15 Radical Superheroes To Diversify The MCU

Is it time for Ghost Rider and Blade to come home?

Ghost Rider
Marvel Comics

Social justice and a pursuit of the political have always been a part of mainstream comic book culture - especially in Marvel comics, where the late Stan Lee would regularly champion liberal ideology in his Soapbox columns.

In the last decade, that’s moved from an occasional storytelling mode - ’this month in a very special issue of Spider-Man’ - to a core function of their intellectual property, with an increased reliance on protagonists of colour, LGBTQ (if not quite yet -IA) heroes and, crucially, stories centred around women.

Marvel's willingness to diversify the product and allow for representation on a larger scale hadn’t translated to the Marvel Cinematic Universe until recently. However, the runaway success of last year's Black Panther and this month’s Captain Marvel have put paid to any lingering concerns over whether this is good business on Disney’s part.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has openly said that Captain Marvel and Black Panther are only the start: that the incoming ultra-secretive Phase 4 represents a new beginning for both the story of the MCU and for representation and diversity in front of and behind the camera. We already know that a Black Widow and a Shang-Chi movie are in development - but what other protagonists can Marvel adapt from their huge slate of characters that will carry on this vital progressive work?

15. Alpha Flight

Ghost Rider
Marvel Comics

Originally created solely designed as a team that could credibly take on the X-Men as antagonists, Alpha Flight proved to be astonishingly popular in the early eighties - the first issue of their ongoing title sold half a million copies.

Amongst the classic line-up were Snowbird, a shape-changing Inuit goddess, Shaman, a First Nations derived magician and mutant speedster Northstar, not to mention the charismatic Puck, a legendary adventurer, and team leader Vindicator, later known as Guardian (originally designed to be a kind of Canadian version of Captain America).

Even today, there are few examples of Canadian indigenous people as protagonists in genre fiction of any kind - Alpha Flight has two, if you count the supernatural Snowbird. Northstar is also well known for being the first ever superhero to come out as gay and to marry someone of the same sex.

Not only that, but Puck may be the only example in comics of a little person as an unabashed hero, and Vindicator/Guardian? Although originally a man, Alpha Flight’s leader died fairly early on in the series’ run, the position being filled by his wife, Heather, who took his codename in tribute - so Alpha Flight’s 'Canadian Captain America’ could easily be a woman.

Contributor
Contributor

Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.