Fear of Average

albinwonderland:

dcwomenkickingass:

In April of 2001 Tom Brevoort gave an interview to CBR  - here is an excerpt:

“an idea that never got as far as an official title, but it was essentially “Black Avengers.” It was “Let’s put all the African or African-American heroes together on a team for an adventure,” and in those cases too, there was nothing about the idea beyond “It’s a bunch of super heroes together” that said “Avengers” beyond the fact that “Avengers” is a term that’s salable. I think there’s something very specific about what “Avengers” means to the Marvel Universe. They’re the varsity. They’re the A-list. They’re the Man. They’re not about being super heroes because of demographics or ethnicity. They stand for something specific and occupy a certain role. If you don’t have some degree of that, then it doesn’t feel like Avengers.”

Following those statements he furthered expounded on this topic on Twitter:

I said at the time that watching this conversation on Twitter was one of the most disheartening things I’ve experienced during my time in comics fandom. 

Today Marvel announced a new Avengers book, Mighty Avengers. 

Starting in September, it’s Mighty Avengers, by Al Ewing and Greg Land, featuring the likes of Luke Cage, Spider-Man, She-Hulk, White Tiger, Blue Marvel, Power Man…and more!

Note, yes that is Monica Rambeau. She is the field leader and her name is now Spectrum.

Here is what Brevoort said about Mighty Avengers:

“The racial diversity of the line-up is no accident, really. I’ve always responded to people asking why we don’t have a black Avengers or Latino Avengers that it feels artificial. But, the reality is that people who want to see characters in comics representing them have a point. We first started conceptualizing this book in February around Black History Month and the anniversary of the death of my friend Dwayne McDuffie. So I set out not to do ‘Black Avengers’ but more Dwayne McDuffie Avengers. I wanted to have a minimum of non-white characters but not have that necessarily be the point, then a lot of the characters who fit into what we wanted to do ended up being minorities. It’s not a ‘solution’ to lack of diversity elsewhere, but it’s something we considered.”

Earlier today I quoted Dwayne McDuffie in another post. I’m going to include it in this one as well. 

“You don’t feel as real if you don’t see yourself reflected in the media … There’s something very powerful about seeing yourself represented.”

I’m glad Marvel and Tom Brevoort finally realized this important point.

“So I set out not to do ‘Black Avengers’ but more Dwayne McDuffie Avengers”   omfg I’m not crying I’m not DON’t LOOK AT MEEeee

(via aragingquiet)