by Will Lemon | 31 July 2025

 

​When I look at the latest spate of series and films being released it feels like the powers-that-be sat in a boardroom somewhere and said, “Since we’re running out of ideas, let’s throw our franchises in a blender with whatever social commentary is popular right now and see what happens.”

Don’t get me wrong, I am all about representation and inclusion. I just think it needs to be much more appropriate. We don’t need more Black characters, we need more characters who happen to be Black. I'm just spit-balling here but I get the feeling that middle-aged, male, Causasian writers are relying on stereotypes to inform their trifling characterizations.

Take ‘Ri-Ri’(not ‘Riri’) aka ‘Ironheart’ for example. A young Black woman who gets kicked out of MIT because she's not performing well enough then has to resort to criminal activity to fund her inventions. The under-achieving-Black-student trope is on full display.

 

Am I the only one seeing this?

This is what a Black character looks like when it's laced with stereotypical characterization. I can only speculate how all this came to be but I’ve seen it before. The Caucasian men in charge will recruit Black talent/employees/stewards to push their agenda. I know Ryan Coogler produced the series but again, Disney execs. have a perception of Black folks that they think is accurate and/or popular. BTW- this is the same studio that failed to re-cast T’Challa with a minimized Black male cast in ‘Black Panther 2’.

Other casting choices in 'Ironheart' also felt like liberalism run amok with no real loyalty to the source material. All of this is an attempt to capture some modicum of relevance and make money by appeasing to the social media masses and not true fans of the comics. I've heard something similar in the past, "We're trying to reach new audiences." Which is quite the insult. In other words, we need more than just you nerds to keep our comic book-based company afloat. Go figure.

I don’t fault them for wanting to stay in the black(no pun intended) but why not do what has been working for the past 15 years which is crafting a great story first, then tweaking certain characters that enhance that story.

It worked perfectly for ‘Perry White’ and ‘Nick Fury’. They brought on two veteran actors, Laurence Fisburne and Samuel L. Jackson, respectively, and let them be themselves. What they didn’t do was hire a Black actor to portray what the director perceived to be the Black version of these memorable characters.

 

Consider ‘24 Legacy’. After a successful run with Kiefer Sutherland, FOX decided to try to reproduce that success with a Black lead in Corey Hawkins. Undoubtedly, they realized Black audiences were not into it as it was and thought a lead who was more ‘relatable’ would draw us in.

 

'Relatable' - as in a backstory that includes a sketchy past and drug dealing family in a predominately African-American community otherwise known as the ‘hood. This what having a Black character looks like.

‘She-Hulk’ and ‘Acolyte’ are two more examples of Marvel and Disney looking around to see which way the wind was blowing and created appeasement characters lacking even a modicum of literary craftsmanship all in an effort to gain ratings.

Marvel is chockfull of rich, interesting, formidable female characters. It’s just plain stupidity to have them berate the male characters when most of their fanbase is young adult males. Prime Video’s ‘Ballard’ or any of the procedurals are equally culpable.

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Art imitates life. We have overcorrected so much in the name of justice that we have forgotten what we were pursuing in the first place - an authentic expression of diversity in creative spaces that reflect our commitment to equality.