Marvel Reveals Inside Look at Diverse New Avengers Lineup; Wall Street Journal, 6/24/15

Michael Calia, Wall Street Journal; Marvel Reveals Inside Look at Diverse New Avengers Lineup:

"Marvel Comics fans are used to the Avengers lineup changing every so often. In the fall, an “all-new, all-different” Avengers will debut, this time with a new wrinkle that marks the company’s latest push for more diversity within its pages...

The new team will also include usual cohorts Thor and Captain America, but not the versions of the characters so many have grown up with. Instead, the female Thor (Jane Foster) and the black Captain America (Sam Wilson, otherwise known as Falcon), who debuted to much controversy last year, will join the crew...

The new Avengers, which were featured in a special story for this year’s Free Comic Book Day, will include other fresh faces beyond the new versions of Captain America and Thor. Marvel is looking to capitalize on the breakout success of Ms. Marvel, a Pakistani-Muslim teenager from Jersey City named Kamala Khan, whose comics were the company’s top digital sellers last year. Another new member, Nova (Sam Alexander, who has a Latino background), is also enjoying mainstream exposure as a key character on the popular Disney Infinity 2.0 videogame.

The team will also feature Spider-Man, but not the classic Peter Parker incarnation of the character. Marvel made waves a few days ago when it announced that Miles Morales, a young man of black and Hispanic descent, would be the main Spider-Man in the Marvel universe. Now Morales will also be an Avenger.

Brevoort, who had the idea to add Morales to the team, thinks the team’s diversity will help lure in new readers. “I think that potentially gives you a wider chance to connect with a wider spectrum of the audience who may be able to see and invest themselves in the characters,” he said."