Marvel Comics is at it again – they’re taking an old character and revamping it. It happens over and over, mostly with the same characters that are sure hits. Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk and the X-Men have multiple universes and multiple stories that span all the way back to the mid 1900s. They seem to be a variation on a theme, replacing the time period these characters are in or the situation to see how they would react. Most of the time, you can tell what’s going to happen. But this isn’t the same.
This time, they’re giving a new character mixed with an old one. Devil Dinosaur, whose old companion was named Moon Boy, has someone similar yet the same. Moon Boy is gone and in his place stands Moon Girl. She’s a preteen wandering around with a giant red T. Rex looking dinosaur. That isn’t the only change. Instead of being a caveman, she will also be a super genius.
Part of the reason they’re bringing Devil Dinosaur back is a conscious effort by the creative team. Emily Shaw, assistant editor, said that “we’re skewing a little bit older with a lot of our titles and we wanted to create something that adults and kids could really love, like a Pixar feel.” That means get ready for an all ages experience. Yes, kids can read Captain America, but some of the nuances, or the pacing, or straight up what is going on might fly over their heads because the comic is designed for older audiences.
There seems to be a shift in comic books. It’s like the creative teams at Marvel understand that not all of their popular work has to fit a tight schematic anymore. It doesn’t have to be a man struggling with some sort of loss fighting the world, and maybe there’s a girl there. Lately, they’ve also introduced Kamala Khan, a Muslim superhero, a female Thor, and various other women into the canon that can stand on their own instead of being defined by their relationships with men. X-Men does an okay job, but so many people can still say, “Oh Mystique? The blue one with Magneto right?” These new heroes give little girls to look up to that are more in line with who they might be.
Not only is Marvel bringing more female superheroes, there’s a diversification that hasn’t been seen either. Anthony Mackie, the actor behind Sam Wilson in the Cinematic Universe, told a story about being excited to see all of the Falcons at Halloween because he gets to be a role model and feels “like everybody deserves that.” This began because the comics purposefully made Sam Wilson who he is. Not only that, but we have twists on heroes we’ve known forever. Peter Parker hangs up his Spider-Man suit and suddenly, there’s Miles Morales, ready to take the reins. Even now, people who are excited for the new Spider-Man coming to the Cinematic Universe are disappointed that the creative team there hasn’t quite accepted diversity like its book counterpart. Then again, print always seems more radical than Hollywood, so maybe they’ll catch up, and soon.
Take a look at Lunella Lafayette, and her devilishly red new best friend!
Image Credit: Entertainment Weekly, Marvel
