Oh well, it could be worse. They could have made Ultimate Peter Parker black/Latino from the start like they did Ultimate Nick Fury.

Edited by Rick Whiting on 02 August 2011 at 11:31am

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Bull.

The problem is not that new characters don't sell. The problem is that "creators" want to keep their "new" characters to themselves, so they can make big Hollywood deals, and not accidentally "give Marvel the next Spider-Man".

That, plus a mixture of laziness and cowardice in editorial. Why even "risk" a new character, when churning our fifteen more books with "X" in the title will get the job done without even raising a sweat.

The Dark X-Wolvespiders.

Coming soon.

You know, if this were a What-If or whatever Marvel's = of Elseworlds is, I would probably get behind it. "What if Peter Parker were from Harlem," only,  thoughtful and provocative rather than 70s blackspoitation.

JB's spot-on analysis upthread reminds me of one of Kevin Smith's Jersey films.... MALLRATS, when the black radical lectures the nerds at the convention about removing Darth Vader's powerful, black visage only to reveal a wrinkly old white guy.  Only, somewhat in reverse.

I don't know who created the character, but I always liked the Silver Age Black Super Soldier Subject Isaiah Bradley.  Seems like there was a lot of potential for the character (more than just a Black Captain America), but they passed it all on to his grandson in Young Avengers.  I would have loved to have read (and still would) a Marvel JSA-type book with Bradley and other characters of that era on the team.

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Notice how over the last 10 years at Marvel, original black (and other minority) characters who did not follow in an existing white characters footsteps were often the ones who were bought back only to be used as cannon fodder (killed off,maimed, or depowered). Black Goliath, Charcoal,Synch,Skin,Jubilee,Bishop,Gabe Jones,John Wraith,Night Thrasher,Aegis,Maggot,and Cecilia Reyes are a few examples that immediately spring to mind. If Marvel really want to make their universe more racially diverse, then they should use the existing minority characters they have for something other than cannon fodder.

Edited by Rick Whiting on 02 August 2011 at 12:22pm

Stop giving them ideas. You know they're hard up for them.

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He's not a Silver Age character. He's a modern retcon (2003), and exactly what I'm complaining about: shoehorning a Black character into an existing White character's role, rather than coming up with something actually NEW.

But somehow I suspect you know that.

I don't know who created the character, but I always liked the Silver Age Black Super Soldier Subject Isaiah Bradley.  Seems like there was a lot of potential for the character (more than just a Black Captain America), but they passed it all on to his grandson in Young Avengers.  I would have loved to have read (and still would) a Marvel JSA-type book with Bradley and other characters of that era on the team.

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I don't have a problem with the fact that Isaiah Bradley's abilities wound up passed down to his grandson because Isaiah's current physical condition was very important to the story, in that the earlier version of the Super Soldier formula eventually ruined his mind.  It's unfortunately a very believable series of events, considering the US's history with using minorities in chemical tests back in the day.  Having something positive with Patriot come from something tragic in what happened with his Grandfather was a good turn, in my book.

Then again, we could get into the fact that even though continuity wise, Isaiah Bradley came before Steve Rogers, he was still the BLACK Captain America (or that his son patterned his costumed persona after Bucky).  Speaking of that, when naming the various black characters named after a white character of the same name, Lamar "Battlestar" Hoskins was indeed called "Bucky" and wore the same costume, while fighting alongside John Walker's Captain America, until I believe a backlash by some fans over a black man taking a name with racist overtones, caused M***** to change his name to Battlestar.

I don't believe that changing a character in order to be "politically correct" is the right approach...how long until we get a "Black Superman"?

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World Class Championship Wrestling did it in 1987 with "Black Superman" Tony Atlas ;)

Bull.

The problem is not that new characters don't sell. The problem is that "creators" want to keep their "new" characters to themselves, so they can make big Hollywood deals, and not accidentally "give Marvel the next Spider-Man".