Why A Black Spider-Man is Important

A small ripple occurred in the Marvel universe, when it was announced that following the death of long-running Spider-Man Peter Parker, he would be replaced by a Black Latino teenager named Miles Morales.

Now, I should add that this happened in the Marvel Ultimate series, which updates long-running super heroes with a distinctly more modern spin. By the way, Col. Nick Fury, head of the S.H.I.E.L.D. spy agency, has also be been "retconned" (retroactive continuity) as an African American, which is why he is played by Samuel. L. Jackson in the movies. (The original Nick Fury's image was based on Dean Martin.) Peter Parker is still alive and kicking Marvel's other lines.

Changes like that are not unusual in the super hero universe, which has some of the most creative writers in the world. Characters are regularly killed, resurrected, sent to alternate universes and sent back and forth in time on a regular basis. In addition, there is a central idea that a super hero mantle is like a crown that can be passed on to different people. Several characters have worn the cape and cowl apart from original Batman Bruce Wayne. And other super heroes such as Captain Marvel, Captain America, the Green Lantern and the Flash have been played by different people over the years.

But with Spider-Man becoming black, it is a turning point. Spider-Man is one of the most recognized characters in the comic book world and some would call him the flagship of the Marvel line.

While some people have applauded this bold move, it has also becoming politicized. The right-wing noise machine, which tries to pin anything bad on President Barack Obama, claimed this was another incidence of the politically correct media run amok. Right-wing lunatic Glenn Beck said that "Michelle Obama had lead to a gay black Spider-Man." And of course, he got 80 percent of the story wrong.

The First Lady had nothing to do with this choice. The writer of the new Spider-Man line had merely said that in the future there could be a gay super hero. But when did the right-wing media ever let the facts get in the way of a good story?

There are many critics who wonder why the need to change Spider-Man's race, but to me it makes a lot of sense. The world is changing and diversity is becoming the norm, the president is black and so is Will Smith, arguably the world's biggest movie star. And the music world has long been dominated by black artists. The public has different expectations, and Marvel realizes that. Today many young people have black idols, so why not a super hero?

There are many black, Latino and Asian super heroes in the pantheon, but most of them are minor and not on the level of Spider-Man. The comic book world has been surprisingly progressive with pushing forward ideas of racial inclusivity. The super hero genre has always had a subversive message. While many might see Superman as American as apple pie, he is actually an illegal alien trying to blend in. Critics have pointed out that Superman's creator Jerry Siegel was Jewish, and that is where much of the Man of Steel's dual identity comes from. Siegel also had to deal with having to live a double life as a Jewish person in a largely Christian country.

In addition, Marvel debuted the character Black Panther, an African super hero, before the political movement, also named the Black Panthers, was born. Comic book legend Stan Lee said that his creation of mutants like the X-Men was a way of trying to explore issues like prejudice. And what could more be like racial prejudice than people being discriminated because of the way they were born -- an issue that Marvel's mutants constantly struggle with.

But a Black Spider-Man can also lead to a host of new story lines. Spider-Man has always struggled as the everyman super hero. Sure he can climb walls, but he still has to struggle with paying rent and a demanding boss. Now, with Miles Morales, he can deal with host of other issues such as racial discrimination, profiling, immigration, ect.

And this is an important message to all those people of color who still read comic books. As corny as they are, with their spandex costumes and ludicrous plot lines, super heroes are mythical, idealized figures. Children look up to them.

Many black celebrities and even politicians say they were comic book fans. President Obama is said to be a Spider-Man fan. My theory is that comic books have always been a fairly cheap art form, so whether you were a kid living in the American ghetto or a kid living in an African village, you parents could afford a comic book.

And when kids opened those pages, they found a world where people, who had many of the same problems as them -- discrimination, bigotry, poverty -- were struggling against the odds, and sometimes succeeding. This is a powerful message.

As a kid growing up, I read comic books and pretty much all of the heroes I followed, Tony Stark (Iron Man), Bruce Wayne (Batman) and Clark Kent (Superman), were all white.

I think it's great that the billions of people around the world who still read comics can look at a super hero and see someone who looks like them staring back. Just like seeing a black president, it says that someday you can be the most important person in the world.