I dont have a problem with the casting of the new Fantastic Four. I dont care if the new Johnny Storm is African American. Im glad that Winter Soldier introduced Falcon. Im hoping they introduce Black Panther in a subsequent movie. In the meantime, however, the dearth of black heroes is a problem. Oh, sure, weve got Nick Cage coming up, but Nick Cage is a hero for hire. A mercenary. TChalla is a King, a ruler of a land that is actually more advanced technologically than the rest of the planet. (Yeah, I know that some people have a problem with this, still suffering under the erroneous notion that no civilization of note ever existed in Africa). Dont care. When I look at Captain America, I see a guy with my basic coloration, someone who stands for the kind of America I believe in. A guy whod go toe-to-toe with Hitler, but stand back from the debacle that was Vietnam. Someone I can admire. Sure, its possible to admire heroes of a different race. I admire TChalla. His strength, his nobility, his loyalty to his people. Im admittedly more familiar with him than Falcon, given that, while not an original Avenger, his connection goes back a long ways. I didnt find out about Falcon until I saw him on the Avengers cartoons. Im thrilled about the popularity of these movies. Why? Because these people embody heroism. They give us something to look up to. To see Captain America, who was a skinny little guy like I was, become the Super Soldier, and stand up to bullies and tyrants, gave a scrawny little kid like me something to want to emulate. To fight for the little guy. To fight for the right reasons, not the wrong ones. Power confers responsibility as much as privilege. I wouldnt mind if they made Matt Murdoch a black man. It wasnt his color that made me like Daredevil. And a black man can wear a red suit just as easily as a white man can. Theres nothing saying he HAS to be white. Sure, its a revision. But sos a black Nick Fury. I dont remember hearing a lot of howling about that. Sure. He might have seemed a minor character at first, but much of the MCU now revolves around him. Fury, and SHIELD, are the linchpin tying most of it together. Hell... Id even go for a black Stephen Strange. Race has NOTHING to do with his backstory and I fail to see how being black would affect him negatively as a character. The more I think of it, the more I realize I have very little problem with the notion. Unfortunately, Im willing to bet Im in the minority. But if you can turn a supermodel into an Amazon... Suffice to say I think people of color need more representation in superhero films, even if it requires what some people would see as unnecessary changes to the characters themselves. Somewhere theres a scrawny black kid whod love to see a hero in which he was himself felt reflected. Just like this scrawny white kid did. And dont even get me started about the women. I LOVE Black Widow. Shes my favorite Avenger. Smart, tough, and courageous to a fault. Able to stand back to back with Cap without any super-soldier serum to boost her. But there are so many other great female characters. Theyre making an Ant-man movie. But wheres Wasp? Whats Ant-Man without Wasp? There are SO many excellent female heroes to bring to the fore. (I consider heroine a romance term only, as in hero/heroine. Unless youre writing that dichotomy, theyre all heroes in my book). Theyre talking a possible Ms. Marvel/Captain Marvel movie-which ROCKS. Ive always liked her. I wouldnt mind seeing a Spider-Woman movie, with Jessica Drew hunting down Skrulls hiding among the humans as a member of SWORD. Or She-Hulk. A lawyer and a Hulk. At the same time. Smart and tough. Of course, Ive got a host of characters just as interesting, but no one has offered to make movies about them. So I guess, in the meantime, Im going to hope that Marvel looks to open up the field to a larger selection of heroes of various backgrounds. Because we all need heroes. And it seems as though the whole world has caught comic book fever. Lets give everyone heroes they can see themselves in. Thats the point, right?
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 09:34:14 +0000
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