Marc Alan Fishman: A Chink In The Armor

Marc Alan Fishman

Marc Alan Fishman is a graphic designer, digital artist, writer, and most importantly a native born Chicagoan. When he's not making websites, drawing and writing for his indie company Unshaven Comics, or rooting for the Bears... he's a dedicated husband and father. When you're not enjoying his column here on ComicMix, feel free to catch his comic book reviews weekly at MichaelDavisWorld, and check out his books and cartoons at Unshaven Comics.

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4 Responses

  1. George Haberberger says:

    “Iron Man 3 fires out of the gate with what might be his only namable villain – The Mandarin – only to wink and nod to us that such a racist concept need not be real. While I know this is a polarizing choice, I applauded it.”

    Why is it a racist concept? Seriously? Can’t The Mandarin be a Chinese villain without the automatic assumption that he is representative of all Chinese?

    It appears that only Americans are a safe choice to be the bad guy. In the first Iron Man movie, the bad guys appeared to be Mid Eastern terrorists… until it was revealed that an American, Obadiah Stane, was behind Tony Stark’s kidnapping. In the second movie, a Russian, Ivan Vanko is the villain, but he’s actually a pawn of an American, Justin Hammer. And of course, as noted, Iron Man’s only notable villain, The Mandarin (SPOILER ALERT!!),

    is not Chinese, but just an actor in the employ of an American, Aldrich Killian.

    Apparently, guilt by association or ethnicity only works one way. Tony Stark may be the good guy and an American but he certainly can’t be representative of all Americans. All his enemies must be Americans too.

    • Glenn Hauman says:

      There’s a default setting that characters have to be, because otherwise it becomes a commentary on the background, ethnicity, or gender of the character.

      • George Haberberger says:

        “There’s a default setting that characters have to be, because otherwise it becomes a commentary on the background, ethnicity, or gender of the character.”

        Well that’s just lazy writing. Give the audience a little credit for having the ability to differentiate an individual from his demographic. Surrendering to that mindset is just political correctness.

        “Because I believe the WIDE audience Marvel targets with its movies are such that yes, a concept even as real-world as a middle-eastern or chinese villain is just too polarizing. ”

        Then Marvel is targeting an uninformed, stupid audience. Don’t they believe that the public knows anything about current events?

  2. Rene says:

    In theory, I don’t have a problem with an Asian villain.

    In practice, when the number of Asian superheroes in Marvel movies so far is zero, it’s unfortunate if they start with a villain.

    (Does Hogun in THOR count as a superhero?)