Miles Morales IS original - in that he has unique enough powers (Power Diversity) from many other "Spidermen" (and Women) to be popular enough and stand on his own. A "Black Mermaid" "IS" far off - in this "Woke" environment that we're in post-George Floyd.......this "Grand Awakening" that many people in society are going through. Regardless of a Mermaid's origins, the one that most of us have come to love is THIS ONE And GUESS WHAT, lol? MOST OF US DIDN'T EVEN CARE how she "looked" ethnically or racially, Pre-George Floyd - we just knew that it was a good cartoon with underwater characters and it was fun..... ....which DOES, IN FACT - lead me BACK TO your history lesson on Mermaids.....if what you say is true, then how did Little Mermaid even get to the more well-known aesthetic that she arrived at Pre-George Floyd? And it was ACCEPTED......still IS, for the most part. I will say this - it is CRUCIAL, Post-George Floyd - to have Racial, Gender and Ethnic Diversity in what our kids watch....to see ourselves - THEMSELVES - displayed in Media. However God made us racially, Gender or ethnically - displayed in Media gives the message that you ARE - in fact - a part of society and IMPORTANT... I grew up watching The Jetsons....Jason of Star Command....Super Friends.....Captain Kangaroo, etc - how many people of color did I / we - see back in the 60s-70s-80s? Lool? Not many...did I care? Did I grow up with low self-esteem? I can't say that I did but I do know that it would've been FUN and PROPER back then to see better representation.... One of the FIRST Black Superheroes I remember in cartoons were STORM from the 80s / 90s X-Men cartoons and Cyborg from the Super Powers Cartoon series At face value - it is SAD that DC TV back then could only give us HALF of a BLACK MAN in Cyborg....I loved the character but they slept on bringing John Stewart Green Lantern to the Super Powers even though his ORIGIN is from the early 1970s....... What's up WITH THAT, lol? Why give us Cyborg back in the 80s instead of John Stewart GL? Even if the message isn't explicit the unconcious bias states that "We'll give you HALF of a Black Man - make him loveable (which Victor Stone IS) but we won't give you AN ENTIRE Black Man in John Stewart", lol - at least not until The Justice League Unlimited series. We wouldn't get THAT CLASSIC cartoon series until the early 2000s, sadly. But - society IS CHANGING enough for us to start to ACCEPT this more racially and gender-diverse Justice League. But we / us / society - didn't CARE, for the most part....at least until George Floyd happened and we started having a MASSIVE "Awakening" in society. Post George Floyd? There has been a needed AWAKENING in this country. I do not agree with or subscribe to SOME of this "Awakening" but there CERTAINLY needs to be nuanced and peaceful discussions about it. As for your "Nick Fury" comment? Sure - Nick was race-swapped back in the early 2000s I believe? https://www.comicbasics.com/why-did-they-change-nick-fury-from-white-to-black-in-mcu/ Again - outside of the contention present with the George W. Bush election back then there simply wasn't much angst in society about this change and for the most part it was accepted. Again - one of the many reasons why I LOVE Milestone Media Comics Characters is that they have NONE of the LABELS of the traditional superheroes....No "S" on Icon's chest.....no "Flash" in Milestone's character universe EVEN THOUGH there IS in fact a SPEEDSTER in Dakotaverse And her name is BLITZEN. Icon STANDS ON HIS own as UNIQUE....from his Power Diversity to his ORIGINS - based in Slavery. "THAT'S ABOUT AS HARD AS I'VE EVER BEEN HIT" - Superman's comment to Icon. How many times have we seen THAT? It implies that Icon is quite the Power House and in the same class easily as SUPERMAN......BUT - his UPBRINGING and STRUGGLE was / IS - quite different from Superman's....... There's no "Batman" in Milestone's (DC) characters and that isn't necessarily a BAD THING..... AGAIN - UNIQUENESS. It is a BEAUTIFUL THING. Dr. Doom becoming Iron Man is a stretch but hey it will probably sell some comics. Plus it has never been done and will be an interesting take on the character.
