What if Spiderman was Black?

I'm going to begin with my proclamation of allegiance to the great kingdom of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that never fails to disappoint me with great film after great film. Without Marvel who knows what I would be doing (most likely  reflecting on the emptiness of my own life twiddling my thumbs!).

Yet, with all my love and admiration for this amazing company which fills the hollows of my soul with their cinematic magic, for just a second here let us suppose our friendly neighborhood Spiderman was... Black.

Now you may think what on earth would make me write such a blasphemous statement, but here's the deal, in 2015 with the Sony-Marvel agreement where they oh so graciously allowed to loan out our beloved hero to the founding company a serious discussion on whether Spidey should be Black was genuinely presented.

Now we have our cynics and our critics out there in the world wide web who will claim, "Why do we need to make all our White characters Black?" or "Just let Spidey be".

But it is a little known fact that in 2011 after being inspired by African American men in power such as former president Barack Obama and actor Donald Glover, Marvel made an active decision to change the way they saw Race within their comics by creating a new timeline for our beloved Spiderman where infact Spidey was a Black boy by the name of 'Miles Morales'. Not only this but Marvel has since gone above and beyond to employ writers and editors to come up with as many racially diverse characters as possible, for example in the current timeline Kamala Khan a Pakistani-American is the new Ms. Marvel, Steve's good ole pal Falcon has taken over the role of Captain America in the comics, and Ironfist is currently an Asian-American man. All this is great and amazing in its own right but why is it that within the films till this day racial diversity is still limited?

Well you see here's my theory, racial diversity does exist in Marvel films just enough to fit the quota but not so much to disturb our perception of our traditional heroes. As academics Omi & Winan clearly point out in their article on Racial formation, "race is a concept which signifies and symbolizes social conflicts and interests by referring to different types of human bodies". When we introduce characters of colour, of particular faith, sexuality, and genders into mainstream movies we open ourselves up for a discussion to their lives, their experiences, and their issues which must take center stage and as viewers were often not ready to come to terms with the burden of these discussions. When we introduce a Black Spiderman, we must place him in the context of the struggle to be a Black man in a time of police brutality, material struggle, and inferiority, when we introduce a Pakistani-American Ms. Marvel we must identify her struggles and experiences of being a Muslim in an Islamophobic era. Continuing Omi & Winan's argument race is essentially "a social structure and cultural representation" after all. Now life as Peter Parker isn't simple but its manageable as a middle class highly intelligent college boy battling a dual life, but what about life as Miles Morales? Imagine trying to finish your homework on time, saving your city and in the process trying your best not to get shot every time you leave the house post 10pm to the corner store getting aunt May her tampons. You see what I'm getting at here?

Our traditional superheroes fight a social structure where justice needs to be served within the realms of the law, and their cultural significance is dismal as its assumed they speak for all of 'Us' (White, Black, Indian, Chinese, European, Men, Women and all alike), but what if you're someone like Miles where not only are you fighting to uphold the social structure set out by the law but also fighting the law itself in an era where police officers and their "mistakes" of shooting young Black men are let go without conviction (*hint hint* Micheal Brown case in Ferguson), where mentioning that your cultural representation in media has always been limited to a drug pushing "street" gangster violent male will land you in hot water and to not mention it will stir hatred from your own community for not being authentic.

You see, Marvel at the end of the day just wants to make some money and isn't really looking to get into trouble, which makes sense after all they are in the industry of profit driven entertainment not social justice. This is precisely the reason why their Black characters have always played second fiddle to the traditional heroes; Steve has his sidekick Falcon, Tony has his sidekick War Machine, and our new found favourite Antman has his Mexican comrade Luise. Technically, yes their films are racially inclusive. Are they racially equitable in terms of power on the other hand? No, Marvel films are and will be very reluctant to bring up racial issues by making space for powerful front runner superheroes of colour in their films and its not entirely their fault. Its not until the majority of Marvel film viewers take a social and political stand where we actively let our kingdom know we are able to view and want to view the struggles of the Black man, the Muslim woman, the Mexican kid on screen AS WELL as have them play into our expectations of the traditional superhero will they be willing to deliver to us. You see its a basic demand and supply economics 101 kind of thing, Marvel has always shown they're willing to supply, after all they wouldn't have gone above and beyond in their current comic timeline if that wasn't the case, we just need to tell them, yes my Lord I am ready to view.