The Daily Bird #58 » « I Don’t Need to Read.

Iron Man: Female and Black.

Marvel.

Marvel.

Yes! Now I want to see Riri on the big screen.

Tony Stark is stepping down as Iron Man and will be replaced by a young black girl named Riri Williams at the end of the comic book event series Civil War II.

According to Time, “Riri is a science genius who enrolls in MIT at the age of 15. She comes to the attention of Tony when she builds her own Iron Man suit in her dorm.”

[…]

Bendis claims that some of the most die-hard fans have been willing to at least give the casting shake-up a shot, thanks to his involvement with other diverse heroes such as Miles Morales (aka black Spider-Man) and Jessica Jones. He admits, though, that while there are still some bizarrely racist comments out there over Marvel’s increasingly diverse roster of characters, that’s changing.

“There was a part of an audience crawling through the desert looking for an oasis when it came to representation,” he said, “and now that it’s here, you’ll go online and be greeted with this wave of love.”

And from what it sounds like, Iron Man is in good hands with Riri. “Her brain is maybe a little better than his [Tony’s],” Bendis adds. “She looks at things from a different perspective that makes the armor unique. He can’t help but go maybe I should buy her out.”

Via Out.

The Daily Bird #58 » « I Don’t Need to Read.

Comments

  1. says

    Predictably, some of the ignorant backlash from racists involves garbage like “women and black people can’t be that smart” and “rewriting history”.

    Comic book fiction is “history”? No doubt in the same way that “Leave It To Beaver” was history.

    My thought on the reboot: Her being smaller means there’s more room for protection and gadgets. Then again, with drones and remote technology available, why be inside the suit at all and at risk of injury (re: the “Iron Man III” movie)?

  3. Pierce R. Butler says

    Been a long time since I was in an MIT dorm, but I suspect the “no welding” rule still applies.

  5. kestrel says

    I’m a hair person and I *love* her hair. The whole thing is a very cool idea. Yay for Marvel!

  6. says

    Kestrel @ 5:

    I’m a hair person and I *love* her hair.

    So do I! Mine won’t do anything that spectacular, it’s straight as a razor, but it is down past my arse. :D

  7. kestrel says

    @Caine: OK now, THAT is cool! I am at mid-thigh myself, and headed for knee. :-)

    But you know, usually, black women are expected to straighten their hair and this lady is shown with her hair the way it normally is. I think that’s pretty cool. I really love all hair, straight, curly, thick, thin whatever, but don’t think it is right or fair that sometimes black kids even get sent home from school because their hair is not straightened. Hair is awesome and should be celebrated. People should not be policed for their normal hair.

  8. cicely says

    Iron Man has never been one of my favs—I just don’t find Tony Stark to be a very sympathetic character, in general—so I’ve only intermittently read him in the Funny Pages.
     
    This, on the other hand, looks interesting! I may have to pick it up!
    --

  10. lakitha tolbert says

    I’m a WoC, and comic book fan who has never picked up an Iron Man book in her life. I only know about him from reading The Avengers comics, and he wasn’t remotely likable.

    But I will read Iron Man/Riri.

  11. chigau (違う) says

    lakitha tolbert #10
    jeez
    Make the Hero™ not white male and not white male people get interested.
    whodathunk

  12. Golgafrinchan Captain says

    @ kestrel #7

    …sometimes black kids even get sent home from school because their hair is not straightened.

    Whaaaat?!?!? That’s seriously fucked up.

    More on topic, I thing it’s great that comics are pushing limits like this. It’s rather sad that this is still a limit that needs pushing.

  13. Silentbob says

    @ 8 cicely

    Iron Man has never been one of my favs--I just don’t find Tony Stark to be a very sympathetic character, in general

    Funny thing is, he was actually designed that way. :-)

    In 1963, Lee had been toying with the idea of a businessman superhero. He wanted to create the “quintessential capitalist”, a character that would go against the spirit of the times and Marvel’s readership. Lee said,

    I think I gave myself a dare. It was the height of the Cold War. The readers, the young readers, if there was one thing they hated, it was war, it was the military….So I got a hero who represented that to the hundredth degree. He was a weapons manufacturer, he was providing weapons for the Army, he was rich, he was an industrialist….I thought it would be fun to take the kind of character that nobody would like, none of our readers would like, and shove him down their throats and make them like him….And he became very popular.

  14. Dunc says

    I’ve seen a heck of a lot of people take one look and immediately ask “how does she get her hair in the helmet?” -- because if there’s one thing that’s obviously implausible about the whole Iron Man concept, that’s it right there. Sure. Weapons that magically deploy from hammerspace? Fine. G-forces that would turn any human inside the suit into paste? No problem. Big hair? Totally breaks the suspension of disbelief.

  15. says

    Dunc @ 14:

    I’ve seen a heck of a lot of people take one look and immediately ask “how does she get her hair in the helmet?” – because if there’s one thing that’s obviously implausible about the whole Iron Man concept, that’s it right there.

    Oh for pity’s sake. Hair is not made out of metal or something. As someone who has a great deal of hair, and spends time getting it wavy, I can testify how simple it is to get that mass of hair tucked away.

    I am also reminded of the ‘Shepherd Book’s Hair’ episode of Firefly.

  17. kestrel says

    I’m going to jump in and say that I also have a great deal of hair. It is down past my fingertips. And yet it compacts wonderfully well and I can and do wear a helmet.

    I think people just are not familiar with long hair and don’t understand it. Her putting her hair in a helmet is totally believable to me.

  18. cicely says

    Caine:

    I am also reminded of the ‘Shepherd Book’s Hair’ episode of Firefly.

    “Doesn’t matter. It’ll still be there… waiting.”
    :D
    --

Leave a Reply