Iron Man Change Is Important And Inspiring
Today my life changed. Or maybe the word “changed” is dramatic … or maybe it’s not. And I wouldn’t say just my life changed, I would say the little black girl sitting in front of the TV watching X-men — her life changed. Or the black teen reading the latest Marvel comic — their life changed, not just mine.
Today Marvel Comics announced that Tony Stark would be stepping down as Iron Man after Civil War II and in his place would be a 15-year old, black female genius named Riri Williams who goes to college at MIT. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was literally skipping around my office at work. What a time to be alive and to be a nerd; specifically a black nerd or affectionately what we call ourselves: “Blerds.”
The diversity in Marvel has always been there. Pick up the Marvel encyclopedia and you will see men and women of all shapes, sizes and color. But as we already know, women and people of color don’t always get the recognition they deserve. Some will argue that this is a catastrophe, and of course racist online riots will ensue, but I have never felt so empowered. And that’s what comics are meant to do. I don’t feel empowered because Tony Stark, a white man, is no longer Iron Man — I would actually love it if he stuck around and mentored Riri. I feel empowered because the face of a well-known superhero who is loved by so many will finally be a woman, a black woman.
In 2016 black women have officially been named the most educated race and gender. Not shockingly, many people don’t know that. But in comics — these amazing books that many people grow up with, know the stories and pass them down to their kids, and stand in line for their video games, their movies and general paraphernalia — now a black woman, other than X-Men’s Storm has a chance to be on a movie poster or in a video game and inspire a young black child to be all that they can be in this world.
With the existing racial tensions in this country becoming more exposed, this is the positive reinforcement that a race of people truly needs. Some may think this is mundane as it’s just a comic book. But to a child who has a target already attached to their back and is already being labeled a failure this is what is needed: Hope.
While Riri’s creator, Brian Michael Bendis, is a white man he truly is doing something good for people of color — he’s helping making us more relevant to the general consumer of entertainment by choosing one of the lynchpin characters that launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe for this change. While we can certainly enhance our relevancy on our own, having the support is not such a bad thing. Next up, Marvel should consider taking on more writers of color. But for now my heart smiles just to know that a little black girl will finally get to see herself for what she really is — smart, unique and super.
