A couple days back, Stan Lee, the legendary creator of Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man, The X-Men, etc, etc, came out and said that he thinks SJWs who have tried to inject their ideology onto established heroes should go and create their own characters instead of co-opting old ones. Lee mentions that he thinks there is a place for gay superheroes, but that they should be fresh creations. Nothing is gained by shoehorning stuff in and hurting the integrity of established entities. If this sounds familiar, it’s because it’s a variation of the argument we’ve been having about gaming for almost a year now. Instead of gender/racial quotas and forcing creators to inject things in the story that might not be a part of their vision, why not create new stuff? 

The reason for that is, they know that altering well-known characters gets them the press they’re looking for. This is all about media attention for their agenda. If you create some new IP, the media at-large isn’t going to care. Sure, the comic book press will cover it. But Time Magazine isn’t going to give a shit. BUT, if you turn Thor into a woman, or make Spider-Man black, or have Superman suddenly be revealed to be undergoing a Caitlyn Jenner-like transformation…then you will get the press hacks talking. It doesn’t matter if it ends up failing commercially, because most mainstream people won’t even know that. They’ll just remember the crazy story they read.

Here’s some excerpts from Stan Lee’s comments. The guy is 92, and beyond giving a fuck what SJWs might think, I would imagine. Keep in mind, the line of questioning is in response to leaked documents that show Sony and Marvel have an agreement in place to keep Spider-Man straight in all film adaptations that they co-produce:

“I wouldn’t mind, if Peter Parker had originally been black, a Latino, an Indian or anything else, that he stay that way,” he said. “But we originally made him white. I don’t see any reason to change that.”

Lee is also in agreement with the requirement that Parker’s sexuality should remain as originally written, but is open to the idea of other homosexual comic book characters.

“I think the world has a place for gay superheroes, certainly,” he said. “But again, I don’t see any reason to change the sexual proclivities of a character once they’ve already been established. I have no problem with creating new, homosexual superheroes.”

Lee was also keen to point out that his remarks had nothing to do with bigotry, but rather with staying true to his work.

“It has nothing to do with being anti-gay, or anti-black, or anti-Latino, or anything like that,” he said. “Latino characters should stay Latino. The Black Panther should certainly not be Swiss. I just see no reason to change that which has already been established when it’s so easy to add new characters. I say create new characters the way you want to. Hell, I’ll do it myself.”

What a breath of fresh air! I can guarantee you that he’s not the only prominent comic creator who thinks this way, but you don’t hear too many pronouncements like this anymore. The SJWs have people living in fear of criticizing their narrative. Twitter campaigns, smears against your character, attacks on your past work…those are only a few of the things you can expect if you go against their agenda.

Speaking of the rad fems, they weren’t too happy with the recent turn of events:

https://twitter.com/CobyMayhew/status/613689324932956160

https://twitter.com/dankaliens/status/613694598204919809

From Wired:

When Marvel and Sony announced Spider-Man’s inclusion in the Marvel Cinematic Universe earlier this year, fans got excited that we could see a fresh take on the character, rather than just another fresh-faced white dude. (No offense to fresh-faced white dudes.) In particular, the studio had a chance to shift gears and make the new cinematic Spider-Man not Peter Parker, but Miles Morales—the half-black, half-Latino teenager who wears the Spidey suit in the Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man. The prospect of that was virtually nil (though Morales is taking over as the web-slinger in the comics), but there was still a shot that Peter Parker could be re-imagined…

Those directors have all done good work in the MCU, and there’s no reason to believe Watts won’t as well, but if you were expecting this new Spider-Man flick to be directed by a big-name director (or a woman, or a non-white person), that’s not going to happen this time around.

Keep crying, you lames. I can see why you would be pissed, though. You saw this is a prime opportunity to inject your politics into a beloved franchise. The cake was already baked before these comments, but I’m still glad to see a legend like Stan Lee come out and defend the decision to stay true to the Spider-Man character. Not to mention, he did it with humor and grace. Here’s to hoping we see a lot more of this in the future, from all creative sectors.