I read the article. Probably the same article that many other geeks, nerds, fan-people, and those that just happened to scroll through did. RiRi Williams, African-American teen, to take over the helm of Iron Man. *slowly stands up and starts a slow clap*
Welcome RiRi, the newest addition of Black/African/African-American women to the comic list. You are now among the ranks of Storm, Nubia, Vixen, Misty Knight, Photon, and a few other. *Yes, these are other black women in comics*.
As I continued to read, with excitement…..What! She attends M.I.T…….and she is only 15 years old…….AND she reversed engineered an Iron Man suit in her dorm room! This is going to be awesome!
At least they did not give her some horrible charity case backstory or the infamous she lost her parents as child cliché. *Yes, Bruce, I am talking about you, and you too Tony*. They let her be a S.T.E.M person…..seriously. Let me get this straight…….Women genius, check. woman in S.T.E.M, check and check, minority woman, well it seems we have hit a trifecta. Now, for Christmas, I can look forward to sending my niece a RiRi Williams action figure and buying her the RiRi Williams Iron Man No.1. *PLEASE comic gods, let her have her own solo comic* So RiRi, way to go, you on your way!!!!!
Now, with all this here excitement and all, I do have some skepticism. First, let me say that I very ecstatic she is a Black woman! I do wonder why did they choose her to be black over any other underrepresented ethnic group or even something from the Caribbean.
Why does RiRi have to be a teenager, why not a young adult, you know like 22 or something. How long is she going to be Iron Man? Is this just a move to make people of color happy, or was it a well thought out, calculated move?
Yes, I know what the article said, and how she came to be, but still. Will RiRi’s Iron Man stent, be overridden with Tony just coming back anyway, and then RiRi will be forgotten. Is RiRi, going to eventually make it out of comics and make it in to a cartoon?
Miles Morales made some appearance on cartoons, but he never got one. But they did make a big deal in Civil War II about him…hmmmm. And yes, Captain America is currently black, but for how long? Even the latest comic of Captain America is titled Captain America: Steve Rodgers…..for real, WTH!
They got Sam Wilson in the back again like he a side kick, AGAIN! So I am skeptical about how long RiRi will be relevant. Nonetheless, I am excited to see her debut, and hopefully be able to have a solo career like Kamala Khan does
So RiRi, you go out there and let tell your story of how awesome you’re about to be, and show them what a 15-year-old, already better than Tony Stark, genius can do. Don’t them these naysayers tell you anything, and most importantly………don’t let them change your skin tone or your hair!
