Wow. After the Aaron Sorkin debacle last week, you’d assume that powerful executives with a platform — especially if they are white dudes — would carefully consider their words before saying them aloud. Doesn’t seem to be the case: Marvel vp of sales David Gabriel made waves when he told ICv2 that the inclusion of women and characters of color, like a female Thor, a black female Iron Man, a biracial Spider-Man, and a Muslim teenage Ms. Marvel, are to blame for disappointing comics sales.
“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 election last fall. “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. We saw the sales of any character that was diverse, any character that was new, our female characters, anything that was not a core Marvel character, people were turning their nose up against. That was difficult for us because we had a lot of fresh, new, exciting ideas that we were trying to get out and nothing new really worked.”
Gabriel’s comments have already inspired a lot of pushback from fans. Some argue that Marvel’s over-reliance on origin stories is to blame, while others are turned off by the offensive new storylines for the “core” characters:
I love how Marvel thinks people are tired of "diversity". NO I AM TIRED OF WATCHING UNCLE BEN DIE 373929463 TIMES.
Marvel thinks diversity is ruining their sales? Idk, MAYBE turning Captain America, a worldwide symbol, into a nazi has something to do
Marvel’s refusal to consider other explanations for the dip in sales — like, say, its over-saturation in pop culture, or the negative buzz generated by the white-washing in “Iron Fist” and “Doctor Strange” — isn’t only baffling and infuriating. It once again shows that women and people of color are the first to be screwed over if they are perceived as obstacles to the bottom line.
To Gabriel’s credit, he seemed to realize his faux pas and reached out to ICv2 to clarify his comments and show his enthusiasm for diverse characters. “We heard that some were not happy with the false abandonment of the core Marvel heroes,” he explained. “Contrary to what some said about characters ‘not working,’ the sticking factor and popularity for a majority of these new titles and characters like Squirrel Girl, Ms. Marvel, The Mighty Thor, Spider-Gwen, Miles Morales, and Moon Girl, continue to prove that our fans and retailers ARE excited about these new heroes. And let me be clear, our new heroes are not going anywhere!”
This won’t be the last time a male exec will ignore his own privilege and glibly say art is unworthy just because it wasn’t made specifically for him or by someone like him. Backlashes, financial or otherwise, are usually aimed at anyone deemed the “other,” most often minorities and women. But, in case it helps, here’s a message for Gabriel about the supposed non-profitability of gender equality and inclusivity: The world is not comprised solely of white men. It’s time to consider someone else’s perspective and not just in terms of how much cash you can squeeze from it. Also: Diversity sells.
