Tag Archives: spider-man

Another Gender Switch

Leave a reply

So, I wrote on Tuesday the reason I think the Silver Surfer was changed to being a woman. Maybe I was too harsh but the fact of the matter, is that Johnny Storm is too horny and more often than not is paired up with extraterrestrial beings whether they be Skrulls or Inhumans or whatever.

But we know that this isn’t the first time we’ve had a gender swap to indicate a different universe. Let’s turn the clock back to Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse. We see this woman early in the film, she has a kind of Bill Nye show that Miles is watching in class.

She looks like a more realistic version of Ms. Frizzle. Speaking of which, why was it Ms. Frizzle? What the fuck is wrong with people in that universe? Why wouldn’t they wife her up as soon as they could. You gotta lock down Ms. Frizzle as fast you can if you’re dating her.

Anyway, you see her at the lab that the Spider-men need to infiltrate. She catches Peter B. Parker standing around and pulls up his mask realizing that he’s from a different dimension. She mentions how he’s going to die painfully and she can’t wait for it. Throwing off her labcoat, she reveals that her full name is Dr. Olivia Octavius.

It is a stunning reveal and I’m so glad I wasn’t spoiled for it. But thinking about it, they never point out that her father was Doc Ock or anything like that. She could just be the main octopus themed villain of that universe.

And she is effective in how scary she is. A lot of it has to do with Kathryn Hahn’s impeccable vocal performance. It’s the reason she was also so affecting as Agatha from Wandavision.

That’s why probably they made the Silver Surfer a lady as they’ve said that the Fantastic Four movie takes place in a different universe. They’ll probably put the male Silver Surfer in the mainstream universe.

Whatever the reason, I don’t give a fuck. Mix and match them. Remix them. Comics are fluid and so is gender.

None of it matters as long as the character is well written and fun. And you know what changing these characters does? It gives more people an in, which means more people into this thing that I love. More diversity means better stories and a wider world both for those in fiction and for ourselves.

The Spider-Man Factor: Make Your Hero Suck(a little bit)

Leave a reply

Batman prepares. Batman is always prepared. Superman can do anything. These are the reasons that these characters are loved and people think they’re boring. They’ve lasted for so long. But it’s also been said they’re hard to write for.

There is a problem in DC where super powers can become so godlike that it becomes hard to think of challenges for them. The great cry in every MCU movie is “Why don’t you just call the Avengers?” well, in DC it becomes “Why does anyone try anything when Superman is around? Or Shazam? Or the Green Lanterns?”. There are so many massive threats that it’s ridiculous that anything other than God coming down to throw down with the heroes of Earth.

Marvel understands this and has kept most of their heroes “street level”. They are only able to do so much. It’s why people can become fearful of mutants. Some mutants are known as Omega level and that means that they can destroy the world if they so want. In my eyes, that just means that they’re on the same level as Superman.

When Spider-man fucks up, you can say, well that’s just who Spider-man is. He’s powerful, super strong and fast. But you could probably kill him with a small army and some air support. There’s a reason that his villains to bring him down didn’t need to ascend to god level, they just had to come at him all at once.

You can see this in Supernatural, the boys hunt monsters and all these things for near two decades during the run of the show. However, they’re still idiots and that makes them compelling. Because even the best fuck up.

That’s how you should be able to write Batman and Superman but people think of them being too perfect. Too powerful. That’s why one of the most loved versions of Batman is the one from the animated series. He’s a human. He’s smarter and stronger than the average human but he can still get stabbed by the Joker.

We don’t want Gods. We want good people doing good things. A hero shouldn’t stand above you but with you. They should be selfless and kind and inspire you to do the same. There is of course some variation to keep them interesting but that’s what a hero does.

It’s something that I try and put in my writing. I write the person first and then figure out what their power would do to them. Would it make them good? Bad? Corrupt? That’s up to what happens when I put finger to key and pen to paper.