Iceman’s Gay, Thor’s a Lady, and Captain America’s Black: The Constant Culture Shifts of Comics Continue; Reason, 11/6/15

Scott Shackford, Reason; Iceman’s Gay, Thor’s a Lady, and Captain America’s Black: The Constant Culture Shifts of Comics Continue:

"Thor has recently lost his hammer, and it has been picked up by occasional romantic interest Jane Foster. Captain America is no longer blond bohunk Steve Rogers. Former sidekick Sam Wilson, who is African American, has taken his place, abandoning his codename of Falcon. Ms. Marvel is now the name used by Muslim Pakistani-American teen Kamala Khan.

It’s easy to dismiss this all as a marketing ploy. Well, yes, it is, but superhero comics are a popular culture form of entertainment that partly lives or dies based on successfully understanding its audience and marketing to them.

And it’s absolutely not new. Marvel has made gestures toward cultural diversity for ages. Comic fans know full well that part of the metaphor of the X-Men—mutants whose powers originate from genetic abnormalities—was about cultural diversity, civil rights, and fear of the “other.”"

Sirs Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart: X-Men echoes struggles of gay rights movement; Metro, 2/24/14

Metro; Sirs Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart: X-Men echoes struggles of gay rights movement:

"Sirs Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart have compared the themes of the the X-Men film series to the gay rights movement.

The esteemed actors portray Magneto and Professor Charles Xavier in the movie franchise and say the persecution of ‘mutants’ in the film reflects the struggles of the LGBT community.

‘Mutants are like gays, they’re cast out by society for no good reason,’ McKellen, 74, said.

‘They, as in all civil rights movements, have to decide: Are they going to take the Xavier line, which is to somehow assimilate and stand up for yourself and be proud of what you are but get on with everybody, or are you going to take the alternative view, which is, if necessary, use violence to stand up for your own rights,’ the openly gay actor told BuzzFeed."