Metal Men soon to be made of something different
March 23 — Back when the Metal Men debuted in 1962, it was unheard of to have minorities in comic books. These days, it’s marketing 101. It makes sense, therefore, that when DC rolls out the Metal Men in the New 52, their personalities will be updated for the melting pot of New 52 society.
According to reports online, when the Metal Men show up in coming issues of Justice League, each of the 5 robots will represent a unique American demographic, from African-American (Iron) to Native American (Mercury) to homosexual (Gold) to obese (Lead) to Little Person (Tin).
“There’s a lot of great, great heart in those characters and those stories, and the best part in Metal Men, too, is that each character has a very particular voice and a very particular style and way of speaking,” explained DC Comics co-publisher Dan DiDio in a press release defending the change. “I think, when you have that, then you have characters that people can really relate to and understand who they are and how they behave, because they have a very distinct voice.”
Earlier this month, DC revealed that the new Atom is Hispanic, and now the Metal Men are revealed to be recast as well. What’s next? Elongated Man returning as a Jersey Shore guido? Mister Miracle as an Orthodox Jew? Part of the fun of this will be to see if DC can accomplish this re-branding without resorting to stereotypes.
