The first Ms. Marvel, one of the best-known female characters in the Marvel Comics universe, was introduced in the 1960s. After an explosion, the writers made her DNA merge with Captain Marvel’s and she gained his powers, including super strength. She had blonde hair and blue eyes.

The second character to use the pseudonym Ms. Marvel gained her super powers after participating in an experiment. She was most often called “She-Thing,” but occasionally was called Ms. Marvel. She had red hair and blue eyes.

The third character to use the name Ms. Marvel was originally introduced as super villain Moonstone. After joining the superhero team the Dark Avengers, she took on the codename of Ms. Marvel. She had blonde hair and blue eyes. 

The three Ms. Marvels all had different back-stories, but share one thing: they are all pretty, white females. 

But all this is about to change, because in November 2013, a new Ms. Marvel was announced, and this time, she is a Muslim teenager: 16-year-old Pakistani-American Kamala Khan.

Shafiqa Ahmadi, an assistant professor of clinical education at the University of Southern California, says she feels this is a positive step at portraying Muslim women. 

“Muslim women are generally portrayed as uneducated, oppressed and really in need of emancipation, like the West needs to come in and help and free these women because they’re so oppressed,” Ahmadi says. “You don’t see positive images of Muslim women. So I think, with the superhero character, it presents a positive image of women in general and specifically Muslim women.”

The poor portrayals of Muslims, she argues, is often demonstrated by women who wear a veil or hijab. Muslim women are therefore often considered the “other.” Before 9/11, she argues, only Muslim women were viewed as the other, but since 9/11, all “Muslims were essentially guilty by association.”

This increased the poor representations of Muslims, she says. To this day, most Muslims are portrayed as either women who need help or men who are oppressive, or even terrorists, in the mainstream media.

A recent exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum titled “Marvels and Monsters” also shed light on diversity in comic books, specifically the number of Asian superheroes featured in comics. Still, comic book fan and Asian-Canadian Michelle Pang says she was unaware there were more than a few Asian superheroes and that often these characters are poor representations of Asians.

“What I do find in the poor attempts of these comic books in diversity inclusion is that when comic books try to bring diversity into its characters, many of the characters adopt very stereotypical characteristics of the ethnicity that the character is supposed to represent. These stereotypes are often times unrealistic and downright offensive. For example, having characters named ‘Temptress’ or ‘Lotus Blossom’ is quite offensive, especially towards the Asian community and definitely diverges me away from reading them. It signals to me the poor understanding of another culture and is almost an easy escape from a topic as complex as race and diversity,” Pang says. 

Pang adds that she would rather minorities not be represented in comics than be represented in comics as stereotypes, which she feels contributes to inaccurate perceptions of minority groups. 

William Ford-Conway, president of USC’s comic book club, disagrees and says that some of the stereotypes used in comic books are meant to help readers understand minority groups. For example, Black Panther, the first mainstream black superhero, is from the fictional nation of Wakanda. He has numerous abilities, including super strength. 

“The reason they named him Black Panther is because the character is an African king,” Ford-Conway says. “So a lot of that is not necessarily talking about that identity, but the pride of having that identity. And it’s taking what is seemingly a stereotypical kind of role and making it a strong story to be proud of and to look up to.”

Ahmadi adds that stereotypes will be present in the new Ms. Marvel comics in Khan’s family: her father wants her to be a doctor, her brother is conservative and her mother wears a veil. This, she argues, may be necessary.  

“We’re very comfortable with diversity, at times, at least we say we are. But part of that diversity relies on stereotypes because we have to differentiate,” Ahmadi says.

Ford-Conway says that comic books have been doing a good job of diversifying their superhero rosters in recent years, particularly Marvel. 

Shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, Marvel created Sooraya Qadir, a Sunni-Muslim girl. DC Comics recently introduced Nightrunner, a French-Algerian version of Batman and Simon Baz, an Arab-American.

The introduction of Khan, Ford-Conway says, is just the most recent attempt for Marvel to show its commitment to diversity.

The new Ms. Marvel will be edited by Sana Amanat, herself a Muslim. The new comic will focus on Khan growing up in a Muslim-American household, resembling that of Amanat’s childhood. 

Ford-Conway says Khan was likely made a teenager because it will give her time to grow and come into her powers as she finds herself as a person and as a superhero.

“I really like stories where they’re kids first because stories that begin as kids have so much room to grow, in terms of where they are in their life, how they mature, how they get their powers. This story’s going to begin and she’s going to be a kid and finding her new powers. And she’s going to have to come into her own,” he says.

Ahmadi agrees.

“With a teenager it leaves a lot of room, and I think it was very smart on Marvel’s part,” she says. “Part of her identity comes from her religion of Islam. So, it helps Marvel because the character can grow in so many different ways as a teenager’s identity development.”

Khan is not the only diverse character to enter the media in recent years, though.

Pedro Garcia, a professor of clinical education at USC, says that he has seen more representations of minority groups in the media, including in comics.

Mainly, though, he says he has seen an increase in portrayals of African-Americans. 

“More African-Americans are shown because of the history, because of the slavery, because of the suffering of so many blacks for so many years and I think we’re trying to make up for years and years of discrimination,” Garcia says. “And when you think of discrimination, you don’t think of Asians, you don’t think of Latinos.”

He adds that as the Latino, Asian and Muslim population in our country grows, so will the representation of these characters in the media.

This is not, he argues, because people care about diversity, but because people want to sell goods, whether it is a car, a drink or a comic book. To do so, they have to appeal to wider audiences and include more diverse characters. 

“I don’t think the commercial industry cares about social morals, I don’t think they care. I think they want to sell cars, they want to sell whatever, and I think they realize that part of the audience is that color. So, I just think they’re getting smarter,” he says.

Ahmadi agrees that this is part of the reason Marvel introduced a new Muslim character.

“It is also about economic and competition reasons that they did this because it taps into another part of the market. You look at how many Muslims live here in the U.S. and there is a market there,” she says.

There are around 3.5 million Arab-Americans in the U.S., according to American Community Survey. 

Since many comic books are sold in garage sales, online and in black markets, it is impossible to estimate how many comic books are sold a year. Comichron, an online site devoted to comics, estimates in 2012 the North American Market size was $700-730 million for Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc., the largest comic book distributor in North America. 

Comics cost around $3.50 each. Many, but not all, comics that can be found in the U.S. are also found in comic book stores abroad. Marvel is the top selling comic brand, with DC Comics as its main competitor.

Ford-Conway says that of the two Marvel is more committed to diversity. Still, all the major superheroes are white.

Pang says this has not deterred her from reading comic books because when she does “race and diversity is not usually the first thing that pops into my mind.”

Ford-Conway says that most people think of white superheroes because the superheroes with the most longevity are white.

“These are characters that were created a long time ago,” Ford-Conway says. “And they’re white. Their stories and how they’re written and what they represent are just so important to the whole foundation of comics. And because of that they have just been around since the 1960s. So when a major black character such as DC’s Static Shock, or DC Comics’ Cyborg and others, all these characters are very major characters. But, a lot of people don’t think of them, just because of the longevity some of these other characters have.”

He adds that most comic book readers know of many popular non-white superheroes, but others who only watch films do not because “the film industry has been playing catch up.

“That (diversity) is coming with times and we have been seeing that (diversity) in the most important aspect of the industry, which is the literature of the comics,” he adds.

Whether the new Ms. Marvel will be a success remains to be seen. However, many agree that it is a positive step to include more diverse characters in leading roles in comic books. 

 

Reach Deputy Editor Hannah Madans here.