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Have you ever wondered why there are so few African heroes or villains in Marvel besides those of the fictional country of Wakanda? A fan asked Marvel Comics' executive editor Tom Brevoort, who has noted a death in black heroes in the X-Men, what's behind it - and received a cogent response.

The explanation was in response to an email from reader Joel Zorba. Wrote Zorba: “apart from the fictional country of Wakanda, there are practically no African characters, Mediterranean Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. And there's so much on that continent, so many cultures, so many people who love Marvel characters.”

In support of the argument, Zorba used existing Marvel Comics characters. “There are also so many magnificent gods and goddesses who could become Marvel characters, just as there have been Norse and Greek gods like Thor and Hercules. There's even an African thunder god king and many other god kings and queens in different African pantheons.”

Zorba concluded, “So why are Africa, Africans and African gods still so ignored?” Brevoort responded by comparing the cause to “any similar situation”: “a lack of familiarity with the cultures of which you speak and a lack of interest in exploring those pantheons.” Brevoort continued that individual writers each have their personal areas of interest.

Brevoort previously noted that he took over the X-Men comics line, saying in 2023 "I wish there were more viable black male characters..." in the X-Men line.

While Brevoort acknowledges the possibility of more African characters in the panels of Marvel Comics, he qualifies that possibility with the perspective of the current stable of writers. “But we really need creators who are familiar with those cultures and interested in developing those characters to do so effectively,” he wrote. To this end, Brevoort cited the titles released under Marvel’s Voices banner.

Brevoort wrote, “This is what that the Marvel’s Voices books have been about, bringing in a wider array of creators and giving them the space to tell a broader range of stories about characters of different backgrounds.” Most recently, May 2024’s X-Men: The Wedding Special (2024) #1 was released, the first Marvel’s Voices title that did not include the branding in the issue’s title.

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• Marvel Studios has accidentally created a new Phase that predates Phases 1 - 6: the MCU Phase Zero
• Which Secret Wars comic the Russos are basing Avengers 6 off of
• Overgrown children of the atom: Marvel's X-Men can't evolve past their '90s commercial peak
• The biggest outstanding questions of the Marvel Studios' movies & TV shows
• Marvel's accidental closure on the Kang storyline
• Robert Downey Jr. is entering his villain era
• Donald Trump is the landlord for Marvel's House of Ideas
• For Marvel actors, the MCU also stands for the Marvel Commercials Universe
• The Fantastic 4: First Steps offers Marvel a visual makeover, courtesy of a classic movie designer
• Marvel Studios swapping out Doctor Doom for Kang offers the chance to jettison the Multiverse Saga
• What Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige is saying (and not saying) about the MCU X-Men franchise says a lot about the future of the Mutant Saga