Captain Planet would be proud.
http://www.vox.com/2016/7/8/12118178/iron-man-riri-williams-marvel
Now Laura taking up the mantle of Wolverine, I get. They have a long history with one another and it makes sense for why she would want to carry on the legacy of her father/originalversionwhosheisacloneof. It's not about Wolverine with tits, it's about Laura already being an established character who just so happens to have tits.
Falcon taking on the title of Captain America? I get it. They've been friends for a very long time and have been through a lot together and so it makes sense for saggy Rogers to want the legacy of Cpt America to continue and hands it over to his friend. It's not about Captain America being black as far as I can see it, Falcon just happen to be black.
Gwenpoole and Deadpool? Gwenpoole really has nothing to do with Deadpool apart from being humour oriented and wearing the same suit pattern. She literally walked into a costume store after she had travelled from our world to the world of marvel and asked for a suit so she could be a hero. Upon hearing her name Gwen Poole the tailor thought it was meant to be a play on Deadpool and so made her suit look like his one. I have zero problems with this. It is mean to be a joke and ride on the name of Deadpool but in no way does she replace Deadpool or try to take on his mantle or anything like that; She is her own character doing her own thing. It's not about turning Deadpool into a girl, if it was about that then we'd have Lady Deadpool make a stronger appearance again. Gwenpoole =/= Deadpool.
Ms Marvel is now muslim! THE HORROR OH GOD THE HOOOOORROOOOOR!!!! Except she's not muslim. Cpt Marvel is still around, she's part of the A-Force now. Kamala Khan on the other hand 'is' muslim and she took on the mantle of Ms Marvel, a identity that Cpt Marvel had moved away from and if you read the new Ms Marvel volumes you'd know that there is a reason behind it. Ms Marvel isn't replacing Carol. Carol is still around. This one is a bit more forced than the other ones, a new character who was clearly written to be a minory taking on the mantle of an already established character. But it is well written and so I don't really find any problems with it. (HOWEVER! You can't pull this kind of stunt too many times before it becomes clear that you're just shoehorning in minorities for the sake of shoehorning in minorities. I find that pretty racist actually. Instead of writing characters who just so happens to be X or Y or Z they're instead written for the specific purpose of being X, Y or Z. Kamala feels like a mix of both, which is probably why I'm more open to her)
And Amadeus taking on the role of The Hulk? To me it makes sense. Banner is fucking tired of being the Hulk. He's been tired of it for a long time. No matter how much good he does he is always treated like a bomb that is ready to go off. Banner's stories IMO are at an end. There is only so long you can keep a character going before they start to repeat themselves or stop progressing as a character. Amadeus on the other hand is an already established character who is a friend of the Hulk and idealizes "The Hulk" so him becoming the new Hulk and wanting to use its power to its full potential to help people and show the world how amazing and wonderful such power can be is interesting to me. It's a new take on it from a new perspective. I like it. It's not about Hulk now having slanty eyes, Amadeus simply happens to be oriental.
Writers and creative leads that have a passion for what they do will sometimes want to explore something new. Something different. And so one of them decided they wanted to explore a muslim girl turning super hero. I see no problem with this. We've already explored whities and blackies of atheistic or christian leanings before, so where is the harm in exploring this? Now what I 'would' have a problem with would be if Carol would suddenly turn muslim out of nowhere. But that didn't happen. Kamala is her own character.
The problem I see people having is the obvious "why can't they be their own heroes, why do they have to ride on the name of former heroes' titles?" And I fully agree with it, I think it's kinda cheap for a new hero to have to share his/her identity with a former character and that they should be their own character with their own hero-name. But at the same time I get it why they do this. An established name sells. A new name will make people wary of whether it will be worth their money or not. I don't like it, but I get it.
But this... I haven't read the material with this new girl just yet and I have no idea how it is going to pan out but... It seems dumb to me. Like female Thor. Captain America is an ideal, it makes sense for it to be taken up by someone else. Wolverine is a living legend, it makes sense for Laura to want to keep it alive. Gwenpoole ain't Deadpool. Kamala is a fangirl of Cpt Marvel, that's why she took up her former alias. Amadeus is obsessive about the "Hulk" persona, it makes sense. All of it makes sense. Most of them area already established characters who have strong connections with the heroes who's titles they've decided to take on and I doubt that their inception way back were "one day, this character who isn't white and male is going to take on the role of ____."
This... It just feels forced. Incredibly forced. Marvel is clearly trying to diversify their rosters and I'm fine with it so long as the stories they produce are good and makes sense. The examples I've given are some I think make sense and work just fine.
But this? Iron Man isn't an ideal. It's not a grand title that can be passed on. Iron Man is Tony Stark. A businessman and a genius who is capable of amazing calculations that break the boundaries of the world sometimes. A former alcoholic and playboy who is trying to juggle a fun personal life with a rigid belief in futurism and his narcissism that he knows what's best for everyone else.
I dunno, it might be too early to judge this. That's what people did with other things which turned out fine. But if just feels forced, far too forced.
They want to create more diverse casts to represent more people then that's fine. I have no problem with that. But this one doesn't sit right with me. You can't just throw together your own exoskeleton and suddenly become the new Iron Man. And I don't see how a completely new character would be trusted enough by Tony to take on his apparently now "former" alias.
What do the rest of you think?
[edit]
Oh and this from the same article:
Yes, why
of course Marvel should institute race and gender quota's for hiring people. That's not fucked up at all!
Moose, notice the 'white socks'.
! Who would have thought that his police career would be so ... short. Curious what that will mean for Jihadists though. They won't lose their job anytime soon, right? Economization is a real bitch.
