Why Does Marvel Keep Half-Assing Their "Diversity?"

MILD SPOILERS FOR CAPTAIN MARVEL (2019).

Captain Marvel's theatrical debut this weekend marks the MCU's first female-led movie, and with an impressive $153m domestic opening and a $455m gross worldwide, its success proves, to nobody's surprise, that stories starring non-conventional protagonists can sell. Time and time again, box office juggernauts in the likes of Crazy Rich Asians and Marvel's own Black Panther last year have proven that diverse stories are not only marketable, but necessary for the future. Representation is a hugely important idea, in that people who historically have been erased and shunned within society can finally see themselves be celebrated and praised in media, breaking down stereotypes and inspiring future generations to come.

As an avid Marvel fan - not only that, but as a bisexual Chinese woman in a fanbase whose loudest and often judgiest voices are those of straight white men - I should be excited about Captain Marvel's success. And honestly, genuinely from the bottom of my heart, I am. But I cannot ignore the problems with Captain Marvel's so-called "diversity" - problems that are rooted in the MCU as a whole.


The mantle of Captain Marvel has been shared by a handful of characters. The first version was actually a DC character, in which copyright issues led to that character's name being changed to Shazam.* Marvel's first Captain Marvel was an alien military officer, and their first female Captain Marvel was not, in fact, Brie Larson's Carol Danvers, but Monica Rambeau. Monica actually appears in Captain Marvel; she's the adorable little girl who gives Carol her suit's iconic color scheme, and encourages her mother, Maria, to join the noble fight.

What's too risky, I guess, is the fact that Monica is a Black woman. If the MCU really wanted to go full-out in diversity, not only claiming a first female lead, but a first female lead of color, they could've made a Captain Marvel movie about her. It would've made sense logically, since that matches with comic-book canon. But despite the billions of dollars earned at the box office, with a guaranteed name-brand sell, the MCU chose to "play it safe", in that it's just revolutionary enough to cast a white woman as the lead, and they can still pat themselves on the back for promoting diversity.

It's not that I'm incapable of liking and relating to white female characters. It's just that as a white woman, Carol does not represent me. I admired her strength of will and can commiserate with her to an extent, but at the end of the day, she does not look like me. She will never feel the pain of being bullied for having ethnic features; she will never face the double standards that people of color must live up to; she will never understand the feeling of being an outsider.

White feminism perpetrates the idea that all women's experiences are the same. Specifically, with regards to media, one white female lead after another - Rey and Leia in Star Wars, DC's Wonder Woman, Black Widow - is considered a "win" for all women. Not only is this completely untrue, this insinuates the disgusting idea that women of color should be content in "waiting their turn." Telling women of color, especially Black women, to put aside their valid criticisms in favor of standing up to the bigger threat, the white man, is simply yet another attempt to silence our voices. It's also pretty ironic, when historically, white women have stood alongside their white male counterparts as colonizers, white supremacists, and slaveowners. (Over half of white women still voted Republican in the 2018 midterms despite the Trump Administration's blatant misogyny and the Republican Party's complacency in said misogyny, but that's none of my business.) What I'm saying is, white female leads are not revolutionary, and white feminists need to do better in supporting their sisters of color. Even now, white women don't seem to care about solidarity when they choose to accept whitewashed roles**.

Let's get back, however, to the MCU's specifics. This is not the first time they have claimed diversity, only to chicken out before the finish line. Spider-man: Homecoming was marketed with an incredibly diverse supporting cast, receiving praise for accurately reflecting the real-life diversity of New York. However, the main character, Peter Parker, with the most screentime and the most memorable scenes, still ended up being a pasty white boy. Not only have we had three franchises/two reboots of the same character in the span of a decade, the MCU decided to lift the personality of Ultimate Spider-man, Afro-Latino Miles Morales, straight from the comic-books and onto MCU!Peter. Similarly, Ned Leeds was basically Miles' best friend, Ganke Lee. The "guy in the chair" catchphrase we all know and love? Yup, that was Miles and Ganke's thing. The only logical response to this is anger and confusion as to why the MCU couldn't have created a movie about Miles if they were going to steal his personality and tropes for the film, and the answer is clear: The MCU is too scared to risk having too much diversity, thinking that a Black Spider-man would scare off the audience, and decided to go with this compromise instead. Peter and Ned's compelling writing makes it that much harder for Miles Morales to eventually join the universe without racists complaining that he isn't interesting, or that he's too similar to Peter. Side note: Spider-man: Into the Spiderverse's box office and awards success proved people would watch a story about Miles Morales in his own right anyways.

At the end of the day, improving diversity is a good thing. Positive representation of marginalized groups allows both the members of those groups and people outside of the community to emerge with new perspectives, and goes a long way towards improving equality. But I will not sit here and let the white men who run Marvel and Disney get the money and the praise for encouraging diversity, when they are not even willing to go all the way.

*Shazam is coming out April 5 and it looks adorable so go watch it you guys
**cough cough COUGH SCARLETT JOHANSSON