Frustrated by the lack of women and people of color in superhero films? Well, we have some exciting news for you: all of the superheroes in Marvel Television’s upcoming animated feature “Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors” will be women or people of color. BuzzFeed broke the story. The film is set to premiere in late 2018 as part of a multi-platform franchise. The franchise will kick off earlier in 2018 with six four-minute shorts about Ghost-Spider (aka Spider-Gwen).
“Secret Warriors’” heroes are Ms. Marvel, Miss America, Squirrel Girl, Quake, Ghost-Spider, Captain Marvel, Inferno, and Patriot. Ms. Marvel, whose alter ego is Kamala Khan, is Marvel’s first Muslim character with her own comic book. Miss America, aka America Chavez, is Marvel’s first Latino-American LGBT character.
“I think it’s incredibly important that we tell young women and young girls that they have this incredible power within themselves,” said Sana Amanat, Marvel’s director of content and character development. “That they have heroes out there [who] … they can look up to, especially in these times.”
In other words, representation matters. The mega success of “Wonder Woman” shows how much audiences craved seeing a superheroine on the big screen. And the buzz about the upcoming “Black Panther” proves that audiences want more people of color cast as superheroes. As such, “Secret Warriors” seems destined for great things.
Kathreen Khavari (“Insecure”), who will voice Ms. Marvel, told BuzzFeed, “To have this brown girl who’s a Muslim, who’s a superhero, who doesn’t fall under these stereotypes … [and] is just a good, decent human being who wants to bring that out in other people — I feel really fortunate to be able to portray her.”
Milana Vayntrub, the voice of Squirrel Girl, observed, “[I] feel like a lot women will feel represented and impassioned by this badass young woman who wants to make the world a better place.” “There’s more dimension to [Squirrel Girl] than being a babe,” the “This Is Us” actress added.
Intentionally or not, the inclusivity of “Secret Warriors” seems to be a rebuke of the comments made earlier this year by Marvel vp of sales David Gabriel. “What we heard was that people didn’t want any more diversity,” Gabriel said when asked about the apparent shift in Marvel consumers’ taste around the 2016 election. “They didn’t want female characters out there. That’s what we heard, whether we believe that or not. I don’t know that that’s really true, but that’s what we saw in sales.”
In addition to “Secret Warriors,” Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers will get her own live-action feature film starring Brie Larson and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. The much-anticipated “Captain Marvel” is scheduled for a March 8, 2019 release date. And Gina Prince-Bythewood’s “Silver & Black,” which will be led by two female superheroes, is set to premiere February 8, 2019.
