I just read the following in a thread concerning Mile Morales’ Spider-Man costume appearing in the new Spider-Man video game:

“The blatant pandering to minorties. It burns. 

Hey Marvel, last time I checked, you had..what 60 various black superheroes and villians. If your want to ‘reach out’, why not dust some of them off and use them in a viable storyline? If you can change Power Man from the the jive talking-gold chain wearing-Dolemite-clone he was for 15 something years, you can use some of the current stable without pissing on Peter Parker even more. 

As a black man, this offends me almost as much as Marcus from those godawful PSP ads.”

Here’s why I think what this guy is saying is complete and utter bullshit and it absolutely offends me. It offends me as both a black man and fan of comics for as long as I can remember.

This isn’t the first time that Spider-Man has “died” and someone else has strapped on the web-shooters in his stead. I was a huge fan of Ben Reilly as Spider-Man, but I guess I was one of the only ones. This kind of thing happens in comics. Within the past year, Bruce Wayne wasn’t the one in the cowl as Batman and Steve Rogers wasn’t the one behind the shield as Captain America.

Speaking of Captain America, Marvel has also addressed this exact same issue with Cap. Even though it widely portrayed that there was only one successful volunteer for the super-soldier program. There were actually several. And one of them was black. There was a black Captain America. And more importantly, his grandson, Patriot (another awesome black superhero) is the leader of the Young Avengers.

I digress. Spider-Man is an ESTABLISHED tentpole character. Yes, he has been around for decades, but he has also always been a Caucasian. Think about it…Superman, Batman, Wolverine, the Hulk…they’re all white dudes.

Why do the biggest and best superheros always have to be white? Well, Marvel had the balls to ask themselves that question and challenged themselves actually do something about it. It’s kind of like how American presidents have only been white males until our most recent election. It’s called social change. It happens.

And the fact that this douchebag would even bother mentioning Luke Cage bothers me even more. I love Luke Cage. I love Luke Cage because my dad loved Luke Cage because he was one of the only comic characters that looked him when he was younger. Over the years, they have changed his character and made him less exploitative and more cool and relevant. And they have utilized him plenty. The people at Marvel can’t just snap their fingers and make Luke Cage as accepted and beloved as Spider-Man. Fans do that. Time does that. And apparently time just doesn’t do that for established black superheroes. So what’s the next best step? Make one of your established superheroes black.

And this is the Ultimate universe we’re talking about here. It’s an alternate universe that some readers don’t even consider canon. A lot of things have been different in the Ultimate universe. This is the universe that dared to give us a black Nick Fury that would go on to be awesomely portrayed on film by Samuel L. Jackson. So why not give us a Spider-Man that could be portrayed by Donald Glover?

I am HAPPY that my daughter is growing up in a world where not only more and more politicians in power but also superheroes and even Disney princesses look like her. My parents didn’t have that. I didn’t have that.

The fact that this guy is offended by this behooves me. Really, dude? Social change offends you? Did it offend you when the slaves were freed? Did it offend you when we were given the right to vote? Did it offend you when Obama took office? Or was all that just pandering to minorities that burned, too? Get the fuck outta here.