If we had our druthers, Donald Glover would play the esteemed hero in the new franchise. Though insatiable fandom support for the actor — also known as rapper Childish Gambino — as everyone’s favorite webslinger isn’t all that new, the very real possibility of him donning the iconic blue and red suit sure is.
The sad truth for children of color is that they very rarely get to see themselves as heroes. Black superheroes do exist, but they aren’t given feature films — ok, there’s Will Smith, but he’s not in a franchise. Superheroes of color don’t get as much merchandise, they aren’t as visible. Even with Chadwick Boseman set to play Black Panther in an upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film, the truth is simple: fewer people know and care about Black Panther.
When kids think of superheroes, they’re thinking of the Avengers. Isn’t it time they got to see themselves as well-developed, expertly promoted, icons? We need Miles Morales. We need Donald Glover.
When Morales creator Brian Michael Bendis saw Donald Glover wearing Spider-Man pajamas as the lovable character Troy on NBC’s Community, he knew he must make a Black Spider-Man. In a flash, #donald4spiderman was born, and tweets came in from everywhere begging someone to make it real. But while many people were #TeamGlover, a few people felt that a Black/Mexican superhero was doing the franchise a disservice. Donald responded to the hate in his song “Not Going Back”:
Didn’t know he had it in him
Couldn’t see me as Spider-Man
But now I’m spitting venom
Now you payin’ attention
Pick your fuckin’ face up
When I wanna be a superhero
I just wake up
It’s great to have a black Spider-Man in the comics, but what about the big screen? We can definitely imagine Donald Glover and his sexy biceps doing some web-slinging. What will it take to make this dream a reality? It is suspected that this new Spider-Man will be introduced in the yet-untitled Captain America 3 movie slated for release May 6, 2016 — before he stars in his standalone movie for summer 2017. So there’s time to convince Sony to make the right choice.
And while we’re at it, Donald Glover for Batman, too.
Akilah Hughes is a comedian, YouTuber, and staff writer and producer for Fusion’s culture section. You can almost always find her waxing poetic about memes and using too many emojis.
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