Tag Archives: Avengers

Women needed, but only temporarily

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Pick a superhero team, any team, and I can guarantee you that team has a male leader. X-Men? Cyclops. JLA? Superman. Avengers? Captain America…or Iron Man…or Thor. You get the picture. There aren’t many female leaders in comics. Well, that’s not entirely true. There have been a number of female team leaders, but they were only temporary leaders. Sadly, most female leaders in mainstream comics only get to be interim coaches. An interim coach is the immediate replacement coach whenever the real head is fired or quits. These stop-gap leaders get to stay for the remainder of the season, backed publicly by all the important people, only to be replaced in the end. For most interim coaches, the shortened, problem-plagued season is their only opportunity to show people they can be effective leaders; they rarely ever get a chance to show their skills in a more promising situation. Sadly, almost every female leader in comics has been an interim coach.

Not all interim coaches simply walk into the role of leader, some fight for it. In the X-Men, goddess and mutant Ororo Monroe aka Storm, thought that de facto leader Cyclops was becoming weak and irrational as a leader, and openly challenged him for the position of head of the X-Men. And she won! Rather than truly changing roles, however, Storm’s actions were written as a motivational strategy to encourage Cyclops to be a better leader. Despite her very high power level and proven leadership skills, Storm stepped down the moment Cyclops declared he was ready once again to lead.

Other female leaders have terrible luck. For example, Dinah Lance, aka, Black Canary was appointed the leader of the Justice League of America only months before the Final Crisis. Black Canary comes from a family of crime fighters, has been on five other superhero teams, has been taught by the greatest fighters and strategists in the DC universe, but none of that experience could have prepared her for the death of Batman and her granddaughter, the mutilation of her son, and the resignation of Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern. This is one of the very few times she gets to be a leader, and everyone either dies or quits.

Ultimately, almost every female leader is made to be a pawn within the comic universe, or a throw-away plot device. For some, at least, there is a moment in time when they are truly the established leaders; for Ms. Marvel, however, she was only a leader in name. After the Civil War, Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, decided the world needed a new group of Avengers. He asked Ms. Marvel to be the leader. Despite being the “leader”, Ms. Marvel had no say in choosing the roster, didn’t pick the missions and was left out of the loop on every major case.

One can only hope that we will see more long-term female leaders. There doesn’t make sense that most creators not only use males exclusively for leadership roles, but also use the same males. I mean really, how many teams does Wolverine need to lead/join?

Non-White=Non-Human

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A few years ago when Iron Man 2 was in theatres, a friend of mine shared a link to a story that argued that James Rhodes aka War Machine is the ideal black super hero. In the article, writer Graeme McMillan explains how War Machine exhibits so many stereotypes that he is the epitome of the exploited superhero of color. So that got me thinking.

The edgy non-white character isn’t exactly a new idea in entertainment, especially in film, on television, and in literature. The black man is almost always edgy and anti-social, the Latino is always hot blooded or seductive, and the Asian is always the epitome of peace and calmness…unless he’s an angry samurai. Again, this is nothing new. But when we look at comics, there is another trend being used on minority characters. A surprisingly large number of heroes of color are being depicted as not entirely human. Don’t get me wrong, nobody is writing or drawing these characters as stereotypical savages; however, a number of minority superheroes are shown as not 100% human.

Some are shown as half human/half robot. Used mostly for black males, this trope can be seen in such characters as the Avengers’ War Machine, Cyborg of the Teen Titans, and the JLA member Steel. Unlike their white counterparts like Iron Man, and Batman—who are known for their use of advanced technology and suits of armor—these black heroes often struggle with maintaining their human personalities. All three of the heroes have had recent story arcs in which they battled their robotic halves in a fight over their humanity and sanity. Iron Man doesn’t deal with this much trouble with the Extremis virus.

Other characters are shown as being half animal or monster. JLA members Vixen, Pantha, and Wildebeest all have the ability to adapt the physical appearances and abilities of animals. In fact, both Pantha and Wildebeest are always depicted as humanoids, and Vixen always has long canine teeth or claws. Speaking of teeth, there is the vampire hunter Blade. Because he is half human/half vampire, he is known as the day-walking half-breed who has the ability to live like a human.

 

 

I’m not sure what is going on here—truth be told, I’m not sure if anything is going on—but this trend caught my attention. It is too easy to point out how having a black speedster, or Native American magic user is problematic;however, the absence of the blatant doesn’t necessarily mean there aren’t any questionable practices being used.