Is Marvel Now Completely "Disneyfied"

mgpan

mgpan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It's no secret TWDC wishes to increase the appeal of its catalog of offerings to more and more people, thereby increasing revenues. However, with the acquisition of Marvel, many were excited as to what exciting things would be done to the Marvel universe. Now, with changes to at least two of the best known characters, is Disney going too far in just basically changing characters to fit new or increased demographics? Is this something that excites the Marvel fans? What if Mickey was now said to be a female? Or perhaps Pluto as a cat in disguise? Just looking for feedback and thoughts from the Marvel fans.
 
Prince-1

Prince-1

Well-Known Member
The changing of A-list comic book characters has been going on forever and way before Disney bought Marvel. Both Captain America and Thor who you referenced to, will soon be replaced by other people. This has been done with both characters multiple times in the past so this is nothing new AND as always these changes are temporary. The originals will be back just in time for the new Avengers movie. Just a way to increase sales and has nothing to do with Disney at all and this is from a comic collector for over 30 years.
 
Figmentation

Figmentation

Well-Known Member
It's been pretty well known that Marvel tries to change to demographics.. they've done it for years. But with Disney taking over it's becoming more relevant in nature.

I'll cover some of the things here that is MOSTLY my opinion but I'm sure there's some backing to what I'm about to say. But keep in mind, this is opinion only.

Thor - Passing the hammer to a FEMALE role. I can see Disney pushing toward a stronger female lead, even more so that it is Thor.. one of the strongest in the Marvel Universe. We've been seeing incredibly powerful Female leads recently in Disney's film.

Tangled, Brave, Frozen... these are all films that have female main characters who can stand up for themselves instead of having a main male character defend them. While males have prominent roles in the film.. they are not needed to defend the main female character, just help guide them to their happy ending.

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Captain America - Some spoilers here if you read the comics and have not caught up yet:

Steve Rodgers story now has him as a 90 year old man, due to the super serum being removed from his body. He's going to pass the role to his best friend, obviously Falcon. Falcon has had a resurge of popularity due to the movies, and this is sort of going the same route they did when they moved Nick Fury's 'son' into a leading role.

What gets me is the fact that there are plenty of African American leads out there. There really was no need to push Steve out and bring Falcon in to replace him. Marvel also has a MAJOR minority lead in the new Ultimate Spider-Man (African American-Hispanic mix, who's sexuality is leading toward more being homosexual. If you're talking about pushing the limits on a minority lead character.. that's him right there.)

It just kind of feels that they are just throwing him into Captain's role mostly due to popularity instead of demographics.
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In any case.. Marvel has been pushing for more changes before Disney took over, but with Disney in charge, my opinion sits that they are helping push them more quickly... mostly due to money and popularity of the films.

Thor's change I can see... Captain's... not so much.
And these roles will me temporary like always.
 
Gomer

Gomer

Well-Known Member
I don’t see how the changes have anything to do with a Disney mandate for diversity in demo appeal. I don't see this as Disneyification, but as natural and much needed shift to meet cutural demographic changes and to become more representative of the public as a whole.

1. The changes increase story opportunities in a medium that traditionally has problems finding new ways to tell compelling stories due to its long history.
2. Demographic appeal isn’t just a Disney mandate, it’s a real problem for comics that traditionally appeal to only younger white males.
3. Those demo appeal issues aren’t just because of white males being the majority of buyers, but traditionally comics have not been the greatest place for female and minority characters. Better than some other genres, yes, but there is room for improvement. A strong female Thor and a black Captain America are a good step in the right direction in increasing the diversity of characters in the Marvel universe.

In my opinion, broadening the diversity through major character shifts like this can only be a good thing. From a story stand point, a monetary standpoint, and a societal standpoint.
 
asianway

asianway

Well-Known Member
Thor has been a frog and an alien
Green Lantern is a Muslim and an African American
Iron Man has been African American

The diversification on these types of changes go back 30 years in comics and were never limited to Marvel
 
sublimesting

sublimesting

Well-Known Member
Comics does this stuff all the time: Doc Ock took over Peter Parker's body and killed Peter, Jean Paul Valley took over for Batman, Joker cut off his own face, Johnny Storm died.....now Peter Parker is back from death, Batman is back under the cowl, Joker...well who knows where he is right now but his face rotted and fell into a river so he's bound to get a new one that looks just like The Joker, and Johnny Storm is alive again. I don't like these change though because Thor as a woman makes no sense at all and Captain America is Steve Rogers. If they want to be diverse they can create all new characters. I don't like diversity just for the sake of diversity though....especially when you have diverse characters already. For example in G.I Joe they made a few characters Latino, female and black that were originally white. Problem is that G.I. Joe had a lot of ethnic characters as well as female characters already that were very popular, are major characters and could have just been used instead of changing a white guy to a black guy
 
sublimesting

sublimesting

Well-Known Member
Gomer said:
I don’t see how the changes have anything to do with a Disney mandate for diversity in demo appeal. I don't see this as Disneyification, but as natural and much needed shift to meet cutural demographic changes and to become more representative of the public as a whole.

1. The changes increase story opportunities in a medium that traditionally has problems finding new ways to tell compelling stories due to its long history.
2. Demographic appeal isn’t just a Disney mandate, it’s a real problem for comics that traditionally appeal to only younger white males.
3. Those demo appeal issues aren’t just because of white males being the majority of buyers, but traditionally comics have not been the greatest place for female and minority characters. Better than some other genres, yes, but there is room for improvement. A strong female Thor and a black Captain America are a good step in the right direction in increasing the diversity of characters in the Marvel universe.

In my opinion, broadening the diversity through major character shifts like this can only be a good thing. From a story stand point, a monetary standpoint, and a societal standpoint.
Click to expand...

I think my biggest problem is making Thor female. Traditionally girls aren't into comics and super heroes. I don't think changing a character like Thor into a female is going to expand your audience. In other words I don't think girls are going to be like: "Oh, Thor is a girl like me, now I'm interested in Asgard and bludgeoning Loki with Mjolnar, see before it was a guy so these things didn't interest me but now....."
 
michael.fumc

michael.fumc

Well-Known Member
This is the comic book cycle, DC does it to. It is about the only way comic books, get a blurb on the bottom line of news channels: Robin is killed, Superman dies, New Batman, Change in green lantern charter.... before long everything seems to come back and it all looks the same, with just a little differences. I really don't think,(just my opinion) that Disney is making these decisions, it is Marvels products and they have been doing pretty good with their movies, since being bought, I don't think Disney will interfere.
 
Figmentation

Figmentation

Well-Known Member
sublimesting said:
I think my biggest problem is making Thor female. Traditionally girls aren't into comics and super heroes. I don't think changing a character like Thor into a female is going to expand your audience. In other words I don't think girls are going to be like: "Oh, Thor is a girl like me, now I'm interested in Asgard and bludgeoning Loki with Mjolnar, see before it was a guy so these things didn't interest me but now....."
Click to expand...

Well I stated my opinion on this obvious. :p

I think Thor's change is happening due to the extreme popularity of 'strong' female characters right now. They're just trying to cash in on it.
 
RandomPrincess

RandomPrincess

Keep Moving Forward
I'm more interested in Iron Mans new suit -
More info on the changes - http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/07/16/m...black-thor-is-female-iron-man-has-a-new-suit/

The Avengers NOW!

avengers-now.jpg
 
Gomer

Gomer

Well-Known Member
sublimesting said:
I think my biggest problem is making Thor female. Traditionally girls aren't into comics and super heroes. I don't think changing a character like Thor into a female is going to expand your audience. In other words I don't think girls are going to be like: "Oh, Thor is a girl like me, now I'm interested in Asgard and bludgeoning Loki with Mjolnar, see before it was a guy so these things didn't interest me but now....."
Click to expand...

Which is exactly why I think it’s a good step. There have been plenty of good female comic characters. But there have also been a disproportionate number of perpetual “damsel in distress” types as well as a rash of overly revealing spandex costumes designed to appeal to the prime demo that has the side effect of decreasing female interest. Comics rarely make a real attempt to attract a female demo, probably because they are afraid to lose the 14 year old boys who like to oggle their female characters (not judging, I used to be one of those 14 year old boys). But taking prime characters and making them strong females, might be a step towards bridging that gender gap and boost the health of the overall industry.

Girls are getting more into the characters because of the influx of less overtly offensive female characters in the movies. I think the print versions of these characters would be smart to try and capitalize on that.
 
mgpan

mgpan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
asianway said:
Thor has been a frog and an alien
Green Lantern is a Muslim and an African American
Iron Man has been African American

The diversification on these types of changes go back 30 years in comics and were never limited to Marvel
Click to expand...

I have a young son who is extremely fond of superheroes right now (as are most of his friends of the same or similar ages) and so i'm just now following the comics and Marvel in particular because of our family's strong Disney tie-in to be honest. Since he has the interest, and also in being read to and learning to read, i'd like to use comics as part of that learning. I did not know that the characters have changed so often over the years and many times right back to the original, often several times! I believe it's important as a parent to take an interest in what your kids are into, and so I'm trying to "catch up" since my limited days of reading comics years ago.
 
Can we go yet?

Can we go yet?

Active Member
They'll be back to normal soon, just wait til Age of Ultron comes out.

Looking at the image up above, I thought Scarlet Witch
[SPOILER ALERT, don't scroll down]





died?
 
tribbleorlfl

tribbleorlfl

Well-Known Member
RandomPrincess said:
I'm more interested in Iron Mans new suit -
More info on the changes - http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/07/16/m...black-thor-is-female-iron-man-has-a-new-suit/

The Avengers NOW!

avengers-now.jpg
Click to expand...
I agree with you, as apparently part of his armor change and relocation to San Fran involves a dark, sinister bent to Stark: he distributes Extremis to the masses as an app, allowing people to change their appearance or give them abilities at will. I can't help but notice his armor is white and has the diamond on its forehead. Wondering if they're bringing Vision back into the fold, possibly setting up the Stark-Vision-Ultron dynamic thay will be in the sequal film.

Personally, while the CA and Thor changes do feel like attempts to make waves and try to reach out to new demos, the changes at least make sense from a story perspective. For CA, there is president in someone taking on the mantle of CA when Steve was out of commission (Bucky/Winter Soldier, Punisher, even Norman Osborne as Iron Patriot to a certain extent). In a comic book logic sort of way, it's plausible that if the SS serum is removed, his body would rapidly age. In that case, it also makes sense Steve would turn to his closest ally and friend to take on the mantle (as Bucky has reverted to his WS persona).

Regarding Thor, it's been long Marvel's take on mythology what makes Thor "Thor" was the ability to wield the hammer, thus possessing the powers of Thor. Several characters over the years were able to at least temporarily wield Mjolnir and thus have Thor's powers. Under this upcoming change, Thor will still exist, just will have lost his hammer abilities. A mystery woman from his life will be deemed worthy, however, and takes on the mantle of "Thor." Adds interesting story possibilites, imo, to try to figure out who it is and why she's worthy.
 

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