Race-Culture Wars: Spider-Man and Batman are Now Both Black!
Anyone who didn't watch too much TV, or didn't read too many comics growing up, probably doesn't think much of superheroes like Spider-Man or Batman, but millions of children grew up watching these superheroes in action on TV on Saturday mornings. This is especially true of the 1990s when animated series became more mature and had deeper storylines than a lot of the campy superhero cartoons from the 1980s and prior to that. In the early 1990s Batman The Animated Series was a masterful work of animation, using the Art Deco style from the 1930s, and 1940s and had mature storytelling, and character development. The cartoon wasn't just some cheesy cartoon where a supervillain like The Joker would think of some evil plot and Batman would stop him and be the hero at the end of the day. The stories were a lot more involved and touched on many serious and complex themes. It is largely considered to be one of the greatest animated series of all time. Here is, for example, the opening theme:
This was incredible for a kid to watch back in the day, but adults could enjoy it as well. The series was actually very expensive to produce due to the high cost of the animation. Spider-Man the Animated series was not as well made, from the animation to many other of its aspects but it was wildly popular and again portrayed Spider-Man in a more mature role, showing us his every day struggles, as he tries to save the city/public, to eventually universe from the forces of evil.
Watching these cartoons is a cultural phenomenon and by depicting heroes it psychologically sets role models to look up to.
Both Spider-Man and Batman were originally White, but now that, as many other things appears to be changing. As time has passed on so have cultural attitudes. Some of this has to do with race, and it is frequently complained about that cartoons, movies, and the like don't feature a lot of non-White characters. Over time more and more have been included, and there have been subtle insertions of interracial relationships in the cartoons, and movies.
The cultural shift has manifested itself through this entertainment form, and starts to be reinforced in the culture. For Spider-Man there are several fictional universes that Marvel, the parent company, make for him. To cater to a non-White audience, one such universe features him being partly Black. Miles Morales a Black Hispanic version of Spider-Man made to appeal to a non-White audience. Now he's also coming into the mainstream version of Spider-Man as well.
There are also talks of making Spider-Man gay:
https://www.washingtonblade.com/2020/02/14/sony-reportedly-planning-to-introduce-bisexual-spider-man-in-next-movie/
https://www.vulture.com/2018/12/miles-morales-of-into-the-spider-verse-the-race-problem.html
The problem of race pops up, and obviously some fans saw the move as being made to cash in on a non-White audience, and for the sake of political correctness. More recently it's been announced the Batman is also becoming Black.
From the article:
Ridley had previously revealed that the next Batman would be a person of colour, telling the New York Times that it was the first time his two sons had been “genuinely excited” about his work. “They appreciate the things that I do. They’re happy for me. They’re great supporters. But they would much rather see Black Panther than 12 Years a Slave, let’s be honest,” he said in November. “So to be able to write the next Batman, for them to know that this next Batman is going to be black, everybody else on the planet can hate it, have a problem with it, denigrate it, but I have my audience and they already love it.”
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The increasing replacement of traditional superheroes in entertainment and the media, although depicted as empowerment, is to an extent an assertion of cultural power and influence. It also reflects demographics. It tends to set standards and expectations in society, it is one way or another a reflection of the dwindling cultural influence of Whites.
It is nowadays not acceptable in America when any kind of profession has "too many Whites". From the Oscars, to police and fire departments, to the Opera, to Hockey to just about anything. Whatever has a large percentage of Whites is viewed as being "racist", or due to discrimination. The same standard does not apply to Blacks or other racial minorities. When was the last time people complained that the NBA was too Black?
Whites are in a way, not able to exist without being accompanied by racial minorities. I contend that this is just something that naturally occurs as a result of two or more racial groups living together. On some level there is intra-racial co-operation, and inter-racial competition. All of what we see either in the media, and entertainment is a reflection of that.
But where does it lead? Competition for power and influence, and conflict. I think to an extent that the recent political events in America are a partial reflection of this.
This age we entered started quite a while ago. I think it all points to us heading into the same divided, and conflict ridden future. "Diversity" left unchecked leads to discord, and conflict. Co-operation among humans is already poor enough as it is. Between different races of people it is even worse. Spider-Man and Batman, although saving the world on a weekly basis, and sometimes even the universe cannot do something simpler which our politicians have been trying to do with their social engineering: to change human nature.
I think that to some level it shows that cultural icons will not be spared in the racial takeover. Cultural icons will change and be made to reflect the racial audience that they serve, all of which points to a darker future.
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