Writing these a month in advance and just noticed Marvel has just replaced Dr. Strange with Clea as Sorcerer/ess Supreme. It's a weird time to do it given a new Dr. Strange movie is coming out soon, but I find nothing wrong with it. It does seem to be Marvel's go-to when it comes to shaking up an I.P.'s status quo - they're also publishing a Daredevil Woman Without Fear comic, and we've had a female Thor, Wolverine, Ghost Rider, Iron Man, Loki, etc. in fairly recent history - but it's not the criticism the zombie misogynist hordes are gonna be shouting, is it?
I always take a deep breath when announcements are made and/or comics like this come out because there's inevitably a lot of digital ink spilled over this kind of stuff, by all the wrong people (who likely don't read comics and are just trolling from Russia), and then by everyone who needs to correct them, etc. (Even I'm doing it! Look!) Cue the above picture of Bulletgirl, one of the first "female versions" of a male hero.
It's ridiculous, because these changes are never permanent and don't threaten the male character in any way, only the fragile egos of these lugnuts who think there's a "war on men" or something. We can certainly talk about the deeper problem that so many female superheroes are "versions", derived from male ones, rather than their own person. We can also acknowledge that the older I.P.s are often male, and that it's worthwhile to use those I.P.s to upsell minority heroes, giving everyone a chance to feel like the hero "looks/feels like them", with success usually translating as bigger roles for those characters in other identities after their stint as the main I.P. It's a complex issue, and the fake argument that publishers should "just create a new character" (heard especially in the case of LGBTQ+ assignations) neither cover it, nor are made in good faith. The same people will moan if a totally new, non-derivative minority character is introduced and given any page space at all.
I stand with Bulletgirl.
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