If you were asked who Ironman, Thor, Spider-Man, Captain America are
then you’d likely have more than a passing knowledge of these icons,
unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 6 or 7 decades. How
could you not, since nowadays they’re everywhere even if you’re not a
comic book nerd you know them. Early this week it came to my attention
that Marvel is making another big impact change in their comic story
division and its not their first either. News broke that there will be a
new Ironman but not just another run of the mill shoe filler to hold
the place for a while, this change is to become a staple in the comics
main continuity. When I say new Ironman I should technically say
Ironwoman, and even more technical than that it should be Irongirl. Tony
Stark's replacement is going to be a 15 year old MIT undergrad by the
name of Riri Jones. Riri is an African-American teenager who came
to Tony’s attention when she reverse engineered his Ironman suits. This
is actually not the first race change Marvels done to its main character
and its actually not the first gender change either.
Circa October 2014 Sam Wilson, better known as Falcon, picked up the
nigh indestructible shield and became the new Captain America officially
in Captain America #25. Wilson has been a moderately known member of
the Avengers since his debut in the comics back in the 60’s but didn’t
grab high notoriety until his role was filled by Anthony Mackie in the
hit film Captain America: The Winter Soldier and subsequent roles in
Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-man, and this years killer blockbuster
Captain America: Civil War. But even with that said he didn’t gain
popularity points until the nation was brought to the attention that an
African American man would go from the point of being a sometime
sidekick, to pillar of American culture by filling the role of one of
medias most infamous characters.
A personal favorite of mine whose run I followed in depth was Miles
Morales Ultimate Spider-man who now is the main continuity Spider-man
for the All New, All Different Avengers which follows the world
collision events that was the confusing and unnecessary event called
Secret Wars (not the old first Secret Wars from like the 70’s-80’s) but
anyway Miles is half African American and half Latino and coming from a
highly mixed family he easily became a character I wanted to see
progress and not get cancelled as I was connecting with him on that same
level. Today he’s the main Spiderman in the comics alongside with the
classic Peter Parker Spiderman but to the best of my knowledge Miles
actually was the first drastic change therefore paving the way for
everything being revamped.
Now XX chromosome side we have along with this new Ironman, we
previously had two massive changes i.e. Kamala Khan taking over the role
of Ms. Marvel from Carol Danvers, a Muslim middle eastern teenage
Jersey girl and then there’s also one Jane Foster taking over the mighty
mantle of Thor from….well Thor. These changes have severely shown us
that change can happen, can work, and can be permanent. In the real life
society where middle eastern people are still prejudiced against
because of 9/11 and even more so now for ISIS issues, Kamala really was a
risky shot in the dark. But one that showed that Marvel isn’t afraid to
defy what makes you comfortable, they’re about what’s right and
storytelling. A more noticeable change was, as I said, Jane Foster
picking up Mjolnir from her former lover Thor. This is something nobody
really saw coming and figured once it was revealed that it would only be
a short thing and things would go back to normal, but that’s not the
case. They stayed and successfully work so to them I say - kudos to you
guys.
One can ask what brought on these changes, but really why ask why and
just shut the hell up and read the comics, that’s what we’re all here
for and enjoy anyway, right? But if you seriously must know, the editor
in chief Axel Alonso has told reporters that this has been in the works
for years and is an idea he’s been bouncing around for the a long time.
If you want to look deeper than that, then just be aware of the change
being kind of a needed or expected thing because its not the 60’s
anymore where the starting line up for everything was middle aged white
guys, its 2016 and the world is different and the new changes actually
fit a more real demographic of: different races, ages, and genders as
well as orientations; because let’s not forget we now have a dope Hulk
who is Asian by the name of Amadeus Cho, and a few years back we had the
first comic book gay wedding with the X-men which wash the kick off
predecessor for the big cultural changes in Marvel.
Now this is the new Marvel and all, and I for one am all about it
because it shows the progress we’ve so sorely needed in this field, but
at the same time I’m not use to it as I’m more accustomed to the Classic
Marvel Avenger. The old white guys that wore the unitards are what I
grew up, with so its honestly a hard accepted transition. But Marvel is
for me, the reader, but it’s not solely for me or about me; it’s for
everyone, it’s for the fans before me that had to deal with the changes
that are normal to you and me, it’s for the next gen that will just pick
up a comic book one day and fall in love with the characters and that
will be their status quo. At the end of it all; change is common, change
is needed for better or for worse. We are all tired of monotony, and
seeing this paradigm shift gave me a whole new feeling that didn’t
exactly scare me nor did it quite answerd my prayers, it was new like
the feeling you get on new comic book Wednesdays.
Check it out and let me know how you guys feel about this new lineup. Do you love it? Do you hate it?
Stay tuned next week y’all and keep one in the chamber for me fam,
Contract Killa Guerilla aka K. Maryland
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