the only PoC character in Hickman’s New Avengers series, which will focus on the latest iteration of the secret super-cabal known as the Illuminati.

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