Superhero Diversity and Thor!

It is no secret to my friends and family that I absolutely love Thor!  When I was young I used to sneak into my older brother's room to shuffle through his Marvel and DC comic books.  I would toss the books that I didn't find interesting then retreat to my own room to read the books that I loved...Wonder Woman, X-Men, Superman and my beloved Thor!  I can't say why I loved Thor so much...maybe it was the muscles... maybe the mighty hammer...who knows?  All I know is that years after I had moved on from reading comic books, I went to see Iron Man 2 at the movies and at the end, after all of the credits, a promo for the next movie came on.  There was a gigantic canyon on the screen with a hammer inside of it and before Agent Coulson could dial the number to call Nick Fury, I shouted out loud in the movie theater, THOR!  My "Beloved" was back.

What is even better is the actor chosen to play Thor.  Chris Hemsworth is perfect!  He is exactly the way Thor is characterized in the comic books.  I also love watching Idris Elba in practically any movie so I am pleased to read that he will be back as Heimdall in Thor 2. Despite the controversy, Idris brings some diversity to the Marvel movie screen and his wonderful acting makes you get into the character.    I can't wait for Thor: The Dark World to be released!

I am also happy to read that Djimon Hounsou will portray another Marvel character in Guardians of the Galaxy bringing even more diversity to those of us who love Marvel comics.  However, I was saddened to hear a quote from Djimon that said that one of the reasons that he accepted the role is because his son wished that he could be light-skinned so that he could play Spider-Man.  Hounsou noted that he finds it shocking that diversity is still lacking in the Superhero world.

It is my hope that in the future, superhero diversity will no longer be a question mark.  The Chausiku series is not about superheroes but it is about clans having supernatural powers and the diversity is international, racial and by gender.

Chausiku is a half African American and half African teenager living in Chicago who finds out on her 16th birthday that she is a descendant of the Sakombi clan from Africa.  She is also the Prophecy and she has supernatural powers.

John is a descendant of the European Spencer clan from England and he has different supernatural powers.  The Gale clan is from Australia, the Amaru clan is from Latin America, the Qiao clan is from Asia and the members of the Natosapi clan are Native Americans and First Nations (Canada) from North America. All of them interact with each other and have different supernatural powers.  Diversity isn't the issue...it is the norm.

#Thor #Superhero #Diversity