Ironheart Riri Williams Marvel Comic Book Sexual Cover

Photo Credit: Marvel.

Comic books have long been known for the distinctive depictions of their superheroes. Spider-Man's muscles are nearly ripping his skintight suit. Luke Cage has actually torn his shirt and pants while kicking ass. So it comes as no surprise that female characters have it even worse. The exaggerated and consistently sexualized representation of these super humans is part of their marvelousness. But there's always a line — and recently, it was crossed. Marvel had to pull images of its latest hero because of public outcry over the cover art. The pictures featured an extremely over-sexualized version of Riri Williams, a.k.a. Ironheart, the 15-year-old Black female genius that's currently Tony Stark's protégé — she's set to take the mantle of Iron Man once he retires. In the top image, you can see the original drawings, which feature Williams in a high-neck crop top, loose sweatpants, and taking a casual stance. Below is a picture of the cover that was produced, shared by Steph_I_Wil.

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Is this how people see 15 year old black girls? I keep seeing these cover variants for Riri Williams and maybe 2 or 3 she has looked 15. pic.twitter.com/zlCGJ1maFt
— MistyKnightsTwistOut (@Steph_I_Will) October 19, 2016

One Twitter user claims that Williams' image is supposed to be based on Disney Channel star Skai Jackson. Yet, this is the illustration that was produced. It's easy to see why comic book readers, especially young, Black female readers, were offended and angered by the representation. Many thought the image was demeaning and saw no reason to sex up such a young character, especially one who is more interested in performing science experiments (She's enrolled at MIT at age 15!) than attracting unwanted suitors.

@Steph_I_Will it's a thro-back to the image of the over sexualized black woman. With progress comes this incredible push back. ?
— Russell Burnett (@foley_axle) October 19, 2016

@Steph_I_Will feels like an industry problem at this point, teen girls drawn like 20-something yr old porn-stars
— Skip Baeless (@Dologenius) October 19, 2016

Another user shared a cover done by the same illustrator, J. Scott Campbell.

@Steph_I_Will Case in point, Gen13 is a book about high school students and he consistently drew the girls this way, he's awful: pic.twitter.com/ySOprly5Rp
— Laura Sterritt (@LauraSterritt) October 19, 2016

In response, Twitter user MizCaramelVixen, started the hashtag, #TeensWhoLookLikeTeens for those in the comic world to share more accurate representations of what teens in comics should really look like.

Hey artists, tweet me your #TeensThatLookLikeTeens art & use that hashtag. I wanna see something.
— #MHAnthology (@MizCaramelVixen) October 19, 2016

This is an old piece and I've improved a LOT since I did this. But even then, I knew what was up. #TeensThatLookLikeTeens pic.twitter.com/643Vj97HGs
— Jessica Trevino (@StirvinoLady) October 19, 2016

Remember when Kitty Pryde joined the X-Men? #TeensThatLookLikeTeens pic.twitter.com/8CzPdQWarx
— awful haunting (@audreyhawkins) October 19, 2016

#TeensThatLookLikeTeens #CashandCarrie pic.twitter.com/nvYIs8tyuD
— #MHAnthology (@MizCaramelVixen) October 19, 2016

@MizCaramelVixen #TeensThatLookLikeTeens #MsMarvel #KamalaCorps pic.twitter.com/SxxxqPAk63
— Nasty Hillary, Jr. (@hillarykwiatek) October 19, 2016

Marvel did not admit that the cover was pulled due to Twitter outrage, but when Vulture reached out for comment, the company confirmed that those illustrations had been pulled and replaced with new images, which you can see, below:

Get a new look at Riri Williams from artist @St3Caselli for the upcoming "Invincible Iron Man" #1! pic.twitter.com/klILRWfJH2
— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) October 20, 2016

Meanwhile, the man responsible for the illustrations is adamant that he did nothing wrong and simply followed the guidelines of the original image, seen at the top of this post.

The decision today is unfortunate. Simply attempted to draw a young, sassy coming of age young woman. But I don't blame Midtown or Marvel.
— J. Scott Campbell (@JScottCampbell) October 20, 2016

And I greatly appreciate the noticeable uptick of support today in the wake of the fallout of this faux controversy.
— J. Scott Campbell (@JScottCampbell) October 20, 2016

Twitter user CocoaFly offers a win-win solution the next time a cover meeting rolls around in the Marvel office.

@JScottCampbell Maybe next time you and Marvel should talk to Black girls and women in advance and get their reactions. Good luck.
— Jenee Darden (@CocoaFly) October 20, 2016

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