About two weeks ago, Marvel Comics announced that there would be a new person in the iconic red and gold Iron Man armor, but that person is no man. Enter Riri Williams, a 15-year-old, black science genius created by modern comic legend Brian Michael Bendis, who will be taking on the role of Iron Man later this year after Tony Stark steps down due to events taking place in this summer’s annual crossover event, Civil War II. I’ve been thinking a lot about this news since it was announced, and it’s taken me until now to really be able to express my feelings about it. I decided to lay my thoughts out in a nice list of pros and cons.
Pros
Diversity. In the last few years, Marvel Comics has made a concerted effort to live up to one of the earliest promises the company made back in the 1960s and that was to represent the world outside your window. But what I see out my window today is much different from the one people like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby saw over 50 years ago, and therefore, in order to keep their promise, the characters Marvel publishes must also be different; and for my money, they’re doing it. Currently we have: a black Captain America, a multiracial Spider-Man, a female Thor and Wolverine and a Korean-American Hulk; five of this company’s most recognizable characters now represent the growing diversity in America.
Identification. To me, what makes Marvel characters so appealing is that I can identify with them; their struggles with morality and responsibility make them very human and therefore identifiable to me. But it also helps that most of these characters are white guys. Now I’m not saying that people of color or women can’t identify with white guys, or vice versa, that falls solely into the hands of the writer to do that, but it definitely helps when you can look a the page and see someone who looks like you doing these impossible feats of heroism.
Mainstream Attention. Since the "Iron Man" film came out in 2008, superheroes and comic books have become more and more mainstream, and it’s become more acceptable to be a fan of them after the age of 12; but, there are still a lot of negative stereotypes surrounding the community (i.e. creepy, sexist guys who get off to anatomically incorrect women, etc.) because a lot of people just don’t know about it. Do people like that exist? Yes, they do. I have had many interactions with them, but a majority of fans are just people who enjoy reading about people in brightly colored costumes going on adventures. And, yes, there is still a lot of work to be done to clean up the reputation of the comic book community, but this is definitely a step in the right direction.
Cons
The Writer. Now, I’m not saying that Brian Michael Bendis is a bad writer — far from it — but the issue is that he is a white man writing about a black woman. And I am also not saying that he should not be allowed to write this character — that’s basically censorship, and Bendis should be applauded for wanting to shake up the status quo of such an iconic character in such a monumental way. Bendis is no stranger to black women, he’s the adoptive father of two and he created Riri, in part, for his daughters. What I am saying, however, is that if Marvel truly wanted to show the world that they are committed to diversity as a company, then they should have also hired a black female writer to pen Riri’s story in order to provide the most authentic perspective for the character.
Hate Comments. It’s very sad to say this, but we live in an overly sensitive world. The Internet provides a barrier of anonymity so that people can just vomit their gross ideas all over the place. And it’s not just a bunch of college students who are hell-bent on maintaining “political correctness” who are doing this. Just look at the sexist backlash the new "Ghost Busters" movie received just because the cast was primarily female. The same thing happened with the announcement of Riri becoming Iron Man; people who said a woman can’t be Iron Man, which has happened before several times, or a black person can’t be Iron Man, which was the case for most of the 1980s. We can’t do anything anymore without it becoming bogged down by disgusting hate speech, and I knew from the moment I heard about this that it would happen.
The Return of Tony Stark. This is inevitable. Comic books have a very hard time adjusting to change. Very rarely when something like this happens does it last very long. While Tony reclaiming his position as Iron Man isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it won’t do Riri any favors. What will most likely happen is Tony will come out of retirement, Riri will relinquish the title, but as a token of his respect, Tony will gift Riri her own armor and code name, and she will be relegated to a supporting role. This kind of depressing because Riri is being set up as a major player, but it’s only a matter of time before she gets bumped down a notch.
