Panthers, Hulks and Ironhearts : Marvel, diversity, and the twenty-first-century superhero / Jeffrey A. Brown.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brown, Jeffrey A., 1966- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Comic books, strips, etc--History and criticism.

Comic books, strips, etc.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vii, 168 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, New Jersey : Rutgers University Press, [2021]

Summary:

Marvel is one of the hottest media companies in the world right now, and its beloved superheroes are all over film, television and comic books. Yet rather than simply cashing in on the popularity of iconic white male characters like Peter Parker, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, Marvel has consciously diversified its lineup of superheroes, courting controversy in the process. Panthers, Hulks, and Ironhearts offers the first comprehensive study of how Marvel has reimagined what a superhero might look like in the twenty-first century. It examines how they have revitalized older characters like Black Panther and Luke Cage, while creating new ones like Latina superhero Miss America. Furthermore, it considers the mixed fan responses to Marvel’s recasting of certain “legacy heroes,” including a Pakistani-American Ms. Marvel, a Korean-American Hulk, and a whole rainbow of multiverse Spidermen. If the superhero comic is a quintessentially American creation, then how might the increasing diversification of Marvel’s superhero lineup reveal a fundamental shift in our understanding of American identity? This timely study answers those questions and considers what Marvel’s comics, TV series, and films might teach us about stereotyping, Orientalism, repatriation, whitewashing, and identification.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction: Marvel and Modern America

1. Spider-Analogues: Unmarking and Unmasking White Male Superheroism

2. The Replacements: Ethnicity, Gender, and Legacy Heroes in Marvel Comics

3. Superdad: Luke Cage and Heroic Fatherhood in the Civil War Comic

4. Black Panther: Aspiration, Identification, and Appropriation

5. Iron Fist: Ethnicity, Appropriation, and Repatriation

6. Totally Awesome Asian Heroes versus Stereotypes

7. A New America: Marvelous Latinx Superheroes

8. Ms. Marvel: A Thoroughly Relatable Muslim Superheroine

Afterword: “Because the World Still Needs Heroes!”

References

Index

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-9788-0925-5

OCLC:

1237097165