Iron Man now a black girl

[Brian G Turner]

Marvel's new Iron Man is 15-year-old black girl - BBC News

I hope it's a success - I really do. But I can't help but be cynical that Marvel's attempts to make their comics diverse is simply tokenism.

Especially when they seem to be taking existing white male characters and blackfacing them.

Thor became female - because no one knows who Freja is; the X-Men's Iceman became gay, after decades of being a straight guy with no doubts whatsoever; and now Iron "Man" is a black girl.

All written by white males, of course, because no one understands issues of diversity as much as white males...

If diversity is so worthwhile, then isn't it worth investing in diverse writers to create new diverse heroes? Apparently not, if you're Marvel.

 

[Toby Frost]

For a truly weird moment I thought that Tony Stark was suddenly a young black woman, and everyone would carry on as if nothing had changed.

As far as I am concerned a black woman fighting crime in a flying robot suit is no more ludicrous than a white man fighting crime in a flying robot suit so I'm not really bothered. However, the fact that there may not be many black comic writers in the business is surely a different issue to whether whoever does the writing now will make a good job of it. One is about the industry in general, the other is a question about that particular writer. I don't think they can or should be combined, because that writer probably can't turn the industry around single-handed, although the implication will be made that the writer they use (assuming that said writer is white and male) can't write the story because he is white and male, not because he's not a good writer.

But what do I know? I'm a white man and as such should only be writing about white men because I can't understand diversity. But it's well known that there are too many white men being written about. So I should be writing about something that isn't a white man but I don't have any entitlement to write about anything else so I can't do that. This is starting to look like a paradox. You can see why well-meaning people get irritated by this kind of thing.

 

[Nick B]

And, for those who actually know abput marvel comics, know full well that they cohld just use the already huge cast of female and ethnically diverse list of characters. But that wouldn' t be facing down the evil patriarchy would it.

Want a female norse godess? Sif is already in the marvel universe.
Why spidergwen when spiderwoman has been around for years.
Why X23 wolverine, when Lady Deathstrike (also weapon x program) has been around for years.
Want a female Iron Man type character? Pepper Potts as Rescue does fine. Want a black Iron Man? Colonel Rhodes, War Machine.

There is no reason to do a face-over of existing characters, just to try and look good about equality. Some of the most powerful X-men are women. And if anyone does feel there is a shortage of aspecific demographic, why not just make new characters? Why upset people by changing well loved characters into something new just to appear politically correct?

Would anyone mind if suddenly Black Panther was changed into being a Pakistani woman? Or a white woman? Or a gay white man? Hell yes, it would be slammed.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

I hope it's a success - I really do. But I can't help but be cynical that Marvel's attempts to make their comics diverse is simply tokenism.

Especially when they seem to be taking existing white male characters and blackfacing them.

Really I don't care. The whole Marvel / DC / Disney / US culture thing leaves me cold. Maybe it's fine if you LIVE in Gotham City, Metropolis, Detroit , Hollywood or NY?

Retconning Characters just smells of trying to curry favour. JK Rowlings being the famous UK character retcon Author*.

If you want to be diverse invent new appropriate characters. Anything else is daft and smells of commercial exploitation, there is a word for it? Bla.........

[* What next, Georgina as Trans Black in a re-write of "Five go to Smuggler's Top"?
Write new stories, authored by people that actually know what they are writing about.]

 

[Toby Frost]

To be honest, I’m not sure that tokenism can be cleanly divorced from “doing the right thing”. After all, Marvel’s job is to make money, and if having a wider audience makes more money (which I would expect and hope) then why not? It’s not as if a baker is expected to bake bread from a duty to feed the hungry rather than to make a profit. And if Marvel is exploiting wider public pressure just to make money, then it is at least responding to that need. What would be worse, I think, would be if there was a huge outcry about this from normal comic book readers rather than the inevitable internet obsessives. That said, I can see the point of view of someone who feels that Iron Man just isn't Iron Man unless it's Tony Stark. If you asked "What is Iron Man?" what would the result be? It's a bit like asking two people to describe James Bond. What are the qualities that make the character, or the franchise, what it is?

I think this is quite a complex and subtle issue, without a clear-cut right or wrong. One of the great problems with “diversity issues” is the crude way they are discussed on the wider internet, as extremes from both sides set themselves up as the arbiters of what’s right and others are drawn to follow them. Vague words like “SJW” and “hegemony” are thrown around and nuanced viewpoints get turned into a game of goodies and baddies.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I think this is quite a complex and subtle issue, without a clear-cut right or wrong. One of the great problems with “diversity issues” is the crude way they are discussed on the wider internet, as extremes from both sides set themselves up as the arbiters of what’s right and others are drawn to follow them.

I've recently begun to wonder if this is in fact a central feature of the internet itself. If so, and if it has begun translating into real society, we're in trouble.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

So I should be writing about something that isn't a white man but I don't have any entitlement to write about anything else so I can't do that. This is starting to look like a paradox. You can see why well-meaning people get irritated by this kind of thing.

I just assume that all my non-white, non-male, non-British characters are human, and go from there (I don't mean this in a sarcastic way Toby!). Works for me anyway.

 

[ratsy]

Marvel and Star Wars are now just money making machines, and IMO the heart is all gone...lost in the big business machine.

I can't tell you the last time I even watched one of the Marvel movies.

 

[Nick B]

Thing is, if I decided I really felt strongly that there should be a ginger haired, short, white superhero with a beard, someone I felt I could relate to, pi would be appalled if the marvel folks just went 'Okay, we'll make Storm into a short, ginger haired white guy, with a beard.'

 

[Coast]

Bugger, my avatar will be outdated!

I think this is quite a complex and subtle issue, without a clear-cut right or wrong.

I agree Toby. Brian Michael Bendis is the current Iron Man writer, a white male with adopted daughters of African and African/American heritage. He has spoken repeatedly about his desire to provide positive role models for his daughters.

I do also think that it is a strategic (financial) move for Marvel. They have the problem of the character being strongly linked to an actor (Downey Jnr) to the point where its hard to imagine Iron Man being portrayed by anyone else. Having Tony Stark retire and pass the mantle to someone completely new makes sense, and renews the character for a couple more movies down the track.

Can I think of a good reason why that new character shouldn't be a 15 year old black girl? Nope.

 

[Toby Frost]

I think you're absolutely right, Stephen, and it's the only way to proceed (with any character, really, even alien ones!). You've got to ask: "Practically speaking, how am I going to do this?" and I think your approach is the right one!

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I think you're absolutely right, Stephen, and it's the only way to proceed (with any character, really, even alien ones!). You've got to ask: "Practically speaking, how am I going to do this?" and I think your approach is the right one!

Alas, I got some bad-tempered flak for "daring" to have two black women as my main characters in Muezzinland. :/ Goodness knows what those reviewers would make of Beautiful Intelligence and No Grave For A Fox, both of which were welcomed for their general diversity.

 

[Nick B]

Can I think of a good reason why that new character shouldn't be a 15 year old black girl? Nope.

Because nobody in their right mind would put an advanced weapons sytem in the hands of a 15 year old?

 

[Coast]

Because nobody in their right mind would put an advanced weapons sytem in the hands of a 15 year old?

Tony Stark might...

 

[Nick B]

Tony stark put a colonel in an iron man suit. And he put Pepper Potts in an iron man suit. Can't see him putting a kid in one.

 

[Null_Zone]

Part of me thinks "marketing ploy to get some good old fashioned internet outrage going, a nice backlash and healthy increase in sales as people buy to see what the fuss is about", part wonders if her main super-power is getting a helmet on over that hair and the rest...a resounding "fair enough".

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Because nobody in their right mind would put an advanced weapons sytem in the hands of a 15 year old?

Especially one that looks like she escaped from a Mattel Production line?

 

[J Riff]

Right on Sistah! Now get in here and get busy on the laundry - Ironing Man..!*)

 

[anno]

Right on Sistah! Now get in here and get busy on the laundry - Ironing Man..!*)

Surely that's Irony Man?

 

[Wruter]

Right on Sistah! Now get in here and get busy on the laundry - Ironing Man..!*)

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