MarvelNOW! & New52 - Diversity

 So recently Comic Book Resources posted an article written by Brett White that talked about the lack of women in the promo images of Hickman's upcoming Avengers run.  It is a great article and I encourage that if you have not read it, do so here: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=40849
In fact, between the Avengers promo image and the Uncanny Avengers promo image, the lack of the women in Avengers teams as part of MarvelNOW! seems very lacking.  And yes, Marvel has not revealed the lineup of New Avengers or if Secret Avengers exists in MarvelNOW!, and both Hickman and Rick Remender have stated that the teams revealed in both of these images are not the final roster, one has not only wonder about the disproportionate amount of women, but also the disproportionate amount of racial diversity on these teams.  The article remarked that in the Avengers promo there was 3 women to 11 men ratio, and in U.A. there is a 2 to 4 ratio.  As far as racial diversity, there is a 2 to 12 ratio in the Avengers promo and a 0 to 6 ratio in U.A.   Avengers Assemble, while written by a woman, promises at first, a 2 to 4 ratio as it comes to gender.

It seems, that unfortunately that diversity when it comes to gender and race are a large problem for both Marvel and DC.  Recently, DC has announced a new Justice League title, Justice League of America, that 'takes the place'  of Justice League International.  Now, of the 3 original Justice League titles, and even with JLA, DC worst JL title when it comes to diversity is their flagship book: Justice League( of a roster of 7, one woman and one African American male).  When it started, Justice League International was 4 to 4 ratio when it came to gender and was, as it's name implied, internationally diverse in nature.  Justice League Dark also was pretty even gender wise, and recently has become more racially diverse.  Even the new Justice League of America has a roster of 9, with three women(one of whom is Japanese), Hispanic and Arab American members, and a Martian ;)  Justice League seems to be becoming more diverse in their second year, with Mera and Element Woman as well as the Korean American Ryan Choi scheduled - but we will see.

What boggles my mind is why writers today do not tap more into the diversity of both the Marvel and DC Universes.  I feel, that DC is doing a better job, but they need to do so in their flagship titles, not just their off shoot titles.  And Marvel....why Black Panther is not on that Avengers promo is beyond me.  Hickman has pretty much guaranteed from his work on Fantastic Four that T'Challa will be in the Avengers.  That along with great Avengers that are not white males: Monica Rambeau, She-Hulk, Mockingbird, Daisy Johnson, Storm, Jocasta, Valkyrie, Jewel, Mantis, Moondragon, Silverclaw, 3-D Man, Living Lightning, Firebird, Firestar, Lionheart, War Machine, Tigra, Sersi, Crystal, Rage, Marrina, Hellcat to name a few.  So again, there are plenty of Avengers characters, as well as X-Men and Fantastic Four characters that could be on this Avengers team and frankly that they aren't is a shame and waste of an opportunity.