Marvel's Native Superheroes
An article in Indian Country Today paid tribute to Stan Lee by compiling a list of 15 Native superheroes that exist in the Marvel world. The article notes that there are actually 50 Native superheroes in Marvel comics.
Because the author of the article, Vincent Shilling, is Native American, he brings his lived experience to his writing. The article begins by stating "It was tough being a little underdeveloped brown kid that was bullied, degraded and made fun of … but comics gave me an escape from the world that was at times too much too handle. I could escape thanks to the world created by Stan Lee."
The Native superheroes are not flattened into one homogenous group and culture- each Native superhero belongs to a tribe that is listed, however some of the common stereotypes do persist. They all are drawn wearing headdresses, feathers, or a headband.
The superhero Warpath is an example of the stereotype of the healer/shaman/magical medicine man (played by Boo Boo Stewart in "X-Men's Days of Futures Past")
Thunderbird is one character who is Apache, and who is now also in the TV show "The Gifted," and is played by Native American actor Blair Redford.
Danielle Moonstar is Cheyenne. In 2019, Native American actress Blu Hunt will play her in "New Mutants." From her comic images online, she doesn't seem to adhere to the stereotype of the Indian Princess and she is not hypersexualized in the original comic, it appears that only in renditions of her later is she seen wearing less clothes (a racialized FFT). I am not surprised by this, images/characters can be created one way but are often bended to fit in hegemonic molds and that is how they become reproduced for the dominant gaze.
Risque is Seminole and Cuban, which I think is cool because again we see how these characters reflect intragroup difference. Although not originally sexualized, as with Moonstar she becomes a FFT.
Because the author of the article, Vincent Shilling, is Native American, he brings his lived experience to his writing. The article begins by stating "It was tough being a little underdeveloped brown kid that was bullied, degraded and made fun of … but comics gave me an escape from the world that was at times too much too handle. I could escape thanks to the world created by Stan Lee."
The Native superheroes are not flattened into one homogenous group and culture- each Native superhero belongs to a tribe that is listed, however some of the common stereotypes do persist. They all are drawn wearing headdresses, feathers, or a headband.
The superhero Warpath is an example of the stereotype of the healer/shaman/magical medicine man (played by Boo Boo Stewart in "X-Men's Days of Futures Past")
Thunderbird is one character who is Apache, and who is now also in the TV show "The Gifted," and is played by Native American actor Blair Redford.
Danielle Moonstar is Cheyenne. In 2019, Native American actress Blu Hunt will play her in "New Mutants." From her comic images online, she doesn't seem to adhere to the stereotype of the Indian Princess and she is not hypersexualized in the original comic, it appears that only in renditions of her later is she seen wearing less clothes (a racialized FFT). I am not surprised by this, images/characters can be created one way but are often bended to fit in hegemonic molds and that is how they become reproduced for the dominant gaze.
Risque is Seminole and Cuban, which I think is cool because again we see how these characters reflect intragroup difference. Although not originally sexualized, as with Moonstar she becomes a FFT.
I think Stan Lee (and Jack Kirby let's not forget) has always tried to do a good job of including diverse people and being anti-racist long before we had a lot of the language to talk about. However the nature of fantasy comics, especially the most classic ones, will still end up stereotypes and tropes that would be "Easy" for a large audience to understand. I would say that two jewish guys from Brooklyn did a pretty good job, but we definitely have a ways to go
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