Last week Marvel announced some big changes to their comic line-up. First, it was the announcement that Thor was going to change from being a Norse God to Norse Goddess. Second, was that Falcon would be taking over the title of Captain America. A simple internet search will provide you with all the details you may have missed, but that’s not what I wanted to talk about. What I want to talk about is the reactions to these announcements.
We covered the Thor announcement on Tuesday as the news was making it’s way around the internet and talked some about those reactions. The Captain America announcement made less of a ruckus but there were still some dissenting opinions. What is the cause of this backlash and why was the idea of a female Thor harder for some? The easy answer to both of these questions may be that most of us simply don’t handle change well. Sure, for some that may be all it is and given time they’ll be able to handle the change just fine. For others, the news caught them off guard and they were worried about the movies that they’ve grown to enjoy. Shouldn’t be any more concern for these folks as the Marvel Comics Universe and the Marvel Cinematic Universe don’t really overlap.
I don’t think the simple answer really covers the situation in this case though. If it did you would expect the same amount of backlash from both announcements but that isn’t really what we saw. What was all over the internet were people freaking out about the idea of a female Thor. The opinions on why Marvel was moving that direction ranged from the cynical, that it was just a cash grab at female readers, to the very inappropriate, and I won’t repeat those here. For the Captain change most folks were shocked but in the end many realized, thanks to fans of the series, that “Captain America” is a title that can be passed from one worthy warrior to another. The cynics were out with this one as well but not to the same extent.
Sure, changing Thor (who can thank the movies for renewed interest) may seem like a cash grab by a major labor; but what is wrong with Marvel seeing that their fans are looking for more female leads and giving them that? Is it really wrong for Marvel to change a title to try and make it do better? Isn’t that what all publishers do when something they own isn’t working as well as they would like? So if we get passed that Marvel is trying to make money, like any other business, then what really caused the issue with the new Thor?
What we’re left with is that Thor will no longer be able to wield Mjolnir and that his worthy successor will be a woman. There. That is it. As crazy as it sounds. Honestly, I’m shocked that this is still an issue in 2014. I, on the other hand, am excited for this change and will probably purchase my first comic book in a long time when it happens in October. The amount of sexist remarks that I saw on the internet about this change truly troubled me and showed me that we probably need more female main characters in comics. There are some strong women in comics but not many leads and I’m very happy that Marvel was willing to make this change.
Hopefully what Marvel is doing will show everyone that strong women are capable of carrying titles on their own. I’m looking at you DC, when will we see a Wonder Woman movie? And Marvel, will there be a Black Widow feature film in the Cinematic Universe? I don’t see why not. Women have been shown to be very successful in men dominated arenas before. Just ask Sigourney Weaver about what it’s like to be an action star. It’s time for those who were upset about this announcement to take a long look in the mirror and ask themselves, “Why?”
