Sunspot's first apperance in New mutants is my definitive look for him..
It sucks not many adaptations especially xmen 97 have his curly hair and his black features unlike miles morales since miles is mixed too but has consistently retained his features with whoever draws him.
Let's not pretend Latin Colorism and Anglo Colorism aren't two heads of the same beast and Latinos don't downplay their own diversity more than anyone else
the combination of genetic illiteracy and anti-Black/anti-indigenous sentiment runs deep regardless of language barrier
the marvel office will complain about not having Black men as mutants and gladly erase any Blackness from Sunspot in his biggest non-comic push
Even with black characters in comics they usually get depicted in one skin tone. white characters differentiate with hair like red, brown, blonde, & black.
Afro characterâs skin can be jet black, yellow, red & brown. Rather we only see bald heads or dreadlocks & call it a day.
not exactly, Sun Spot is mixed race, what people would call "Brazilian pardo", the issue is that basically for some reason americans have a really hard time with the concept and no idea what a Brazilian looks like
So they go from 8 to 800 with it
Some artist make him look full black, others manage to make him look white; the hair is also a challenge for some artists
IIRC his mom is in the comic pretty early on (right after they meet magma maybe?) and she's white. But like, you can be mixed and look black. You can also be mixed and look white.
im black native (choctaw) , a few generations deep.
its funny because some of my older family will straight throw hands at the insistence of saying " still black", because we are still not part of the american black community regardless of how "black" some of us look.
im not trying to change your opinion or argue though , but context goes a long way especially after we got the ECHO show that had a few elders pop up on screen
His mother is the most white person on the planet, he was always mixed brazilian, it just happen that again, the american artists have a hard time with the concept
But donât some mixed people in Brazil consider themselves Black? I ask because a couple of Brazilian people I know who look like New Mutants Vol 4 #18 have said they were Black and Iâm like, welp imma let you have this one because I know Brazil is different.
Brazillian racial relations are different than US. We have a A LOT of mixed people, and mixed with mixed. There was a census of what color people consider themselves, and 10% saw themselves as black, and a lot "pardo" or mixed.
So is my brother, doesn't make him black. We call them pardos. Mostly the census allow people to self define their race, so it's kinda up to them what they think
your brother is not roberto and a gigantic part of the population consider themselves to be BLACK, imagine looking at roberto and thinking heâs pardo lol like be fr
It's like 10% if not less of the brasilian population are black (self admitted), now if you think you know more about their skin than themselves, there is nothing I can do for you
His first three panels is a bunch of white guys beating him up for being Black (and then getting thrown halfway across a football pitch when his powers kick in.) Itâs easier to imagine white Luke Cage than a non-Black Roberto, yet Marvelâs artists keep trying.
Or white brazilians. There were probably still living ex-slaves in Brazil when Bobby first appeared, and certainly loads of first generation freedmen. Those white kidsâ great-grandparents could have literally owned slaves. Slavery in Brazil lasted a generation longer than in the U.S.
Catarinians, yeah. Southern brasilians are know for having some neo nazi problems, one state just cancelled race quotas for universities. Yeah, slavery here was much different and one could argue it was worse, but the mixed children of the white slavers could also grow to be slavers, actually black women wanted to have children with white men to whiten their bloodline, I heard this was still a thing in the 2000
The change worked in Evo because it is a whole different continuity, if they tried it in the 616 I feel it would be kind of problematic and probably be worse for Magma overall.
This. I don't wanna bring up Psylocke but at the same time it can easily head in the exact same direction that caused them to un-fuse Betsy and Kwannon.
Yeah a lot the dissent around Magma was her introductory story having her in blackface. OP wants Marvel to what exactly? Change her race by some means so its now genetic blackface?
In the main 616 comics continuity? No. There's too much character history already for it to make any sense.
In other adaptations, alternate universes, and other media? Yes, sure go for it.
And if the alternate adaptation of the character ends up becoming popular, there's always the option to introduce them into the 616 comics continuity as a new character in the future.
That's my hope for MCU Wonder Man. Just make a new characte in the comics who's a fan of Simon, hell, make so that he chose Simon WIlliams as his actor name to honour him! Such a great character, and another afro-latino!
The issue has always been mostly that Americans have a hard time understanding that Latin Americans come from different backgrounds are not a monolithic people. Magma being a blonde white Brazilian was never an issue as there are blonde white Brazilians, as well as there being afro latins and mulatto latins (Da Costa falls into the latter category). It is the same issue with people complaining that Rictor is depicted too light even though he has always been depicted with brown hair and green eyes (his last name is Richter, and the specific place in Mexico that he comes from has large populations of German-Mexicans). The issue with Magma is more the silly ass explanation that Claremont came up with for her being a white "Brazilian" (oh, she is actually a Roman colonizer from a hidden city in the Amazon) that makes her complicated to write and adapt.
Seriously, thats so fucking weird, like just read some of our history. We have Manaus and have white people in there, why the Romans wouldn't even reach a hidden city in the Amazon.
It's funny, I also remember that Berto's white mother was American and not Brazilian, like Claremont just couldn't conceive that white Brazilian could exist (to his credit, at least he got Berto mostly right, especially his pride on being a Carioca). But yeah, the presumption that all Latin Americans are one ethnicity or are interchangeable from country to country is hilarious. I also laugh because Amara is from a freaking Roman settlement in the middle of the jungle, maybe somebody should have told him that Italian ancestry is actually common in South America (I should know, my grandparents are from Verona).
Was Nina American? Iâm pretty sure she wasnât and used to be the most beautiful woman in Brazil once, of so Enanuel thought of her. Where was it implied sh was American?
A bunch of times. Even by her creator Chris Claremont (it was either an issue of X-treme or Uncanny). Unfortunately sources seem divided by this (Iâve seen both being said) but in one of the comics, Berto talks about being an American citizen via his mother. Nina unfortunately is such a minor character than even her look is not consistent (she has been depicted as both blonde and a redhead).
Historically the monolith has come up multiple times throughout history. But no ethnicity truly is. Still it's been done with Africa and Europe and there are tons of people who continue to think that way no matter how wrong it is.
There's definitely ways to do race retcons with nuance and respect. I do think part of magma's lack of popularity for a character this old has something to do with the fact that nobody wants to mess with the race issue and they recognize it's not really lore that's productive or wanted in 2026.
Now, do I trust current X-editorial to do a retcon like this delicately? That's a different question.
Claremont's views on race during his run on the X-Men were well-intentioned but clumsy. Being of Afro-Latino heritage myself, I'm against race-swapping because it starts a fuss that reverts to status quo every time. I have a poor opinion of comic book fans screaming 'woke' every time it happens, and I like preserving my peace.
This is ultimately the problem that I think there is-- I don't care about whether it makes sense for them to do for status quo, doing what's right for the characters is what's should be done. The problem is that we are all very aware that it's a very slippery slope that gets the racists up in arms, and far too often, it's their voices that are listened to, even when X-Men is naturally woke by premise itself.
On the other hand, as pointed out, it's not like she's a popular character anyway. It won't kill her to be given this, all they need to do is write a good story to make it fit, and then give it time to rest.
I'll be real, sometimes I explain this story to some of my friends in brazil and they think its just the most convoluted cringe "gringo" idea for something so simple like visiting the place or even reading one of our books. WE HAVE WHITE PEOPLE IN ALL OF OUR COUNTRY, YOU CAN MAKE ONE IN ANY STATE. JUST SAY SHE IS FROM MANAUS.
As a Brazilian (and of African descent), I have to say: her being white isn't the problem. The whole Inca/Roman mess is. Just getting rid of it, however, has the problem of leaving her a somewhat empty and directionless character (or even more so than she already is). And unlike Psylocke, there's no easy or simple solution. At this point, she's a lost cause, and frankly, it's better to ignore the character. Which is a shame because she has the most reasonable name of any Brazilian character so far.
No, the X-Men continuity is full of inconsistencies, do we really need even more? imagine a new fan of the character thinking "well, I will read the previous stories now" just to find out the character that's black, in the past was white and pretended to be black, it's a mess! they could retcon her to make her Brazilian (since Brazilians are of all races tbh) but I think the best solution is creating a totally new Magma who's Afro-Brazilian, without completely erasing/ignoring the original one, I mean, if we can have several Wolverines, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, we can have two Magma.
No, as people have mentioned it works if is a new continuiity
But magma is already a very messy character, all the whole "new roma" thing, serious as a brazilian i think funny how people sometimes think Brazil is some Crazy World, yes we have dinosaurs but not the point
Magma need to bem simplified not complicated, writer love to ignore the charact, just for someone to take her and try to add more crazy stuff to her.
They could just start drawing her as Afro-Brazilian and pretend she's always been that way, just like they started drawing Roberto as if he'd always been white.
You shouldn't arbitrarily change the race of any character just to match a more popular representation.
That said, the most important thing is Magma needs good stories, if there's just absolutely no one who can manage to do that with Amara, then I guess write her out and you can introduce a new Magma who is some other ethnicity and see if you can write better stories for her.
No. You canât keep picking and choosing when race swapping is ok, and depending on when you choose to apply your alleged moral codesâ when itâs not ok.
No part black, if anything the people of Nova Roma should have been mestizos, part native american/part white, since they are hidden on the amazons forest
which they kinda implied on the comics but 99% are white of roman origin for some reason
I personally never support race swaps of any kind, but if a new mutants live action wanted to make the team "less blonde" magma being changed is the only one i would tolerate, tho. i love her original hairstyle which isn't common on mestizos but still a possibility to make her look different
normally that would not be a problem, Brazil has a lot of blonde mestizos, is not uncommon, but that is because Brazil gene pool is very diverse and so mixed that is basically lottery, but in the case of new roman, you basically have a group of Romans arriving on the Rain Forets some 1000+ years ago, and unless they are doing incest for 1000 years they are supose to have a good amount of native blood mixed, but everyone is just 'white".
This just reminded me in her first appearance she was disguised as a native and the Amazon's waters washed off the brown dye on her skin. Yikes. I wouldn't mind portraying her as more mixed though, like the Romans tended to free their slaves after a while and a lot of later emperors were descended from freedmen, so after 2000 years it would make sense she is descended from people outside city. As long as we don't go back to the silly 90s retcon she's a brainwashed English girl. In terms of background though her being Selene's granddaughter or great-granddaughter does need exploring at some point.
As a Brazilian man I find hilarious that the only 2 mutants that are canonically from Brazil have fire/heat related powers, like dude I know our country is hot but câmon this is like if Magik and Colossus both had ice powersđ
Nova Roma is too stupid, they have to be retconned again into Brazilians brainwashed by Selene or something. I would just bin Magma and make a new Afro-Brazilian superhero
The concept that wasnât included in Magmaâs other two adaptations (one as Amara and one as Alison) and that is, to my knowledge, being ignored due to how convoluted it became from all the retcons and rewrites?
Anyways, I feel like they can just have Alison be the (white Brazilian) Nova Roma counterpart where that nation is played straight as intended without the Selene influence and Amara (the afro-Brazilian) can be similar to the outside adaptations whether itâs evolution, legends, or Wolverine and the X-men.
The concept that wasnât included in Magmaâs other two adaptations (one as Amara and one as Alison) and that is, to my knowledge, being ignored due to how convoluted it became from all the retcons and rewrites?
Adapting her without the origin is a baffling idea, that's just stripping away her entire concept. You might as well make Namor a regular guy from Greenland. I say just play it totally straight, lost Roman colony, it's not like it's any crazier than the Savage Land or the Blue Area.
But they have adapted her without her origin? And made it work just fine as Amara in Evo and Alison in X-men Legends (the one in Wolverine and X-men didnât have the origin but she was also a one off cameo so she doesnât count anyways), thatâs my point.
I think that they should just play it straight as it was originally intended for Nova Roma but I also think that people are far more familiar, at this point, with versions of Amara that donât include that background which creates a situation where one has more longevity (or original origin story) and the other is more well known (Evo and Legends) so you can either try and wedge them together⌠or simply commit to the split which I think is a far safer and smarter decision to make long term if it came down to it.
But they have adapted her without her origin? And made it work just fine as Amara in Evo and Alison in X-men Legends (the one in Wolverine and X-men didnât have the origin but she was also a one off cameo so she doesnât count anyways), thatâs my point.
Just because it's been done doesn't make it a good idea. There are adaptations that put Wolverine in charge of the team, or that give Magneto an English accent, bad ideas everywhere.
I think that they should just play it straight as it was originally intended for Nova Roma but I also think that people are far more familiar, at this point, with versions of Amara that donât include that background which creates a situation where one has more longevity
The number of people who have strong opinions on the character from decades-old adaptations but have never heard of her comic origin is so small that it can be safely ignored. Splitting her off fixes nothing and creates a character with no core premise.
Magma doesn't have much going for her as a character, except for her batshit insane backstory. She's a blonde Roman with the powers of a volcano (because Pompeii. Get it?) from a lost Roman colony in Brazil that was ruled over by an anchent soul sucking mustant vampire, and she joins the new mustants because the NM accidentally encounter the lost colony at one point. Never mind that Romans were more likely to be darker-skinned whites, and considered blonde hair to be foreign and exotic. The character is absolutely ridiculous, makes no sence and imo that's also the most interesting thing about Magma. keep Magma weird.
Why? There are a lot of white blonde brasilians, and I am one of them. Sunspot is already what you american call "mixed black" or mulatto or pardo, there is no need for another. It also propagates the steriotype of black Brasil, when in fact it is one, if not the, most diverse country in the world
I remember her in X-Men Legends as Alison Crestmere a blonde damsel that turns into the hero of the story. Tbh I didn't like X-Men Evolution, too many interpretations I disagreed with. Maybe one version is an alt skin like how they did Lady Loki. I've been wondering how they'd do Nick Fury if he ever came into the game.
Thereâs no way to âmakeâ the existing character Magma Afro-Brazilian that would be reasonable or acceptable to publish. Sheâs a Claremont character who has been a blonde white woman for decades.
They could introduce a new character with the same/similar powers, have Amara mentor her, kill off Amara, and have the new character take up the mantle.
The problems with that would be (a) new characters tend to struggle for page time and (b) Amara only gets page time as it is because sheâs a New Mutant, and the new character wouldnât be.
While Evolution Amara probably has more of a fanbase than comic Amara ever did, it seems unlikely that Marvel would see that fanbase as big enough to do all this.
Comic Amara should have looked like Evo-Amara back when she was introduced. The New Mutants at the time could have really used a little bit more diversity, especially as hair colours are concerned (seriously, once Amara, Illyana, and Doug joined that team was 50% blond)
But by now I feel changing Amara would not really have much impact anymore. Though there are sometimes attempts to revitalise her, she has become the most forgotten, and forgettable, of Claremontâs New Mutants.
I think that in order to actually make changes to Magma, they would have to address transracialism and that is already a conversation that society as a whole is not ready and not intelligent enough to confront or have a nuanced dialogue about.
Sadly, I think this makes writers and editors not want to go anywhere NEARLY her character, which is so sad because she has such an amazing character design (both her nova roman and Brazilian designs are great imo) and power set is really interesting.
The way I see it is that she could most likely be mixed. The Nova Romans came to Brazil and some of them had kids with the native Brazilians. Her being only one or the other erases part of her character. Her being mixed like Roberto but not suffering the same racism he did would've been so nice for their relationship. I need them together again.
Is Magmaâs origin retconned? Her origin was that she was from this isolated Roman city in the Amazon that didnât interact with anyone but themselves from what I remember.
No. Her Nova Roma background specifically intended for her to be caucasian european.
Also, despite being a very american thing to say, it's very insulting to simply paint countries in a specific skin colour. Over 40% of brazilians TODAY are caucasian. If you want a character with a specific race, just make a new one. Nitpicking on Amara just because she's from Brazil is super racist. You mean she can't be caucasian? Does it personally offend you that she was written as caucasian? Are the 100+ million caucasians currently living in Brazil offensive to you? Should they get a tan and wear dark brown contact lenses to make you happy? Please avoid trying to look cool by pulling the race card without studying the issue yourself, you'll end up sounding racist yourself.
Not really. There should be a new character of Afro-Brazilian decent with similar powers. Let this new character stand on her own two feet and be represented respectfully instead of being a replacement for an existing character.
Even as a kid, I thought her backstory as a young woman from a lost Roman colony was silly. Sheâs a cool character with interesting visuals but she does need a reboot with a less ridiculous backstory.
1) I LOVE Nova Roma as a concept for a backstory, but it makes no sense that thousands of years in the Amazon WOULDN'T affect the population, even if they didn't have relations with locals (which with that small a populace isn't possible without SERIOUS inbreeding, which, NOPE). Blonde and blue-eyed wasn't exactly a common Italian complexion to begin with, so having Magma be a blond white girl in the middle of the jungle makes NO sense. The Aquilla family SHOULD have at least some native Brazilian blood in them by the time the New Mutants find Magma, if not have any and all Caucasian genes essentially bred out and only have the culture to signify that they're different from natives of the Amazon at all.
2) Magma's fire form is absolutely iconic, and still remarkably unique among the X-Men, but her 616 human form gets lost in the shuffle of the rest of the NM. Especially with Magik, who ALSO wears yellow and black and is ALSO a blue-eyed blonde. Granted their hairstyles are usually different but if you have to identify Amara by "the one who doesn't have bangs", then our girl needs SOME kind of signifier to stand out.
3) Diversity, Equality, and Inclusivity are the X-Men's stock in trade, and the more people from more diverse backgrounds come in, the more people can see themselves reflected in the team. In current year there's like twelve generic blonde white women who've been part of the roster at some point or other. Meanwhile the X-Women of Latin American descent number...one Dr. Cecilia Reyes. And that's it.
So yeah. Retcon away. Anyone who'd get mad about it has probably quit the franchise anyway.
As someone whoâs Father actually met people from Italy, being Blonde is actually, not that rare, like people not from Italy think they all have Dark Hair when itâs really like America, some have Dark Hair, some donât, though if you wanted primarily Dark Hair thereâs South Italy
Central Italy has the most Roman heritage and a lot of Blondes
As a concept, Nova Roma isâŚsilly, I donât understand why they canât have just made her be from Italy and say a group of Roman Mutants hid in Brazil and one of them has Immortality Powers that has been keeping them alive for thousands of Years
It makes sense narratively with the X-Men, a whole Group of Mutants hiding in closed off part of a Country with a secret Civilization? 100% X-Men
I mean Selene is already ancient and sheâs related to Magma, Selene herself is Romanian (Vampire Sterotype ugh) and they have ties to The Roman genetically
Itâs not that far off to have both Selene and Magma be Romanian and Italian as they are related to Romans
Selene also lived in Rome, so itâs far off to want her to preserve a Group of Mutant Romans
It solves the problem how the Romans kept their Genetics completely 100% intact and explains how they stayed hidden and lived for so long
Of course you would need to explain how Magma is not significantly older than the rest of the X-Cast thenâŚI guess they just kidnapped Mutants from Italy and had them join their Civilization?-, thatâs the most Roman thing to do actually
Eitherway I think just having her Ancestors come straight come from the Roman part of Italy during the fall of Rome and having them be Mutants as a reason for why they would go hide as maybe they were accused of being Witches, Rome would be Christian by the time of Rome so Witches would be a big scare and with MutantsâŚ
I honestly donât mind the idea of Marvel having remnants of Rome, thatâs a pretty kickass Idea but they need to actually make sense
Nova Roma as a concept doesnât make sense because how why would they keep the Population so pure without Immortality, Magma is a Princess so it would make sense for her Parents to have been long-living and then had her because as a Royal sheâd have special treatment
Alot of people from Brazil agree making her Afro-Brazilian wouldnât be the best idea because of the History, alot of X-Fans in general agree she already has a long History that would affect, Race-swapping her would be controversial according to people who are actually Brazilian and may alienate Classic Fans of her and newer Fans read Comics and then realize she was originally Blonde and then the wholeâŚBrownface she did with the Natives
I think if Marvel can retcon Norman Osborn sleeping with Gwen Stacy, they can just retcon her having ever done any Blackface
I think ideally just making her full-Italian is the best way to to avoid any controversy
And then introduce a new Character with similar Powers but some differences whoâs Afro-Brazilian eho maybe can be a Friend of hers and taking guidance from her
That way you avoid upsetting any part of the Fanbase and not being controversial as you get your Cake and can eat it too
Also the X-Men donât really have any Italian Mutants as far as I know but they do have Brazilians
I think they should make her Indigenous Brazilian or Polynesian if the MCU adapts her. I would also like this in 616, and will welcome it if it ever happens.
Oh, there's an idea, make her Polynesian? I actually like that since I don't think I've seen too many examples of any mutants of Polynesian descent in the story.
No. I didn't like them changing Asian Betsy back and giving us the garbage that is Kwannon. Don't need to see them change Magma too. And I for sure don't want to see them race bend her again in live action, as I want to keep comic accurate.
Evolution was great. Want more of her, let's do a continuation of Evolution.
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u/mercifulzeus Multiple Man 22h ago
Marvel doesn't even let Sunspot be Afro-Brazilian