A look at non-white versions of classic cartoon characters
Last month, everyone’s favorite billionaire social network owner, Elon Musk, made news yet again. This time, the owner of Tesla and (what’s left of) Twitter reshared a tweet that was an image of numerous cartoon characters. All of the characters have one thing in common: they’re non-white versions of traditionally white cartoon characters, pulled from recent cartoons, comics, and live-action productions. Musk, being the type of person he is, accompanied this retweet with the word “wow.”
Musk’s racist trolling aside, the depiction of more diverse versions of older cartoon characters has increased in recent years. But why?
Why we’re seeing non-white versions of classic cartoon characters
Before the late 60s, animation and comics almost always featured all-white human casts. The only non-white human characters were generally stereotypes.
Starting in the late 60s and early 70s, efforts started to be made to increase non-white representation in cartoons. Such diversity efforts have increased in recent years, including depicting non-white versions of older characters.
Creating new characters, including those that are people of color, is still important. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have beloved characters and films like Storm, Static, Vixen, Black Panther, “Moana,” “Encanto,” etc. Meanwhile, pastiches of classic characters and archetypes remain popular; see the numerous characters based on Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.
However, while pastiches are OK, people still want to see the “real McCoy,” which Warner Bros., Disney, etc. all still heavily rely upon. Which brings attention to the fact almost all of their biggest money-makers are white, and multiple decades old. (Superman and Batman should’ve entered public domain back in the 90s as originally intended, but that’s another post.) You can “update” these characters by giving them all iPhones, place them on floating timelines in-story, making them “darker and edgier,” etc. But ultimately, it doesn’t change the fact that the founding Justice League members were all created when FDR or Eisenhower was president.
On top of that, American demographics have changed since Captain America and the Scooby-Doo gang were created (in 1940 and 1969 respectively, if curious). As of the 2020 US census, the population of the US is 43% non-white, a number projected to hit the 50% tipping point a few decades from now.
As such, having an all white cast isn’t as viable in the 2020s. One tactic for increasing diversity is adding some non-white newer characters to a franchise’s existing (white) cast; see the X-Men’s revamp in “Giant-Size X-Men” #1 (1975), which introduced Storm to the team. Another option, one that Elon Musk apparently has a problem with, is introducing non-white versions of older white characters. The latter is becoming more common in movie and TV spin-offs, as well as some comics. Comics are more likely to offer some sort of handwave: an alternate universe, non-white relatives or heirs of the original characters, etc.
Nick Fury’s a famous recent example. In 2012, the comics introduced “Nick Fury Jr.,” the son of the original white Fury. Conveniently, Nick Fury Jr. looks and acts like the Samuel L. Jackson version of Fury made popular in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films. After some comic storyline hijinks, Junior takes his father’s place as the “main” comic version of Fury, including working at SHIELD.
List of diverse versions of classic characters
Below, I’ll briefly discuss some older cartoon characters that have had non-white versions in recent media.
April O’Neil (TMNT)
Original version first appeared: "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" #2 (October 1984)
April’s been shown as a Black person in a number of recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles spin-offs, including “Rise of the TMNT” and “Mutant Mayhem.”
Bow (She-Ra)
Original version first appeared: "She-Ra: Princess of Power" (1985)
Bow’s one of various “She-Ra” characters revamped for the Netflix reboot. Not only is Bow a person of color in this reboot, but he’s also got two Dads (who’re also people of color). On Etheria, the planet the series is set on, same-sex relationships are common, and anti-LGBTQ beliefs are an unknown concept. For example, everyone refers to a nonbinary character with “they/them” pronouns, including the villains.
Daphne Blake (Scooby-Doo)
Original version first appeared: "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" (1969)
A 2017 live-action movie, “Daphne & Velma,” showed Daphne with a white father and Black mother; I assume said film’s the source of Musk’s tweet’s image.
While Max’s “Velma” is, well, “Velma,” Daphne has a Black adoptive mother in that series; both elder Blakes are a same-sex couple here.
Adding further to the “if Musk didn't like x, he’ll certainly hate y” examples above, I note Daphne’s fellow mystery-solver and friend Velma Dinkley is someone who likes girls, per the recent direct-to-video film “Trick or Treat, Scooby-Doo.” Of course, “they made xyz character gay!” is its own (homophobic) complaint, and probably merits a separate post.
Electro (Marvel)
Original version first appeared: "Amazing Spider-Man" #9 (February 1964)
Electro’s a Black man (and a villain) in the film “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.” As I’ve written before, there’s a long history of depicting Black comic characters as having electrical powers.
Iris West (DC Comics)
Original version first appeared: "Showcase" #4 (October 1956)
A Black version of Iris West was introduced in the CW’s “The Flash” series. Iris is also shown as a Black woman in a Justice Society animated direct-to-video movie.
Jimmy Olsen (DC Comics)
Original version first appeared: "Superman" #13 (November-December 1941) (as a named character in comics, though appeared as a named character on the Superman radio show a year earlier)
The CW series “Supergirl” depicts Jimmy as African American (and prefers the name “James”). The same goes for the Adult Swim animated series “My Adventures with Superman.”
Kid Flash (DC Comics)
Original version first appeared: "The Flash" #110 (December 1959)
A Black version of Wally West was introduced as the new Kid Flash during the “New 52” DC Comics reboot. As Flash fans know (but probably not Musk), this Wally’s the teenage cousin of the traditional (white) Wally; both are named after their great-grandfather.
Miss Martian (DC Comics)
Original version first appeared: "Teen Titans" #37 (August 2006)
Miss Martian’s a Martian shapeshifter, so in her case, she chose the form of a Black person on purpose. Her older counterpart, the Martian Manhunter, also tends to pick African American human forms in recent spin-off media. And yes, being mad fictional shapeshifting Martians would intentionally choose non-white human disguises is… something.
Conclusion
I could go on, or research the characters in Musk’s image I’m unfamiliar with, but I won’t. Times, and American demographics, are changing, and people of color (like me) deserve to see main characters that resemble themselves in media. (And not just as sidekicks or other secondary characters.) If major conglomerates continue to heavily rely on franchises and characters created decades ago (including before television was a mass medium), then expect diversification efforts of “old timers” like the Justice League and the Avengers to continue.