Welcome to the second part of a new mini-series where we delve into Marvel Comics’ teen-themed books and look at their inclusive legacies! If you missed the first week, where we discussed the New Warrior, click here!
This week, we’ll focus on two different teams who have evolved and converged in recent years: the Runaways and the Avengers Academy. Even though the two teams were published seven years apart (2003 and 2010 respectively), they both had similar goals in regards to diversity.
History:
Runaways
Published in 2003, the Runaways were a group who had an unusual connection: they were all the children of supervillains. Before the audience even gets to know the characters well, we are hit with a comic-type of diversity among the origin stories—a mutant, an alien, a sorcerer, a tech genius, a time traveler, an android, etc. However, as the stories develop, it becomes clear that the mission of the title is to be as uniquely diverse as possible. Even though four of the total eight members of the runaways are white, the team is overwhelmingly female (5:3) including a gender-fluid Skrull named Xavin—who, though comfortable in either gender, chooses the form of a black female to be considered attractive to Karolina Dean.
Xavin transforms from male to female
Additionally, the team features Asian (Nico), black (Alex Wilder& Xavin), Latino (Victor Mancha), Jewish (Gert Yorke), and lesbian (Karolina& Xavin) characters.
Nico, Victor, and Karolina & Xavin
This title definitely benefitted from being published in the early 2000s, and under Brian K. Vaughan’s capable hands it felt organic and heartfelt. Although the cast is diverse, it is far from the ideas of tokenism that pervaded team books in the 80s and 90s, and it never feels forced. Having diverse character backgrounds also allowed for the team to tackle a myriad of issues that a predominantly white, straight, cis cast probably wouldn’t. Together, these kids learn the idea of chosen family, fight the shadow of their parents’ evil legacies, take on issues of gender identity, and even tackle the issue of inculcated homophobia (with the temporary addition of the time-displaced Klara to the team).
Avengers Academy
A few years later in 2010, a similar title emerged called Avengers Academy. Like Runaways, these teens had ties to villainy—they were all on the Avengers’ watch list as potential criminals. Also, white characters were the dominant group (4:3 students, 10:3 when including instructors). Despite this, the team did contain some impressive diversity, featuring Pacific Islander (Mettle), Asian (Hazmat), Latino (Reptil), gay (Striker), & bisexual (Lightspeed) members.
Mettle, Hazmat, & Reptil
Unfortunately, one of the only visibly non-white characters is Reptil, as Hazmat spends the majority of her tenure in a full-body containment suit and Mettle’s flesh had peeled off before he joined. This trend of including diverse characters only to have them be “damaged” in some way unfortunately continues into the next iteration.
Mettle before, during, and after his accident
Avengers Arena
In 2012, members of both teams combined in Avengers Arena—Marvel Comics’ knock-off of The Hunger Games where 16 kids were forced to fight and kill each other. As you can see from the photo below, the team is almost obscenely white. However, there is some diversity: Nico, Hazmat, Mettle, and Reptil reprise their roles while new additions of Red Raven (vaguely Native American), Cullen Bloodstone (gay), and Apex (Indian and gender fluid…in a body swapping way) help to round out the cast.
Red Raven, Cullen, & Apex
Disappointingly, the few non-white or vaguely ethnic looking characters are quickly killed off: Mettle is detonated in issue 1, Red Raven kills herself in issue 2, Nico is killed in issue 10 (but then resurrected in 12), Apex is killed in issue 18, and Reptil sacrifices himself in the same issue.
Avengers Undercover
The survivors (including Hazmat and Cullen) later fight their demons in the book Avengers Undercover, where one of the only redeeming qualities is the exploration of the interesting relationship between Cullen and Anachronism.
Cullen is gay and has feelings for Anachronism. Anachronism is straight but considers Cullen his best friend. Instead of writing the story of the pining unrequited lover, Dennis Hopeless adds nuance by having Anachronism struggle to return the affection of his best friend but be unable to.
Granted, some unfortunate decisions were made in Avengers Arena. However, the diversity mission of these two teams seemed to be to include unconventional nationalities, sexualities, and gender expressions.
Legacy:
The Runaways have recently returned in Secret Wars with a roster that is reminiscent of the type of widespread diversity that Runaways and Avengers Academy became known for (if not quite up to the caliber). Among the non-white cast are Dagger (black), Jubilee& Amadeus Cho (Asian).
Additionally, the trend of exploring underrepresented minority groups continues in the upcoming Avengers series, which features Ms. Marvel (Pakistani Muslim) and Ultimate Spider-Man (Blatino).
Hopefully the trend that Runaways and Avengers Academy helped to set will continue to strengthen!
Join us next week for a look the impact and legacy of the Young Avengers! Can’t wait? Put in your two cents in the comments below.
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Xavin transforms from male to female
