Avengers_4everXX

@loki2u@nj06: Thank you! So often on this site when you make posts about minority or gender issues everyone tries to tear you apart, so it's great to see positive feedback!

@mraugen: Thank you! And great point about the perception of masculine vs. feminine characteristics. I wanted to delve into that in my post, but couldn't find quite the right place to add it in

@degalon@furiousweasel I'm not going to waste my time getting into an argument with either of you. If you aren't already aware of the issues surrounding minority representation in comic books, there's nothing I can do to help you, and none of us are going to convince the other that they're wrong. Beyond that, I can live with the satisfaction that Marvel is clearly marketing towards my sensibilities, and not yours. (I am, by the way, one of those mythical "new readers" no one on this site seems to believe in).

PS: If having read comics consistently for less than a decade, and being a fan of the more inclusive character changes Marvel is making means that I'm "not a TRUE FAN", that's fine. I will be buying almost half of Marvel's new line come October, and when I'm not reading the great new content they're going to release, I'll be reading my collection of Avengers trades that stretches from Masterworks volume 1 all the way through Busiek's run.

Marvel decides to increase diversity by creating more and more new, interesting minority characters and by giving their roster of minority heroes more prominent roles within the universe

DC decides to increase diversity by.... segregating most of their minority characters to a separate universe?

Okay

One of the big problems in critiquing female representation in the superhero genre, and something this article is guilty of, is that when most people talk about wanting better female characters in the genre, they usually mean that they want what I call Strong Women. Strong Women are present in almost every genre outside of "female" genres(i.e., rom-coms and Lifetime movies). The Strong Woman is, typically, a "bad@ss" woman with extensive combat training, to the point of probably being the best fighter among the main characters; she is emotionally cold, which is almost always a defense mechanism to hide a tragic event in their past; she speaks in short, clipped sentences and has a charmingly sarcastic sense of humor; and, despite her tragic past she usually has almost no emotional depth whatsoever. The Strong Woman is easily identified in many of the MCU's female characters (Black Widow, Agent May, Hope van Dyne).

We shouldn't be asking for Strong Women, we should be asking for Complex Women. This article applauds characters like Agent May for being a Strong Woman, while stating that Agent Simmons is finally becoming worthwhile as a character now that she has "started venturing out into the field". Why is this the defining factor in Simmons's worth as a female character? Simmons is a scientist, not a field agent, she would have no reason to be in the field in the first place. Besides that, Simmons is leagues ahead of Agent May in terms of character depth and complexity. Her relationship with Fitz has been one of the core emotional plotlines of the show's entire run so far. Despite that, this article boils her worth or interest down to whether or not she gets to go on field missions? Despite the fact that Fitz, a male character with much the same role as Simmons (both being scientists), has probably never been criticized for rarely leaving the lab? The same goes for the comments made about Caitlin Snow on the Flash; she is maligned in this article for never leaving STAR Labs, despite the fact that she has regularly been instrumental in saving the day, and despite the fact that she serves almost the same purpose as Felicity on Arrow. It doesn't make sense for Caitlin or Simmons to leave the lab; they're scientists, that is where they can be the most helpful.

The Strong Woman stereotype has also reflected on the perception of the Black Widow as a character. In her first three appearances, she was criticized for her lack of depth as a character, and then when Joss Whedon actually developed her, he was maligned as a misogynist. And let me clear this up right now, Natasha's comment about being a monster in Age of Ultron had nothing to do with her being unable to have children, and everything to do with the fact that she spent the majority of her life as an assassin and a murderer. That is the kind of monster she was referring to. Luckily, Marvel has been taking their Strong Women and turning them into Complex Women. Black Widow, despite complaints from many, is finally getting character development; Agent May started out as a Strong Woman stereotype but slowly became much more than that; Peggy Carter and Scarlet Witch are both blessings; Hope van Dyne... well, they've laid the right groundwork. Her single minded fury and indignation throughout Ant-Man were well deserved, and I wish she would have gotten her suit after the training montage instead of after the entire movie was already over, but they have put her on the right path the being a Complex Woman instead of just a strong one.

TL;DR: I don't want Strong Women, I want Complex Women, and you should too.

@degalon: If you call "falling apart at the seams" consistently having the majority market share and owning the most successful movie series of all time, then sure, I guess they are falling apart at the seams. You might also consider looking up the definition of "diverse".

Here's the bottom line: Marvel doesn't care about your opinion. You can complain all you want about Jane Foster isn't Thor, and Sam Wilson isn't Captain America, and Carol Danvers isn't Captain Marvel, and you can shout from the rooftops your refusal to acknowledge these characters. Marvel. Does not. Care. Know why? Because they own the rights to these characters. They are Marvel's intellectual property. If Marvel decides they want Jane Foster to be Thor, Jane Foster is Thor. That's how intellectual property rights work. Marvel clearly has an invested interest in these new iterations of characters, and they aren't going to change because of some butthurt fans b****ing on comic vine.

And for that matter, your arguments about the passing down of superhero mantles "trivializing" the entire concept of a superhero has absolutely no ground to stand on. This has been going on, literally, since the silver age when DC decided to ditch Alan Scott and Jay Garrick and reinvent Green Lantern and the Flash as entirely new characters. They did it again when Barry died in COIE and they gave the mantle to Wally West, and to some people, myself included, Wally West is the Flash, even though he was the third person to carry the name. It is part of established Marvel continuity that the US government employed soldiers to take on the mantle of Captain America while Steve was on ice so that the world would still have a Captain America. Superheroes are symbols, and it makes perfect sense that, within these universe, these mantles would be passed down from one hero to another to keep the symbol alive. Basically, if you liked Wally West as the Flash but can't stand the idea of Sam Wilson being Captain America, you might be a bigot.

On the subject of diversity, it's so easy to say "companies should just create new characters if they want more diversity!". But guess what? New characters don't sell. The reason all of the most iconic comic book characters are white men is not because they are groundbreaking characters. They are great characters, there is no disputing that, but they are iconic because they have been around the longest, and in an industry that is only seventy five years old, the only characters that have had the time to be around long enough to become iconic are mostly white men. Marvel has always been the more progressive of the big two companies, and what they are doing now is an extension of that. They want a more diverse selection of heroes, but they also need to sell their books. Captain America sells.Thor sells.These books will always sell, and in both cases, Marvel was able to take characters that were deeply ingrained in the respective mythos of each book,and have them take up the titular mantle, giving us greater diversity while still respecting the continuity of these characters. Sam Wilson becoming Captain America is as natural of a progression as any of the Robins becoming Batman. Or did you forget that there was a significant period of time when the book was called "Captain America and the Falcon"?

TL;DR: you're probably a bigot, but that's okay because Marvel, much like myself, doesn't give two s***s about your opinion. They will continue adding more diverse characters to your roster, which will hopefully convince you to stop buying comic books. Our community will be a better place without you

As I'm sure we've all seen by now, Marvel's line of books for their post-Secret Wars universe included a new Scarlet Witch ongoing series by James Robinson! I personally cannot wait to read a solo book about my favorite character written by my favorite writer, so I thought I'd start a threat to discuss what we're most looking forward/what we want to see happen with Wanda in her new series :)

Personally, I really hope that Wiccan and Speed have a presence in the series. Even though they were officially confirmed as her children almost five years ago, her relationship with them really hasn't been explored much. Anyone who has read Starman knows that writing complex parent/child relationships is something that Robinson excels at. I'd also like to see him explore her powers and really define what her power set is, and maybe bring back more of her mystical abilities.

What about you guys? What are you hoping to see in Witchie's upcoming solo book?

Reading all these comments by butthurt white people who are realizing that they are no longer Marvel's target audience is incredibly entertaining. Almost as entertaining as Marvel's all new, way more diverse line up of books is going to be!

... now that that's out of my system...

All y'all negative nancies can be quiet and go away now, because this new lineup looks pretty freaking awesome. I'll be picking up:

A-Force

All New All Different Avengers

New Avengers

Uncanny Avengers

Ultimates

Uncanny Inhumans

Extraordinary X-Men

Squadron Supreme

Captain Marvel

Doctor Strange

Daredevil

Hawkeye

Karnak

the Mighty Thor

Ms. Marvel

Scarlet Witch

the Vision

All New X-Men

Spider Woman

Bring it on Marvel! I am so hyped for this fall!

A SCARLET WITCH SOLO SERIES??? BY JAMES ROBINSON???

MY FAVORITE CHARACTER WRITTEN BY MY FAVORITE WRITER???????

IT'S LIKE CHRISTMAS AND MY BIRTHDAY ALL AT ONCE