Marvel apologizes for portraying racist Spider-Man

Miles Morales Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse Spider-Sense

Spider-Man Miles Morales in Sense of Spider-Verse

Credit: Sony Pictures and Marvel Entertainment

Earlier this week, Marvel creators premiered the “What If…? Miles Morales series,”What if… Miles Morales became a Thor? #4″ It has been criticized by online fans for its racist, stereotypical, and reductive portrayal of black and Puerto Rican communities, particularly in New York City, where the Spider-Man character Miles Morales belongs to.

What if Miles Morales became a Thor?  Coverage
Credit: Marvel

“what if …?” The comedy Jew Mercado was written by Luigi Zagaria and Paco Medina, and released by Marvel to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Spider-Man.

The swift recall and backlash prompted the story writer to tweet himself in response yesterday, with apologies to the black and Puerto Rican fans and communities:

I’ve taken the past few days to step back and listen, and I admit your criticism of the question of what if… Miles Morales was a bull. While I’ve had a different experience through my Jewish and Mexican background, I still know the lack of authenticity hurts, and I’m sorry that this failed on that front. I appreciate hearing and learning from my fellow Black and Puerto Rican comics and hope to use this moment to help foster a better credibility. I’m also going to donate what Marvel paid me to Brooklyn Book Bodega, which is working to build literacy and get more books for kids in NYC

RELATED: Marvel Reveals New Spider-Man for Next “The Amazing Spider-Man” Series

However, that tweet in and of itself caused some uproar among fans online, who weren’t entirely satisfied with Mercado’s (and possibly Marvel’s) apology.

In response to the above apology tweet from Mercado, user @MasteroftheTDS quoted a previous tweet calling out the writer’s initial response to the backlash:

You seem very sorry here:

[quoted tweet] A lot of people seem to have missed this so I’m working on educating people. I know comic book writer Miles Morales Thor has come out and apologized for his awful, racist comic, yet it’s a burden on his BA! Take a look at this response to the criticism before it goes viral. (1/2)

Tweet (now deleted) by MasteroftheTDS screenshot previously, posted by Mercado on June 14, 2022, the day before Spider-Man’s “What if…? Miles Morales” comic has been officially published.

read:

I should have added more skirt shots then you would have loved it!

MasteroftheTDS continues, explaining the context of Mercado’s “upskirt” tweet:

As for context, the post was in response to a post calling out to him (pictured below) and was quickly deleted once backlash started to build. I don’t know about you guys but that doesn’t feel sorry at all for me. (2/2)

More fans began responding to this apology, explaining that they were frustrated by Mercado’s stubbornness in learning about other cultures and societies, YourNerdWonder:

Yeah… people are still really angry because you mocked a lot of readers for criticizing the work and only changed when news articles said it was bad. Look my friend, your race isn’t the problem, it’s your desire to learn from other cultures and go outside your limits.

User @ChecKtheCircuiT doesn’t hesitate to point out the fact that other Marvel players have also been guilty of focusing on many of the writer’s decisions, saying:

You tried. not your fault. You had the best of intentions and there was no malice. However, nothing can be printed without being seen and approved by the editors. 3 Editors, “Looks Great, Print It!” These editors are Tom Grunman, Nick Lowe, and CB Cibulsky. Direct comments to them

It wasn’t just a summons, though. Other fans were quick to highlight and praise other Marvel properties that had good acting.

@lebeau32 praised S.Spider-Man: Into the spider verse (2018), the animated film centered on Miles Morales, a collaboration between Sony Pictures and Marvel Entertainment:

It’s sad that that’s what you thought when I wrote this story in 2022. In Spider-Verse it was one of the most amazing Spider-Man films ever made, and Miles’ acting was plain, goofy, and perfect. Marvel Comics needs more representation. Really sad coming from another minority

Not only were the others disappointed, they did not fully accept Mercado’s apology.

ArkitecEnt completely refuses to apologize, saying:

Ummm, apology is not accepted lol. I don’t think this needs a written response, it was done on purpose. The problem is that you see black culture that way, and @marvel using you to do so. Let’s stop playing games.

User sangamegadrive demonstrated his uncanny ability to predict the future, quoting a tweet of his own before Mercado responded to the backlash:

[quoted in screenshot] We’re collectively grumbling about this horrible writing, but we’ll get a longer apology from the artist about racial insensitivity before next weekend

RELATED: “Already the Best”, Spider-Man Reveals New Marvel Villain

Marvel is no stranger to controversy and has previously been called upon to make questionable decisions about casting and even race bending.

However, they have also been praised for their accurate and timely representation of minorities, and have seen success in doing so, such as with Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) and the latest Disney+ show, Mrs. Marvell (2022) starring a Pakistani Muslim character, Kamala Khan (Iman Vilani).

Do you think this apology was good enough? Share your thoughts in the comments below!



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