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

October 10th, 2012 by Arturo

I’m willing to bet a fair number of fans also want Storm–and not just chained up on the cover of Wolverine’s latest series. Luckily, Sam Humphries and Ron Garney seem to have picked up on that, based on the cover to the relaunched Uncanny X-Force:

Storm (center) and characters from Marvel Comics’ “Uncanny X-Force.”

Here we see Ororo at the center of a cast that’s almost entirely comprised of cisgender women, with the male members being Puck, who is a dwarf, and Bishop, the time-bending PoC and former X-Man. (Psylocke, of course, is problematic in her own right.)

So while it’s still early, and there’s definitely gaps in his Avengers roster, Hickman’s statements at least represent a potential change of pace from the company’s past takes on diversity as “contrived.” But the key question moving forward then becomes: how many of these PoC characters will Hickman and the company be prepared to promote on multimedia platforms?

Page 3 of 3 | Previous page

Posted in comics, diversity, glbt, images, race & representations | 9 comments

Previous post:
Next post:

  • Elton

    “One of the first things we all agreed on is that the roster should look more like the world”

    So… majority Asian, right? With about 15% whites?

  • http://www.facebook.com/rogerowengreen Roger Green

    Damn, I’m glad I gave up Marvel Comics in 1994…

  • http://www.facebook.com/rogerowengreen Roger Green

    Damn, I’m glad I gave up Marvel Comics in 1994…

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_X6VBM6TFKYFKPT5U4ZHMYFPUQM Simon

    While I’m glad the Avengers roster will be more diverse I wonder will those minority and women characters get the same amount of attention as Iron Man, Captain America and Thor. Because while its good that they’re there, I hope those minority characters won’t be used just as tokens and mere window dressing. Also I’m surprised that with all the talk about AVX very little has been said about the Storm/Black Panther break-up. I wonder if Hickman will address it at all in New Avengers.

  • D

    They were discussing Carol Danvers on another forum and someone said that with the death of the male Captain Marvel in 1982, that “freed up” the name for Danvers…. Grr…

  • Will

    And the movies are somehow even worse.
    Hopefully they go and put the Falcon and Black Panther in Avengers 2. Or someone badass like Shang-Chi or the Ultimate Wasp.

  • Anonymous

    They have made attempts at promoting ethnically mixed characters such as Miles Morales as key stars in recent storylines.

    And we’ve talked about Miles Morales as a good moment for the company in previous threads. But in the current structure, comics are the base-level of representation. It limits the potential good a character like Miles can provide when the Spider-Man animated series still deals with a white Peter Parker.

    The wedding you may have missed in Astonishing X-Men which got heavily promoted.

    If I missed it, it’s probably because we’ve been drowning in two years of hype about Scott and Logan playing Edward and Jacob, supplanting Charles and Magneto’s tug-of-war. At every turn, it’s two white men at the center of a story about racial acceptance.

    I’m not sure what you’re exactly looking for to be honest. A gay, Iron Man in the next Marvel movie?

    Actually, I’d like Jim Rhodes to get his own series of some sort. Does that sound irrational to you?

    And what would be wrong with a gay Iron Man, anyway?

  • Anonymous

    Why not go back to school, study comic book art, graduate, get a job at Marvel/DC (or publish independently) and create your own gay superhero? Archie Comics created Kevin Keller, after all, and look how that turned out.

  • Anonymous

    Thanks for the derail, but:

    1. What indications are there that there aren’t writers and artists looking to do just that for the Big Two?
    2. Yes, Archie Comics did just that – which makes it look worse for the Big Two when the movies are the tail wagging the comics dog.