tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/superhero-46729/articles
Superhero – The Conversation
2023-08-30T15:27:34Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211934
2023-08-30T15:27:34Z
2023-08-30T15:27:34Z
Jewish creators are a fundamental part of comic book history, from Superman to Maus – expert explains
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544021/original/file-20230822-25-qglktb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C8%2C5422%2C3628&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/8SeJUmfahu0">Erik Mclean/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Jewish writers and artists have been <a href="https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/pb-daily/comic-books-are-jewish-literature">a fundamental part of</a> comic book creation since the early days of the industry. </p>
<p>Comic books used to be formatted like books or newspapers, but in 1934 Max Gaines, a Jewish New Yorker, and his colleague Harry Wildenberg, created the first half tabloid-sized comic book – the format that became the standard.</p>
<p>Their Famous Funnies comic book sold 90% of the 200,000 printed copies. This led to numerous imitators, including New Fun Comics from National Allied Publications (<a href="https://culturefly.com/blogs/culture-blog/dc-comics-history">later renamed DC Comics</a>), which published its first issue in 1935.</p>
<p>Gaines was a former schoolteacher and channelled this into his work. He <a href="https://www.jewage.org/wiki/en/Article:Max_Gaines_-_Biography">named his company Educational Comics</a>, with such titles as Picture Stories from the Bible. However, when his son <a href="https://eccomics.fandom.com/wiki/Bill_Gaines">William took over E.C. Comics</a> in the 1940s it became notorious as a publisher of horror comics and <a href="https://library.missouri.edu/news/special-collections/banned-books-week-comics-and-controversy">these were banned</a> in the following decade. </p>
<p>In the 1930s, comic books reprinted comic strips that had previously appeared in newspaper humour sections. Famous Funnies, for example, <a href="https://majorspoilers.com/2020/11/08/retro-review-famous-funnies-1-july-1934/">included the popular serial Mutt and Jeff</a>. But by the end of the decade, they featured entirely new content in a variety of genres, including <a href="https://comicalopinions.com/birth-of-superheroes-golden-age-of-comics/">superheroes</a>. </p>
<p>The first, and most famous, of these was <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/superman-jewish-origins-film-adaptations-curse-jerry-siegel-christopher-reeve-henry-cavill-a8344461.html">Superman</a>. The character was created by <a href="https://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2012/06/1933s-reign-of-superman-first-superman.html">Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1933</a> in a self-published comic. They tried to find a professional publisher to take on their character and – <a href="https://www.comicconnect.com/item/1009847?tzf=1">after Gaines took too long to reply to them</a> – found a home for <a href="https://nerdist.com/article/history-legacy-characters-dc-comics-action-comics-first-superman-comic-introduces-zatara-national-comics/">Superman at National in 1938</a>. </p>
<p>Siegel and Shuster were sons of Jewish European immigrants, leading some modern comic book writers to compare Superman’s alien immigrant identity to <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/09/21/superman-ultimate-immigrant-may-have-been-eligible-daca/688590001/">other émigrés in America</a>. The <a href="https://www.rescue.org/article/superman-refugees-success-story">International Rescue Committee noted</a> the importance of the character for the antisemitic era of the 1930s: “Superman’s story is the ultimate example of an immigrant who makes his new home better.”</p>
<p>Some researchers believe that Siegel and Shuster were specifically inspired by a famous Polish bodybuilder called <a href="https://jewishchronicle.timesofisrael.com/the-jewish-muscleman-who-likely-inspired-the-creators-of-superman/">“the Jewish Superman”</a>, who toured America in the 1920s. Writer Roy Schwartz also sees elements of Jewish mythology in the character, as noted in his 2021 book <a href="https://forward.com/culture/470859/its-a-bird-its-a-plane-its-a-book-about-superman-jewish-history/">Is Superman Circumcised?</a>.</p>
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<img alt="A superman comic and badge." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545524/original/file-20230830-15-et4sy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545524/original/file-20230830-15-et4sy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545524/original/file-20230830-15-et4sy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545524/original/file-20230830-15-et4sy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545524/original/file-20230830-15-et4sy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545524/original/file-20230830-15-et4sy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545524/original/file-20230830-15-et4sy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Superman was created by Jewish comic book writers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/QJlg2KSl0fU">Daniel Álvasd/Unsplash</a></span>
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<p>A year later, another iconic DC character, Batman, was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. They were also children of immigrants and were half of a quartet of famous <a href="https://forward.com/culture/483808/batman-jewish-bob-kane-bill-finger-dc-comics-robin-superman/">Jewish comic creators</a> who went to the same school in the south Bronx, including <a href="https://www.comic-con.org/awards/will-eisner">Will Eisner</a> and Marvel’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/100-years-of-stan-lee-how-the-comic-book-king-challenged-prejudice-196761">Stan Lee</a>. </p>
<p>While Batman doesn’t have any obvious Jewish characteristics, Bruce Wayne’s cousin, Kate Kane (aka Batwoman) was later depicted as <a href="https://www.jpost.com/j-spot/dc-comics-batwoman-receives-jewish-funeral-in-latest-episode-663697">a Jewish woman</a>.</p>
<p>Known for working with Stan Lee, another Jewish creator is considered the <a href="https://www.denofgeek.com/comics/jack-kirby-comics-greatest-storyteller/">“greatest storyteller”</a> of superhero comics. Artist Jack Kirby was responsible for co-creating not only some of the most memorable Marvel characters – including The Avengers and The X-Men – but also had an acclaimed run as a solo creator in the 1970s, first on <a href="https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/10-most-kirby-pages-in-jack-kirby-eternals">Marvel’s Eternals</a> and then on DC Comics’ <a href="https://www.cbr.com/jack-kirby-fourth-world-new-gods-movie-new-chance-dcu/">Fourth World titles</a>.</p>
<h2>Other genres</h2>
<p>Alongside superheroes, Kirby was renowned for his work on comics written by Sandman’s Joe Simon. Together, they brought <a href="https://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/simonandkirby/archives/41">romance to the medium in 1947</a> and made <a href="https://www.cbr.com/monsters-unleashed-jack-kirbys-15-craziest-marvel-monsters/#x-the-thing-that-lived">memorable monster comics in the 1960s</a>. Another popular genre was mystery comics. Will Eisner’s <a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/the-spirit/4005-33297">The Spirit</a> (1940) included elements of superheroes and horror. The <a href="https://www.cosmicteams.com/quality/profiles/spirit.html">main character</a> was an undead private detective who wore a mask.</p>
<p>Eisner was also the <a href="https://jmof.fiu.edu/exhibitions-events/exhibitions/will-eisner-comic-creator,-illustrator-and-innovator/">child of Jewish immigrants</a> and towards the end of his career, turned his upbringing into <a href="https://blogs.loc.gov/picturethis/2020/03/cartoonists-comment-on-the-lasting-impact-of-will-eisner-1917-2005/">semi-autobiographical comics</a> that depicted the downtrodden existence of people in poor Hassidic communities in New York. </p>
<p>Eisner’s works, including <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicBook/AContractWithGod">A Contract with God</a> (1978) and several <a href="https://libraryguides.mdc.edu/GraphicNovels/WillEisner">follow-ups in the 1980s</a>, not only popularised the term <a href="https://theportalist.com/history-of-graphic-novels">“graphic novel”</a>, but also added to the increasing trend of turning Jewish lives in comics.</p>
<p>In the 1970s, a number of notable female Jewish creators first had their work published in <a href="https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/comics-and-graphic-narratives">Underground Comix</a>, including <a href="https://womenincomics.fandom.com/wiki/Trina_Robbins">Trina Robbins</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/11/arts/diane-noomin-dead.html">Diane Noomin</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/03/arts/aline-kominsky-crumb-dead.html">Aline Kominsky-Crumb</a>.</p>
<p>The only graphic novel to win a Pulitzer prize – <a href="https://okcomics.co.uk/products/maus-complete-collection-by-art-spiegelman">Maus</a> – tells the story of author <a href="https://libraries.mit.edu/150books/2011/05/12/1986/">Art Spiegelman’s</a> father’s experience in a concentration camp, and started to be serialised in 1980.</p>
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<img alt="The cover of Maus" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545528/original/file-20230830-23-e4sj79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545528/original/file-20230830-23-e4sj79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545528/original/file-20230830-23-e4sj79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545528/original/file-20230830-23-e4sj79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545528/original/file-20230830-23-e4sj79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545528/original/file-20230830-23-e4sj79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545528/original/file-20230830-23-e4sj79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Maus is the only graphic novel to have won a Pulitzer Prize.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/lviv-ukraine-april-11-2023-art-2289174103">marhus/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Modern Jewish comics</h2>
<p>Today, many Jewish creators are making graphic novels and cartoons. Comics editor Corinne Pearlman drew a popular strip <a href="https://jwa.org/blog/graphic-details-opens-in-toronto">Playing the Jewish Card</a> in the 1990s and now <a href="https://www.brokenfrontier.com/corinne-pearlman-myriad-editions-gareth-brookes-jade-sarson-ottilie-hainsworth/">edits graphic novels</a>. She and other creators were featured in the 2011 exhibition and book <a href="https://www.thejc.com/culture/features/is-it-a-bird-is-it-a-plane-no-it-s-the-real-life-superheroine-1.30661">Graphic Details: Confessional Comics by Jewish Women</a>, curated by graphic novelist <a href="https://www.royaldrawingschool.org/artists/faculty/sarah-lightman/">Sarah Lightman</a>. </p>
<p>Lightman is one of the editors of a new follow-up anthology, <a href="https://press.syr.edu/supressbooks/5160/jewish-women-in-comics/">Jewish Women in Comics: Borders and Bodies</a>. Other British female creators include <a href="https://positivenegatives.org/artist/karrie-fransman/">Karrie Fransman</a>, who makes comics about refugees and victims of gender-based violence, and musician and cartoonist <a href="https://dannyskagal.wixsite.com/mysite">Danny Noble</a> who has illustrated children’s books by Adrian Edmondson.</p>
<p>Until September 3, <a href="https://www.jw3.org.uk/zoom">The Jewish Community Centre London</a> in Hampstead has a solo exhibition of caricatures of Jewish celebrities such as Nigella Lawson and Daniel Radcliffe by <a href="https://www.islingtontribune.co.uk/article/zoom-meeting">Zoom Rockman</a>. Rockman started his career as one of the youngest published cartoonists in the UK, with his own self-published comic, before going on to draw strips for The Beano and Private Eye.</p>
<p>Other creators have had their autobiographical comics animated, such as cartoonist and musician Carol Isaacs’ <a href="https://www.jpost.com/must/article-713390">The Wolf of Baghdad</a> and the life of Charlotte Saloman, author of proto-graphic novel <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/dec/07/charlotte-review-salomon-keira-knightley-german-jewish-painter-grandfather">Life? or Theatre?</a>.</p>
<p>With attention being brought to the work of numerous Jewish comic creators through film adaptations, books and exhibitions like these, it seems that their contribution to the medium is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/aug/17/art-spiegelman-golden-age-superheroes-were-shaped-by-the-rise-of-fascism">finally being recognised</a>.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211934/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Fitch receives funding from UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training, Design Star. </span></em></p>
The history of comics is closely tied to the involvement of Jewish creators, who have had an enormous impact on the medium over the last 90 years.
Alex Fitch, Lecturer and PhD Candidate in Comics and Architecture, University of Brighton
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/212230
2023-08-29T10:53:44Z
2023-08-29T10:53:44Z
Blue Beetle is a solid first outing for the Latino superhero
<p><em>Warning: this review contains spoilers for Blue Beetle.</em></p>
<p>Recent university graduate Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) is coming home with big dreams, ready for what’s next. But he soon realises his family has been putting on a brave face in his absence and that their fortunes have taken a turn for the worse. </p>
<p>A chance meeting with young heiress Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine) brings him into contact with an extraterrestrial artefact at the heart of Kord Industries’ covert plan to develop a military weapons system using alien biotechnology. But before that can happen, the object – a scarab that turns out to be a sentient being – latches itself onto his body, endowing him with superpowers he can’t control. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4wxyy8Rcz4k?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Blue Beetle trailer.</span></figcaption>
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<p>All Jaime wants is to find a way to get it out, but unfortunately, he is running out of time as he and his family are now a target for the people who owned it – they want it back. </p>
<p>Blue Beetle is DC Comics’ newest release and the first live-action feature to have a Latino superhero lead. But it is the emphasis placed on the power of family and of charting a future rooted in one’s past that are being <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id1lmNr4oVk">touted by its creators</a> as the film’s true standout features. </p>
<h2>Meet the family</h2>
<p>For fans of the filmmakers’ earlier works, like writer Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3184516/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Contrapelo</a> (2014), or director Ángel Manuel Soto’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2231349/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">La Granja</a> (2015) and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9048840/">Charm City Kings</a> (2020), some of the film’s creative choices may feel like a bit of a compromise.</p>
<p>Recognisable Latino stock characters are there to reassure moviegoers that these are not the “bad hombres” they’ve been warned about. There’s the hardworking but struggling dad, Alberto (Damián Alcázar), the single, offbeat uncle Rudy (George Lopez) and Nana, the live-in grandmother always in a house dress regardless of setting or occasion (Adriana Barraza).</p>
<p>However, some familiar types turn out to be fronts for audiences to ask themselves if they have underestimated them. Rudy’s invention, for example, a signal-jamming device that disrupts surveillance camera footage with episodes of <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-roberto-gomez-bolanos-85-20141128-story.html">El Chapulín Colorado</a> (The Red Grasshopper, a 1970s Mexican superhero parody show), might need a good kick to turn on, but works very well against the security systems of multi-billion tech giant Kord Industries. </p>
<p>When Jaime, as the hero in the making, needs saving it’s his family who come to the rescue. Everyone has a role to play. Nana’s combat skills get some of the biggest laughs, but they double as a reminder of <a href="https://www.history.com/news/women-mexican-revolution-soldaderas">older generations of Latin American women</a> who knew a thing or two about armed resistance and revolution. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/otNa9BpNIvs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A scene from Blue Beetle.</span></figcaption>
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<p>In its showcasing of Latino culture, Blue Beetle reaches out to a community that goes <a href="https://ohiostatepress.org/books/titles/9780814255599.html">“to the movies more than any other ethnic group in the US”</a> despite being “staggeringly underrepresented”.</p>
<p>While the film is keen to connect with global audiences of all backgrounds, it makes its Latino viewers feel seen and heard with references to pop culture and to music. From the opening sequence set to Calle 13’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-laefcpo2EI">Atrévete-Te-Te</a>, to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/may/17/soda-stereo-argentina-biggest-band-rediscovery">Soda Stereo</a>, <a href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/latinx/cypress-hill">Cypress Hill</a> and <a href="https://www.billboard.com/lists/selena-quintanilla-legacy-timeline/">Selena</a>, the soundtrack of the Reyes family’s life plays in the background as an optional history lesson on pioneering Latin artists and musical groups.</p>
<h2>Blue Beetle’s real history</h2>
<p>Nowhere is Blue Beetle’s interest in connecting the fictional world of DC Comics to Latin American history more apparent than in the backstory of the hero’s nemesis. </p>
<p>Carapax (Raoul Max Trujillo) is Kord Industries CEO Victoria’s (Susan Sarandon) cyborg henchman. A victim turned victimiser, the character is written as a former child soldier of Mayan ancestry whose ties to his community were severed by US military interventions in Central America, leaving him vulnerable to exploitation and turning him into a mercenary. </p>
<p>Blue Beetle joins a growing number of sci-fi films that explore – and critique – US foreign policy toward Latin America and the US-Mexico border like <a href="https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2021/alex-rivera#searchresults">Alex Rivera</a>’s Sleep Dealer (2008) – an influence that echoes strongly throughout – and Alejandro Damiani’s <a href="https://www.aledamiani.com/work/mamon">M.A.M.Ó.N.</a> (2016). </p>
<p>As in those films, it has moments that almost step outside of its fantasy Palmera City setting – a futuristic composite of El Paso, Miami and San Juan – and into the real world. A scene where Rudy reflects on how the challenges he faced in the years after leaving his home country were, for him, greater than those endured during his migration journey, could just as easily belong in a documentary or a news feature. </p>
<p>Empathy is a key theme, developed most fully in the symbiotic link between Jaime and the Scarab. In contrast to the repeated misnaming experienced by Hispanic characters – a recurring joke and a scene-stealing opportunity for “Dr Sanchez” (Harvey Guillén) – once Jaime and his family learn the Scarab is called Khaji-Da (voiced by Latina singer Becky G), they make it a point to call them by their name. </p>
<p>And as the connection between the two becomes more fluid, so will the way they communicate with each other, with Khaji-Da proving a quick study in Spanish. </p>
<p>Due to the ongoing WGA strike the film’s actors are skipping the media blitz that usually accompanies the release of large action movies, making it clear they want to “stand on the right side of history”, as Maridueña recently told his Instagram followers, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CuqhphGN58N/">choking back tears</a>. </p>
<p>One would hope word of mouth is enough for audiences to still turn up given that Blue Beetle is great fun to watch and a solid foundation for future films in the franchise – even if it plays it a little safe in its first time out. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212230/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yarí Pérez Marín does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Blue Beetle’s emphasis on the power of family is being touted by its creators as the film’s standout feature.
Yarí Pérez Marín, Associate Professor in Hispanic Studies and in Visual Arts and Film, Durham University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/207765
2023-06-16T10:11:20Z
2023-06-16T10:11:20Z
The Flash review: Michael Keaton’s Batman is the real star of this DC multiverse mashup
<p><em>Warning: the following article contains spoilers.</em></p>
<p>The Flash is one of DC’s most versatile superheroes. First popularised in the 1940s, the speedster’s mantle has been worn by multiple characters in the comics – most famously Barry Allen and Wally West, but also the female Flash, Chinese American <a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Avery_Ho_(Prime_Earth)">Avery Ho</a>. These Flashes have appeared not just in their own comics, but across the DC comics universe from <a href="https://teentitans.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page">Teen Titans</a> to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cxixDgHUYw">Justice League</a>.</p>
<p>Director Andy Muschietti’s new film, The Flash, is Warner-DC’s attempt to wrap up DC Extended Universe of films (DCEU) directed by Zac Snyder, which started with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6DJcgm3wNY">Man of Steel</a> in 2013. At the same time, it is launching James Gunn and Peter Safran’s <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/01/31/james-gunn-dcu-announcement-batman-superman-new-dc-slate#:%7E:text=%22Superman%3A%20Legacy%22%20will%20bring,released%20on%20July%2011%2C%202025.">new DC Universe</a> of film and TV as they take over as the heads of DC Studios. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jprhe-cWKGs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for The Flash (2023).</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Muschietti’s plan is to smash together – quite literally – previously unconnected film worlds from Warner-DC’s long history of superhero film and television adaptations, creating something new from everything old.</p>
<p>Some may see these colliding worlds as necessary to distract from the <a href="https://www.thecut.com/article/ezra-miller-allegations.html">slowly amassing flow of accusations</a> laid at the feet of The Flash’s central star, Ezra Miller. Indeed, Warner-DC has largely used another actor to promote The Flash: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzb7Q7HAIi8">Michael Keaton</a>.</p>
<p>Clever uses of stunt teams allow Keaton, the now 71-year-old star of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgC9Q0uhX70">Tim Burton’s Batman</a> (1989) and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Too3qgNaYBE">Batman Returns</a> (1992), to return to active duty as the dark knight in The Flash after a 30-year absence. </p>
<h2>Serving the fans</h2>
<p>Time travel is central in The Flash. Deft storytelling uses spaghetti metaphors to explain the complexities of messing with timelines. Slipping through the flow of time using the “<a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Speed_Force#:%7E:text=The%20Flash%20Vol%202%20%2391&text=The%20Speed%20Force%20is%20a,grants%20all%20speedsters%20their%20power.">Speed Force</a>” (which grants him access to extradimensional energy), Miller’s Flash goes back in time. </p>
<p>He saves his mother’s life, but causes a rippling impact along a multiverse of timelines that takes the Flash out of the DCEU and drops him into the world of Keaton’s Batman.</p>
<p>The result is by turns a bombastically nostalgic and watered-down variant on Burton’s earlier blockbuster films. The Flash relishes in nostalgically recreating Burton’s Batcave, augmenting its gothic-industrial aesthetic with CGI bats which are more reminiscent of director Christopher Nolan’s cycle of Batman films. But, The Flash also tamps down the gothic flourishes that have made Burton a world-renowned director.</p>
<p>The Batcave is explored by two versions of Barry Allen/Flash, after an accident in the time stream deposits the original Allen into an alternate world. After meeting himself, the two travel to find Batman at his home in Wayne Manor. </p>
<p>Discovering the Batcave, the younger version of Allen gleefully pulls a dustsheet off the Batmobile prop from Burton’s 1989 film. As he does so, he wistfully remembers seeing the Batmobile on television. Fan-serving moments like these abound as The Flash reaches out to audiences who grew up watching Burton’s Batman.</p>
<p>Muschietti makes great use of these nostalgic cameos. Fans of comics are also rewarded with new twists on old favourites, such as an aside to the Superman-as-Soviet-superhero comic <a href="https://www.dc.com/graphic-novels/superman-red-son">Red Son</a> (2003), when Batman and the Flashes go to rescue a Kryptonian held in captivity by the Soviets.</p>
<p>Likewise, the film’s plot borrows elements from the <a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Flash:_Flashpoint">Flashpoint comics saga</a> from the early 2010s. Among other scenes, these comics inspire one of the film’s more gruesome sequences, which shows the “original” Allen performing Frankenstein-like experiments on himself in an attempt to regain his powers.</p>
<p>These allusions, twists and borrowings culminate in a sequence of superhero cameos. As the original Allen confronts his limitations as a superhero, Muschietti places the Flash’s personal revelations against a backdrop of colliding worlds that contain what look like digitally scrolling film reels. </p>
<p>These filmstrips contain past DC superhero adaptations, reminding audiences of every incarnation of the DC universe’s favourite characters, from George Reeves’s 1950s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxL46STIZB0">television Superman</a> to Christopher Reeve’s 1970s and 80s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nprJvYKz3QQ">Superman blockbusters</a>.</p>
<p>Standing out among these myriad superheroes – the true star of The Flash, despite its title – is Keaton’s Batman. It is Keaton’s narrative arc and catchphrases (“You wanna get nuts? Let’s get nuts.”) that echo down the timelines of Warner-DC history and leave a lasting impact. </p>
<p>The film is even structured to give Keaton’s performance greater resonance. Early portions of sometimes silly superhero humour give way in the film’s second half, where Keaton’s razor-edged, comedic yet gothic darkness allows the film to gather emotional depth.</p>
<p>In mining Warner-DC’s iconic film and television history, The Flash is able to smash together a pantheon of screen superheroes. As it works to reset the core Warner-DC universe, The Flash’s colliding worlds remind audiences of why they love superheroes such as Batman and Superman in the first place. In doing so, it shifts away from the grim tone of the old DC Extended Universe, injecting hope (and humour) into the new one.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207765/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rayna Denison is affiliated with University of Bristol. </span></em></p>
It’s Keaton’s razor-edged, comedic darkness that allows the film to gather emotional depth.
Rayna Denison, Professor of Film and Digital Arts, University of Bristol
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/172572
2022-11-23T17:05:56Z
2022-11-23T17:05:56Z
Black Panther is a step in the right direction and a diverse audience is hungry for more inclusive roles and storylines
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497086/original/file-20221123-14-yey8kp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C13%2C2950%2C1985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Letitia Wright as Shuri.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.marvel.com/articles/movies/black-panther-wakanda-forever-shuri-nexus-of-the-movie">Marvel</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>From <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9419884/">Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness</a> to the recent <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10857160/">She-Hulk: Attorney at Law</a>, comics and their adaptations or spin-offs are big business. The just-released <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9114286/">Black Panther: Wakanda Forever</a> earned an astonishing <a href="https://www.boxofficepro.com/weekend-box-office-black-panther-wakanda-forever-opens-to-180m-domestic-330m-global/">US$330 million worldwide</a> (£278 million) in its opening weekend. </p>
<p>US comics and graphic novels, meanwhile, made <a href="https://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2021.html">US$600 million in 2021</a> – 36% more than the previous year. And <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/world/">four of the most popular films of 2022</a> are based on comics – with the Black Panther sequel joining the top ten a week after release.</p>
<p>These days more and more comics are featuring a diverse range of performers and roles. In Marvel’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9140554/">Loki</a>, for example, the God of Mischief <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2021/06/24/director-kate-herron-confirms-marvel-loki-disney-bisexual/7781779002/">is bisexual</a>, while the Black Panther films and the animated Spider-man movies have people of colour <a href="https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a25616148/spider-man-into-spider-verse-2-characters-cast-plot-release-date-spin-off/">as their leads</a>.</p>
<p>There’s also been the introduction of new characters to bridge the diversity gap, such as <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Kamala_Khan_(Earth-616)">Ms Marvel, played by Kamala Khan</a> and <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/America_Chavez_(Earth-616)">America Chavez</a> played by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7961780/">Xochitl Gomez</a>. Ms Marvel’s Muslim faith has been well received and seen as a “<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/ms-marvel-muslim-identity-a-changing-hollywood-1234666/">gamechanger</a>” for depictions of the religion on screen. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m9EX0f6V11Y?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Queering characters</h2>
<p>Both Marvel and DC have massively increased LGBTQ+ representation onscreen and in comics in recent times. Though a notable difference is that Marvel’s LGBTQ+ superheroes are mainly new characters, whereas DC has changed the sexuality of older characters. </p>
<p>Marvel’s Young Avengers, for example, has long featured <a href="https://www.pride.com/geek/2020/4/23/will-mcus-young-avengers-characters-all-be-lgbtq">a large number of LGBTQ+ characters</a>. And DC recently created a <a href="https://theconversation.com/supermans-not-the-first-hero-to-be-portrayed-as-bisexual-but-hell-bring-hope-to-lgbtq-fans-169898">bisexual narrative</a> for Superman’s son, Jonathan Kent – though he is still presented as straight in the <a href="https://arrow.fandom.com/wiki/Jonathan_Kent">current TV adaptation</a>.</p>
<p>DC also recently changed another previously straight character, the third male Robin, Tim Drake, to have him <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/aug/11/batmans-sidekick-robin-comes-out-as-lgbtq-in-new-comic">attracted to another man</a>. Meanwhile Aquaman’s teen protege, Aqualad, was changed from a <a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Garth_(Prime_Earth)">straight white teen</a> to <a href="https://laist.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/how-the-new-gay-aquaman-is-being-reintroduced-by-a-black-socal-writer">a gay black teen</a> – first in an animated TV series and then in comics. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Robin, aka Tim Drake, with his boyfriend, Bernard." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495685/original/file-20221116-24-bzj1fs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495685/original/file-20221116-24-bzj1fs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495685/original/file-20221116-24-bzj1fs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495685/original/file-20221116-24-bzj1fs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495685/original/file-20221116-24-bzj1fs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495685/original/file-20221116-24-bzj1fs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495685/original/file-20221116-24-bzj1fs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Robin, aka Tim Drake, with his boyfriend, Bernard.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.dc.com/comics/dc-pride-tim-drake-special-2022/dc-pride-tim-drake-special-1">DC.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Back in 2012, there was also the marriage of Northstar, a fairly minor member of the X-Men, to his <a href="https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/40803/astonishing_x-men_2004_51">non-white husband</a>, which <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/x-men-gay-wedding_b_1536037">led to</a> <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/marvel-comics-hosts-first-gay-wedding-in-astonishing-x-men-235209/">positive reviews</a>. And in the same year, the original Green Lantern <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/green-lantern-comes-out-as-gay-in-earth-two-234596/">came out as gay</a>. </p>
<p>Some fans criticised how this was handled – not only was it suggested he had been <a href="https://screenrant.com/original-green-lantern-alan-scott-gay-infinite-frontier/">in the closet for years</a>, but rather than giving him a life-affirming storyline, the third issue to feature a younger version of the <a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Green_Lantern">Green Lantern</a> character saw his boyfriend <a href="https://www.queerty.com/that-was-fast-green-lanterns-boyfriend-killed-off-almost-immediately-20120712">killed in a train crash</a>. </p>
<h2>What readers want</h2>
<p>When it comes to diversity, Marvel has had mixed responses from some employees. In 2017 for example, David Gabriel, Marvel’s senior vice president of print, sales and marketing, said “people didn’t want any more diversity … (or more) female characters,” but later <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/03/marvel-executive-says-emphasis-on-diversity-may-have-alienated-readers">dialled back his comments</a>, adding “we are proud and excited to … reflect new voices and new experiences.” </p>
<p>In terms of readers, it seems that while changes to <a href="https://www.themarysue.com/hire-authors-of-color-in-comics/">existing characters</a> are not so welcome,
<a href="https://uncannymagazine.com/article/representation-matters-embracing-change-in-comics/">diversity in newer storylines</a> is seen as a positive thing.
Indeed, as <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-74974-3_1#Sec210">academic, Jos van Waterschoot</a>, puts it: “<a href="https://www.popmatters.com/fandom-negative-nostalgia-2648778748.html">fandom gatekeepers may be hostile to newcomers</a>”. Perhaps for some fans, a previously straight character feeling same-sex attraction is a step too far, even if <a href="https://psychcentral.com/health/coming-out-later-in-life#typical-ages">belatedly coming out of the closet</a> is hardly new.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496749/original/file-20221122-18-h8xw41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="DC Superheros line up." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496749/original/file-20221122-18-h8xw41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496749/original/file-20221122-18-h8xw41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496749/original/file-20221122-18-h8xw41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496749/original/file-20221122-18-h8xw41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496749/original/file-20221122-18-h8xw41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496749/original/file-20221122-18-h8xw41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496749/original/file-20221122-18-h8xw41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">DC Pride is an annual LGBTQ+ comic book anthology first published by DC Comics in June 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.dc.com/sites/default/files/imce/2022/04-APR/DCPRIDE_2022_WRAPAROUND_VARIANT_SWAY_624de10fd31852.69939736.jpg">DC.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But while narrative changes to <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315604626-4/superheroes-identity-carol-tilley">comics</a> may lead to <a href="https://ew.com/tv/2017/04/03/marvel-female-diverse-characters-hurting/">unwelcome criticism</a> if long-lasting characters are killed off or have their characterisation changed, when done well it adds to the storyline – and is <a href="https://movieweb.com/marvel-movie-character-deaths/">welcomed by fans</a>.</p>
<p>Writer, Mark Russell, for example, is noted for <a href="https://bookriot.com/nostalgic-comics/">reviving cartoon characters</a> in comics and giving them an <a href="https://www.salon.com/2019/06/10/snagglepuss-lgbt-hero-legendary-hanna-barbera-character-reborn-in-new-comic-series/">LGBTQ+ twist</a>. One of his <a href="https://www.cbr.com/mark-russell-best-comic-book-series-ranked/">celebrated creations</a>, <a href="https://thequeerreview.com/2020/04/13/book-review-exit-stage-left-the-snagglepuss-chronicles/">The Snagglepuss Chronicles</a>, reimagines the <a href="https://www.illustrationhistory.org/artists/hanna-barbera">Hanna-Barbera</a> cartoon character, Snagglepuss, as a gay US playwright in the 1950s being victimised under McCarthyism.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495688/original/file-20221116-18-z3eolp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Cartoon cat as The Statue of Liberty, draped in US flag." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495688/original/file-20221116-18-z3eolp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495688/original/file-20221116-18-z3eolp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=933&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495688/original/file-20221116-18-z3eolp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=933&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495688/original/file-20221116-18-z3eolp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=933&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495688/original/file-20221116-18-z3eolp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1172&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495688/original/file-20221116-18-z3eolp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1172&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495688/original/file-20221116-18-z3eolp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1172&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Exit, Stage Left!: The Snagglepuss Chronicles is a satirical comic book, published by DC Comics, that features a gay Snagglepuss being victimised under McCarthyism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exit,_Stage_Left!:_The_Snagglepuss_Chronicles#/media/File:Exit,_Stage_Left,_The_Snagglepuss_Chronicles_Comic_Issue_1_Cover.jpg">DC.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>But more needed</h2>
<p>At least the inclusion of new <a href="https://www.cbr.com/young-justice-outsiders-aquaman-kaldur-gay/">positive diverse characters</a> seems to be leading to <a href="https://viewsfromabookshop.com/2021/01/09/diverse-comics-graphic-novels/">new readers picking up titles</a> – with Australia’s ABC News noting a “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-14/genre-fiction-comic-books-graphic-novels-diversity-storytelling/101299596">thirst for more inclusive works</a>”.</p>
<p>That said, comics have been accused of being a medium that gives <a href="https://www.peterdavid.net/2012/12/24/the-illusion-of-change/">the illusion of change</a>, when often they are just trying out various combinations of the <a href="https://www.gamesradar.com/how-marvel-comics-made-an-art-form-of-the-illusion-of-change/">same characters in different roles</a> – and so ultimately still end up <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/StatusQuoIsGod/ComicBooks">resetting the status quo</a> at the end of storylines.</p>
<p>Either way, even though LGBTQ+ and <a href="https://www.qualitycomix.com/learn/superhero-diversity-in-comic-books">minority</a> representation is <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/karltonjahmal/all-the-lgbtq-characters-in-the-mcu-so-far">improving on screen</a> and in comics, there’s still a way to go in <a href="https://www.flowjournal.org/2018/02/comics-%E2%9F%B7-media-bam-pow-comics-arent-just-for-white-men-anymore-benjamin-woo-carleton-university/">the push for diverse characters</a>. Especially so given that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/may/26/marvel-editor-in-chief-axel-alonso-civil-war-x-men">straight, white men</a> still feature strongly <a href="https://www.themarysue.com/run-the-comics/">on the page</a> and <a href="https://www.deseret.com/2016/7/14/20591832/marvel-s-heroes-may-be-diverse-but-their-employees-not-so-much">behind the scenes</a> in terms of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/30/us-publishing-american-dirt-survey-diversity-cultural-appropriation">industry employees</a>. </p>
<p>It’s great that many comics are now more representative of the people who actually read them, but with a recent study noting <a href="https://morningconsult.com/2021/12/06/is-gen-z-too-cool-for-marvel/">13% of Marvel fans are Black and 18% Hispanic</a> – and this not currently depicted on the page – it’s clear there’s room for more diversity when it comes to our superheroes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172572/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Fitch receives funding from UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training, Design Star. </span></em></p>
Many comics are now more representative of the people who actually read them but it’s clear there’s room for more diversity when it comes to our superheroes.
Alex Fitch, Lecturer and PhD Candidate in Comics and Architecture, University of Brighton
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/163629
2021-07-12T12:29:31Z
2021-07-12T12:29:31Z
How Latin America’s protest superheroes fight injustice and climate change – and sometimes crime, too
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410644/original/file-20210709-13-1a9nnzj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=110%2C0%2C820%2C390&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An Argentine justice crusader who calls himself Menganno has been patrolling the streets of the city of Lanus since 2010. Netflix has now picked up his character.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS21WlJupSs">Netflix Latinoamérica (screenshot)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Not all heroes wear capes. In Latin America, some real-life icons wear Mexican wrestling masks or arm themselves with shields and herbicide to lead demonstrations and strong-arm government officials into protecting the people. </p>
<p>These superheroes aren’t <a href="https://www.marvel.com/characters/iron-man-tony-stark">traumatized billionaires</a> like Ironman or <a href="https://www.dccomics.com/characters/superman">aliens with modest alter egos</a> like Superman. They are regular people from Mexico, Argentina and beyond who, with outlandish costumes – and, sometimes, social media accounts – galvanize their communities to defend themselves against everything from police brutality to corporate greed. </p>
<p>Mass demonstrations in the United States have yet to spawn this kind of real-life superhero. But as <a href="https://vt.academia.edu/VinodhVenkatesh/CurriculumVitae">my research on Latin American cultural studies and history</a> demonstrates, common citizens there regularly don outlandish outfits and adopt comic book-inspired personas to promote social change.</p>
<h2>Mexico’s Superbarrio</h2>
<p>Perhaps the best-known character of this sort is Mexico’s Superbarrio, who in the late 1980s <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/superbarrio-the-peoples-superhero/">advocated for housing reform</a> in Mexico City. The character was created by Marco Rascón, a social activist and <a href="https://www.infobae.com/america/mexico/2021/02/10/marco-rascon-sera-candidato-a-la-alcaldia-cuauhtemoc-por-movimiento-ciudadano/">occasional political candidate</a>, who never actually wore the mask but who coordinated the character’s public appearances. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409376/original/file-20210701-25-l6co8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man holding a soccer ball stands next to a man wearing a red full-face mask with a cape and an 'SB' emblem on his shirt." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409376/original/file-20210701-25-l6co8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409376/original/file-20210701-25-l6co8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409376/original/file-20210701-25-l6co8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409376/original/file-20210701-25-l6co8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409376/original/file-20210701-25-l6co8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409376/original/file-20210701-25-l6co8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409376/original/file-20210701-25-l6co8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Superbarrio, seen here in 1998, was an early real-life Mexican superhero who became popular across Latin America.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/mexican-superbarrio-gomez-and-a-french-unemployed-pose-for-news-photo/1193446923">Eric Cabanis/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In addition to organizing rallies for affordable housing and tenant protection programs, <a href="https://elpais.com/internacional/2018/02/27/mexico/1519752156_150172.html">Superbarrio routinely met with politicians and housing officials</a> as an advocate for the needs of the city’s poor, many of whom were rural migrants who came to the capital during Mexico’s <a href="https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190699192.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190699192-e-32">mid-20th-century boom years</a>. </p>
<p>In the 1990s, Superbarrio supported the Zapatistas – an Indigenous protest movement based in the southern state of Chiapas – in their grassroots challenge of the Mexican government and global capitalism. </p>
<p>The costume Rascón helped design for Superbarrio combined some elements of Mexican masked wrestlers like El Santo – a justice-seeking “luchador” who became a folk hero and movie character – with others recalling El Chapulín Colorado, perhaps the Spanish-speaking world’s best-known superhero. Superbarrio combined these influences with the stylized “S” chest <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Superbarrio.jpg">emblem of Superman</a>.</p>
<p>Superbarrio inspired <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/1333/The-World-of-Lucha-LibreSecrets-Revelations-and">other real-life superhero protesters in Mexico</a>, including the environmental activist Ecologista Universal and the LGBTQ rights advocate Super Gay.</p>
<h2>Newer figures join in</h2>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/113329391" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A video showcases Menganno.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More citizen-superheroes have since emerged in other Latin American countries.</p>
<p>One is <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/519414187">Menganno</a>, a middle-aged Argentine crime fighter who patrols the streets of the city of Lanús on a motorbike, dressed in a full costume with mask and shield. Menganno alerts authorities and city residents whenever he comes upon petty crime, from robberies to drug deals. He also helps aid agencies in identifying people who need food or shelter. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.clarin.com/zonales/superheroe-conurbano-llega-cine-filman-pelicula-capitan-menganno-puma-goity-protagonista_0_ry0sadL3z.html">2018 Menganno movie</a> has languished in post-production due to the COVID-19 crisis, but Netflix Latin America may be picking <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS21WlJupSs">up his story</a>. </p>
<p>Like Menganno, the Honduran masked figure Súper H – born Elmer Ramos – informs his neighbors about such issues as <a href="https://www.radiohouse.hn/2016/07/11/super-h-el-superheroe-sampedrano-que-esta-cambiando-honduras/">homelessness, gang violence and corruption</a>. He has plenty of problems to identify: Súper H works in <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/03/27/world/americas/honduras-murder-capital/index.html">San Pedro Sula</a> – once infamously known as the murder capital of the world. </p>
<p>Active on social media and in the streets since 2016, Super H wears a Mexican-style luchador mask and the jersey of the Honduran national soccer team. </p>
<p>Increasing pesticide use is one of his targets. Another is Honduras’ semi-authoritarian president, Juan Orlando Hernández. Several Hernández administration officials have been convicted in U.S. courts for drug trafficking; in their trials Hernández himself was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/23/world/americas/honduras-juan-orlando-hernandez-drug-trial.html">accused of participating in those operations</a>.</p>
<h2>Chilean characters</h2>
<p>Back in South America, Chile has seen several iconic figures arise from <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-50191746">recent national protests there</a> against a <a href="https://theconversation.com/chile-puts-its-constitution-on-the-ballot-after-year-of-civil-unrest-147832">public transit fare hike and a starkly unequal economy</a>.</p>
<p>Some of them are accidental heroes, like <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-chile-protests-heroes/looking-for-a-hero-shirtless-chilean-protester-police-hating-dog-rise-to-fame-idUKKBN1XH2S3">Pareman</a> or “Stopman” – a protester who was captured by journalists holding a stop sign while being hosed down by the police in October 2019.</p>
<p>Other notable homegrown Chilean protest heroes include the <a href="https://www.ecuadortimes.net/the-story-of-the-ecuadorian-spiderman-that-reached-the-heart-of-the-chilean-people/">Stupid and Sensual Spiderman</a>, a street performer in a Spiderman costume who twerks in front of police while chanting protest slogans, and a climate activist dressed as <a href="https://elcomercio.pe/mundo/latinoamerica/protestas-en-chile-la-primera-linea-heroes-o-vandalos-de-la-dura-batalla-urbana-en-chile-sebastian-pinera-noticia/">Mexico’s Chapulín Colorado</a> but armed with a gas mask and a sprayer of Round-Up herbicide.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/B5LgFj0h9uH","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Chile’s modern-day protest heroes follow in the footsteps of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-chilean-dog-ended-up-as-a-face-of-the-new-york-city-subway-protests-129167">Negro Matapacos</a>, a street dog wearing a red bandanna who electrified protesters almost a decade ago. Though he died in 2017, Negro Matapacos is still depicted as a sort of super sidekick in Chilean graffiti and print.</p>
<h2>Capitán Colombia</h2>
<p>Dressed in black gym clothes, ski goggles and a gas mask, Capitán Colombia is a visible figure on the front lines of his country’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-colombians-are-taking-to-the-streets-to-protest-state-violence-161963">ongoing protests</a> against political corruption, economic difficulties and <a href="https://www.axios.com/colombia-lawmakers-health-care-protesters-a7b52d3c-01ce-4ad4-85f4-49331eca1b76.html">health care privatization</a>. </p>
<p>Capitán Colombia, who carries a tri-colored shield in the colors of the Colombian flag, adorned with a drawn heart, is a comic book-like muscular superhero. His toned arms and expansive chest are an exception to generally rounded physiques of Latin America’s other real-life icons.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409375/original/file-20210701-25-1f7foev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A muscular man in a gas mask, ski goggles, and a tank top, holding a metal shield painted like the Colombian flag" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409375/original/file-20210701-25-1f7foev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409375/original/file-20210701-25-1f7foev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409375/original/file-20210701-25-1f7foev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409375/original/file-20210701-25-1f7foev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409375/original/file-20210701-25-1f7foev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409375/original/file-20210701-25-1f7foev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409375/original/file-20210701-25-1f7foev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Capitán Colombia has a comic book hero’s physique and an activist’s social critique.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/capitncolombia?lang=en">Capitan Colombia via Twitter</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Like his Latin American peers, though, Capitán Colombia has no actual superpower. Still, his participation in marches draws local and international attention to the demands of his fellow protesters. So does his <a href="https://www.instagram.com/capitancolombia.oficial/?hl=en">Instagram account</a>, which has 11,000 followers.</p>
<p>[<em>Understand new developments in science, health and technology, each week.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-understand">Subscribe to The Conversation’s science newsletter</a>.]</p>
<h2>An all-male cast</h2>
<p>While Latin America’s mass demonstrations draw all genders – and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/06/chile-womens-day-protest">some are women-led</a> – nearly all its citizen-superhero protesters are male. In Chile, <a href="https://elpais.com/sociedad/2020-03-07/cubrirse-el-rostro-para-ser-legion-el-icono-de-la-lucha-feminista-en-chile.html">women activists have donned creative masks and outfits</a>, sometimes going topless at protests against gender violence and police abuse. They have not, however, adopted a superhero persona.</p>
<p>The all-male street superhero cast may reflect Latin America’s broader issues with gender inequity, and it mirrors the sparsity of women superheroes in both Latin American and U.S. comic franchises. Only recently have Marvel and DC put out <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2020/12/13/box-office-how-hollywood-sets-female-led-superhero-movies-like-wonder-woman-supergirl-catwoman-and-elektra-up-to-fail/?sh=37ad5d617fac">female-led films</a>. </p>
<p>In Mexico – which has seen several recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/mexican-women-are-angry-about-rape-murder-and-government-neglect-and-they-want-the-world-to-know-122156">feminist uprisings against rape and other forms of gender violence</a> – the government recently created a coronavirus-fighting superheroine named <a href="https://coronavirus.gob.mx/susana-distancia/">Susana Distancia</a>. Perhaps officials consciously sought to add a female-identified character into the mix of national superheroes. But their choice may have to do more with the rhyme of “distancia” – distance, as in social distancing.</p>
<p>Latin America’s activist superheroes skip the big screen to fight not aliens or supervillains but real world injustices. Might gender equality be a future target?</p>
<p><em>This story has been updated to correct an error, introduced during editing, about the Mexican state in which the Zapatista movement originated.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163629/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vinodh Venkatesh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
In Latin America, common citizens have often donned outlandish outfits and comic book-inspired personas to lead demonstrations and promote social change.
Vinodh Venkatesh, Professor of Hispanic Studies, Virginia Tech
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/126730
2020-02-11T19:56:33Z
2020-02-11T19:56:33Z
When we call survivors ‘heroes,’ we’re missing the full picture
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314867/original/file-20200211-146678-1qcuoif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=58%2C64%2C4262%2C2778&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kevin Vickers, former House of Commons Sergeant-at-Arms, receives the Star of Courage at Rideau Hall from Gov. Gen. David Johnston in February 2016 to pay tribute to security services members who responded to the 2014 shooting on Parliament Hill. Vickers was lauded as a hero. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When disaster strikes — a hurricane, a terror attack, a landslide — we are quick to label the survivors as heroes. </p>
<p>On Reddit, a user recently asked, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/8y0iyi/combat_veterans_of_reddit_how_do_you_feel_about/e274g0s/">“Combat veterans of Reddit, how do you feel about being called a hero? How do you feel about non-combat veterans being called heroes?”</a> One user defined a hero as <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/8y0iyi/combat_veterans_of_reddit_how_do_you_feel_about/e274g0s/">“someone who goes beyond the ‘call of duty.’”</a> </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313393/original/file-20200203-41527-z5g8f2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313393/original/file-20200203-41527-z5g8f2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313393/original/file-20200203-41527-z5g8f2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313393/original/file-20200203-41527-z5g8f2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313393/original/file-20200203-41527-z5g8f2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313393/original/file-20200203-41527-z5g8f2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313393/original/file-20200203-41527-z5g8f2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A recent discussion on Reddit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reddit</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Determining what and who heroes are, and what heroism is, is more complex than a simple and immediate assignment. According to American psychologist Philip Zimbardo: “Personal history matters. Having survived a disaster or personal <a href="https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/what_makes_a_hero/">trauma makes you three times more likely to be a hero and a volunteer.”</a></p>
<p>Calling a survivor a hero changes little for the survivor who may be newly experiencing trauma. Our policies, our daily habits and perceptions of survivors, veterans and heroes are infused by definitions of trauma and survival that fail survivors. </p>
<h2>Surviving being a hero</h2>
<p>A November 2019 knife attack in the United Kingdom in which two people were killed also took a toll on survivors. Bryonn Bain, a witness of the stabbings, told the <em>Guardian</em> newspaper: “I saw people die … <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/dec/02/bravery-teamwork-tragedy-the-effort-to-stop-the-london-bridge-attack">I saw things I am never going to be able to unsee.</a>” As Dr. Vin Diwaker, a physician and medical director for the National Health Service in London, said in the aftermath: <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/london-bridge-attack-victims-saskia-jones-jack-merritt-1.5380211">“The psychological impact of such events sometimes only comes to light in the days and weeks afterwards.”</a></p>
<p>The October 2017 Harvest Route 91 Music Festival mass shooting in Las Vegas shows the range of affective response from “heroic” action to recognition of the inescapable horrors of the fatalities and injuries. </p>
<p>Taylor Winston, military veteran, swung immediately into action to transport injured and dying people. The celebration of Winston’s heroism belied the anxiety, sleeplessness and trauma felt by a fellow survivor. On Facebook, Jason Marc Zabala wrote, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I can’t sleep. I can’t process this. I close my eyes and in great detail, my friends and I can visualize things we wish to never see again. But we can’t. I hear the sound of a gun and the pauses for the shooter to reload it. I hear the screaming and the terror in people’s voices. <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/marine-veteran-heard-shots-grabbed-pickup-truck-and-took-vegas-victims-to-safety">Running past people who most likely won’t make it home to their families tonight.”</a></p>
</blockquote>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZOS0uXWX9gM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">First responders, doctors, military members and ordinary people all united to help save the lives of those shot during the attack. (Source: ABC15 Arizona)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For some survivors, surviving a single instance of violence can have a long-term effect. </p>
<p>For example, Andreanne Leblanc was one of the paramedics who responded to the call for medical assistance after the January 2017 attack at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City. Leblanc’s mother, Lucie Roy, said of her daughter: “She had all the signs of somebody with post-traumatic stress.”</p>
<p>Fulfilling the heroic duties of a first responder after the attack was not a guarantee of a hero’s rest for Andreanne, <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/first-responder-at-quebec-mosque-shooting-dies-by-suicide-1.3954984">who died by suicide in March 2018.</a> As some observed, it was not her heroic status but rather her death <a href="https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/2019-ctn-pln-ptsi/index-en.aspx">that spurred the creation of Canadian policy initiatives with significant funding on post-traumatic stress injuries.</a></p>
<h2>Redefining trauma and heroism</h2>
<p>What does this mean for us, today, and in the months ahead when we will likely, sadly and undeniably, come face-to-face with disaster, violence and catastrophic experiences? If sufferers of PTSD stand frozen in their historic moments of terror and danger, should we commemorate the experiences that hold them back?</p>
<p>In commemoration, and even veneration, our society holds on to historic trauma in a bid to provide honour and acknowledgement of sacrifices. A survivor in a commemorating environment is made to carry the weight that is heroism. Not to carry this weight means letting go. </p>
<p>Memory researcher Flora Keshgegian points out that for survivors, <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=mG3jxSTEHo4C&pg=PA100&lpg=PA100&dq=Finding+a+Place+Past+Night:+Armenian+Genocidal+Memory+in+Diaspora&source=bl&ots=s8YDzUpb7y&sig=ACfU3U1fwmG8_ri672Tu_hxPSl02l2yzBw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj5h5_VmrbnAhWVXc0KHZnsAk0Q6AEwAHoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=Finding%20a%20Place%20Past%20Night%3A%20Armenian%20Genocidal%20Memory%20in%20Diaspora&f=false">letting go of injuries and suffering can seem like betrayal</a> of the original trauma and all of the resultant suffering. </p>
<h2>Time to let go of the ‘hero’ label?</h2>
<p>The hero label and the focus on commemoration, then, is part of an urgent problem: it may impede survivors’ processing of trauma and how we respond to their needs. </p>
<p>New initiatives undertaken by Public Safety Canada are positive developments as they offer public education on recognizing the symptoms of PTSD and they provide better access for survivors of trauma to immediate assistance through digital tools. </p>
<p>We will all benefit from such positive initiatives, of course. Going forward, however, requires that while we learn more about PTSD, we also recognize that the hero dilemma holds our own society in a static place of commemoration and memory — even as we are confronted by new catastrophic events. </p>
<p>Ultimately, the survivor of catastrophe, stuck in the trauma of survival while still reliving horrific events, must tell us who they are. Our view of them must be about them and what they need most, and not about our desire for heroes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313593/original/file-20200204-41485-1hx5xvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313593/original/file-20200204-41485-1hx5xvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313593/original/file-20200204-41485-1hx5xvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313593/original/file-20200204-41485-1hx5xvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313593/original/file-20200204-41485-1hx5xvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313593/original/file-20200204-41485-1hx5xvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313593/original/file-20200204-41485-1hx5xvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Yolanda Renee King, grand-daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., left, accompanied by Jaclyn Corin, right, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., speaks during the ‘March for Our Lives’ rally in support of gun control in Washington. Corin survived the school shooting and co-founded the ‘March For Our Lives’ gun-reform movement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Andrew Harnik</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126730/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annie St. John-Stark is affiliated with the Memory Studies Association, and is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy, History and Politics at Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada.</span></em></p>
We do a disservice to survivors of major tragedies when we call them “heroes.” Instead, we should change our policies and attitudes to help them truly survive the disaster.
Annie St. John-Stark, Assistant Professor of History, Thompson Rivers University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/128597
2019-12-17T22:23:16Z
2019-12-17T22:23:16Z
How a Canadian superhero brought queer representation to Marvel Comics
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307505/original/file-20191217-58296-1khiaen.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C11%2C979%2C642&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Northstar's marriage was prominently displayed on the cover of 'Astonishing X-Men #51.'</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Marvel)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Marvel Comics is frequently referred to as “<a href="https://www.newsarama.com/37715-marvel-mysteries.html">the house of ideas</a>,” yet the idea of a queer superhero did not fully arrive at Marvel until the 1990s. Despite Marvel’s reputation as a campus phenomenon and as a hotbed for liberal — even subversive — discourse, Stan Lee’s comics publishing juggernaut would not feature a canonically gay character until some 30 years after the debut of <em>The Fantastic Four</em>. </p>
<p>There’s a reason for that.</p>
<p><a href="http://cbldf.org/the-comics-code-of-1954/">The 1954 Comics Code Authority</a> — a censorship bureau that policed comics content — explicitly banned “sex perversion or any inference to same,” which <a href="https://info.harpercollins.com/whycomics/">comics scholar Hilary Chute</a> notes is “a clear reference to homosexuality.” The Marvel Universe as we know it began in 1961, with the launch of <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Fantastic_Four_Vol_1_1"><em>Fantastic Four #1</em></a>. Thus, Marvel Comics was, from the outset, actually prohibited from depicting gay characters.</p>
<p>So how do you a write a queer character at a time when comics are expressly forbidden from featuring queer characters?</p>
<p>In a word: delicately.</p>
<h2>The slow coming out</h2>
<p>It wasn’t until 1992 — three years after a major revision to the Comics Code officially opened the door to depictions of LGBTQ+ characters — that Marvel had their first openly gay superhero. In <em>Alpha Flight #106</em> written by Scott Lobdel, the character Northstar (alias Olympic ski champion Jean-Paul Beaubier) declared: “I am gay.” </p>
<p>Even then this move was met with outrage by Marvel’s corporate leadership, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/18/books/review/marvel-comics-the-untold-story-by-sean-howe.html">Marvel Comics historian Sean Howe explained in his book <em>Marvel Comics: The Untold Story</em></a>.</p>
<p>Twenty years later, Northstar would also feature in Marvel’s first same-sex marriage, an event that was prominently depicted on the cover of <em><a href="https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/40803/astonishing_x-men_2004_51">Astonishing X-Men #51</a></em>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306510/original/file-20191212-85367-e4jp81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306510/original/file-20191212-85367-e4jp81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306510/original/file-20191212-85367-e4jp81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306510/original/file-20191212-85367-e4jp81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306510/original/file-20191212-85367-e4jp81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306510/original/file-20191212-85367-e4jp81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306510/original/file-20191212-85367-e4jp81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>Astonishing X-Men #51</em>. Written by Margaret Liu and illustrated by Dustin Weaver, published June 20, 2012.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/40803/astonishing_x-men_2004_51">(Marvel)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A hotbed for queer subtext</h2>
<p>Northstar had debuted way back in 1983 as part of the all-Canadian, government-sponsored superhero team, Alpha Flight. The team first appeared in the pages of <em>X-Men</em>, brought to life by Canadian artist and writer John Byrne and iconic <em>X-Men</em> writer Chris Claremont. </p>
<p>At the time, X-Men comics were already a hotbed for queer subtext. <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479823086/the-new-mutants/">Comics scholar Ramzi Fawaz notes</a> that Claremont’s X-Men “articulated mutation to the radical critiques of identity promulgated by the cultures of women’s and gay liberation.” </p>
<p>Another <a href="https://art.stanford.edu/works/hellboys-world-comics-and-monsters-margins">comics scholar, Scott Bukatman</a>, puts it more simply and says: “mutant bodies are explicitly analogized to … gay bodies” in Claremont’s X-Men. It is no surprise then, that Marvel’s first gay superhero should emerge from this series. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306511/original/file-20191212-85412-1owcgzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306511/original/file-20191212-85412-1owcgzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306511/original/file-20191212-85412-1owcgzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306511/original/file-20191212-85412-1owcgzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306511/original/file-20191212-85412-1owcgzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306511/original/file-20191212-85412-1owcgzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306511/original/file-20191212-85412-1owcgzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Marvel’s first gay superhero emerged from the X-Men series.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Marvel)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Byrne described the <a href="http://m.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=20713&PN=0&TPN=2">impetus of Northstar’s sexuality</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“There needs to be gays in comics because there are gays in real life. No other reason …. The population of the fictional world should represent the real world. That’s why I created Northstar — I felt the Marvel Universe needed a gay superhero (even if I would never be allowed to say it in so many words in the comics themselves), and I felt that I should create one, rather than retrofitting an existing character.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Validation through storytelling</h2>
<p>Northstar’s sexuality first surfaces in <em>Alpha Flight</em> #7 (1983) when he meets up with “an old friend” named Raymonde who is strongly hinted to be a former lover. In the story, written by Byrne, Raymonde comments on Northstar’s good looks. He also references the secretive nature of his relationship with Jean-Paul: “Then you have not really told your sister all about me, after all, Jean-Paul? I thought that would have been odd.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306508/original/file-20191212-85376-15daic2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306508/original/file-20191212-85376-15daic2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=207&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306508/original/file-20191212-85376-15daic2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=207&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306508/original/file-20191212-85376-15daic2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=207&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306508/original/file-20191212-85376-15daic2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306508/original/file-20191212-85376-15daic2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306508/original/file-20191212-85376-15daic2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">From <em>Alpha Flight #7</em></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Marvel)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When Raymonde is later murdered, Northstar snaps with blind rage. The narrative caption tells us: “And Raymonde had led him out of that dark fear, into the bright clear light of self-acceptance.” </p>
<p>In 1983, the narrative of a former lover being murdered and thus spurring the superhero to action and emotional eruption was already a comics cliché. But staging that through a same-sex couple establishes a sort of subtextual validation of Northstar’s relationship as something more than the Comics Code Authority “sex perversion” label. </p>
<p>Two years later, in the 1985 limited series <em>X-Men and Alpha Flight</em>, Northstar’s sexuality is once again woven into a key story, this time written by Claremont. After having his consciousness briefly absorbed by the X-Man Rogue, Northstar becomes furious that she now knows his “secrets.” </p>
<p>In a misguided attempt to help Northstar, Rogue then asks him to dance at a very public reception. When Northstar’s own teammates make fun of the incongruity of Northstar dancing at a ball with a woman, Rogue thinks “None of y’all understand him the way ah do.” </p>
<p>In the face of this ridicule, a stoic Jean-Paul takes Rogue up on the dance. She remarks “You don’t have to,” to which he replies, “Yes, Rogue. I do.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306509/original/file-20191212-85428-1w2pulw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306509/original/file-20191212-85428-1w2pulw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306509/original/file-20191212-85428-1w2pulw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306509/original/file-20191212-85428-1w2pulw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306509/original/file-20191212-85428-1w2pulw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306509/original/file-20191212-85428-1w2pulw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306509/original/file-20191212-85428-1w2pulw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">From <em>X-Men and Alpha Flight #1</em></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Marvel)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Northstar</h2>
<p>On the literal level, Northstar is being ridiculed for his general disinterest in heterosexual romance. But Claremont is crafting a story of a man who struggles with his closeted sexuality in the face of social pressures. </p>
<p>It’s a sympathetic portrayal of the character that helps to normalize the concept of a gay superhero, even if Marvel couldn’t identify him that way at the time. </p>
<p>Whether through delicate subtext or comics covering wedding events, Northstar holds a uniquely prominent and, at times, poignant position in the history of LGBTQ+ superheroes. </p>
<p>As we come to understand the importance of diverse representation within the superhero genre, this is a character that needs to be known, discussed and hopefully appreciated. </p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=expertise">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128597/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>J. Andrew Deman receives funding from SSHRC to study the X-Men comics of Chris Claremont.</span></em></p>
Marvel Comics is frequently referred to as “the house of ideas,” yet the idea of a queer superhero did not fully arrive at Marvel until the 1990s.
J. Andrew Deman, Professor, University of Waterloo
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/115132
2019-05-26T19:32:06Z
2019-05-26T19:32:06Z
A long time ago… why prequels are taking us back to the future in popular film
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275314/original/file-20190520-69209-hnakud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An upcoming film will explore the origins of the Joker, last seen in the Batman franchise. But prequels are often poorly received – perhaps with good reason.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7286456/mediaviewer/rm1076453632">DC Comics/IMDB</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last month, audiences got their first glimpse of the trailer for the upcoming film, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7286456/">Joker</a>, which explores the origins of its iconic title character, last seen in the Batman franchise. The trailer came just weeks after <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154664/">Captain Marvel</a> was released to cinemas, detailing the back story of Carol Danvers, a superhero who suffers from amnesia and struggles to find out about her past. </p>
<p>Joker is not the only prequel in the works. DC entertainment (also behind Joker) will follow up with <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1877830/">The Batman</a>, a 2021 film set to focus on a younger Bruce Wayne. The <a href="https://consequenceofsound.net/2018/09/die-hard-6-mcclane/">sixth instalment of Die Hard</a>, titled McClane, will also be an origin story focusing on John McClane in his 20s. </p>
<p>And after the critically acclaimed <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3032476/">Better Call Saul</a> – a prequel to <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903747/">Breaking Bad</a> – it was recently announced that classic TV show <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/9kpvmy/sopranos-prequel-movie-release-date-new-title-what-happened-to-the-many-saints-of-newark-vgtrn">The Sopranos</a> would be followed up with a prequel movie. Even <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikawsmith/2019/01/14/game-of-thrones-prequel/">Game of Thrones</a> will be filming a prequel series.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-_DJEzZk2pc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Prequels and origin texts focus on the back story of our favourite characters. Traditionally much rarer than sequels, they are fast becoming a popular mode of storytelling, alongside the recent boom of 90s remakes. Prequels allow filmmakers to stay in familiar territory while also developing new storylines for old (and even dead) characters.</p>
<p>While prequels present a unique opportunity for storytelling, they are often poorly received, from <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0329028/">Dumb & Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd</a>, to <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0204313/">Exorcist: The Beginning</a>. On the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prequels">list of film prequels</a> on Wikipedia, 36 were direct-to-video. Prequels like <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071562/">Godfather Part II </a>and Better Call Saul appear to be the exceptions to the rule. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-happening-again-our-love-affair-with-tv-reboots-78454">It's happening again ... our love affair with TV reboots</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Why the appeal?</h2>
<p>Society loves origins. Much like our obsession with the lives of celebrities “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXOk6VWlb9y1-wdnNbi_pqxS5EUG7_vYh">before they were famous</a>”, we’re naturally curious about the past of characters. The great attraction of the prequel and origin story is that we get to take a look into a character’s elusive past. </p>
<p>Film scholar <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Christopher_Nolan.html?id=Ty8GuAEACAAJ&redir_esc=y">Darren Mooney argues</a> origin stories offer what the late <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/marvel-comics-genius-stan-lee-outcasts-heroes/">Stan Lee called</a> the “illusion of change”, so that our understanding of the character can evolve, even when the character themselves remains more or less the same. </p>
<p>Prequels rely on this process of change, and if we can watch this unfold, it can make certain enigmatic characters more relatable – from the Joker to Tony Soprano. This might explain the popularity of <a href="https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3438219/prequels-origin-stories-much-good-thing/">prequels in the horror genre</a>, where we see the early years of killers from Norman Bates to Hannibal Lecter. </p>
<p>Just like sequels, the prequel format is a particularly lucrative business model; <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=marvel2018a.htm">Captain Marvel has grossed more than US$1 billion worldwide</a>, continuing Marvel’s blockbuster run. By taking advantage of the prequel angle, production companies can capitalise on their films without needing to be particularly original. This means the big film franchises will likely continue their cinematic reign under the guise of “novel” storytelling techniques. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275319/original/file-20190520-69192-h9kdcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275319/original/file-20190520-69192-h9kdcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275319/original/file-20190520-69192-h9kdcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275319/original/file-20190520-69192-h9kdcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275319/original/file-20190520-69192-h9kdcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275319/original/file-20190520-69192-h9kdcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275319/original/file-20190520-69192-h9kdcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275319/original/file-20190520-69192-h9kdcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brie Larson in Captain Marvel, a film that explored the origins of its title character.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154664/mediaviewer/rm3956700416">Marvel Studios/IMDB</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As film studies scholar <a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/klein-palmer-cycles-sequels-spin-offs-remakes-and-reboots">Andrew Scahill puts it</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the prequel offers the pleasure of familiar characters and settings while further exploring the narrative world of the existing text and possibly deepening the audience’s connection with central characters.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yet he also acknowledges that “as an industrial mode, the prequel provides the financial safety of a tested storyline with a built-in audience”. This means popular culture, once a thriving field of experimental storytelling, risks becoming ever more derivative as it heads into the next decade.</p>
<h2>When prequels go wrong</h2>
<p>Prequels are more difficult to pull off than a sequel, because we already know how the story ends. As <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/better-call-saul-season-5-release-date-delay-breaking-bad-a8861261.html">AMC President Sarah Barnett said</a> of Better Call Saul: “We know clearly the end was already written before the beginning began.” Filmmakers must also contend with the natural process of time, since actors inevitably age. The task is to make the back story both engaging and authentic to the original narrative.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275320/original/file-20190520-69199-huyqtr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275320/original/file-20190520-69199-huyqtr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275320/original/file-20190520-69199-huyqtr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275320/original/file-20190520-69199-huyqtr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275320/original/file-20190520-69199-huyqtr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275320/original/file-20190520-69199-huyqtr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275320/original/file-20190520-69199-huyqtr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275320/original/file-20190520-69199-huyqtr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bob Odenkirk in Better Call Saul, a prequel series to the critically acclaimed Breaking Bad.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3032476/mediaviewer/rm1012214016">IMDB</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Star Wars prequels illustrate how easy it is to do a bad job. The first two films in particular were poorly received and accused of bad writing, equally terrible acting, and falling well short of the original trilogy in regards to storytelling. When prequels are weak, it often seems as though they are simply there to make money for production companies.</p>
<p>While sequels and reboots defined the 2010s in popular culture, prequels are set to define the 2020s, which is not necessarily good news. Ironically, there is no longer anything particularly original about origin stories, as the format has already started to exhaust itself.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115132/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Siobhan Lyons does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
From the Joker to a Game of Thrones prequel, origin stories are increasingly common in film and TV – perhaps at the expense of originality in popular culture.
Siobhan Lyons, Scholar in Media and Cultural Studies, Macquarie University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/112268
2019-02-21T19:01:31Z
2019-02-21T19:01:31Z
‘Black Panther’ and its science role models inspire more than just movie awards
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260249/original/file-20190221-195873-1czfcxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=122%2C77%2C1252%2C694&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">King of a technologically advanced country, Black Panther is a scientific genius.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825683/mediaviewer/rm2447322112">© 2017 – Disney/Marvel Studios</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It has been said many times that the Marvel movie “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825683/">Black Panther</a>” is an important landmark. I’m not referring to its deserved critical and box office success worldwide, the many awards it has won, or the fact that it is the first film in the superhero genre to be <a href="https://oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2019">nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards</a>.</p>
<p>Instead, I’m focusing on a key aspect of its cultural impact that is less frequently discussed. Finally a feature film starring a black superhero character became part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – a successful run of intertwined movies that began with “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371746/">Iron Man</a>” in 2008. While there have been other superhero movies with a black lead character – “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448157/">Hancock</a>” (2008), “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120611/">Blade</a>” (1998), “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120177/">Spawn</a>” (1997) or even “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107563/">The Meteor Man</a>” (1993) – this film is significant because of the <a href="https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/the-rise-of-superhero-films/">recent remarkable rise of the superhero film</a> from the nerdish fringe to part of mainstream culture.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=marvel2017b.htm">Huge audiences</a> saw a black lead character – not a sidekick or part of a team – in a superhero movie by a major studio, with a black director (Ryan Coogler), black writers and a majority black cast. This is a significant step toward diversifying our culture by improving the <a href="http://annenberg.usc.edu/sites/default/files/Dr_Stacy_L_Smith-Inequality_in_900_Popular_Films.pdf">lackluster representation</a> of minorities in our major media. It’s also a <a href="http://annenberg.usc.edu/research/aii/research/raceethnicity">filmmaking landmark because black creators</a> have been given access to the resources and platforms needed to bring different storytelling perspectives into our mainstream culture.</p>
<p>2017’s “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0451279/">Wonder Woman</a>” forged a similar path. In that case, a major studio finally decided to commit resources to a superhero film headlined by a female character and directed by a woman, Patty Jenkins. Female directors are <a href="http://annenberg.usc.edu/inclusion-directors-chair">a minority in the movie industry</a>. Jenkins brought a new perspective to this kind of action movie, and there was a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2017/05/31/why-women-are-crying-when-they-watch-wonder-woman-fight/102328772/">huge positive response from audiences</a> in theaters worldwide.</p>
<p>And beyond all this, “Black Panther” also broke additional ground in a way most people may not realize: In the comics, the character is actually a scientist and engineer. Moreover, in the inevitable (and somewhat ridiculous) ranking of scientific prowess that happens in the comic book world, he’s been portrayed as at least the equal of the two most famous “top scientists” in the Marvel universe: Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic). A black headlining superhero character written and directed by black artists is rare enough from a major studio. But making him – and his sister Shuri – successful scientists and engineers as well is another level of rarity.</p>
<h2>Scientists on screen</h2>
<p>I’m a scientist who cares about increased engagement with science by the general public. I’ve worked as <a href="http://www.laweekly.com/film/physicist-dr-clifford-v-johnson-is-a-consultant-on-superhero-movies-8232890">a science adviser on many film and TV projects</a> (though not “Black Panther”). When the opportunity arises, I’ve <a href="https://creativefuture.org/science-advisor-conversation-dr-clifford-johnson/">helped broaden the diversity of scientist characters</a> portrayed onscreen.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jason Wilkes is a black scientist on ‘Agent Carter,’ whose character emerged from the author’s talks with the show’s writers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABC Television</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Panels from ‘The Dialogues,’ including a black female scientist.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">'The Dialogues,' by Clifford V. Johnson (MIT Press 2017)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I’ve also recently published a <a href="http://thedialoguesbook.com/">nonfiction graphic book</a> for general audiences called “<a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/dialogues-0">The Dialogues: Conversations about the Nature of the Universe</a>.” Its characters include male and female black scientists, discussing aspects of my own field of theoretical physics – where black scientists are <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17310/data.cfm">unfortunately very rare</a>. So the opportunity that the “Black Panther” movie presents to inform and inspire vast audiences is of great interest to me.</p>
<p>The history and evolution of the Black Panther character and his scientific back story is a fascinating example of turning a problematic past into a positive opportunity.</p>
<p>Created in 1966 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, he’s the first black superhero character in mainstream comics, <a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/fantastic-four-52-introducing-the-sensational-blac/4000-8666/">originally appearing as a guest</a> in a “Fantastic Four” Marvel comic. As a black character created and initially written by nonblack authors, guest-starring in the pages of a book headlined by white characters, he had many of the classic attributes of what is now sometimes controversially known as the “<a href="https://www.salon.com/2010/09/14/magical_negro_trope/">magical negro</a>” in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934707307831">American cultural criticism</a>: He ranked extremely highly in every sphere that mattered, to the point of being almost too unreal even for the comics of the time.</p>
<p>Black Panther is T’Challa, king of the fictional African country Wakanda, which is fathomlessly wealthy and remarkably advanced, scientifically and technologically. Even Marvel’s legendary master scientist – Reed Richards of the superhero team Fantastic Four – is befuddled by and full of admiration for Wakanda’s scientific capabilities. T’Challa himself is portrayed as an extraordinary “genius” in physics and other scientific fields, a peerless tactician, a remarkable athlete and a master of numerous forms of martial arts. And he is noble to a fault. Of course, he grows to become a powerful ally of the Fantastic Four and other Marvel superheroes over many adventures.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">While likening Black Panther to a ‘refugee from a Tarzan movie,’ the Fantastic Four marveled at his technological innovations in ‘Introducing the Sensational Black Panther.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966). [Marvel Comics]</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The key point here is that the superlative scientific ability of our hero, and that of his country, has its origins in the well-meaning, but problematic, practice of inventing near or beyond perfect black characters to support stories starring primarily white protagonists. But this is a lemons-to-lemonade story.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Fantastic Four were amazed by the scientific ingenuity of Wakanda in ‘Whosoever Finds The Evil Eye.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fantastic Four #54 (September 1966). [Marvel Comics]</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Black Panther eventually got to star in his own series of comics. He was turned into a nuanced and complex character, moving well away from the tropes of his beginnings. Writer Don McGregor’s work started this development as early as 1973, but Black Panther’s journey to the multilayered character you see on screen was greatly advanced by the efforts of several writers with diverse perspectives. Perhaps most notably, in the context of the film, these include Christopher Priest (late 1990s) and Ta-Nehisi Coates (starting in 2016), along with Roxane Gay and Yona Harvey, writing in “World of Wakanda” (2016). Coates and Gay, already best-selling literary writers before coming to the character, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/23/books/black-panther-marvel-comics-roxane-gay-ta-nehisi-coates-wakanda.html?_r=0">helped bring him to wider attention</a> beyond normal comic book fandom, partly paving the way for the movie.</p>
<p>Through all of the improved writing of T'Challa and his world, his spectacular scientific ability has remained prominent. Wakanda continues to be a successful African nation with astonishing science and technology. Furthermore, and very importantly, T'Challa is not portrayed as an anomaly among his people in this regard. There are many great scientists and engineers in the Wakanda of the comics, including his sister Shuri. In some accounts, she (in the continued scientist-ranking business of comics) is an even greater intellect than he is. In the movie, T’Challa’s science and engineering abilities are referred to, but it is his sister Shuri who takes center stage in this role, having taken over to design the new tools and weapons he uses in the field. She also uses Wakandan science to heal wounds that would have been fatal elsewhere in the world.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black Panther isn’t an isolated genius – his half-sister Shuri is a technological wiz herself.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://collider.com/black-panther-things-to-know/">Marvel Studios</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>If they can do it, then why not me?</h2>
<p>As a scientist who cares about inspiring more people – including underrepresented minorities and women – <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-ways-scientists-can-help-put-science-back-into-popular-culture-84955">to engage with science</a>, I think that showing a little of this scientific landscape in “Black Panther” potentially amplifies the movie’s cultural impact.</p>
<p>Vast audiences see black heroes – both men and women – using their scientific ability to solve problems and make their way in the world, at an unrivaled level. <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/daphna-oyserman/identity/">Research has shown</a> that such representation can have a positive effect on the interests, outlook and career trajectories of viewers.</p>
<p>Improving science education for all is a core endeavor in a nation’s competitiveness and overall health, but outcomes are limited if people aren’t inspired to take an interest in science in the first place. There simply are <a href="http://annenberg.usc.edu/research/aii/research/raceethnicity">not enough images of black scientists</a> – male or female – in our media and entertainment to help inspire. Many people from underrepresented groups end up genuinely believing that scientific investigation is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1949-8594.2002.tb18217.x">not a career path open to them</a>.</p>
<p>Moreover, many people still see the dedication and study needed to excel in science as “nerdy.” A cultural injection of Black Panther heroics helps continue to erode the crumbling tropes that science is <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-people-think-man-when-they-think-scientist-how-can-we-kill-the-stereotype-42393">only for white men</a> or reserved for <a href="https://theconversation.com/beliefs-about-innate-talent-may-dissuade-students-from-stem-42967">people with a special “science gene.”</a></p>
<p>The huge widespread success of the “Black Panther” movie, showcasing T'Challa, Shuri and other Wakandans as highly accomplished scientists, remains one of the most significant boosts for science engagement in recent times.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This is an updated version of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-hidden-superpower-of-black-panther-scientist-role-models-91042">an article originally published</a> on Feb. 8, 2018.</em></p>
<p>
<section class="inline-content">
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248895/original/file-20181204-133100-t34yqm.png?w=128&h=128">
<div>
<header>Clifford V. Johnson is the author of:</header>
<p><a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/dialogues-1">The Dialogues: Conversations about the Nature of the Universe</a></p>
<footer>MIT Press provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.</footer>
</div>
</section>
</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112268/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>MIT Press provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.</span></em></p>
The film wowed critics and fans. But its hidden power may be black lead characters who are accomplished scientists – just the thing to help inspire future generations to follow in their footsteps.
Clifford Johnson, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/94718
2018-04-18T10:43:36Z
2018-04-18T10:43:36Z
Superman at 80: How two high school friends concocted the original comic book hero
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215252/original/file-20180417-163962-1qfn9di.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In 1938, a cultural icon was born.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/gold-coast-aus-nov-20-2014supermanhes-234349990?src=xU4qxCGZ4iqLtwA4oaZbqg-2-3">ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Superman – the first, most famous American superhero – turns 80 this year.</p>
<p>The comics, toys, costumes and <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/box-office-milestone-black-panther-joins-billion-dollar-club-1093586">billion-dollar Hollywood blockbusters</a> can all trace their ancestry to the first issue of “Action Comics,” which hit newsstands in April 1938.</p>
<p>Most casual comic book fans can recite the character’s <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=PMYsjzigENIC&lpg=PP1&dq=Superman%3A%20The%20Complete%20History&pg=PA169#v=snippet&q=kal-el&f=false">fictional origin story</a>: As the planet Krypton approaches destruction, Jor-El and his wife, Lara, put their infant son, Kal-El, into a spaceship to save him. He rockets to Earth and is taken in by the kindly Kents. As he grows up, Kal-El – now known as Clark – develops strange powers, and he vows to use them for good. </p>
<p>But the story of the real-life origins of Superman – a character created out of friendship, persistence and personal tragedy – is just as dramatic. </p>
<h2>From villain to hero</h2>
<p>When I was a kid growing up in Cleveland, my dad would regale my brother and me with stories of Superman’s local origins: The two men who had concocted the comic book hero had grown up in the area. </p>
<p>As I became older, I realized I wanted to understand not only how, but <em>why</em> Superman was created. A 10-year research project ensued, and it culminated in my book “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Super_Boys.html?id=DbieMQEACAAJ">Super Boys</a>.” </p>
<p>In the mid-1930s, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were two nerds with glasses who attended Glenville High School in Cleveland, Ohio. They worked on the school newspaper, wrote stories, drew cartoons, and dreamed of being famous. Jerry was the writer; Joe was the artist. When they finally turned to making comics, a publisher named <a href="http://majormalcolmwheelernicholson.com/">Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson</a> <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ZgZ-ngEACAAJ&dq=Super+Boys:+The+Amazing+Adventures+of+Jerry+Siegel+and+Joe+Shuster&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiPtsK_zMHaAhVpQt8KHco0A0sQ6AEIJzAA">gave them their first break</a>, commissioning them to create spy and adventure comics in his magazines “New Fun” and “Detective Comics.”</p>
<p>But Jerry and Joe had been working on something else: <a href="https://archive.org/details/ReignOfTheSuperman">a story</a> about a “Superman” – a villain with special mental powers – that Jerry had stolen from a different magazine. They self-published it in a pamphlet titled “Science Fiction.”</p>
<p>While “Science Fiction” only lasted for five issues, they liked the name of the character and continued to work on it. Before long, their new Superman was a good guy. Joe dressed him in a cape and trunks <a href="https://medium.com/re-form/no-capes-79c3e27fc441">like those of the era’s popular bodybuilders</a>, modeled the character’s speedy running abilities after Olympic sprinter Jesse Owens, and gave him <a href="https://clevelandmagazine.com/in-the-cle/articles/superman's-influences">the bouncy spit-curl</a> of Johnny Weissmuller, the actor who played Tarzan. It was a mishmash of 1930s pop culture in gladiator boots.</p>
<p>When they were finally ready, they started pitching Superman to every newspaper syndicate and publisher they could find.</p>
<p>All of them rejected it, some of them several times. This continued for several years, but the duo never gave up. </p>
<p>When Superman finally saw print, it was through a process that is still not wholly clear. But the general consensus is that a publisher named Harry Donenfeld, who had acquired the major’s company, National Allied Publications (the predecessor to DC Comics), bought the first Superman story – and all the rights therein – for US$130. </p>
<h2>Was Jerry trying to create a Superdad?</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215239/original/file-20180417-163978-7hos5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215239/original/file-20180417-163978-7hos5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215239/original/file-20180417-163978-7hos5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215239/original/file-20180417-163978-7hos5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215239/original/file-20180417-163978-7hos5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215239/original/file-20180417-163978-7hos5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1041&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215239/original/file-20180417-163978-7hos5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1041&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215239/original/file-20180417-163978-7hos5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1041&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The first issue of Action Comics featured Superman on the cover.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippl/449712941">Philipp Lenssen</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The world was introduced to Superman in “Action Comics” No. 1, on April 18, 1938, with the Man of Steel appearing on the cover smashing a Hudson roadster. The inaugural issue cost 10 cents; in 2014, a copy in good condition <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/supermans-action-comics-no-1-sells-for-record-3-2-million-on-ebay/">sold for $3.2 million dollars</a>. </p>
<p>When the comic became a runaway hit, Jerry and Joe regretted selling their rights to the character; they ended up leaving millions on the table. Though they worked on Superman comics for the next 10 years, they would never own the character they created, and for the rest of their lives repeatedly filed lawsuits in an effort to get him back.</p>
<p>But there is another more personal piece to the puzzle of Superman’s origins.</p>
<p>On June 2, 1932, Jerry’s father, Michel, was about to close his secondhand clothing store in Cleveland when some men walked in. Michel caught them trying to steal a suit, and ended up <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/truth-justice-stickup-article-1.314622">dying on the spot</a> – not in a hail of gunfire, <a href="https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-08-25-superman-creators_N.htm">but from a heart attack</a>. </p>
<p>Jerry was 17.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215256/original/file-20180417-163971-1oypsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215256/original/file-20180417-163971-1oypsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215256/original/file-20180417-163971-1oypsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215256/original/file-20180417-163971-1oypsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215256/original/file-20180417-163971-1oypsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215256/original/file-20180417-163971-1oypsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215256/original/file-20180417-163971-1oypsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jerry Siegel pictured while serving in the U.S. Army.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Jerry_Siegel_1943.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/2628733/The-tragic-real-story-behind-Supermans-birth.html">Some believe</a> Jerry may have created Superman as a fantasy version of his own father – as someone who could instantly transform from a mild-mannered man into a hero capable of easily overpowering petty thieves. Indeed, some of the early Superman stories feature Jor-El out of breath (as Michel often was from heart disease) and show criminals who faint dead when confronted by Superman. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2664732">As many victims of childhood trauma often do</a>, Jerry may have used Superman to re-enact his father’s tragic death over and over in an attempt to somehow fix it. </p>
<p>In Superman’s never-ending battle of good versus evil, this same story is repeated again and again on the page, in cartoons and in movies. It’s seen in kids who pretend to be Superman, tucking towels in at their neck and playing out battles in their backyards.</p>
<p>Why is Superman’s 80th birthday important? It isn’t just about celebrating a “funny book” about a guy who has heat vision and can fly. It’s about using fantasy to make sense of the world, plumbing personal tragedy to tell a story, and using art to envision a more just and safe society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94718/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brad Ricca does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Pop culture, personal tragedy and heroic persistence all played a role.
Brad Ricca, Lecturer of English, Case Western Reserve University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/93095
2018-03-13T08:41:25Z
2018-03-13T08:41:25Z
Black people beware: don’t let Black Panther joy mask Hollywood’s racism
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210053/original/file-20180313-30975-lnv556.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Black Panther.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> ©Marvel Studios 2018</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="http://marvel.com/movies/movie/224/black_panther">Black Panther</a></em> director/co-writer <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/features/ryan-coogler-why-i-needed-to-make-black-panther-w517100">Ryan Coogler</a> has given black people throughout the world an imagined Africa that has been wholeheartedly embraced, <a href="http://variety.com/2018/film/news/black-panther-billion-global-box-office-1202723326/">earning</a> over USD$1 billion dollars globally so far. This embrace is due, primarily, to the presentation of so many beautiful, black bodies onscreen, including an extravagant representation of fierce, and fashionable, black women.</p>
<p>Also appealing is the portrayal of an Africa of independent authority, spiritual alertness, respect and veneration of ancestors and relationship with animals and plants. This is a portrayal of Africa that is hungered for, especially by ancestrally orphaned African Americans. It is deeply satisfying to view.</p>
<p>But at the same time, it raises questions alert black viewers would be doing themselves a disservice to avoid posing.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://marvel.com/blackpanther#/">Black Panther</a></em> appears within a broad Hollywood tradition, with over 100 years of history, that portrays Africa as wild, weirdly exotic, and mysterious, and Africans as tribal savages, backwards and subordinate. The framing of Africa and Africans in this way has served to provide the world, including Africans themselves, with a perception of Africa and African people that justified the “saving” and “civilising” mission of Westerners who desired to maintain a colonising influence over the continent.</p>
<p>Hollywood’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/movies/hollywood-separate-and-unequal.html">history of racism</a> triggers the question, why was the first black superhero identified as an African and a quasi-animal? When the original <em>Black Panther</em> comic appeared in the sixties, featuring a black person who was not inferiorised was groundbreaking. </p>
<p>However, creating an African black panther was unusual. Unusual because it was the <em>Black Panther</em> alone who was not American, and who was instead assigned an African identity. And also unusual because the sixties Marvel universe of superheroes consisted of human-modified characters – Hulk, Iron Man, Thor – and insect characters – Ant Man, Wasp and Spider Man – but not animal characters, other than <em>Black Panther</em>. </p>
<p>Almost 20 years ago philosopher Achille Mbembe astutely commented on this troubling and recurring phenomenon. He wrote, in <em><a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520204355">On the Postcolony</a></em>,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>discourse on Africa is almost always deployed in the framework (or on the fringes) of a meta-text about the animal — to be exact, about the beast: its experience, its world, and its spectacle.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Whether well-intentioned or malicious, the imagination that intertwines the African and the beast has become so commonplace in our minds that it’s hardly questioned. However, when white supremacy is again being boldly asserted in the world, people of African descent who have historically been dehumanised and relegated to the status of animal, must question this association. Especially instances, as in <em>Black Panther</em>, when the association of the African and the howling gorilla is made so explicitly.</p>
<h2>The not so super superhero</h2>
<p>It’s also noteworthy that the first black man superhero was curiously un-superhero like. The character T'Challa did not possess the scientific brilliance of Tony Stark, who is <em>Ironman</em>‘s genius creator and alter ego. T'Challa’s essence was not transformed at the genetic level such that his body, his selfness, became superhuman and superpowerful, like Bruce Banner’s does when he is transformed into the <em>Hulk</em>. T'Challa was not born a god, like blue-eyed, blonde-haired <em>Thor</em>, the Asgardian god of thunder who wields an enchanted hammer that enables him to fly.</p>
<p>Despite T'Challa’s imbibing of the purple flower potion, viewers never witnessed his transformation from human to superhero. He only dons a powerful suit. Why was <em>Black Panther</em> not written in such a way as to imbue a black man with true superhero dynamism?</p>
<p>Then there are the villains. In Hollywood, there are certain villains that must always be villains, such as Nazis. Then there are heroes, such as white men, who must always be depicted as, in some way, heroic.</p>
<p>The story of Western neo-imperialist resource extraction from Africa is well known. However, in <em>Black Panther</em>, the CIA, who is often the true <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36303327">enemy of Africa</a>, has been transformed into the imaginary state of Wakanda’s friend. It is Africans themselves who are depicted as those who hoard mineral wealth to the detriment of the world.</p>
<p>Why in a film about the <em>Black Panther</em>, who is a black African man, must an actual enemy of African life, go unnamed and an alternate enemy, <em>Killmonger</em>, be manufactured? </p>
<p>Does T'Challa not encounter disrespect on European streets, or suspicion on entering high-end shops, or threats from police on US soil like his black brethren? If he does, then why must there be the creation of hostilities between Pan Africans, when their real-life interests against regime changing global capital and white supremacy are aligned?</p>
<h2>Trojan Horse</h2>
<p>In other words, Hollywood will allow the world of the <em>Black Panther</em> to be black, only if that world defers to white fragility and does not hurt white people’s feelings. Blackness is allowed only if that blackness likes and supports the values that white people like and support. And only to the extent that black people, though they look good, also exhibit deep cultural flaws.</p>
<p>Why are global audiences led to associate the power and strength of black men with black-on-black hostility and violence? Why must there be the implicit suggestion to audiences that African governance inexorably leads to African tribal warfare?</p>
<p>Philosopher Frantz Fanon <a href="http://www.critical-theory.com/frantz-fanon-argues-no-being-through-others-for-people-of-color-in-1952/">wrote</a> a generation ago that black people must not only be black, but that they “must be black in relation to the white man”. This necessity of avoiding global black reality, in deference to white sensibilities, is the film’s super problem.</p>
<p>Hollywood has historically adhered to a racist narrative that portrays black people as inferior. Black people dare not believe that they are being presented with a film that proves that Hollywood now, suddenly, holds them in high esteem. Though the <em>Black Panther</em> film is sumptuous, it is a Trojan Horse. Black people must be careful lest black joy at the gift of the film, blinds to the destructive ideologies embedded within it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93095/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alease A. Brown does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Hollywood will allow the world of the Black Panther to be black, only if it doesn’t hurt white people’s feelings.
Alease A. Brown, Ph.D Candidate, Southern Africa, Theology & Violence, Stellenbosch University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/91042
2018-02-08T14:41:44Z
2018-02-08T14:41:44Z
The hidden superpower of ‘Black Panther’: Scientist role models
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205384/original/file-20180207-74473-zbs0ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=435%2C4%2C2290%2C1679&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">King of a technologically advanced country, Black Panther is a scientific genius.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://hdqwalls.com/download/3840x2400/black-panther-2018-4k">Marvel Studios</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I’m not the first to say that the upcoming Marvel movie “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825683/">Black Panther</a>” will be an important landmark. Finally a feature film starring a black superhero character will be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – a successful run of intertwined movies that began with “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371746/">Iron Man</a>” in 2008. While there have been other superhero movies with a black lead character – “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448157/">Hancock</a>” (2008), “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120611/">Blade</a>” (1998), “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120177/">Spawn</a>” (1997) or even “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107563/">The Meteor Man</a>” (1993) – this film is significant because of the <a href="https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/the-rise-of-superhero-films/">recent remarkable rise of the superhero film</a> from the nerdish fringe to part of mainstream culture. </p>
<p>Huge audiences will see a black lead character – not a sidekick or part of a team – in a superhero movie by a major studio, with a black director (Ryan Coogler), black writers and a majority black cast. This is a significant step toward diversifying our culture by improving the <a href="http://annenberg.usc.edu/sites/default/files/Dr_Stacy_L_Smith-Inequality_in_900_Popular_Films.pdf">lackluster representation</a> of minorities in our major media. It’s also a <a href="http://annenberg.usc.edu/research/aii/research/raceethnicity">filmmaking landmark because black creators</a> have been given access to the resources and platforms needed to bring different storytelling perspectives into our mainstream culture.</p>
<p>Last year’s “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0451279/">Wonder Woman</a>” forged a similar path. In that case, a major studio finally decided to commit resources to a superhero film headlined by a female character and directed by a woman, Patty Jenkins. Female directors are <a href="http://annenberg.usc.edu/inclusion-directors-chair">a minority in the movie industry</a>. Jenkins brought a new perspective to this kind of action movie, and there was a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2017/05/31/why-women-are-crying-when-they-watch-wonder-woman-fight/102328772/">huge positive response from audiences</a> in theaters worldwide. </p>
<p>Above and beyond all this, “Black Panther” also has the potential to break additional ground in a way most people may not realize: In the comics, the character is actually a scientist. Moreover, in the inevitable (and somewhat ridiculous) ranking of scientific prowess that happens in the comic book world, he’s been portrayed as at least the equal of the two most famous “top scientists” in the Marvel universe: Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic). A black headlining superhero character written and directed by black artists is rare enough from a major studio, but having him be a successful scientist as well is another level of rarity.</p>
<h2>Scientists on screen</h2>
<p>I’m a scientist who cares about increased engagement with science by the general public. I’ve worked as <a href="http://www.laweekly.com/film/physicist-dr-clifford-v-johnson-is-a-consultant-on-superhero-movies-8232890">a science adviser on many film and TV projects</a> (though not “Black Panther”). When the opportunity arises, I’ve <a href="https://creativefuture.org/science-advisor-conversation-dr-clifford-johnson/">helped broaden the diversity of scientist characters</a> portrayed onscreen.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jason Wilkes is a black scientist on ‘Agent Carter,’ whose character emerged from the author’s talks with the show’s writers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABC Television</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Panels from ‘The Dialogues,’ including a black female scientist.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">'The Dialogues,' by Clifford V. Johnson (MIT Press 2017)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>I’ve also recently published a <a href="http://thedialoguesbook.com">nonfiction graphic book</a> for general audiences called “<a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/dialogues-0">The Dialogues: Conversations about the Nature of the Universe</a>.” Its characters include male and female black scientists, discussing aspects of my own field of theoretical physics – where black scientists are <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17310/data.cfm">unfortunately very rare</a>. So the opportunity that the “Black Panther” movie presents to inform and inspire vast audiences is of great interest to me.</p>
<p>The history and evolution of the Black Panther character and his scientific back story is a fascinating example of turning a problematic past into a positive opportunity.</p>
<p>Created in 1966 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, he’s the first black superhero character in mainstream comics, <a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/fantastic-four-52-introducing-the-sensational-blac/4000-8666/">originally appearing as a guest</a> in a “Fantastic Four” Marvel comic. As a black character created and initially written by nonblack authors, guest-starring in the pages of a book headlined by white characters, he had many of the classic attributes of what is now sometimes controversially known as the “<a href="https://www.salon.com/2010/09/14/magical_negro_trope/">magical negro</a>” in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934707307831">American cultural criticism</a>: He ranked extremely highly in every sphere that mattered, to the point of being almost too unreal even for the comics of the time.</p>
<p>Black Panther is T’Challa, king of the fictional African country Wakanda, which is fathomlessly wealthy and remarkably advanced, scientifically and technologically. Even Marvel’s legendary master scientist - Reed Richards of the superhero team Fantastic Four - is befuddled by and full of admiration for Wakanda’s scientific capabilities. T’Challa himself is portrayed as an extraordinary “genius” in physics and other scientific fields, a peerless tactician, a remarkable athlete and a master of numerous forms of martial arts. And he is noble to a fault. Of course, he grows to become a powerful ally of the Fantastic Four and other Marvel superheroes over many adventures.</p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">While likening Black Panther to a ‘refugee from a Tarzan movie,’ the Fantastic Four marveled at his technological innovations in ‘Introducing the Sensational Black Panther.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966). [Marvel Comics]</span></span>
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<p>The key point here is that the superlative scientific ability of our hero, and that of his country, has its origins in the well-meaning, but problematic, practice of inventing near or beyond perfect black characters to support stories starring primarily white protagonists. But this is a lemons-to-lemonade story.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Fantastic Four were amazed by the scientific ingenuity of Wakanda in ‘Whosoever Finds The Evil Eye.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fantastic Four #54 (September 1966). [Marvel Comics]</span></span>
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<p>Black Panther (T’Challa) eventually gets to star in his own series of comics. He is turned into a nuanced and complex character, moving well away from the tropes of his beginnings. Writer Don McGregor’s work started this development as early as 1973, but Black Panther’s journey to the multilayered character we’ll see on screen was greatly advanced by the efforts of several writers with diverse perspectives. Perhaps most notably, in the context of the film, these include Christopher Priest (late 1990s) and Ta-Nehisi Coates (starting in 2016), along with Roxane Gay and Yona Harvey, writing in “World of Wakanda” (2016). Coates and Gay, already best-selling literary writers before coming to the character, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/23/books/black-panther-marvel-comics-roxane-gay-ta-nehisi-coates-wakanda.html?_r=0">helped bring him to wider attention</a> beyond normal comic book fandom, partly paving the way for the movie.</p>
<p>Through all of the improved writing of T'Challa and his world, his spectacular scientific ability has remained prominent. Wakanda continues to be a successful African nation with astonishing science and technology. Furthermore, and very importantly, T'Challa is not portrayed as an anomaly among his people in this regard. There are many great scientists and engineers in Wakanda, including his half-sister Shuri. In some accounts, she (in the continued scientist-ranking business of comics) is an even greater intellect than he is.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black Panther isn’t an isolated genius – his half-sister Shuri is a technological wiz herself.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://collider.com/black-panther-things-to-know/">Marvel Studios</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>If they can do it, then why not me?</h2>
<p>As a scientist who cares about inspiring more people – including underrepresented minorities and women – <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-ways-scientists-can-help-put-science-back-into-popular-culture-84955">to engage with science</a>, I think that if a significant portion of this scientific landscape appears in “Black Panther” it could amplify the movie’s cultural impact.</p>
<p>Vast audiences will see black heroes of both genders using their scientific ability to solve problems and make their way in the world, at an unrivaled level. <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/daphna-oyserman/identity/">Research has shown</a> that such representation can have a positive effect on the interests, outlook and career trajectories of viewers.</p>
<p>Improving science education for all is a core endeavor in a nation’s competitiveness and overall health, but outcomes are limited if people aren’t inspired to take an interest in science in the first place. There simply are <a href="http://annenberg.usc.edu/research/aii/research/raceethnicity">not enough images of black scientists</a> – male or female – in our media and entertainment to help inspire. Many people from underrepresented groups end up genuinely believing that scientific investigation is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1949-8594.2002.tb18217.x">not a career path open to them</a>.</p>
<p>Moreover, many people still see the dedication and study needed to excel in science as “nerdy.” A cultural injection of Black Panther heroics could help continue to erode the crumbling tropes that science is <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-people-think-man-when-they-think-scientist-how-can-we-kill-the-stereotype-42393">only for white men</a> or reserved for <a href="https://theconversation.com/beliefs-about-innate-talent-may-dissuade-students-from-stem-42967">people with a special “science gene.”</a></p>
<p>Given the widespread anticipation for the upcoming “Black Panther” movie, if it showcases T'Challa and other Wakandans as highly accomplished scientists, it should give science engagement a significant boost worldwide.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91042/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clifford Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Seeing black lead characters who are accomplished scientists could be just the thing to help inspire future generations to follow in their footsteps.
Clifford Johnson, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/87996
2017-11-23T22:48:59Z
2017-11-23T22:48:59Z
A team divided: Who is the hero of Justice League?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196228/original/file-20171123-17988-1x7442.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Justice League should be a sum of its parts but the question remains: Who is the protagonist? From left: Cyborg, Flash, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Handout)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The reviews are coming in harsh for <em>Justice League</em> (Warner Bros.), the keystone movie of the <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/DCExtendedUniverse">DC extended-universe</a>. In some ways this shouldn’t come as a surprise, given the somewhat dubious artistic record of the Justice League comics. </p>
<p>If you walk up to someone on the street (or, more accurately a local comic book store) and you ask them to identify their favourite Superman, Batman or Wonder Woman stories, they can tell you, but ask them their favourite Justice League story and you’ll have a harder time finding a frontrunner. </p>
<p>The reason for this is obvious: Justice League doesn’t have a lot of good stories. But if Superman is awesome and Batman is awesome and Wonder Woman is awesome, shouldn’t the three of them together be thrice as awesome? </p>
<p>Not necessarily. </p>
<p>The problem is simple: You’re taking three characters who work well on their own and jamming them (along with all the baggage of their respective fictional universes) together, while tossing in a handful of other heroes that you hope will function on their own in future movies as well. </p>
<p>As a novelty, it’s delightful to see so many iconic characters in one place. As a storytelling vehicle, however, it creates an obvious problem and clear question: Who is our main protagonist? </p>
<h2>Looking for our hero</h2>
<p>The protagonist — essentially, the hero — in a comic book or movie is the character the audience is meant to identify with. He or she is the main player in the narrative and the individual upon whose choices the events of the plot depend. </p>
<p>A good protagonist can leave the audience feeling invested. Whether in a comic book or a film, that’s important. Gaudy tights in comics and gaudy computer-generated imagery in film can be alienating. We need to care about the people in those tights, the people in front of that green screen. </p>
<p>For writers, attempting to create shared-universe storytelling — what we see in the Justice League — has challenges. They need to create a viable protagonist out of several characters. This general issue can be seen in comic books as well. Writing a team superhero book is a very different beast than writing a superhero tale surrounding a singular character. </p>
<p>The fundamental mechanisms by which we are made to empathize with a character and feel immersed in their struggles are different when we go from one person to many people. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3cxixDgHUYw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Justice League.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Ancient archetypes reflect our internal struggles</h2>
<p>The distinction between single superhero versus a group of superheroes is as old as literature itself. It begins with <em><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Epic-of-Gilgamesh">The Epic of Gilgamesh</a></em>, a Sumerian/Babylonian text circa 2100 BC that is very much a single-protagonist superhero story in all the ways that matter. </p>
<p>In contrast, the ancient Greek epic <em>The Iliad</em>, is a team book (but also a superhero story), featuring a diverse cast of Trojan and Greek heroes with strongly differentiated viewpoints and ideologies, as well as the sort of internal conflicts, struggles and even bantering that we associate with group superhero stories. </p>
<p>The culture and history of these ancient texts is very different from the era of North American comics, but the issues, pitfalls and opportunities for dynamic storytelling are very much the same. When strong, group-oriented comic books such as <em><a href="http://marvel.com/universe/Fantastic_Four#axzz4zHYxCvc1">Fantastic Four</a></em>, <em><a href="http://marvel.com/universe/X-Men#axzz4zHYxCvc1">X-men</a></em> and <em><a href="http://teentitans.wikia.com/wiki/Teen_Titans">Teen Titans</a></em> come along, beginning in the 1960s, the artists use them to explore this same dynamic of internal conflict in a way that is captivating.</p>
<p>The trick to success is to create a functioning gestalt protagonist — a group of heroes who serve, metaphorically, as pieces of a whole. Reed Richards, <a href="http://marvel.com/universe/Mister_Fantastic#axzz4zHYxCvc1">Mr. Fantastic</a>, isn’t your protagonist in the <em>Fantastic Four</em> and neither are Ben Grimm (<a href="http://marvel.com/universe/Thing#axzz4zHYxCvc1">Thing</a>), Sue Richards (<a href="http://marvel.com/universe/Invisible_Woman#axzz4zHYxCvc1">Invisible Woman</a>) nor Johnny Storm (<a href="http://marvel.com/universe/Human_Torch#axzz4zHYxCvc1">Human Torch</a>). Your hero is all of them as one. You identify with the group. </p>
<p>Thus, the broader metaphor that gets created through all the internal group tension is one of the internal tensions that we, as individuals, all deal with every day. Humans are complex creatures with a pluralistic perspective on the world; we are paradoxical in nature and often feel like we have a symphony of voices in our head rather than one distinctive voice. </p>
<p>A gestalt protagonist reflects our internal dialogues by externalizing that symphony. This creates a deeper, more nuanced character for the audience to engage with. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196219/original/file-20171123-18012-vd69jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196219/original/file-20171123-18012-vd69jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196219/original/file-20171123-18012-vd69jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196219/original/file-20171123-18012-vd69jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196219/original/file-20171123-18012-vd69jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196219/original/file-20171123-18012-vd69jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196219/original/file-20171123-18012-vd69jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Game of Thrones is an example of good gestalt protagonist storytelling — you’re rooting for the group, not the individuals, and it works.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Handout)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is one of the major reasons both <em>X-men</em> and <em>Teen Titans</em> worked so well during their respective heydays in the 1980s. </p>
<p>Take X-men for example: <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Comicbook/Cyclops">Cyclops</a> isn’t a person — not really. He represents an aspect of a person — their <a href="https://sites.psu.edu/leadership/2012/10/01/type-a-personality-a-leadership-trait/">Type A</a> side, their drive, their need for order and structure. <a href="http://marvel.com/characters/66/wolverine">Wolverine</a> is the opposite to that — he represents the instinctual, the raw primal impulses that all humans grapple with. </p>
<p>A similar phenomenon can be seen in <em>Teen Titans</em> through the contrast between <a href="http://www.dccomics.com/characters/beast-boy">Beast Boy</a> and <a href="http://www.dccomics.com/characters/cyborg">Cyborg</a>’s distinctively different responses to depression: Beast Boy plays a clown while Cyborg withdraws. This works well since a human being with depression doesn’t do one or the other. They do both, typically. Thus, the gestalt protagonist works. </p>
<p>Similarly, the hero of the <em>Harry Potter</em> series is more often Harry, Ron and Hermione, not Harry alone. <em>Downton Abbey</em>, <em>Game of Thrones</em>, <em>The Walking Dead</em> — all use a gestalt protagonist — you’re rooting for the group, not the individuals, and it works. </p>
<h2>A thin spin-off</h2>
<p>So what’s different with <em>Justice League</em>? The answer is translation. It’s one thing to build a gestalt protagonist from scratch and a very, very different thing to form one out of pre-existing solo protagonists. The superheroes of a group book are usually too thin and fragmented to stand on their own. </p>
<p>For example, when a spin-off series is created, the character needs to be radically recontextualized in order to allow them to support their own book. They change a lot, add new elements that weren’t there before: new back story, new relationships, new internal conflicts. DC will have to do this with <a href="http://www.dccomics.com/characters/aquaman">Aquaman</a>’s upcoming film.</p>
<p>That can work but taking a fully fleshed-out protagonist and trying to fold them back into a shared universe is significantly harder. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://marvel.com/movies/all">Marvel cinematic universe</a> has been successful in terms of both critical and popular crowds — but even there we see brutal character inconsistencies as the <a href="http://marvel.com/characters/68/avengers">Avengers</a> bounce back and forth from group and solo films. This is obvious in the first <a href="http://marvel.com/movies/movie/152/marvels_the_avengers">Avengers movie</a>. </p>
<p>The film’s writers felt they had to contrast the two “science bros” by making Hulk the calm, rational scientist and Iron Man the undisciplined reckless scientist, but doing so contradicted the narrative arc of those characters’ solo films. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196220/original/file-20171123-17988-1cf0c21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196220/original/file-20171123-17988-1cf0c21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196220/original/file-20171123-17988-1cf0c21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196220/original/file-20171123-17988-1cf0c21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196220/original/file-20171123-17988-1cf0c21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196220/original/file-20171123-17988-1cf0c21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196220/original/file-20171123-17988-1cf0c21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Scene from the Avengers movie, another example of lost narratives.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Marvel)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Captain America had to become morose in a way that conflicted with his solo film. Thor forgot everything he learned in his solo film and became irrational and naive again. </p>
<p>So what did all these inconsistencies earn the writer and director of <em>The Avengers</em>? Universal praise for doing the impossible. Writer Joss Whedon made it work: Not in spite of these inconsistencies but through them. Whedon is considered the best of his generation at character juggling, though, so expecting the same of others, including <em>Justice League</em> — even though Whedon is involved — is asking a lot. </p>
<p>Shared-universe storytelling is a big trend in Hollywood and when it works, it works spectacularly well. Unfortunately, it doesn’t often work. </p>
<p>There are deep challenges involved. </p>
<p>To be successful, writers will need to craft a gestalt protagonist out of other singular protagonists so that audiences will achieve satisfaction with these films. They need to transcend the simple novelty of a cinematic all-star team. They need to do what the film’s tagline tells us and actually unite the league.</p>
<p>If we’re going to do justice to the Justice League, we have to look backward — at our storytelling past — in order to look forward to the future of the shared universe model.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87996/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>J. Andrew Deman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The reviews are coming in pretty harsh for Justice League. If Superman is awesome and Batman is awesome and Wonder Woman is awesome, shouldn’t the three of them together be thrice as awesome?
J. Andrew Deman, Professor, University of Waterloo
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.