The world of comic fans is all a-ricking right now. Soon, Marvel will have a female Thor and a black Captain America. Sam Wilson as Cap isn't that much of a stretch, having been Cap's buddy for most of the hero's post WWII adventures, but the idea of a female-wielder of Mjolnir seems to be most upsetting to some.

Even though no less an authority than Politifact shows it's happened before.

Still, the common comment I see most often is derisive sneers and the sentence, "It's just a cheap gimmick." My response to that is, "Of course it's a cheap gimmick. It's a superhero comic book. All they are is cheap gimmicks."

Let's pause for a moment and consider what it means to be a hero in the Marvel universe. Take Peter Parker for example. He starts out his heroic life using his powers to enter pro-wrestling, literally the most gimmicky profession on the entire planet (Take it from someone that was once a professional wrestling mime, OK?). Then, after Uncle Ben blah blah blah he takes to the skies as the amazing Spider-man.

Why? Though?

Why does he need to be Spider-man at all? Why does he need a costume and brand recognition? Don't tell me it's to protect his loved ones because that has never, ever worked in the history of comics. There are one-handed crocodile handlers with better pattern recognition skills than most superheroes.

Peter Parker would best serve himself by keeping a ski mask and extra web cartridges in a fanny pack and wearing comfortable, non-descript clothes. There's danger? Boom, mask on and into battle he goes. Danger over? Now he's just a dude in sweat pants running away from super powered shenanigans.

The real reason he's Spider-man is so that people will pass a comic on a rack and go, "Dude, check it out. It's a spider-themed crimefighter." That's a sentence with as much artistic meaning as "Dude, check it out. He's a wrestling undertaker." Gimmicks sell comics.

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