Over the last few years, Marvel has been making notable changes to key characters. The most recent characters who have received a change were Wolverine and Thor. The mantles of the characters have both been given to woman. Today, the Iron Man mantle will be following suit.
In an exclusive interview with TIME magazine, Marvel writer Brian Michael Bendis spoke about the Riri Williams, the new Iron Man and her ethnicity. Like Tony Stark, Riri is a scientific genius. She attended M.I.T at the young age of 15 and built her own Iron Man suit, garnering the attention of Tony.
In a time we’re ethnic superheroes are needed and to show the youth that they can be anything, Brian Michael Bendis shares his inspiration for Riri Williams.
One of the things that stuck with me when I was working in Chicago a couple of years ago on a TV show that didn’t end up airing was the amount of chaos and violence. And this story of this brilliant, young woman whose life was marred by tragedy that could have easily ended her life—just random street violence—and went off to college was very inspiring to me. I thought that was the most modern version of a superhero or superheroine story I had ever heard. And I sat with it for awhile until I had the right character and the right place.
Brian also shares his thoughts on why he created Riri and some of the backlash the character has received.
Some of the comments online, I don’t think people even realize how racist they sound. I’m not saying if you criticize you’re a racist, but if someone writes, “Why do we need Riri Williams we already have Miles?” that’s a weird thing to say. They’re individuals just like Captain America and Cyclops are individuals. All I can do is state my case for the character, and maybe they’ll realize over time that that’s not the most progressive thinking.
But increasingly we see less and less of that. Once Miles hit, and Kamala Khan hit and female Thor hit—there was a part of an audience crawling through the desert looking for an oasis when it came to representation, and now that it’s here, you’ll go online and be greeted with this wave of love.
I think what’s most important is that the character is created in an organic setting. We never had a meeting saying, “we need to create this character.” It’s inspired by the world around me and not seeing that represented enough in popular culture.
You can read the full interview on TIME.
