In an alternate Marvel universe and imprint, Peter Parker is dead. Dead, dead. He's long gone. To keep with the times, Marvel have killed off Peter Parker, to pave way for this new webslinger more relevant to today. The new Spider-Man features a snazzy new costume, with the red of the previous costume toned down to a bare minimum, and he is of hispanic descent. Ladies and Gentlemen (okay, "Gentlemen" then. I know my audience!), I give you Miguel O' Hara, the Spider-Man of the year 2099
What? Oh! You thought I meant Miles Morales? You though I meant this guy?
Well that's exactly the point I'm making.
In this day and age, it could be argued, that political correctness has gone wild. To some point, I agree with that. Plenty of fans out there, have been complaining about killing off the original Spider-Man to replace him with a mixed race, half black, half hispanic new character, and how it is gaining the headlines. Lots of these fans have been branded racists for daring to say such things. And you know something? I'm in agreement, with these fans, and let me, for a moment or two, explain their outrage, and why I'm backing them.
Before you ask, it is to do with the race. The outrage isn't that they killed Peter Parker, and dared to replace him, it's how the race thing, is playing such a massive part in hyping up the character.
Question: WHY?!
People complain about a lack of diversity in comics, particularly in races and genders of superheroes, and occasionally even due to their sexual orientation. This is what winds me up! Marvel are introducing a new Spider-Man, after killing off Peter Parker. If you're going to hype it up in the media, to non-comic book readers, on the off-chance you can get them to start reading comics or pick them up due to them being a "collectors item", then that should be hype enough! So what if it's only the Ultimate Universe? Joe Bloggs on the street doesn't know about Marvel's different imprints, but he does know who Peter Parker/Spider-Man is, and he could pretty much appreciate the "major" scope of this story.
So why, for the love of whatever it is the reader of this post believes in, do you need to advertise the fact he is half black, and half hispanic? Shouldn't you just let us discover his identity, his ethnic backgrounds, and such, as the his series progresses? This is why I re-introduced you all to Miguel O' Hara at the beginning of this wonderful rant. Spider-Man 2099 was a good comic book, it had a decent fan base, and it still has fans clamoring for the return of the character, and a new series, to this day. Don't believe me? Following the Timestorm 2099 mini, Spider-Man 2099 has since appeared in the Shattered Dimensions video game, and now the upcoming Edge Of Time video game. In case you don't know, the Spider-Man 2099 comic book series was set in the year 2099 (initially a possible future for the Marvel Universe, but instead became the future of an alternate one I believe), long after the Marvel Heroes we know have passed, and featured new heroes and villains taking up the namesake of those of old, in a world where the economy has boomed, everything is industrialised, and the big companies oppress the average man on the street, and have the power to control the governments and such like. In a way, whilst set in the future, it did reflect the fears, feelings, and attitudes of the audience at the time ( the series began publication onwards from 1992), and was a way of making the character more "relevant". What's the point I'm trying to make here? Miguel O' Hara was Marvel's first Spider-Man of a different ethnic background, and it was never a marketing ploy. People like Spider-Man 2099, regardless of his nationality. He was a cool character. In fact, until this media hype for Miles Morales, it never even crossed my mind that Miguel was hispanic! Miguel O' Hara did well, even by 90's standards, with no media help.
& this was in the 90's, the days of everything being hyped. It's shameful publishers are doing it now.
Maybe this new Ultimate Spider-Man has potential to be a really good character. Maybe he could be as great as Peter Parker. Who knows? But I simply don't care. When you try and market a character, because of his or her race, I stop caring. Not because I'm a white supremacist or any kind of racist, but because it cheapens everything about the character, and makes them nothing more than a publicity stunt. Were Marvel to have let me discover Miles Morales in story, without spilling everything about his ethnic background, I would have given him a shot. I don't want to read a story about a black/hispanic Spider-Man, I want to read good Spider-Man stories, and the nationality of the character behind the mask shouldn't even warrant thinking about (people don't read the Black Panther and support him because he's black, but simply because he's a total badass. Same goes for The Falcon, and John Stewart as a Green Lantern)
One more thing that really winds me up about the new Ultimate Spider-Man? This here quote from Ultimate Editor Axel Alonso
"What you have is a Spider-Man for the 21st century who's reflective of our culture and diversity. We think that readers will fall in love with Miles Morales the same way they fell in love with Peter Parker."
Bollocks. Peter Parker is STILL relevant today. He doesn't need to be mixed race to be relatable to today's audience, making this whole thing pointless.
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