Stan Lee: Spider-Man Creator Stands By His Claim That Superhero Should Stay White And Straight
Comic book writer Stan Lee is standing by his statements that Spider-Man should be kept white and straight, the Guardian is reporting.
In the latest round of hacked Sony e-mails to be released, details of negotiations between Sony and Stan Lee regarding Spider-Man’s appearance, character traits, and backstory were revealed, according to Newsarama, and those negotiations included Stan Lee’s insistence that Spider-Man be white and straight.
There are a couple of things you need to know about these negotiations before you jump to any conclusions about Stan Lee, however. First, as Newsarama writer Jim McLauchlin points out, licensing negotiations detailing how characters can be portrayed — say, on different media, or in merchandise — are common in the industry.
“Licensing agreements detailing character traits such as the Marvel/Sony one are so common as to approach being a given. They can and do spell out a variety of circumstances: Mickey Mouse’s ears have a specific geometry, and at some point in any Tomb Raider adaptation, Lara Croft is probably going to wear a blue tank top.”
Second, and more importantly, Stan Lee would like to be clear that his requirements for Spider-Man’s race and sexuality aren’t about bigotry — they’re about story continuity. In other words, when Stan Lee wrote Spider-Man, he was white and liked girls, so as long as Stan Lee has any say in it, Spider-Man will be white and straight, for no other reason than because that’s how he wrote him.
“It has nothing to do with being anti-gay, or anti-black, or anti-Latino, or anything like that. 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.”
As for Spider-Man’s race, Lee had this to say.
“I wouldn’t mind, if Peter Parker had originally been black, a Latino, an Indian or anything else, that he stay that way. But we originally made him white. I don’t see any reason to change that.”
And though he has no problem with gay superheroes in the abstract, Stan Lee says that when it comes to Spider-Man, he’ll remain girls-only.
“I think the world has a place for gay superheroes, certainly. 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.”
Do you agree with Stan Lee’s insistence that Spider-Man should remain white and straight? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
[Image courtesy of: Michel Boutefeu]
