Marvel cancels “Squirrel Girl”, the first Marvel comic series starring hero with Down syndrome (humor)
Sigh. Here we go again…
Just when it looked like Marvel actually cared about inclusion, off they go and cancel their only series starring a superhero with Down syndrome, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, which will end with issue #50. Marvel’s excuse? They didn’t really give one. Some are trying to tie the book’s cancellation to abysmally low sales, but shouldn’t representation mean more than profit?
Maybe if Marvel had not hired an able-bodied male (who’s also straight and white, I might add- just sayin’), then those sales numbers would have looked different. News flash! Able-bodied men can’t possibly represent the experiences of a character with Down syndrome, you đź‘Ź BIGOTS! đź‘Ź
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl was launched among an unquestionably needed revamp of Marvel’s flagship characters, but the only efforts that Marvel made was change Iceman from straight to gay, Thor to a woman, Captain America to black, Hawkeye to a woman, Captain Marvel to a woman, Wolverine to a woman, Hulk to Korean, Miss Marvel to Pakistani Muslim, and Iron Man to a black teenage girl.
It’s like they weren’t even trying. Way to lift up those marginalized voices, Marvel.
Now that The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is cancelled, what mainline Marvel superhero book can teenage girls with Down syndrome who love the science go to find a character that they can possibly identify with?
Zero.
Shitty move, Marvel. Super shitty.
*Update: it has come to our attention that Squirrel Girl does not actually have Down syndrome and is actually just drawn very, very poorly. However, we will not retract any of our above points because we’ll never apologize to ableist, sexist, racist misogyphobes! #Resist!
Source: Bounding Into Comics
The Splintering 
“But shouldn’t representation mean more than profit?” SMH. To whom ever wrote this article I have to ask this question. Are you stupid or something? YES!! The comic book industry is in it to make money. And as far as straight white males go they are the primary target audience that buys comic books. And they apparently were not interested in this SJW garbage (Just Sayin). Just like in any business that is selling products if a certain product is not selling then that product will be discontinued. If any business just stayed the course and continued to market a product that was not selling they would be out of business before long. You know the saying “Get Woke Go Broke”.
I know Marvel understands this and they are trying to avoid it.
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Did you not see the word “humor” in the headline?
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Representation should not mean more that profit and no they don’t need to give a reason.
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But… that’s the joke… *Picard facepalm
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You cannot imagine my elation at seeing that this was satire. Good Christ, it’s getting so hard to tell nowadays, it’s like breathing in smog.
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Dudes come on. Squirrel Girl doesn’t actually have Down syndrome, you at least know that much. It’s a not-so-subtle jab at the art. If the “Humor” tag didn’t tip you off, it’s obvious from jump street that this is satire.
Don’t be like them, guys. Take a breath and think before reacting.
Awesome article, btw.
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All right. I’m going to say something. Are you being funny? I actually read the comic but I started tired as I hoping it would make me laugh. Doreen Green doesn’t have Downs’ Syndrome. She’s enrolled in university and taking a major in computer science. She even fixed Brain Drain’s robot body with her friend Nancy Whitehead.
This is what Marvel does-they’ll even cancel a truly funny comic like Gwen Poole. The only gems in the comic were a couple of time where she is trying on different clothes-all part of Erica Henderson’s genius. I got sick and tired of Ryan North’s little comment at the bottom of each page. It was tedious!
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There were comments by five different people (excluding me) who reacted to this post. Three out of the five of you are perfect examples of showing that since “survival of the fittest” hasn’t applied to us for the last century or so, there are so many more stupid people out there, running around, electing sociopathic, racist presidents and just generally ruining everything for everyone else. You idiots outnumber us now. And before you even think of a rebuttal, it may not be your fault. You come from a long line of idiots, who just had to have children, and spread their stupidity onward until you came around. This is not satire. I hate all of you.
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Thanks for reading!
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Thanks for reading!
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Stupid AF, this site sucks you ignorance sucks.
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I for one believe wholeheartedly that Marvel, of all of the comic book companies, (excluding indie companies and pulpy companies) are actually working very hard to include more women, more people of color, more awareness of gender-issues, it’s insane that this is all happening. Yes, it’s very late however they are truly seeing the error of their ways, they have actually come out and made statements saying “yeah we’ve seen a dropping sales ever since Miss Marvel turned into a Pakistani American” and so on and so forth but they counteract the statement later on in the same interview by saying “this is not deterring us from anything, we will remain on this path as it is the right path to go down”. I realize this article was almost entirely satire however there are a lot of people reading it and thinking that it’s 100% correct what I would suggest for anybody who thinks that is go listen to the podcast “Marveling at Marvel’s Marvel’s” they are a very aware podcast and they are so, so into talking about these issues and it’s really fantastic to hear about.
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