Before
I start, I feel that I should recognize that what I am about to
write, were I reading it, and were it written by a White person, I
would probably find racist. But since I am writing it and, despite
reports to the contrary, I am not White, I know that this isn't
racist. The truth of this discrepancy is something I should not
ignore, but cannot account for. So I'll ignore it.
A
few days ago (February 10th) it was announced that Sony
would be partnering with Marvel to include Spider-Man in the MCU
(Marvel Cinematic Universe.) There was much rejoicing, as Spider-Man
is integral to the story that Marvel seems to want to adapt from the
comic books (Civil War.) This is also wonderful news. Spidey is kind
of the center of the Marvel Universe. He lives by the motto “with
great power comes great responsibility.” Not only does he live by
that model, he tries his best to make sure that people around him own
up to the responsibility their power confers, so by default he is the
moral compass of the Marvel U. He is the everyman-superhero which is
an oxymoron, but is also what makes him so compelling. I'm a fan.
Being
a fan I was greatly distressed to see a bunch of articles posted mere
hours after the announcement with titles such as “Enough Peter Parker”, “It'sTime for Donald Glove”, and, most horrifying of all, “Kill
Peter Parker!” It seems that the internet hates Peter Parker!
Why! I truly felt the need to #WellActually all these bloggers and
inform them of the errors of their opinions (yes I know that opinions
can't be wrong, but these guys are wrong.)
I
saw several people on Twitter responding in a similar fashion, and as
we all know, every one tweet represents 5,000 actual opinions* A
virtual lynch mob has formed to get rid of Peter and replace him with
Miles Morales. Let me say this; I hate the Ultimates Universe.
Ultimates was a new line of comics Marvel started to tell what I
guess were supposed to be “hip” and “edgy” versions of the
existing heroes. I hate hip. I hate edgy. I like the things that I
like, and I want the things I like to be like the thing I like. I am
very consistent on this point; Transformers, Battlestar Galactica, GI
JOE, you name it. All these reboots and hip, edgy versions of things
I like that are almost entirely unlike the source material, I ignore.
Dozens of people have tried to get me to watch BSG, or told me how
great Ultimate Spider Man is; I don't care. It could all be the most
amazing fiction ever, but it's not what I came for. Every effort to
sell me on this new Fantastic Four movie has the opposite effect,
mostly because their main selling point seems to be “It's entirely
different from the FF you know!” Well... I like the thing I like...
why would I like something entirely unlike the thing I like? I like
Peter Parker, I like Spider Man. Making some cheap knockoff Spider
Man isn't going to excite me just because he's Brown. If I am going
to see a movie adaptation of something I like, it better be the thing
I like, not some warped, twisted, approximation of the thing I like
(I'm looking at you Michael Bay.)
One
reason people use to justify changing Spiders is that his origin
story has been done to death; on this point I agree. We get it, we
know, no need to beat that particular horse again. In fact I've seen
various reports that Marvel will jump right into a new Spider story
sans origins, similar to what they did switching Bruce Banners. Bam,
problem solved, and quite easily at that. No need to freaking murder
the guy because of that. I know he's fictional. He's important to me.
You will deal.
The
second, and more emotionally charged reason people are pushing for
the change is that we, as PoC (Persons of Color), would like to see a
major superhero who looks like us to further the cause of diversity
in fiction. Great. Wonderful. I'm all-in on that. But why do you have
to sacrifice Peter Parker for this agenda?
The
prevailing feeling I have received from reading these blogs and
seeing the reactions on Twitter is that people want a Black
Character, and Spider-Man is as good as anyone, because it will make
a “statement.” I can tell that people who feel this way were
never fans of the comic books. If you read Spidey like I did you
would never want to just casually toss him aside in the name of
diversity. Yes I sound like That Nerd because I am That Nerd. I am
going to proudly and unashamedly be That Guy. I don't want Black
Spidey because I grew up with Peter Parker. It is entirely possible
that many of the White fans who are unhappy with these changes feel
the same way. I mean, they can't statistically all be racist. Maybe
some of us just want the thing we like to be the thing we like.
People who have never been invested in the source material (a large
portion of current movie fandom, for good or ill) are fine with
making sweeping changes to characters that make no sense
contextually. I don't want Black Johnny Storm. I want Luke Cage. Why
in the blazes was Heimdall Black in the Thor movies? To shoehorn
Idris Elba in there somewhere? Why couldn't he have been the
scientist who befriends Thor, Dr Selvig? Why have him as a NORSE GOD.
You know, I think I can deal with a lack of diversity in the NORSE
GOD PANTHEON. It made no sense, and is the prime example of pointless
pandering changes. (Please don't come at me with that “they're
aliens” thing. Just... don't.)
The
current trend is to cast PoC as existing heroes, which I am totally
against. Don't get me wrong I do of course want to see more PoC in
movies, but not like this. In fact this trend annoys and angers me.
Making an existing character a PoC is not a victory and it is not
progress; it is the laziest kind of pandering I can imagine. It is
never and will never be permanent. If you think Falcon is going to
stay Captain America then you don't read comics. No matter how PC
people want to be he will never be Captain America, he will always be
Black Captain America to the populace. Morales will never be
Spider-Man, he will always be Black Spider-Man. Debbie will always be
Black Debbie (OK, obscure reference there) but you get the point. No
matter how good the intentions of the creative team, changing an
existing character's race or gender does not achieve the intended
goal. Marvel needs to learn from DC, specifically from Dwayne
McDuffie (rest his soul.) He was a huge influence on DC's properties,
and encouraged them to use DC's existing character's whenever
possible. He was why the Green Lantern in Justice League was John
Stewart instead of Hal Jordan.
I'm
a big fan of this tactic. Creating new characters that are People of
Color in important roles IS progress. They inhabit their own space
and own their own story. Unlike a palette-swap character, there is
none of the danger of them being retcon-ed away. This is the strategy
Marvel should employ, and the strategy that we as PoC and women fans
should encourage. Why insist on a Donald Glover as Spider Man when
you're sitting on Don-Freaking-Cheadle as War Machine. He's ALREADY
THERE. And he's a great character played by a legendary actor.
They could tell some gripping, dark stories with War Machine. I'm
fine with a War Machine movie with a similar mood and tone to Captain
America 2. I mean, he's called War Machine.
The
biggest reason why I'm against Ultimates Spider-Man and Fantastic
Four is that they apply the dark, gritty, realistic crap onto movies
that don't fit it. Spidey and FF should not be dark and gritty. They
can feature those elements, especially with villains such as Venom
and Dr Doom, but the titular characters should not be that way. I
read about Miles Morales; that story's f***ing depressing. Spidey has
been through some crap, but he doesn't let that define him. Morales
back story sounds like an episode of The Wire. I'm good, thanks.
There is also the fact that if they did introduce Spidey as Miles
THEY WOULD HAVE TO DO AN ORIGIN STORY AGAIN. I could go on. Peter
needs to stay Peter for the good of everyone. Miles will always be
alternate universe Miles, which is fine. Marvel proved that it's the
story that matters, and if they made Guardians profitable what do you
think they could do with Peter? Diversity will happen, it just can't
be shoehorned into places where it doesn't make sense in continuity
or context.
AND
why aren't people demanding Ms Marvel be portrayed by Kamala
Khan!?!?!?
*May
not be an actual fact.
