>>84466623"We'll let people argue about it."
Banner, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, debuted in 1962.
Banner, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, debuted in 1962. (MARVEL)
Recently, though, there has been a new Hulk — whose alter ego is a Korean-American teen genius named Amadeus Cho.
He's part of Marvel's push to add much-needed diversity to the four-color panel world of comic books. Thor is now a woman; the black hero Falcon is now fighting crime as the red, white and blue garbed Captain America.
And just last week, geeks learned Riri Williams, a 15-year-old African-American girl, will inherit Iron Man's armor.
"For all the people who seem really excited about Riri Williams, who's going to take on the role of Iron Man, there were letters over the course of the week, which all said, 'I am a long-time reader, I'm 50-something years old, why are you destroying all the characters that I love? I can't find a character that looks like me anymore,'" says Tom Brevoort, Marvel's senior VP of publishing on the company’s efforts to appeal to an underrepresented audience.
"But the fact is you still don't have to throw a dart to find a white male character in our publishing line."
Readers may have reason to be skeptical about Banner's fate, because superheroes killed off in the comic books tend to eventually make miraculous recoveries.
aptain America and Spider-Man both recently died with much fanfare, only to come back within a year. And rival DC Comics made headlines in 1992 by bumping off Superman, who returned to his comics faster than a speeding bullet.
"Right now I can tell you this is the real deal," says Bendis. "I can't speak for the future, I honestly can't, who knows what will happen? But I already have plans for the body (in upcoming issues.)"
