When Adam discovered his super-powers, he fashioned a secret identity with which to protect his country, and became Blue Marvel. He served as a hero for years, and was one of the most popular heroes of his time. Adam was pressured by the government to retire, because of how much power he had and for being black. He was forced out of retirement to face his greatest foe and former best friend, Anti-Man.
Racism, and why it's wrong was one of the entire points of the story and character.
this. we kind of all knew they were racist against him. I mean they asked him to retire when they found out he was Black. He wore a mask so they wouldn't know....The negro part is like baby stuff compared to the rest.
Racism was part of the point of the book, this goes back to people having this weird belief that simply showing that racism exists is in and of itself racist regardless of the context. The story was set in a time when "negro" was the common term for black people and it was before the civil rights movement took hold.
So who is the racist in this book? Is it the book's writer, the character, or the era?
The era. More so the government and defense department. The Blue Marvel saved the world like no one could, and represented one of the best new heroes the world could hope for, but they screwed him over instead on the basis of his skin color. It's a very potent and literal series. In one hand many readers, myself included, wish Marvel would use him more, on the other it would be sad to see such a character with a solid foundation end up getting tarnished.
It was during the 1950s/60s- hardly surprising- DEAL WITH IT! And "negro" was a damn site more polite than other terms referring to people of colour back in the day(beginning with the "n-word").
In partial defence of the authorities bigoted attitude, when superheroes( such as Spider-Man, Daredevil, Daredevil, FF. Thor, the "old" X-Men-all of the above being obviously Caucasian) first appeared in the early 1960s, officialdom feared that they might want to take over the country(or even the world), so it could not be rooted in simple racism!
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