Poll: Half-black, half-latino spiderman? Pandering; yea or nay?

[manythings]

http://news.ie.msn.com/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=158771217

Maybe this is old news but I just saw it and really it just seems like pandering because of that whole thing with Glover and the twitter petition so he could be cast for spidey. I'm sure someone has only read "I hate non-white people" but seriously this just seems cheap and counter to racial equality (like the "healthy meals" at McDonald's), a way to get people off their back rather than do something like... make a new superhero that isn't a total asshole like Luke Cage back in the mists of the past.

EDIT: Since it's pretty clear few are bothering to actually read what I said and are leaping to the "You clearly hate non-white people" knee jerk reaction I'll be more clear.

I'm not a comic book fan, I don't care that they changed his ethnicity, my issue is with the why not the what. It seems a lot more like a cynical and lazy way to get multicultural interest in the brand and not a progressive and edifying choice on the part of people who want to give an ethnic hero. Like I've also said, surely they could put in a little more effort and make a whole new hero so that it seems a touch more serious than "let's just change the ink".

 

[gabe12301]

I agree with Steven Colbert, this half latino stole spider-man's job. jk jk. I stopped collecting spider-man comics a while ago, so I really couldn't care less. and he's a super hero, He'll be brought back to life soon.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

I don't have the comic book reader demographic numbers or any special insight into that industry. Who's to say that they aren't making a smart marketing move based on internal data? No idea, but since I don't read collect comic books personally (and spiderman wasn't a life long favorite or anything) maybe my opinion is bias based on not caring.

 

[Palademon]

Does it matter is Spider-man is caucasian or African American? Does it matter if he is male of female? No it does not. Plain and simple.

I'd say it matters that SpiderMAN be male.

 

[HumpinHop]

I don't know anything about the twitter fiasco so I'll look that up, but as far as them casting a different raced Spidey I don't have a problem with it. It might allow writers a new take on the character, and I like the idea of black readers not having to dig through hundreds of white superheroes to find one that they love.

 

[manythings]

Does it matter if he is male of female? No it does not.

Spiderman.

 

[SomebodyNowhere]

I don't think that it is pandering so much as it is experimenting with the character. The Ultimate universe likes to play around with the characters. I don't have much of a problem with it, but I don't care much for the Ultimate universe to begin with. If they did this in the regular book, it probably wouldn't go over quite as well.
and if you want a non-white hero you could always go with Black Panther, he's much deserving of more acclaim than he seems to get

 

[manythings]

I can't believe people even care about this. Sometimes I think comic book fans are their own worst enemy when it comes to making their hobby look respectable.

I'm not a comic book (except Dark Horse and literally in the past month) fan but I do hate what looks like cheap "give {ethnic group} a bone" style decisions. I think it is far more cynical and demeaning than progressive a edifying.

 

[AlAaraaf74]

I don't care about Spiderman's race, I just don't know why they had to kill Peter Parker. Can't they just make a new superhero instead of changing the face of a classic?

 

[manythings]

I can't believe people even care about this. Sometimes I think comic book fans are their own worst enemy when it comes to making their hobby look respectable.

I'm not a comic book (except Dark Horse and literally in the past month) fan but I do hate what looks like cheap "give {ethnic group} a bone" style decisions. I think it is far more cynical and demeaning than progressive a edifying.

See my previous edit.

I read it. It said "I had a huge knee jerk reaction and didn't bother pay attention to the question".

 

[Commander Jack Rankin]

To me it's not that big a deal. I might be wrong, but if I remember correctly, Stan Lee once said that the great thing about Spidey was that under the costume he could be anyone. We the readers would know obviously, but to the Marvel Universe (or Ultimates Universe in this case) at large Spidey could be of any race.

 

[dues1031]

Well Peter Parker's dead in the Ultimate Universe and hopefully unlike every other superhero ever, Marvel will grow some balls and not bring him back. So if you absolutely have to have a new Spiderman why not a multi-racial Spiderman? Multi-racial Americans are an increasingly large segment of the population and it makes sense to have at least one major superhero be multi-racial. Of course its a bit pandering but its not necessarily bad pandering and might actually bring something new to the Ultimate Marvel Universe.

 

[FalloutJack]

So, the new Spider-Man is part latino, right? Which means...

Oh shit.

THE LATINOS HAVE MUTATED AND THEY'RE HEATING UP THE PLANET!

[HEADING=1]TEQUILA!!![/HEADING]

(All hail Dara O'Briain.)

 

[Aris Khandr]

I'm not sure about pandering, but it doesn't feel right. "Spider-Man" isn't a job you apply for. It's a specific person. Imagine if a friend of yours died. Then someone else shows up wearing his clothes, using his name, acting to the outside world that nothing has changed. It just feels off. It doesn't matter who the new Spider-Man is, since there shouldn't BE a "new" one.

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

I would have responded honestly to the poll but that last response was too darn funny to pass up, and I'm white as the driven snow myself, ha ha.

But to seriously answer the question: It's the Ultimate universe, I think that whole thing is one big heap of non-canon bullshit, so I don't tend to give a toss what they do inside it, I ignore anything that happens in the Ultimate universe equally.

Is it pandering though? I couldn't tell you, not without knowing the specific train of thought/underlying motivations of the folks responsible for that "demographic change". If they just did it because "why the hell not?", and there's no cynical attempt to appeal to the Black/Latino demographic implicit in that shift, then it's just another aspect of the Ultimate universe I'll ignore because that shit ain't canon. It would not be pandering though, just kind of pointless and in poor taste (since when is "Spiderman" a concept you can "franchise" out to someone else? Spiderman is Peter Parker!).

The reverse would be absolutely 100% pandering, and also frankly kind of insulting to the folks they're attempting to pander to, if such pandering is indeed going on.

 

[Therumancer]

Does it matter is Spider-man is caucasian or African American? Does it matter if he is male of female? No it does not. Plain and simple.

EDIT: if Spiderman is female, jus rename her Spiderwoman

Well yes, it does matter. The reason being is that it's an established character. If your going to radically change the character that way as far as looks, personality, etc... why not just create an entirely new character? The only reason for having a minority Spider-Man is pandering and to get attention.

That said, as I read this we're talking about the "Ultimate" universe, which is *NOT* the main Marvel continuity. That is pretty much their label for trying to rabble rouse and "appeal to a more modern demographic". While it's done okay compared to many other spin off universes, it's ultimatly meaningless in the overall scheme of things, and most serious comics fans ignore it as little more than that an oddity and collectible. Part of the idea is that they can change characters around this way (like they did with Nick Fury) without changing the actual character and the regular comics continuity.

The end result is that it's pandering, but also irrelevent pandering, the point is to get exactly the kind of attention your looking at now.