While browsing on the Internet, I saw a report on Marvel.com that in the new secret war comics, the Hulk’s new identity character, Amadeus Cho, was Korean. This instantly surprised me because I never expected them to make the Hulk a new character. However, I am happy they decided to take a different approach to it. Of course there are those fan boys who feel the need to comment on it, and so many fans were disappointed in the idea of the Hulk being of Korean descent. Some things said were, “This isn’t the Hulk I grew up with” or “The Hulk can’t be Korean, it won’t seem realistic enough”.
It just amazes me how in 2015 people still choose to be so closed minded about things like this. I grew up the Hulk’s character Bruce Banner, but at the end of the day, I could care less if they make a superhero another race. And to be fair it’s not like the writers are changing who Bruce Banner was and trying take away a piece of your childhood. They're just trying to give the mantle of the Hulk to someone new while making the series more diverse at the same time. If you don’t like this version of the Hulk, you can always just go back and read the original comics with Bruce Banner...not a big deal, right?
This reminds me, back in 2011, Marvel announced that they were going to kill off Peter Parker and wanted a Black/Latino kid named Miles Morales to take his place as the new Spider-Man in the ultimate marvel universe. Now, this comic book series didn’t even come out yet and already people were outraged at this idea. People were saying hateful things like, “Why does Spider-Man have to be an n word” or “Marvel isn’t getting any of my money now that Spider-Man is black”. All these comments were unnecessary, but the comment that got to me was, “I understand what the writers are trying to do, but a black Spider-Man can't be as relatable as Peter Parker was”.
I remember reading this in disbelief while shaking my head at the same time. Like...seriously? People honestly can’t see a black character being relatable to Peter Parker? So I guess there’s no possible way for a black kid to be nerdy, good at science, and live in Queens with his Aunt and Uncle, right? This is a prime example of why very many writers don’t put more diverse superheroes in comic books The moment it happens, people become so wrapped up about race they that forget about what’s really important, like what’s their personality like, what obstacles did they overcame, or hell what favorite ice cream do they like.
All in all, the morale of the story is since we live in this thing called the "real world", we have to understand that not everyone around us is going to be of the same race. That is what makes the United States a beautiful place. Times have changed from the 1960's when mostly all superheroes were white. Marvel and other comics are working to establish diversity! This opens it up for someone who reads comics and is of a different race can not only have someone to look up to, but also make the story in the comics look more realistic. And if people still can’t understand what is trying to be done here, well too bad because this is just the beginning!
