The new heroes of Marvel facing ‘High Expectations’ of fans

The face of Marvel is changing. Marvel introduces a new range of diverse superheroes this year.

Anthony Mackie is now our new Captain America, taking up the charge from the original Steve Rogers.

Kids are already eagerly waiting to play with the Shang-Chi action figures, the first Asian character to lead a Marvel movie, which opens this September. 

 Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao will introduce The Eternals — a film about a group of immortals which will play some of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s long-standing blind spots, which will release in November.

“When there are people from various backgrounds and genders, stories are better,” Marvel president and CEO Kevin Fiege said in an interview with Variety.

But the response to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier suggests not all fans are ready. 

‘The six-part series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier goes further,while Marvel’s Black Panther raised the topic of race in America.’Julian Green, a Black film reviewer who goes by the name Straw Hat Goofy on TikTok, pointed out .

 But when Green started to highlight the themes of race and supremacy with his 1.8 millions followers, the backlash started. 

 “As soon as I started bringing those things up, people started telling me, ‘You’re overreacting dude. You’re making everything about race,” he said in an April 16 TikTok video.

Canadian comedian Vong Show is one of the Marvel fan excited about the chane. The self-explanatory  “official spokesperson for gay super-cute Asians” says didn’t see characters he connected with when he was a young Marvel fan.

“I think my favorite superhero was Spider-Man because he has a full mask on, so it’s easier to dress up,” he said.

When asked about how Marvel fared with the first wave of films beginning with Iron Man, Show doesn’t hold back .

“I would give them an F,” he said. “The representation just wasn’t there, but a lot of it was because they were trying to go with characters that were created in the Golden and Silver Age of Marvel … when it was all white writers and artists.” 

But now that’s changing. Coming soon to Disney+  is Ms. Marvel with Canadian actor Iman Vellani as the company’s first Muslim superhero. The series is inspired by the comic books by Islamic writer G. Willow Wilson and Pakistani American editor Sana Amanat.  

And Marvel is not alone, Black author, comic writer and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates is reported to be working on a new Superman movie with producer J.J. Abrams. Is the fandom ready for a Black Superman movie? 

Film reviewer Julian Green says it all comes down to great stories.

His journey started with an uncle who introduced him to Black Marvel heroes such as Luke Cage and Blade.  

Now it’s his three-year-old daughter who pretends to save the day, thanks to movies such as Black Panther and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. 

“There’s such a power in seeing someone that represents you on that screen because it makes you believe that you can be there as well,” he said. “I feel like anyone who’s trying to condemn that needs to take a deeper look and have some self-reflection.” 

The ability to question what kind of hero the world needs is what attracts the directors. Also do superheroes have color and race. Aren’t they meant to be a good person by heart and filled with the astonishing superpowers, just enough to save the world. 

So how many of you are waiting for our new superheroes this year ?