Earlier this year, Marvel Comics introduced their newest superhero, a Filipina named Wave, who is part of the War of the Realms: Agents of Atlas series. Also known as Pearl Pangan, the Pinay hero resides in Cebu and has the power of hydrokinesis (water manipulation). Her main affiliation is with the Triumph Division, a group consisting of the Philippines’ finest superheroes who’ve dedicated their lives to protecting Southeast Asia.
According to Fandom, Wave’s main storyline revolves around saving Manila from the Fire Demons of Muspelheim. She is also working with the Shanghai agent Aero who can generate and control wind.
READ MORE: A Filipina is co-writing Marvel’s superheroine, Wave
Based on photos shown by Marvel, Wave has morena skin and jet black hair. In fact, Mico Suayan, one of the artists who made Wave’s variant covers, shared that he took inspiration from Nadine Lustre. Likewise, War of the Realms artist Leinil Yu, who’s from Cebu, also told Angel Locsin that she’d be a good fit for the role of Wave if she gets a live-action movie.
As far as we know, the War of the Realms team that’s working on Wave are mostly Filipinos. So it’s clear that they want her to have accurate physical attributes and have a background that Filipinos could resonate with. Aero writer Alyssa Wong told Marvel Entertainment last month that Wave mostly draws strength from her community and her grandpa, something she could relate to as a Filipina.
READ MORE: A Filipina is co-writing Marvel’s superheroine, Wave
That said, can someone explain to us why one of Wave’s promo photos for Marvel Future Fight showed her with lighter skin?
Wave was recently teased as one of the newest heroes in the game’s August update. According to gaming YouTuber Cynicalex, the key art, which showed Wave with lighter skin, was “accidentally posted.” Redditor u/blackbirdxd also said it was leaked on the game’s website.
The team behind the game was able to delete the image shortly after though. The official announcement, which showcased Wave’s morena skin, was posted just hours before this article’s publication.
However, some netizens were able to pick up on the skin tone faux pas and called out artists who whitewash POCs in comics. One netizen also included Miss America’s photo from the Contest of Champions Vol. 3 #8 cover, which shows her with White skin even though she’s a brown-skinned Latinx.
Best believe there were also Filipinos telling jokes about how she used whitening products, which is (sadly) a common beauty trend in our country.
Sure, Marvel was able to fix Wave’s look before the update rolled out. But the company still has a long history of whitewashing POCs, mostly in films.
The most glaring example of this was The Ancient One in Doctor Strange. The original character was a Tibetan born in the Himalayas, and all his photos show an Asian elder. Meanwhile, the MCU version was played by Tilda Swinton, a White woman. This was met with much criticism and Marvel Studios had conflicting claims as to why they made the character White.
A spokesperson told Mashable, “The Ancient One is a title that is not exclusively held by any one character, but rather a moniker passed down through time, and in this particular film the embodiment is Celtic.”
However, Doctor Strange screenwriter C. Robert Cargill explained that they cast Tilda Swinton so they wouldn’t lose the Chinese audience. In 1951, the Chinese Communist Party and its army occupied Tibet. Even though the country gained independence from all its colonizers, China still maintains that it’s part of their territory. So, by changing The Ancient One’s ethnicity, Cargill basically said they were trying to court one of the biggest moviegoing markets in the world.
READ MORE: Crazy Rich Asians dodged whitewashing offer, but here are other films that didn’t
This wasn’t the only incident wherein Marvel whitewashed characters and their circumstances. The Mary Sue pointed out that the comic versions of the Maximoff twins, Wanda (Scarlet Witch) and Pietro (Quicksilver), were originally created to shed light on the racism against the Romani people, aka gypsies. But in Avengers: Age of Ultron, that storyline was scrapped and they were turned into Hydra experiments.
The outlet stated this was an offensive move because Hydra was framed after Nazis, and the Romani were victims of the Holocaust. Plus, Romani people weren’t considered Caucasian—they’re part of an ethnic group with roots stemming from India and some parts of Egypt. And yet, Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor Johnson were cast for the roles.
It’s also important to note that Magneto in Sony’s X-Men franchise was a Holocaust survivor. But regardless if he was named the father of the twins in the MCU or not, it doesn’t solve the problem.
Bottom line: Marvel’s whitewashing problem doesn’t just start and end with Wave. They’ve done this to characters in the past, mostly in the expense of saving their moviegoing audience. Sadly, it’s too late to fix the whitewashing problems in Doctor Strange and the Maximoffs, but it doesn’t mean they can’t do better in future films.
If the MCU is expected to be more inclusive in terms of LGBTQ+ representation in Phase 4, they can do the same for people of color.
Photo courtesy of Cebu Daily News via Marvel
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