The Marvelous Adaptation of Heroes
By: Tay Waller
Tags: Marvel, Feminism, Comics

Within the past few decades, superheroes have been flying onto our screens and pages, quipping a witty catchphrase, and stealing our hearts. Sure, there have always been superhero-like figures, such as the gods in Greek or Roman mythology, but recently flying men and women in spandex have been increasingly popular when it comes to otherworldly figures. A certainly notable piece of this uprise is Marvel Comics and, most importantly, their vast collection of crime-fighters. Ever since the organization’s creation in 1939 by Martin Goodman, Marvel characters (along with the guidelines of how new marvel characters are built) have adapted in several ways, the most notable of which being interworking current events, diversification of characters, and relation to the newest generations of people to stay relevant in our ever-changing society.

Ever since the dawn of Marvel, the company has been intertwining current events with their entertainment to keep the viewers flowing in. In 1941 Captain America was introduced to the world through the pages of Marvel’s comic books. Captain America, also known as Steve Rogers, was a morally righteous, patriotic twenty-something less-than-average joe who was turned into super-soldier overnight for the sole purpose of doing right and serving his country. Of course, at the time this comic was released we were in the middle of the second World War. No one would be surprised to see that an uber-patriotic, nazi-punching, red-white-and-blue rocking hero would rise to fame in a time when American patriotism was most abundant. Captain America was a strong supporter of joining the Army and encouraged Americans to help fight this war and step up to be their own kind of superhero. Similarly, Black Panther was released to the public in 1966, during the Civil Rights Movement. Tim Posada, a professor at Saddleback college wrote about people who read the Black Panther comics feeling “…empowerment felt reading about Black Panther ‘fighting the KKK on their own turf in 1966’” (Posada). It’s no shock that a KKK-fighting Black superhero would become popular when African-Americans needed to be empowered and represented. Not only has Black Panther been around for the Civil Rights Movement, but the Black Panther movie (the first Marvel movie to have a person of color as the main character) was also released just a couple years ago in 2018, in a time when the Black Lives Matter movement has been most alive. Since then, Black Panther has become a symbol of black empowerment and a legend of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Along with prominent movements like BLM, in recent years Marvel has become noticeably more liberal, especially in their 2017 film Thor: Ragnarok. The movie features subtle undertones of liberal ideals such as immigration. At the end of the movie (spoiler warning) the Asgardians are left as refugees from a destroyed land looking for a home, a situation very similar to a lot of immigrants in our world today coming from broken countries in search of a safe haven. Thor is a “…hero at the head of an ark full of people whose homeworld is on fire, looking for a new land to call their own. Immigrants all, refugees from a foreign land” (Bernardin). The most relevant example in the comics is the comics of Ms.Marvel. Ms. Marvel is embodied by Kamala Khan, “her newest iteration as a Pakistani Muslim young woman, challenges the conventions of race and American citizenship in the post-9/11 United States” (Landis). This comic is extremely relevant considering all the Islamophobia in the United States that have been occurring recently, including the recent travel ban created by Trump, nicknamed the “Muslim ban”, that restricts the travel of citizens of middle-eastern countries in the US. Weaving in these current events that are relevant to our political situations and ideals as a country over the years has surely gained Marvel the attention of many liberals who can either relate or sympathize with the predicaments throughout their lifespan as a company.

. Not only do the Ms.Marvel comics work to tie together comics and current events but this specific series of comics, along with several others, is part of the new wave of diversity that Marvel is working to bring to all their universes. Originally, Ms.Marvel was Carol Danvers, a white woman who was part of the Air Force, before she took on the role of Captain Marvel. Danvers is also a part of the change in diversity but in the category of gender. She replaced the original Captain Marvel, a male Kree alien named Mar-Vell that went by the alias of Walter Lawson, making yet another pre-existing Marvel character more diverse.

Several other heroes have gone through this type of adaptation, changing from one ethnicity, gender, or religion. The best example of all three would be the characters from Into the Spider-Verse. Though it is not technically a Marvel movie (Sony developed the movie), all of the characters in Into the Spider-Verse are Marvel characters that appear in their comics, movies, and television shows. Into the Spider-Verse was released last year and includes a very diverse cast of characters, including the lead, Miles Morales. Miles is a half Puerto Rican and half African American growing up in New York. There is also several other alternate Spider-Men, such as Spider-Gwen, an alternate universe’s Gwen Stacy turned Spider-Man, and Penny Parker, a young Asain girl who fights crime with the help of her robot. A good part of the movie to point out would be, as New York Times writer Eliana Dockterman said, “Spider-Verse does not make much hay of the gender or ethnicity of Miles, Gwen, and Peni” (Dockterman). Not only is there an abundance of race and gender diversity in this movie, but it has also been confirmed that Peter Parker from ‘our’ universe is Jewish, seeing as the movie depicts him breaking plates at his wedding which is a Jewish tradition.

Going further into Marvel Comics, there is even an abundance of LGBTQ+ characters. Deadpool, America Chavez, Loki, and Mystique are just a few. As well as adapting old characters, Marvel writers have made new characters that more diverse, such as America Chavez and Karolina Dean. Even though there has been much change in the Marvel comics in relation to the amount of diversity, there has not been as much in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Only in the past few years have they had a rise of minority and women superheroes, with Black Panther debuting in 2018 and Captain Marvel (Marvel’s first female-led movie) just this year. Future movies that will be released are in the works currently including women and minorities in leading roles such as Black Panther 2, Shang-Chi, Black Widow, and, even though it is technically a Sony movie, Into the Spider-Verse 2 (Donnelly). This newfound diversity in Marvel’s several universes will help them to bring in new viewers or readers who want to see someone like themselves reflected in entertainment. Diversity in Marvel will certainly help them stay relevant, especially with the wave of new generations that have arrived.

. Of course, the main crowd Marvel has to worry about staying relevant with is the newest generations. The youngest generations alive right now, Gen Z and the Millennial Generation, have been the most liberal generations yet- these generations are super accepting, caring, and aware of others’ emotions. In an article from the Pew Research Center, 62% of Gen Z and 61% of Millenials say that increasing diversity is good for society. These percentages have a 9% or higher gap between them and other generations percentages, with the silent generation coming in dead last with 41%. Marvel doesn’t let this information fly over their heads. Their new diversity in their casts of characters and inclusion of current events bundle up into a well-rounded content that the youngest generations would be interested in consuming. Giving minorities and women bigger roles in the work will draw in these younger people who appreciate diversity and inclusion. Kids around my age are also attracted to the comedy and quirks that Marvel seems to be bringing to its content. Having little jokes like the ones Tom Holland’s Peter Parker makes or remarks from Shuri, sister of Black Panther, such as “What are those?!” (a reference to the late, great Vine, a social media platform that many younger kids, in particular, are well-versed in) is very appealing to kids because those small bits are something we can fully relate to and understand, as well as some of the jokes made by these Avengers utilizing the same sense of humor many kids have today.

Younger people appreciate the effort that is made by Marvel when they choose to begin the process of de-sexualizing women superheroes in ways like a not-overly-sexualized-for-no-reason costume or by not making it such a big deal that women and minorities are getting huge roles. In Captain Marvel, instead of making Carol wear an ultra-tight, latex body-suit, the creative minds behind the movie made the decision to have her wear a less revealing suit that much more realistic for a woman that would be fighting evil forces and want her legs covered for the sensible purpose of protection. Making costumes less over-sexualized definitely helps to appeal to a younger audience that is still deciding if this brand of movies is worth their time or not and so far Marvel has been doing a great job of improving their material to become more geared to these younger generations down the road.

. Marvel’s sly strategy of creating content for younger generations has certainly worked on me. For almost as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a superhero. My dad started a tradition with me when I was a kid. He and I would go out to the theater, get some slushies, and we would watch the latest Marvel movie. I loved doing this. It was extra time I got to spend with my dad when he wasn’t traveling for work and it also led me to discover an affinity for superheroes. These heroes I love so dearly stand up for the helpless, rescue the endangered, and always do their best to be genuinely good. Plus they had super-powers, so that was a plus. These heroes all had special powers that made them unique, well, unique in most ways. Tony Stark: a genius with an iron super-suit; Steve Rogers: a less-than-average joe with a righteous moral compass and newly developed super-soldier strength; Thor: a god with the power of all the sky. All of these men were the focal point of the heroes seen on screen in the Marvel Universe, and all are heterosexual caucasian men. As a kid, I always loved these guys to the moon and back, but I felt like something was missing. I could only relate to them on a certain level and, besides that, I was confused. Why was it only guys that were allowed to be the hero that saved the world? There were virtually no women early on in Marvel’s cinematic life. Though, Peggy Carter, Pepper Potts, Jane Foster, and, later on down the road, Natasha Romanoff, main women characters that I looked up to and cherished deeply, were around to assist the main superheroes a few times, why wouldn’t they defeat Red-Skull or save a town from destruction? These are definitely questions other little kids like me were asking around that time. Why can’t someone who looks like me save the world? As we know, representation is important for everyone, especially women and minorities. Marika, an author of an article from the Geeks website, best describes the reason for representation being so important by stating, “We want to feel empowered after seeing a superhero movie, we want to believe we can be as strong and powerful as them. It’s sometimes hard to feel that way if you don’t look anything like the character”(Marika). Earlier this year, when Captain Marvel was released in all it’s glory, I watched in awe as Carol Danvers flew through spaceships and kicked butt with the same gusto that all of her male counterparts had for years prior. I knew that the little girl sitting in the theater with her dad all those years ago would be overflowing with joy. That is why Marvel’s diversity is so important in its relevance. As Eliana Dockterman so eloquently stated, “What matters is that they each remind audiences that, to quote Aunt May, ‘There’s a hero in all of us.’ More than half a century ago, Spider-Man became the original everyman. Now he’s finally starting to look like it”(Dockterman).

People want to see others like them doing amazing things and see that they can be just as fantastic. It’s difficult to look at someone drastically different than you and think “Wow. If that guy can save all those people and perform so many heroic acts, then I can do great things with my life like him.” This is why heroes are inspiring to people who have similar characteristics (race, gender, sexuality, have the same disability). They can go through the same adversity that anyone like them is going through, push through it, and then go kick butt. Seeing a character look like yourself is a reassuring comfort that you are capable of being as amazing as them.

. Through similarities to our current society and societies of the past, a newfound diversity in content, and the attraction of new generations, Marvel is able to stay relevant, and even thrive, in the world we live in today. Through and through, Marvel has evolved, growing more popular with each new movie or comic released. While it’s very possible Marvel is just another greedy corporation making a change for cash in return, there are wonderful people creating the content that have pure intentions and that truly care about having everyone feel represented and empowered. The radical change in Marvel’s entertainment has created a gateway towards new viewers, extending a hand to help everyone feel welcome and represented in our society. Through the attention, Marvel has managed to be stably relevant, remaining steady enough to keep the flow of astonishing, loveable characters coming to be consumed by adoring fans in a marvelous cycle of adaption.

Works Cited

Bernardin, Marc. “Thor: Ragnorak Is A Direct. Commentary On Trump’s America”. SyFy Wire, 5 November 2017, https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/thor-ragnarok-is-a-direct-commentary-on-trumps-america. Web. Accessed 5 November 2019.

Dockterman, Eliana. “Spider-Man’s Sticking Power”. TIME International (South Pacific Edition), 27 August 2015, http://ezproxy.missouriwestern.edu:2139/eds/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=5ff814fd-8d4c-4977-b73d-7ac0575d74a3%40sessionmgr4006&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=133447793&db=f5h. Web, Accessed 29 October 2019.

Dockterman, Eliana. “Everyone’s A Superhero at Marvel”. TIME International, 17 December 2018, https://time.com/4012852/everyones-a-superhero-at-marvel/. Web. Accessed 29 October 2019.

Donnelly, Matt. “Marvel Powers Up”. Variety, 9 July 2019, http://ezproxy.missouriwestern.edu:2117/eds/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=e006e0c1-2398-4826-a965-ac67bb660c27%40sessionmgr102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=137368500&db=f5h. Web. Accessed 29 October 2019.

Parker, Kim. Graf, Nikki. Igielnik, Ruth. “Generation Z Looks a Lot Like Millennials on Key Social and Political Issues”. Pew Research Center, 17 January 2019, https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2019/01/17/generation-z-looks-a-lot-like-millennials-on-key-social-and-political-issues/. Accessed 29 November 2019.

Posada, Tim. “Afrofuturism, Power, and Marvel Comic’s Black Panther”. Journal of Pop Culture, June 2019, http://ezproxy.missouriwestern.edu:2117/eds/detail/detail?vid=6&sid=e006e0c1-2398-4826-a965-ac67bb660c27%40sessionmgr102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=201916063955&db=mzh. Web. Accessed 29 October 2019.

Landis, Winona. “Ms.Marvel, Qahera, and Superheroism and Muslim Diaspora”. Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, 2 April 2019, http://ezproxy.missouriwestern.edu:2117/eds/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=e006e0c1-2398-4826-a965-ac67bb660c27%40sessionmgr102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=135462173&db=a9h. Web. Accessed 29 October 2019.

Marika. “Why ‘Captain Marvel’ is So Important”. Vocal, March 2019, https://vocal.media/geeks/why-captain-marvel-is-so-important. Web. Accessed 3 November 2019.