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Spiderman's Politically Correct Replacement 608

jbarr writes "In the latest Marvel Comic series 'Ultimate Fallout,' Miles Morales replaces Peter Parker who has been killed off by the Green Goblin. Morales is a half-black, half-Latino teen, and the creators haven't ruled out that he might be gay. From the article: 'Marvel's editor in chief Axel Alonso denied that having a black Spider Man was a publicity stunt. 'What you have is a Spider-Man for the 21st century who's reflective of our culture and diversity. As someone who grew up on a steady diet of Luke Cage, Hero For Hire and Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu, I am personally invested,' he said. "
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Spiderman's Politically Correct Replacement

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  • PC? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ceswiedler ( 165311 ) * <chris@swiedler.org> on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @02:52PM (#36976216)

    How is a half-black, half-Latino teenager more politically correct than a white teenager?

    • Re:PC? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by DanTheStone ( 1212500 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @02:53PM (#36976228)
      You're right, they should have made him a girl.
      • Re:PC? (Score:5, Funny)

        by u17 ( 1730558 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @02:54PM (#36976254)
        ...and disabled.
        • Re:PC? (Score:5, Funny)

          by DanTheStone ( 1212500 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @02:58PM (#36976298)
          And changed his/her name to "Spiderperson".
          • I am so ready for another comic-book crush.

          • Re:PC? (Score:5, Funny)

            by rubycodez ( 864176 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @03:14PM (#36976518)
            SpiderTranny is more catchy.

            SpiderTranny, SpiderTranny,
            butt implants for a woman's fanny,
            wears a bra, any size,
            can't you see, he likes guys,
            look out, here cums the Spider Tranny.
            • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

              by Dputiger ( 561114 )
              I thought this was absolutely hilarious. It doesn't promote violence against anyone who identifies as TG/TS, nor does it suggest that such people are inherently worth less than those who identify as gay, straight, GQ, GF, or bisexual. True, Rubycodez should've said "she likes guys" instead of "he" given that the transexual in question is MtF rather than FtM, but that's a small slip. Using "cum" instead of "come" is again, a bit juvenile, but "juvenile" isn't a synonym for "hateful."

              There's a difference b

              • Re:PC? (Score:4, Insightful)

                by salmacis ( 323971 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @05:20PM (#36978330)

                Maybe I'm sensitive, but it's because I've been ridiculed, dismissed and attacked.

                I transitioned in my twenties, and have lived and worked full time as a woman for over a decade in some very conservative work environments. The hormones did wonders, because even without any cosmetic surgery I don't think anyone here at work "knows" about my past, because if they did, it would get around pretty fast.

                So, because I'm "stealth" I get to hear the nasty things that cis gendered people say about trans people. The gay jokes are pretty much unacceptable these days, but the jokes about trans... those still seem to be okay in a lot of people's minds. And that won't change until people speak up.

                So I'm speaking up

                • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

                  You are not alone. I have an Islamic surname (although I am an atheist), and the "harmless" jokes people make do bother me. I have been on the end of racism based solely on my name. I am mixed race Caucasian and Asian, half my family being originally from Pakistan, but I look completely Caucasion apart from maybe my hair so if you didn't know my surname you would have no idea.

                  I used to get bullied because of it at school. Nothing too bad fortunately, but not a lot of fun either. I expected that to stop in a

            • Dear Sir,

              I wish to complain in the strongest possible terms about the ditty you have just posted about the spider-themed superhero who wears women's clothes. Many of my best friends are superheroes, and only a few of them are transvestites.

              Yours faithfully,

              Metropolis Daily Planet Crime Editor, Clark Joseph Kent (Mrs.)

              P.S.
              I never kissed Perry White.

              • Dear Sir,

                In response to customer's complaints and dire threats, we have decided to cancel our planned series, and instead run a cartoon called of character "SpiderGeek", which should cause offence no one except for those far too dorky to be of any genuine concern to society. We shall moreover open the show with the non-controversial lyrics:

                SpiderGeek, SpiderGeek,
                no sex for social skills are weak,
                what's the gender? we don't care,
                concealed in filthy body hair,
                watch out, there goes the SpiderGe
          • Arthropodperson?
          • Thinking it over, I would have to say that based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics report of Non-Fatal On-The-Job Incidents that a half Black, half Latino homosexual would have a pretty high likelihood for being involved in an incident requiring report. Each one of those categories have statistically high risk factors on their own...

            If said person also happened to be employed at a Nuclear Power Generation Facility, (National Institutes of Health study of Workplace Cleanliness for 2008) that there are an
          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            . . . and bisexual but also may be asexual because (s)he is conflicted, bi-polar, ADDH, and has seventeen personalizes (one for each major racial/ethnic/religious group). Of course, (s)he must be a Democrat, too, because most villains are Republican.
            • Re:PC? (Score:4, Funny)

              by lpp ( 115405 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @03:42PM (#36976848) Homepage Journal

              ADDH

              And dyslexic I'm guessing

              • +1 funny

                But I googled ADDH just for fun, and turns out GP is ok - ADDH is ADD with Hyperactivity.

                What's up with these shrinks? The H comes and goes, and reappears in new places. I feel like I've been HADD.

            • by cvtan ( 752695 )
              And he/she has to be allergic to peanuts (thus creating the necessary kryptonite vulnerability plot device). Spiderperson's half-Swedish half-Chinese partner must not be allergic so he/she can save him/her from evildoers. Oh, and Spiderperson should also have asthma that strikes at random dramatic moments.
          • Re:PC? (Score:5, Funny)

            by Americano ( 920576 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @03:43PM (#36976876)

            Dear Sir or Madam,

            I'm writing to inform you that your use of the pejorative term, "Spider," is a hurtful and unwarranted attack on our nation's hard-working, industrious population of Arachnid Americans. The term you used (hereafter referred to as the "S-word") has a long and dark history of being used to demean, degrade, and debase select members of the animal kingdom, due to their 8-legged status. We understand that you probably grew up in a conservative household, where songs like "The Itsy Bitsy S-word" were sung freely and without any thought given to the pain and subjugation inherent in that song's subject. Could you imagine singing about a person of Caucasian ancestry climbing up a water spout, only to be frustrated by repeated rain showers washing him down again? I bet you wouldn't find it funny at all, yet you sling hurtful words around, blithely unaware of - or worse, uncaring for - the damage they do.

            We hope that you will consider your word choices more carefully in the future, to avoid causing unnecessary emotional pain to our long-suffering Arachnid brethren.

            Thank you for your time and consideration.

            Peter Parker
            Director, Arachnid-American National Tolerance Initiative (AANTI)

      • by Gerzel ( 240421 )

        They already did that. They could make him a transsexual.

        Spidertran!

    • Re:PC? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by elrous0 ( 869638 ) * on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @02:53PM (#36976238)

      For that matter, when did Latino become a race?

      • Re:PC? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by alen ( 225700 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @02:57PM (#36976282)

        or better yet what is a latino? i'm sure the mexicans and peruvians think of themselves as different

        • Re:PC? (Score:5, Informative)

          by elrous0 ( 869638 ) * on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @03:10PM (#36976476)

          Even more, if you sit a white European Mexican next to a full-blooded Mayan Mexican and ask them both if they're "Latino," they would probably both say yes.

          • They would say yes in the US, no if in Mexico.

            Would a pre-Zionism Ashkenazi and a pre-Zionism Falasha think of themselves as the same race? What if their descendents are serving side-by-side in the same Tsahal outpost?

          • Re:PC? (Score:5, Interesting)

            by GNUALMAFUERTE ( 697061 ) <almafuerte.gmail@com> on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @07:21PM (#36979784)

            I live in Argentina. I was born and raised here. Contrary to what most people in the US believes, most countries in South America have a wide racial diversity, with original inhabitants (aborigenes) being a minority in many of those countries. Regardless, we don't have racial issues (at least in most countries, certainly not in Argentina), and no PC bullshit (You can call someone "negro" or "negrito", it's usually a kind word, and can be used regardless of your actual skin color, that is, people usually call you negro or negrito even if you are white, and it's seen as a sign of affection, a kind word). We see ourselves as Americans, since America is the name of the entire continent (regardless of how US citizens use the word), and you'll hear people in South America talk about American history (refering to the history of the entire continent, from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego), American people, American cultures, etc, etc. We use "America" and "Americano" in our songs, to refer to people from anywhere in either North, South or Central America.

            Latino is a fucking stupid word, since technically it defines anyone that speaks a Romance language, so, by definition, "Latino" includes lots of European countries (France, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Italia, etc). By this definition, the fucking stupid pope is "Latino", and so where the Romans.

            Since it's about language and not race, it also includes, for example, all Brazilians, Including a big part of their population who is black (descendants from former slaves bought from Africa). By the stupid PC standard used in the US, those should be called African-American too ;)

            So, No, nobody that is from South America will identify as a "Latino", except for the stupid soldouts (either those that didn't have the balls to stay and emigrated to the US, or those that drank all the cool aid and actually identify with so called 'urban' culture, such as most Puerto Rican youth.

      • So, you can be Hispanic if you have lived in southern California for the past 10 generations or if you Nazi grandparents had fled to Argentina. Which can lead to some interesting situations. For example, my mom was classified as by her employer as Hispanic when there was a democratic was president and not when a republican was president. And while Mexicans and Peruvians think of themselves different, I would be most would think of themselves as hispanic - just like English and Germans would thenk of themse

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      'Politically correct' now just means things that angry white men don't like. Often that includes (and I don't know why) people of other races, religions, etc.

      The article is from the Daily Mail, no surpise there.

      • I suspect it's being called PC because it seems they reached into the grab bag of classic PC definitions, swirled their hand around, and pulled out something that fit. They even did it in a parallel universe and then tried to claim it wasn't a publicity stunt. Now, if a half black half latino possibly gay character that they seemed to pull out of the ether isn't PC, what is?

        What's more, it seems that they went in with the idea of "we'll make him not a white guy" and worked backward from there.

        Is it a proble

        • it says "the creators haven't ruled out that he's gay." well, okay, i'm sure they haven't ruled out a lot of things, so we drop that obvious bit of sensationalism.

          which leaves half-black/half-latino. i don't see why this counts as two instances of PCness. if he were quarter-asian, quarter-native american, quarter-black, quarter-white, would that count as three instances, or four? or maybe it grows exponentially, and it's eight?

          seriously, he's just of non-white mixed race. that's it. big fucking deal.

          • it says "the creators haven't ruled out that he's gay." well, okay, i'm sure they haven't ruled out a lot of things, so we drop that obvious bit of sensationalism.

            which leaves half-black/half-latino. i don't see why this counts as two instances of PCness. if he were quarter-asian, quarter-native american, quarter-black, quarter-white, would that count as three instances, or four? or maybe it grows exponentially, and it's eight?

            seriously, he's just of non-white mixed race. that's it. big fucking deal.

            Who said anything about multiple instances of being PC? Hell, it would probably have been less an obvious political statement if he was just X vice mix of X and Y. I also never said anything about him being mixed being a big deal, in and of itself. However, when you do put in that "he just might be gay" plus the seemingly out of thin air nature of the character it does seem as if they just decided to replace the white spidey with non-white spidey because he's a non-white spidey as opposed to some other reas

      • 'Politically correct' now just means things that angry white men don't like.

        Well, to some extent that's been the case since the term first became mainstream around 20 years ago, when it was popularised by those on the right adopting it as a *derogatory* term.

        Before that it was primarily restricted to left-wing academics in the field, and even then it's unclear if more than a handful ever used it in a non-ironic sense. [wikipedia.org]

        I'd argue that "political correctness" as the term is used today is essentially a strawman representation of its original meaning. That's not to say that the o

    • by Artraze ( 600366 )

      Because a gay half-black, half-Latino teen is much more "reflective of our culture and diversity". I mean, there's probably more than 100 people like that! I for one feel that it's great that elitist whites controlling the media have finally awoken to such a significant and previously ignored demographic.

    • RTFA: because in the 21st century, everyone is black and latino and a teenager and gay. Duh.

    • In our world you have two categories for anything. In this case the two categories are: politically correct and white supremacist. And plenty of racists cry "politically correct!" whenever someone calls them on their crap or is simply less racist than them. So yeah, new Spiderman is politically correct, but I don't think Marvel should limit their art to avoid that criticism.
  • by elrous0 ( 869638 ) * on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @02:52PM (#36976218)

    Next up, Wolverine's special two-part Bar Mitzvah issue! L'chaim!

  • by ZombieBraintrust ( 1685608 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @02:53PM (#36976230)
    Bendis is still writing the books. He has written good books for the last 11 years. I think we can give this a chance. If he had introduced a spider-man that was too close to the old peter parker this title would have jumped the shark. There is no reason to retread that ground in this title. If you want peter parker read amazing spider-man.
  • by eepok ( 545733 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @02:54PM (#36976250) Homepage

    Political correctness is daintily tip-toeing around words and phrases because those words or phrases may or may not be taboo relative to modern cultural, racial, religious, sexual, etc. constructs.

    A Spiderman with non-white ethnic background is just diverse. Anyone can get bitten by a radioactive spider.

    • by Sprouticus ( 1503545 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @03:00PM (#36976350)

      A Spiderman with non-white ethnic background is just diverse. Anyone can get bitten by a radioactive spider.

      Wouldn't a Japanese Spiderman have been more likely.

    • by Hatta ( 162192 )

      Being diverse for the sake of diversity is political correctness. If you're wanting to tell the story of a mixed race youth who happens to be a web slinger, that's not political correctness. If you're wanting to tell the story of a web slinger who just happens to be mixed race so you appeal to a broader audience, that's political correctness. It's too early to tell which way they'll go with this.

    • Oh, great! Now you've just set off a panic as people start looking for radioactive spiders that are out to get them! I know I'm safe, the tin foil chestguard repels them.
    • It's what conservatives whine when people don't let them engage in overt racism or when others refrain from racism. So yes, a black/hispanic gay Spiderman is "politically correct." However, I don't think Marvel should limit it's art to appease people who cry "Political correctness!" They want to tell a story about someone who reflects the new America and I think the gay angle is great because Spiderman has always been an underdog.
      • by jimbolauski ( 882977 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @03:36PM (#36976784) Journal
        I am a conservative and this is how I and many conservatives like me think.

        Making a deal about race is what got the US into the mess in the first place and to fix it we are going to focus on race? Race plays too big of a role in the American conscience and in order to fix our problem we need to make this a "nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character".
        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Mr. Slippery ( 47854 )
          .

          Making a deal about race is what got the US into the mess in the first place and to fix it we are going to focus on race?

          No. Racism got the U.S. into the mess in the first place, and to fix it we need to acknowledge the role that racism played in our history, that the effects of racist policies linger on for generations after the policies were removed, and that racism is still with us today as a socioeconomic force.

          Instead, we still have people glorifying the Confederacy, an anti-American organization de

  • All this death of Spider-Man stuff is in their Ultimate line that does away with existing continuity. Peter Parker's still alive and kicking in the regular books.
  • Am I the only that can't get the thought out of his head that the new spider-man was bitten by a radioactive spider-man?

    Otherwise he'd turn into a spider after all.

  • The Spiderman comic books have been dead to me since the whole clone wars debacle.. Seriously, I'm a bit surprised they're even still making comics anymore.. I thought Marvel and DC made their money off of franchise license these days?
  • by Fanolex ( 49666 ) <marcus,baker&gmail,com> on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @03:00PM (#36976346) Homepage
    terrible, antagonizing post title. having minority characters isn't inherently politically correct. sometimes it's just real.
    • My own kids are half latino. The concept doesn't seem all that far-fetched to me. The origin of my half-breed kids has much more to do with hormones than politics.

      "Politically Correct" is such a cheap way to insult people or ideas. It's so blatantly lazy to diss a stereotype rather than explore an idea.

      And if this Spiderman is obviously contrived to reach some emerging demographic, what's new? Wasn't a big part of Peter Parker's appeal that he was a loser nerd with a good heart, suddenly gifted with gre

  • by CastrTroy ( 595695 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @03:01PM (#36976358)
    Raj: I can't wait to ask Stan Lee why he insists on giving all his characters first and last names that start with the same letter.

    Howard: Oh, come on. Why would you do that?

    Raj: Bruce Banner, Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Stephen Strange, Otto Octavius, Silver Surfer, Peter Parker, oh, and worst of all, J. Jonah Jameson, Jr.

    Howard: Okay, I'm cutting. I'm not gonna talk to Stan Lee after you cheese him off.
    • Also,later in the episode.

      Raj: Mine says, "To Raj, from Stan Lee."

      Howard: That's 'cause you pissed him off about his character names.

      Raj: Hey, I didn't even mention Dum Dum Dugan or Green Goblin, Matt Murdock, Pepper Potts, Victor Von Doom, oh, and worst of all, Millie the Model.

      Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Invincible Iron Man, Happy Hogan, Curt Connors...

      Howard: Would you just let it go?

      Raj: And worst of all, Fin Fang Foom.
    • This was referenced once in a "Batman Beyond" episode, too, where the elderly Bruce Wayne is discussing one of his old foes with the newest Batman. He asks "Who came up with the name 'Ma Mayhem?" Bruce looks embarrassed and replies, "It was the golden age of alliteration."
  • by guanxi ( 216397 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @03:10PM (#36976468)

    All those blacks, latinos, and gays walking around -- who knew that their very existence is a challenge to samzenpus and jbarr's political beliefs?

    Certainly comics should only depict people who look like the vast majority in the United States as of 1950. They should only be marketed toward those people, who rightfully define our country in their own image. Anything else would be politically ... umm .... incorrect.

  • Excessive politically correct behavior always strikes me as racist/xenophobic. Particularly the (North)American version.

    It puts emphasis on superficial differences by trying to apply an arbitrary ontology on everyone.

    For example, most media "latinos" are portraid as dark haired, brownish skinned people (which is not true in general, it depends on the particular population). They fail to include all the other latin populations: italians, spanish, french, romanian, portuguese, brazilian, etc. (I'm argenti

  • It's Spider-man, not Spiderman. Unless the new character is Saul Spiderman from upstate New York.

  • by Infiniti2000 ( 1720222 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @03:21PM (#36976598)
    From TFA:

    Italian artist Sara Pichelli, who designed Spider-Man's new look, added: 'Maybe sooner or later a black or gay - or both - hero will be considered something absolutely normal.’

    How about you make a NEW superhero that is black or gay, or whatever, and for the superheroes that I grew up with just leave them the fuck alone! Where's your goddamn originality? Of course this is a fucking gimmick to make money, you stupid asshole!

  • ...is they essentially undid all of Peter's character development, erased his marriage, made him back to a 'single nerdy guy'...and then killed him off and replaced him.

    Hey, idiots? Why not just, I dunno, injure him, or remove his powers, or something, and let him retire in peace with his wife? And then have a new guy take over?

    Yes, yes I'm aware Peter will probably be back from the dead, and take back up his position, but, seriously. Either you keep the character as he's changed and grown over the years, or you should just let him walk off into the sunset and bring in some new young single person for people to relate to. You don't rewrite his life and then kill him off and then bring in someone new.

  • The framing of this article seriously makes me want to take Slashdot off the list of sites I look at. Politically correct? Because he's not white? Cowardly, pissant, fragile ego white kids need to get over themselves. And now.
  • by rickb928 ( 945187 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @04:03PM (#36977130) Homepage Journal

    "'Marvel's editor in chief Axel Alonso denied that having a black Spider Man was a publicity stunt. 'What you have is a Spider-Man for the 21st century who's reflective of our culture and diversity. As someone who grew up on a steady diet of Luke Cage, Hero For Hire and Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu, I am personally invested,' "

    Ok, first, you're also personally invested in staying employed. I figured that out.

    And you're also a hypocrite, or just a Progressive. 'denied having a black Spider Man was a publicity stunt? There is virtually NO OTHER REASON to do this, than to gain publicity and sales.

    Please. Don't apologize or try to justify this as anything other than sales driven. It's ok. You are in the business of selling comics. Grow a set of your own and be comfortable with your career. Sheesh. Such disingenous BS leaves me with no respect for ya, Axel.

  • by MakinBacon ( 1476701 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @04:19PM (#36977396)

    Marvel's been saying that Ultimate Peter Parker is going to die and be replaced by a new hero for months now, and there was very little complaint outside of a few people who didn't want to see Peter die and a few people that didn't think anybody else should be called Spider-Man. Now that we know he's not white, there's articles all over the mainstream media and even slashdot complaining that he's "Politically Correct"?

    I can respect people who don't want to see Peter die and people that don't think anybody expect Peter should be Spidey, but if you think that the new Spider-Man is "politically correct", then you're the racist here, not Marvel Comics.

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