In the Marvel movie universe, a straight white guy has played some part in saving the world 20 times in the past nine years. With The Amazing Spiderman 2 opening today, we’re up to 21. On the pages of Marvel’s comic books though, a different story is unfolding.
The company has, in the last few months, been aggressive in giving women and minority superheroes starring roles. That means solo books for heroes like Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, and Black Widow; the launch and re-imagining of the Ms. Marvel as a teenage Muslim-American girl; an all-female X-Men title; a new solo series for Storm; and perhaps most excitingly, the formation of The Ultimates, a superhero team comprised of women and minorities.
Reason Number 23 Why DC’s PR Sucks*: The publisher has been leagues ahead of Marvel in terms of female-led books (and, arguably, books with non-white-straight-leads…? I’m less sure about that one, to be honest, although it feels right) for years, and yet Marvel’s canny PR team is able to score headlines and stories like this one in Vox when it finally gets around to parity, making it seem like the leader in the area.
(* Reasons Number 1 Through 22 are pretty much the ones you think they are.)