When we leave this mortal plane, our legacy is the only thing that we're really going to leave behind. You could be fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to leave a legacy that could span centuries, but you could also be remembered for only a few more years before you're lost to history. For many people though, their legacies live on for as long as the people they have touched or influenced continue to talk or think about them.

At this junction in your life, are you… Oh, who am I kidding? I know you're not going to be fooled two posts in a row haha! So, let's get on with it shall we? Let's talk…

From Superman to Spider-Man, many comic book characters have had a lasting legacy that spans different generations. Some characters have already outlived their creators, and with the way things are going, there would surely be more that stands the test of time. There isn't one formula to follow to make a character popular for years and years though. Sometimes, it depends on the current socio-political climate.

I mean, who would've thought that a guy wearing a red and blue "spider" suit would still be immensely popular today? His creators, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, might've certainly thought so, but I don't think millions of others would agree at the time. Sure, millions of people agree now, but hindsight is 20/20. What is it about Spider-Man that made him famous? Is it the suit? Maybe the quips? Well, I do agree that those things and so much more contributed to his enduring popularity. Although, what really made him famous was the man behind the suit.

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No, not puny Parker as a character! In reality, it's the way Peter Parker is so relatable for many people. Down-on-his luck, too smart for his own good, always getting picked on, has tremendous strength but has restraint to use them for selfish needs—these are qualities that most people have, think they have or they want to have. Peter Parker was the essential everyman, and that's what made him effective as a character.

However, Peter Parker isn't the only one to don the mask. In fact, there's a whole multiverse of them!

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Different backgrounds, different ethnicities, with many being completely different people. Even though Peter Parker is the same character that Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created all those years ago, only aging a few years thanks to Marvel Time, there have been many who have taken up the mantle of Spider-Man. The same thing goes for other characters. After all, a few decades is a long time to keep things fresh for a single character, even if the comics only come out weekly or monthly.

The thing about legacy is that it could be interpreted in many different ways.

Not Everyone Is White

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It might come as a shock to you, but not everyone is caucasian. I'll give you time to let that sink in. I'm a Filipino, living in the Philippines. While many consider me on the lighter side, I most definitely identify as someone with brown skin. Growing up, there aren't many brown skinned characters I could look up to. For me, it didn't really hinder the experience, but I could see how it became less relatable for people with a different skin color than the characters.

It's not just the physical aspect, the character's attitude and how they perceive the world around them come into play as well. Because let's face it, not everyone has the same level of priviledge. There are some things that come easier for some more than others. It's the way of the world, and no matter how much we try to change it, it is what (currently) is.

If you've been paying attention, that's why I wrote "was" referring to Peter Parker being the essential everyman. The truth is, it's too much weight for a single character to carry. With the current socio-political climate, no single character can carry all those expectations, and that's alright.

The recent wave of strong opinion, thanks in large part to social media, has made it easy for people to voice their concerns. Calls for political correctness, gender equality and representation has never been easier to spread. In this age of interconnectedness, nobody needs to suffer in silence anymore. Of course the downside of that is that it's also easier to bitch about the most trivial things, but that's a whole other can of worms.

With everything, the pressure is now on the Hollywood big wigs who have coasted far too long with stereotyping races. So, in turn, being the good guys that they are, what is there left for them to but to…

Swap The Characters' Race and/or Gender

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Oh God, no. Jesus Hussein Christ, no. That's completely missing the point. In fact, that completely missed the paper or wherever the point is located. It's like they took a circle, painted it to make it look like a triangle, dressed it up like a square and called it a rectangle. I mean, good grief! Houston, we not only have a problem, we have a crisis! Now before you dismiss me as a racist, hear me out. If after you read this post and you still feel like you want to lynch, then by all means do so.

This has been discussed before in several different sources, so I won't even try to list down all of the changes. Actually, I even wrote a similar post back in 2014 in anticipation of the TV series The Flash, which I considered reposting here, but a lot of the things I discussed were outdated. I even discussed it a bit during my first official TBT here. The point is, this has been discussed a lot, so what am I going to add to the conversation? That's the question. Well, that is a question.

As you've already seen, Hollywood has a habit of trying to appease people who are complaining about the lack of representation by swapping out characters who have existed in the comics for decades to a different race. What they fail to account is that they're not only swapping out skins like a color palette, they're swapping out personalities and everything else that make the characters tick. They're not swapping out race, they're swapping out characters.

Sure, arguments could be made about how it's only physical and how it would go a long way into making people belonging to different races included. Fine, the intention is noble (to some extent) but the execution is horrible. Do they seriously think that putting a black guy or an Asian woman in just so the cast would be diverse is the solution to all this? That feels like a band-aid.

If they really want to effectively depict the comics, then they have to look at the comic books as an example.

DC Had It Right

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That's right, folks. I told you I wasn't biased. For years, DC Comics had one thing going for it that Marvel has only been trying to capture recently—legacy. No, I'm not saying that Marvel hasn't left a legacy, I'm specifically talking about the superheroes. Look at the Bat Family with all of their rotating Robins. Sure, most of them were still white teenage boys, but there have been girls who have held the title as well. As I discussed before, the Flash mantle has been passed down from one generation to the next, the Atom had an Asian successor, Blue Beetle had a Mexican-American kid step up to fill its shoes, the Green Lantern Corps has many ethnicities and tons of other superhero legacies.

They really took the concept of "continuity" literally and ran away with for a few decades now. And, they've done a pretty good job with it, too. Well, that is before their whole continuity got so convoluted. But, in terms of representation, they were quite forward thinking.

Marvel started doing the same thing recently. I mean, they have done it in the past, don't get me wrong, but not as widespread as DC had done. Now, they even dedicated an entire event for it.

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You might be wondering, two Iron Mans? The sleeker one is actually a teenaged African-American wunderkind. Two Hulks? The one with the gelled hair is actually a super genius teen of Korean descent. There's an African-Amerian Captain America, a Pakistani-American Miss Marvel, a woman Thor (which still doesn't really make sense), a GirlVerine (which I can make fun of because she's one of my favorite Marvel characters), and a half-Puerto Rican half African-American Spider-Man. Basically, they finally looked at how the US currently looked and translated it into the page. Still, this was met with tons of criticism. People never really run out of things to bitch about.

But, for all the criticisms, in my opinion, the comics still went about it correctly.

A Simple Solution

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What if the films followed the comics' example and just created new characters? Would that be so hard? That would take away the need to convolutedly explain why the Human Torch was African-American and the Invisible Woman was a caucasian woman when they should be full-blooded siblings. Not adopted. More importantly, you wouldn't need to make Wally West into an African-American but then backtrack and say that he was another Wally West and the "classic" Wally West was still a caucasian ginger and that they were cousins! For the love of all that is good and holy!

Samuel L. Jackson was such a badass that they created a "new" Nick Fury (Jr.) just so they could use his likeness. Donald Glover was so charismatic in his attempt to audition as the new Spider-Man (which Andrew Garfield eventually nabbed ugh!) that they created Miles Morales (the other Spider-Man) in the comics.

They can use the multiverse excuse all they want, but the simple fact is if they create a different character, they could have more new stories, add another revenue stream and still appease the current fans along with those seeking gender and race equality. Problems with name recognition? Introduce the new character alongside the old one and work the transition from there. If the new one is popular enough, then they're worthy to carry the torch. And, if they aren't, then think of it as doing market research. They move on to a new torchbearer and try again. Take that for data.

That wasn't hard was it? Do you still want to skin me alive? Let me know in the comments section. I'll tell you the time and place.

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