Ironheart

Earlier this year, it was revealed that a new hero is to take Tony Stark's place as Iron Man. That hero is to be Riri Williams, a 15-year-old African-American MIT student who is a certified genius and science prodigy. Riri, while messing around in her dorm room, reverse engineers her very own Iron Man suit, fully functioning as well.

Riri was first shown in a few issues of Invincible Iron Man (#6-11) creating and finalizing this super-suit on a dare. Though, she did dare herself, this shows Riri’s impulsive and challenging nature, always pushing herself to test the limits of her abilities. Now, with Iron Man’s absence, Riri decides to take the opportunity and attempt to become the new Iron Man through becoming her own hero; Ironheart.

While there have been many newcomers to take on the mantle of various renowned superheroes – I.e. Spider Gwen, multiple Robins becoming Batman, She Hulk, etc. – there have been instances of women taking on male heroic personas, but this is the first instance (and correct me if I’m wrong because I probably am) where an African-American teenage girl has taken the place of a middle aged white male superhero. This hasn’t quite settled well with some people, as there is always an issue with revamping or rebooting classic superheroes in comics and films, but Riri isn’t necessarily replacing Tony Stark as Iron Man, but basing herself off of his engineering. Though, with Tony Stark taking a break from his crime fighting and Riri stepping up, the comic cover with the two on the front (pictured above) portrays Riri in the foreground with tons of details and color holding the Iron Man helmet, while Tony Stark is towering over her in the background in red and white fading out. This shows who he is literally fading out of the Iron Man story (for now) with Riri there to take his place.

Riri Williams as Ironheart represents the diversifying transformation of the superhero realm, as well as our society today. Riri, from what we know so far, wasn’t involved in gangs or drugs, she hasn’t been to jail or grew up on the streets or anything that the conventional black superhero/villain would have gone through (based on the normal blaxploitation) before becoming their super self. She is simply – as simple as it can get – a young woman with extraordinary intelligence.

Riri is not shown as the typical female superhero. She isn’t oversexualized, she isn’t weak, and she doesn’t need to be rescued. The most “sexualized” thing about Riri is probably that her stomach is showing, but being a minor and with it being the trend these days to wear crop tops and to show off your stomach, there isn’t anything really sexual about it. I mean, it’s a stomach, everyone has one and there shouldn’t be anything sexual about it, but now-a-days every part of a woman’s body is deemed sexual, even if they are underage. Anyways, Riri is a modern young woman who has the intellect to create the Iron Man suit without having the blueprints for how it was actually created. She figured it out herself, while in college three years earlier than the average person.  

Riri Williams destroys all the stereotypes that come with being a young, African-American female and will redefine the superhero realm.

Teen Titan's Raven

As a child, I was always watching Cartoon Network's Teen Titans. It was definitely one of my favorite shows (and probably the only superhero show I watched beside The Powerpuff Girls) for no real reason than the characters themselves. I shipped Starfire and Robin even at such a young age, as well as Terra and Beast boy (I preferred them over Starfire and Robin to be honest) but Raven and Beast Boy's friendship was amazing to me. Raven was always my favorite character, though. Just how she was so real as in how she wasn't all peppy and cheery all the time like cartoon character girls (and girls in general) were typically portrayed. I was always drawn to those female characters who were on the darker side and unemotional (as she was to protect herself and others). I even remember a time I tried to be like her, memorizing her meditation phrase "Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos." and pretended I was levitating off the floor. Though, she is one of the darker and more covered characters and female superheroes, her costume still showed a bit more. Now, I'm not saying her outfit is horrible, it's probably the only superhero I would dress up as if I did, but her costume tends to sexualize her in those moments she was without her cape.

Raven's costume consists of an indigo cape and a black long sleeve leotard with a red jewel belt around her waist. At least half the time in the original Teen Titans, Raven was shown in her cape covering her body, the other half being with the cape open and not on at all. Raven's leotard, while it is longsleeved, shows every bit of her legs as possible. Being a dancer, this is not uncommon for a leotard to cover very little of the thighs and legs as it is supposed to bring attention to the technique and strength in the legs while dancing. Though, since Raven is a cartoon superhero, the lack of coverage on the legs and emphasis on the hips and upper thighs is a more subtle sexualization of her character. As well as the fact that her breasts are highlighted through her leotard, which, again, being a dancer that doesn’t happen. Even if the leotard is skin tight, there is no way for the breasts of anyone, as small as Raven’s body is, to be outlined that much. If anything it would flatten and push up her breasts underneath and have that weird bit of stretched material going from under her breast to her stomach where the fabric tries to fit. In the original TV series her body is shown, but is pretty subtle in her assets they are portraying. In the new Teen Titans GO! (I have only seen a few episodes while babysitting), however, there is one screenshot from an episode in which Raven’s cloak is stolen by Cyborg and gets stuck, but this is the first time she is seen by the team without the cloak. In this picture, Cyborg is in the background repeatedly hitting a bowl of meat while intensely staring at Raven’s legs. On his apron, though, it reads “food pun” which ultimately leads to the understanding of the pun being he is “beating his meat” to Raven’s legs, overly and openly sexualizing Raven for nothing more than her bare legs.

While I love Raven and the original show (I hate the reboot), the subtle emphasis of her body is a bit much, but mainly just with how our society takes the smallest things and oversexualizes and fantasizes over things that they shouldn’t. Raven will forever continue to be my favorite character in the superhero universe regardless, just as long as the reboot stops making her and everyone else look like idiots as if it was written by a 10 year old.

The New Harley Quinn

So, Saturday night, some friends and I went out to see Suicide Squad, which I've been dying to see. Though, something I was aware of, before even seeing the movie, was Harley's makeover. In the cartoon series clips that I've seen, Harley wore her original red and black jester costume. This costume does make a cameo appearance in the movie as the recruitments are changing into their costumes and getting their weapons, though.

In this scene, Harley is overcome with happiness as she hugs her old uniform, but soon is seen changing into something a bit more... skimpy. Now, I'm all for women wearing what they want and feeling comfortable with themselves, but with this being a fictional movie, there are clearly other motives to Harley's alterations. Harley's costume for the movie includes fishnet tights, shorts that might as well be some Victoria Secret boy shorts, a necklace/collar that says "Puddin" and a jacket with “Property of the Joker” written on the back representing her and the Joker's "relationship", a shirt that says "Daddy's Lil Monster", and high heels.

Now, compared to her original costume, Harley is definitely made out to be a more provocative character. The fishnets, shorts, and heels are an obvious factor of this (I mean really? What person can run and fight in heels without breaking or spraining something in the process?), but the things that give off a more sexualized tone are the words on her clothing. Her necklace and jacket are evident signs of objectification as Harley is being portrayed as the Joker’s property rather than as her own character. The collar especially makes her outfit more dehumanizing as it is showing her as an animal and that she is being broken down to obey her “master”. The shirt, while it’s not the worst part of the outfit, is also very sexual. I’m not exactly sure of the meaning behind her shirt or if there is one at all (never read the comics or really watched the shows), but I believe that with this timing of the movie and the ‘pop culture’ going on, it was meant to mirror and relate to the “Daddy” kink that has become very prominent most recently.

From what I’ve seen of Harley, though, and how her character herself was portrayed in the movie, I think she is amazing and love how badass she is. If it wasn’t for the fact that her costume was created by others due to her being, you know, fictional, I would have liked it better being her own decision, but still very sexualized and dehumanizing at that with the Joker’s mark left all over it. With her being one of the only female comic characters to have normally been fully covered by her costume and not oversexualized in the series, it’s a little disappointing to see how our society feels the need to change things like this to adhere to the times and sexual perversions to appeal to men and diminish young women’s self worth, compelling them to dress skimpy in order to get male attention rather than dressing for themselves and not needing male approval as girls should be taught.