UNMASKING IDENTITIES: SUPERHERO REPRESENTATIONS OF

ASIAN AMERICANS IN GRAPHIC NARRATIVES

_______________

A Thesis

Presented to the

Faculty of

San Diego State University

_______________

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Arts

in

Liberal Arts and Sciences

_______________

by

Jonathan Areola Valdez

Summer 2013
 iii

Copyright © 2013

by

Jonathan Areola Valdez

All Rights Reserved

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DEDICATION

This thesis is dedicated to my friends and family who supported during this journey
of discovery and reflection studying the image and words that make the comic book. This
thesis is also dedicated my grandfather who passed on Christmas Day 2011. This is the
belated gift I wish you could have shared with me here today. Lastly this thesis is dedicated
to the scholars who take up the challenge to study comics their intersections with race, class,
and gender. It can be done.
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Race will always be at the center of the American experience.

-Michael Omi and Howard Winant
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ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS

Unmasking Identities: Superhero Representations of Asian

Americans in Graphic Narratives
by
Jonathan Areola Valdez
Masters of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences
San Diego State University, 2013

This thesis is an examination of Asian American identity and the image of the
superhero in Marvel comic books.
I examine the authorship and depiction of the Asian American superhero in Marvel
Comics focusing on representations of gender, race, class, and sexuality, and my intent is to
uncover postcolonial themes in the creative works of the writers and artists.
This research is a unique contribution to Asian American Studies and Comics Studies
be examining contemporary means of cultural productions of the Asian American body as
superhero in light of issues of race, class, and gender. My research focuses on mainstream
publications of the superhero while many Comics Studies scholarship focuses on
independent autobiographical narratives. For my research I focused on three contemporary
Asian American Marvel superheroes: the nuclear powered Hazmat, the “Hypermind”
Amadeus Cho, and Jimmy Woo leader of a former criminal organization. I made the
decision to focus on these three characters to focus on representations American superheroes
of Asian ethnic background and to focus on ethnic characters that played prominent roles in
contemporary Marvel comics.
Throughout this work, I highlight how Marvel writers and artists use a tactic called
the Trojan Stereotype to subvert hegemonic representations of the Asian American body
within the same Orientalist tropes used to characterize the Asian American body. I present
how Hazmat, Amadeus Cho, and Jimmy Woo become sites of rhetorical space to expand the
narrative and imagination of the Asian American body politic in American media. I
conclude this thesis by noting that these comic book creators challenge the authority
Orientalist stereotypes by subverting the very imagery which constitutes them.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. vi
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................x
CHAPTER
1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1
Research ...................................................................................................................2
Comic Books as Rhetoric Space ..............................................................................6
Asian Americans as Superhero ..............................................................................10
Definition of Terms................................................................................................12
2 METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................14
3 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................21
4 THE WALKING DREAD: HAZMAT, TOMORROW’S AVENGER [?] .................27
Growing Pains ........................................................................................................28
A Walking W.M.D. ................................................................................................31
Chernobyl in Abercrombie and Fitch ....................................................................32
Conclusion .............................................................................................................34
5 ONCE UPON A MYTH: THE HERO’S JOURNEY OF AMADEUS CHO .............35
One Against the World ..........................................................................................36
The Seventh Smartest Person on the Planet ...........................................................40
Mastermind of Power .............................................................................................42
Conclusion .............................................................................................................44
6 THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KHAN: JIMMY WOO, THE MAN ATOP
OF ATLAS...................................................................................................................45
Secret Agent Khan .................................................................................................45
The Ability to Lead ................................................................................................47
One Khan to Rule Them All ..................................................................................48
Conclusion .............................................................................................................50
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7 CONCLUSIONS AND QUESTIONS FOR FUTURE STUDY .................................52

BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................55
APPENDIX
COLLECTION OF FIGURES...........................................................................................65
 ix

LIST OF FIGURES

PAGE

Figure 1. "Preface: In the Beginning" by Jeff Yang (w) and Jef Castro (p). ...........................66
Figure 2. "Hazmat - Avengers Academy promotion," by Mike McKone. ..............................67
Figure 3. "A Walking W.M.D.," released October 2010. ........................................................68
Figure 4. "Amadeus Cho - Prince of Power cover," released July 2010. ................................69
Figure 5. "Cho Fighting Mr. X” released May 2010. .............................................................70
Figure 6. "Woo's Firing Order," released on August 2008. ...................................................71
Figure 7. "Woo's Coronation," released on March 2007. ........................................................72
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to thank Dr. William A. Nericcio for the mentorship and support through my
graduate career. Thank you for challenging me to be a better writer, academic, and most of
all a dreamer in the possibilities of scholarship. And showing me that daring and
unconventionality are the true traits of academia. You are the teacher I aspire to be.
I wish to thank Dr. Yetta Howard for constantly never letting me take the easy road.
Thank you for demanding the best out of me and making me realize the worth of my
interjections.
I wish to thank Dr. Cezar Ornatowski for nurturing my understanding of the visual.
Thank you for honing my critical eye to the word and most of all to the image.
I would like to extend a very special thank you to Lily Ann Villaraza. Thank you for
the second pair of eyes completing this paper. Thank you for your insights, your critiques,
and sharing in my love of comics, academia, and community.
I wish to thank Dr. Amanda Solomon Amorao for reminding me that social justice
will always be at the heart of my scholarship. Thank you challenging me to make the world
a better place with the power of the pen.
I want to acknowledge the love and support of my family. Thank you for believing in
me and what I study. You all have been the steady foundation that held me through the
toughest times. I am the man I am today because of your guidance and your sacrifices.
I want to thank the Ates and Kuyas of the Kuya Ate Mentorship Program. Thank you
for keeping me on track and constantly reminding me that the journey on the way to the prize
was just as important as the prize at the end.
To my fellow graduating MALAS cohort, we did it! Thank you for choosing to be
you and for being the eclectic and passionate students that made pushing the boundaries of
academe exciting.
Last but not least I want to thank my partner. Thank you for being patient through
these past two years. You were my light at the end of the tunnel. I love you.
 1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Jeff Yang, an editor of Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology
wrote and starred in a one-page comic drawn by Jef Castro titled “Preface: In the Beginning”
satirizing superheroes and race (see Figure 1 in the Appendix) in a lampooning of the 1963
X-Men #1. In Preface, Yang faces off against the “Y-Men,” Orientalist analogues of the
original X-Men, repelling their attacks with his “mutant sense of humor” (Yang et al., Secret
Identities 7). Yang’s substitution as Magneto, a titular anti-hero and villain of the X-Men
series, signifies the resistance against the stereotypes of Orientalism seen in American media
and seen in Preface as the reified representations of the Asian American body. This satiric
commentary on heroism indicates the intertwined nature of masculinity and race and how the
Asian American body remains entangled in visions of emasculation. If Asian American
superheroes are represented as glorified stereotypes, what do these stereotypes represent of
the Asian American body politic?
The superhero in American popular culture is once again surging in popularity
intermedially with the release of movies such as Iron Man and The Dark Knight Rises and
television shows S.H.I.E.L.D. and Arrow. Major companies like DC Comics and Marvel
Comics command thousands of assets ranging from characters, logos, videogames, movies,
and other peripheral items imprinted with their intellectual property. The Marvel Universe
retains millions of fans and devotees of important characters like Marvel’s triumvirate:
Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor. With only minor superheroes of color making
fleeting appearances, comics demonstrate a unique spectrum of how Asian Americans are
viewed in American society. The body politics demonstrated by not seeing a hero with an
Asian face predicates the vulnerability and invisibility dominating Asian American media
representation. Asian American superheroes demonstrate the limited vision and imagination
regarding the Asian American body. Instead of the amazing origins white superheroes
possess, Asian American superheroes are created both visually and discursively inside
Orientalist tropes. These tropes relegate the powers, costume, and even the mission of the
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Asian American superhero. Thus, the Asian American superhero body is locked into a series
of passive/aggressive personalities, hypersexual/asexual natures, and intelligent/weak
physicality. This logic inculcates the escapism aspect of superheroes with the reinforcement
of the traps of Orientalist stereotypes. As Asian Americans become more prominent and
visible, what do Orientalist stereotypes enrapturing the minds of writers, artists, and readers
cause to Asian Americans when their superheroes face racial limitations. What do
contemporary comics tells us of the Asian American condition in America? And more
importantly, how have race relations progressed in the first decade of the 21st century for
Asian Americans?

RESEARCH
My research focuses on race and colonial/postcolonial means of cultural
representation in Marvel comics, comics which are part of the Marvel Comics publishing
schemes and follow the conventions of creation and publication to mainstream industry
practices. Marvel’s cast of characters and popular surged as a result of the success of their
blockbuster movie adaptation of The Avengers in 2012 demonstrates the strong cultural
production and influences the Marvel Universe and the medium of comic books carries with
American culture. The modern superhero comic is itself an American tradition, starting with
Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman and subsequently the emergence of the
superhero genre (Coogan and O'Neil 175). The American tradition of comics has strong
implications creating and defining on the superhero, which also affects the definition of who
is American, specifically how prejudicial ideologies control how ethnic communities are
portrayed. Comic books become a space of competing ideologies in respect to defining and
representing the American condition. The realm of comics provides spaces for both the
subversion of the textual and visual memories and challenge dominant discourse on race.
But why do comics present an integral space?
Scott McCloud defines comics as “juxtaposed pictorial images in a deliberate
sequence, intended to convey information and/or produce an aesthetic response in the
viewer” (McCloud 9). Comics’ dual nature of text and image provides an often underutilized
and more often underestimated important set of literature in understanding why certain Asian
American portrayals remain vibrant while others wither. I will examine the discursive
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authorship and visual depictions of Asian American superheroes via an intersectional

approach focusing on race with the intent of tracking how Marvel uses Orientalist tropes to
further Asian American superheroes.
This research is a unique contribution to Asian American Studies and Ethnic Studies
by examining the trade practices and canon of the Marvel Universe and the implications of
the continuing racial stigma perpetuated in superhero comics. This project focuses on the
fictional comic narratives of the Marvel Universe within the last ten years. By concentrating
on fictional works, this research studies how stereotypes of the Asian American community
are employed the same way to limit Asian American superheroes on a race, gender, class
basis homogenizing different Asian ethnic groups into one thus causing Asian American
superheroes to carry similar veins of representations. My research follows authors’ and
artists’ representations of the Asian American superhero and how this contributes to the
ongoing conversation on race in America.
The late historian Ronald Takaki first broached the topic that Asian Americans are
still seen as “strangers from a distant shore” and argued as well that today is “opportune for
the redefining of America” (Takaki xv). This sense of otherness manifests itself in media in
the variety of stereotypes governing Asian American roles and portrayal. Drawn and written
into the Asian American superhero are the same notions of perpetual foreignness. The idea
of the superhero is an American one to the core with superheroes like Captain America and
Superman representing truth, justice, and the American way; the Asian American superhero
remains separated by virtue of ethnicity from fulfilling that notion. It is not to say that Asian
Americans superheroes do not exist; Asian American superheroes exist but without the
American nationalism overtones and emphasis on the Asian. With the markings of being
“the other” drawn and written on the body exhibiting prejudicial narratives, the Asian
American superhero becomes a site of transference of contemporary American race relations.
Asians first started appearing in 1934 in comic strips like Flash Gordon and Terry
and the Pirates albeit with the impressions of the Yellow Face. Characters like Ming the
Merciless and the Dragon Lady provided portrayals of Asians that followed Orientalist
leanings. These representations would later reoccur in Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu in which
the lead protagonist Shang-Chi was the son of Fu Manchu and bred to be his enforcer. While
Shang-Chi rose against his father, the elements of Shang-Chi’s biography, powers, and his
 4

mission revolved around the son spoiling his father’s nefarious plots. These reproductions of
Orientalist tropes in Asian American superheroes, which Robert G. Lee argues “marks the
Oriental as indelibly alien” (Lee 2) perpetuating prejudicial thought. The Asian [American]
superhero is only portrayed as such, Asian. Marked only with the stereotypical masks of the
Yellow Peril, Model Minority, and the gook, Asian American superheroes are transformed
into weak, reductionist stereotypes to reinforce the superiority of male, white superheroes.
The act of attributing and personifying Americanness is the predominant function of
the superhero comic. While many comics exist at home and abroad that use the superhero
medium, the American superhero comic is a site at which the history and culture is examined
and hyperbolized through the paneled action of “saving the day.” Superhero comics allow
the analysis of American cultural values and its inflection on race and gender. According to
the 2010 Census the Asian American population grew to “17.3 million...the estimated
number of U.S. residents of Asian descent, according to the 2010 Census” (United States
Census Bureau 2012) from “11.4 million” (Reeves and Bennett 1) from the 2000 Census.
The growing Asian American population signifies the need for more complicated
representations of the Asian American in visual and discursive media. Asian American
superheroes become a site of complicated reclamation of identity and uninspired resistance to
racial hegemony. While these new representations are progressive the comic book industry
keeps Asian American representation locked into Orientalist visions and representations.
However, it is through these representations that nuanced and more progressive image of
Asian Americans begins to emerge in the Marvel Universe.
I analyze two contemporary Asian American male superheroes and one female
superhero of the Marvel Universe to display how Marvel handles the development of Asian
American characters. These three characters are Jennifer Takeda, Amadeus Cho, and Jimmy
Woo. Takeda, known more commonly as Hazmat, first appeared in 2010 in the new series
Avengers Academy #1 which featured a roster of young superheroes training to be the
Avengers of tomorrow. Cho’s first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15- Mastermind
Excello saw him match wits against Fantastic Four leader Reed Richards in a debate of ethics
after the Hulk’s exile from earth. Woo was reintroduced as the lead protagonist in the 2006
mini-series Agent of Atlas which saw Woo reassemble his old Department Zero team to
again fight his nemesis the Yellow Claw and his criminal organization the Atlas Foundation.
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Marvel Comics boasts a large and diverse oeuvre within its continuity. A constant of
the Marvel Universe is the systematic stereotyping of people of color. My research outlines
how Asian American superheroes see dramatic changes in representation only through the
visage of Orientalized portrayals. Peter Coogan and Dennis O'Neil define the superhero as:
Su•per•he•ro (soo’per hîr’o) n., pl. – roes. A heroic character with a selfless,
pro-social mission; with superpowers—extraordinary abilities, advanced
technology, or highly developed physical, mental, or mystical skills; who has a
superhero identity embodied in a codename and iconic costume, which typically
express his biography, character, powers, or origin (transformation from ordinary
person to superhero); and who is generically distinct, i.e. can be distinguished
from characters of related genres (fantasy, science fiction, detective, etc.) by a
preponderance of generic conventions. Often superheroes have dual identities,
the ordinary one of which is usually a closely guarded secret. —superheroic, adj.
Also super hero, super-hero. (30)
This definition applies to all superheroes, but become problematic to the Asian American
body due to the constant of both the characters Orientalized visual and discursive nature.
These creations are not just remnants and vestiges of pre-1960 America, rather the
subconscious continuation of white privilege and hegemony. My research highlights how
these elements of the superhero encapsulate Orientalist motifs to present a progressive
representation yet uses traditional stereotypes to inoculate the progressive representations. I
argue that writers and artists represent Asian American superheroes within stereotypical
means to ease readers into the narratives and artistry challenging the discourse and legacy of
Orientalism, a tactic I define as the Trojan Stereotype. In comic books, the Trojan Stereotype
is an image and narrative forces the comic book reader to challenge and reevaluate
simultaneously the worth of the previous knowledge and the images and narrative presented
in the comic.
I came to the realization of Trojan Stereotype after my first time reading Secret
Identities: The Asian American Superhero Comics Anthology. The anthology’s stories take
place in the fictional Troy City where I noticed that the stories were progressive
representations of Asian Americans yet they used the same stereotypes denigrating the
community. It was not until “Many Masks” written by Jason Sperber and art by Chi-Yun
Lau where I realized what the overall objective of the anthology was. Following the theme
of secret identities the comics featured subvert the notion of the mask of the stereotypes
which “those old masks—imposed by others. Reinforced by the weight of historical
 6

repetition—have, over time, obscured and distorted our identity. These new masks, which
we choose for ourselves…reveal who we really are underneath” (Yang et al., Secret
Identities 128). Asian American writers and artists hid progressive representations within the
masks of old stereotypical ones to fracture and contradict the notions of Orientalism. Thus,
the walls of Orientalism become undone by their inventions. Marvel writers and artist use
Trojan Stereotype to infiltrate the walled minds of their readers to challenge their perceptions
of Asian Americans.

COMIC BOOKS AS RHETORIC SPACE

The space of comic books displays immense amounts of rhetoric. From World War
II alone many comics boasted nationalistic overtones. Ranging from Captain American
knocking out Hitler with a right cross to the WWII pamphlets teaching the common
American citizen how to identify between the friendly Chinese and the “evil” Japanese;
comics painted a picture of the Axis Powers exaggerated with ethnic stereotypes to
dehumanize the Germans, Italians, and Japanese. These propaganda comics stoked the fires
of anti-Japanese sentiment which would lead to the internment of Japanese Americans on the
west coast. From the aforementioned examples, Captain America punching out Hitler
symbolized the call to arms and American’s entry into World War II as well as the racial
hatred spurred on by the Pearl Harbor attacks in 1941 which effectively signaled America’s
foray into war. The system of comics allows rhetoric to be co-opted by the reader, by which
the reader becomes a unique translator of the visual and textual. Thierry Groensteen argues
that:
the panels return nothing but the fragments of the implied role in which the story
unfolds, but this world is supposed to be contiguous and homogenous, everything
transpiring as if the reader, having entered into the world, will never leave again
the image to which he has been offered access. The crossing of frames becomes a
largely unconscious and mechanical operation, masked by an investment
(absorption) in the virtual world postulated by the story. The diegesis, this
fantastic virtual image, which comprises all of the panels, transcends them, and is
where the reader can reside. (11)
The comic book reader and the panel sequences becomes an active part of the story, able to
fill in the blanks in between the panels. The act of filling in the panels causes the reader to
draw on previous knowledge and experience while simultaneously filling in hidden
information ranging from sounds, symbols, speed, and intensity. Thus, comics are a space
 7

which interacts with the prior knowledge and imagination of the reader to fill in the blank of
the actions. The core tenets of rhetoric: ethos, logos, and pathos become read on the visual
image and substantiated by the reader’s previous knowledge and experiences. With both text
and image wedded in the comic book format, rhetoric becomes more accessible and easier to
consume and process.
American comic books are a site to examine how comic book writers and artists seek
to represent and portray the Asian American body. Within the superhero comic book, issues
such as race inform a variety of xenophobic stereotypes ranging from Jim Crow to the
vestiges of Orientalism. These stereotypes were utilized to produce racist images of people
of color. This list included Asians, Africans, Hispanics, as well as Irish and Jewish
immigrants were subjected to stereotypical portrayals in comics which would reinforce
xenophobic attitudes. The comic book industry did not make any move to police how people
of color were represented in comics, not even with the Comics Code of 1959. It would not
be until 30 years later that the Comics Code would be amended in 1989 to include provisions
for drawing people of color which ordered that characterization of people should adhere to
the following:
Character portrayals will be carefully crafted and show sensitivity to national,
ethnic, religious, sexual, political and socioeconomic orientations…If it is
dramatically appropriate for one character to demean another because of his or her
sex, ethnicity, religion, sexual preference, political orientation, socioeconomic
disadvantages should never assign ultimate responsibility for these convictions to
the character themselves. Heroes should be role models and should reflect the
prevailing social attitudes. (Nyberg)
Although the Comics Code was officially abolished in 2011, many comic book publishers
stopped adhering to it years before. This important facet of comic book history expresses
how much power artists and writers possessed in controlling how a character developed
particularly issues such as race and gender were at the mercy and whims of the editorial
bullpens. The people who controlled the nuances of the comic book controlled the power in
how people of color would be represented which leads to either progressive or regressive
portrayals. Since all comic book imagery rely on stereotypes, the imagery of people of color
as superheroes are colored by prejudiced notions. Chris Ware asserts that “if you treat comics
as a visual language and trace their origins, they point back, essentially to racism” (Juno 41).
Ware attests to the power of stereotypes and their links to racism because of their simplicity.
 8

The reduction of a complex body transmogrified into something uncomplicated creates an

inequality in narrative and experience. Stereotypical images allowed Orientalist
representations like Fu Manchu or Uncle Tom characters to remain in the visual imaginary
and cultural capital of America.
Furthermore in challenging the hegemony of how race is represented and perceived, I
draw attention to how the comic books were used to articulate racist ideologies. Thus
because comics offer a space to denote race, the history of rhetoric in comic book space
deserves investigation. Roxanne Mountford defines “rhetorical space” as “the geography of
a communicative event, and, like all landscapes may include both the cultural and material
arrangement, whether intended or fortuitous, as space (42). By examining comic books as a
rhetorical space, race can be analyzed and traced to understand social perception in America.
Since this project focuses on contemporary comics, I analyze how Asian American
superheroes are now represented and what messages and perceptions are being
communicated today. While this study makes an attempt to study Asian American
superheroes, this study also takes into account the staff responsible for the inception of their
stories and artwork. While writers predominantly stayed constant during each characters’
run, each series saw a revolving door of pencilers and inkers who brought their own
interpretations of the characters. The writers and artists who work with Asian American
superheroes are inclined to create characters that readers resonate and connect with and wish
to perpetuate by their continued patronage. Thus acts of dispelling stereotypes and
progressing Asian American representation yet keeping characters and storylines accessible
to all readers becomes an implicit mission of the creative staff. The overarching goal
however is always sales of the books.
A predominant theme of freedom from the current confines of American discourse
preempts an injection of Prison Studies theory to frame Asian American superheroes as a
means to decarcerate Asian Americans from the shackles of stereotypes. Tracing the
trajectory of the Orientalist stereotypes’ origins in comics and how the Asian American
community seeks to unmask and shatter them with comics based activism. The act of
editing, writing, and drawing Asian American characters are acts of resistance and
reclamation against the hegemony and privilege of white superheroes. It is through Prison
Studies academic literature that we find a common connection undergirding labels imposed
 9

on the body. The labels and subtleties of “incarcerated” and “Orientalized” share the same
complexities which Prison Studies scholar B.V. Olguín argues:
all prisoner writing, including Pinta/o literature is undergirded by a prison-
writing-prisoner dialectic from which the author can never escape. In this new
variation of the prisoner’s dilemma, the prison will always be an overarching
specter even when it is not mentioned in a text, and the writing itself always will
be marked by the author’s attempt to simultaneously claim and distance him- or
herself from the prisoner identity. (77)
The prison consubstantializes with the stereotype as does the activist/writer/artist/editor to
the prisoner. Prison writing is an act of resistance against the prison industry, while
contemporary antiprison activism challenges an institutionalized system of racism that
systematically targets people of color. Ruthie Gilmore articulates this racism as “the state-
sanctioned and/or legal production and exploitation of group-differentiated vulnerabilities to
premature death” (29). I use Gilmore’s definition to demonstrate that portrayals of race are
simply not predicated to difference in skin color but the overwhelming capability to render an
entire community powerless. Marvel editors, writers, and artists of Asian American stories
cannot divorce itself from the historical narratives of racism impressed on the Asian body.
Instead of distancing themselves, Marvel writers and artists invert the stereotypes of Asian
representation to construct narratives challenging the American body politic of racism in
media representation.
The history of Asians in America is filled with negative imagery, marked with
Yellowface stereotypes which Robert G. Lee argues “marks the Oriental as indelibly alien”
(2). The Yellow Peril stereotype was applied to all Asian ethnic groups immigrating to the
United States to fulfill labor needs on the West Coast. From Ming the Merciless from Flash
Gordon and the Dragon Lady from Milton Caniff’s Terry and the Pirates, and Sax Rohmer’s
Fu Manchu continues to influence American media in portraying ethnic Asian antagonists.
The legacy of Fu Manchu and the Dragon Lady would later be reproduced in other villainous
analogues such Marvel Comics’ Yellow Claw and Jade Claw to DC Comics’ Ra’s al Ghūl
and Lady Shiva who faced off white American superheroes Nick Fury and Iron Man and
Batman.
Americans consumed these comic strip representations the same way they digested it
in popular literature and in cinema. Movies, books, and comic strips informed and
 10

essentialized Asian American identity for white audiences that there was a definitive Asian-
ness regardless if it was true or not. Cultural critic Edward Said argues:
knowledge no longer requires application to reality; knowledge is what gets
passed on silently, without comment, from one text to another. Ideas are
propagated and disseminated anonymously, they are repeated without attribution;
they have literally become idées reçues: what matters is that they are there, to be
repeated, echoed, and re-echoed uncritically. (116)
Comic book imagery of stereotypes operates in two functions. The discursive
(textual) and the visual (image) operate synergistically to maintain their meaning and
dominance within the “idées reçues” of Asian. Though these racial “idées recues” may find
shelter in the pages of comic books, comic books possess a “unique and contrasting ability to
destabilize racial stereotypes” (Aldama 135). The rhetorical space of comic books creates
the window to portray a non-stereotypical Asian American superhero.

ASIAN AMERICANS AS SUPERHERO

Asian American superheroes were not immune from being created without criminal
and Orientalist origins. The first Asian superhero Shang-Chi origin story features him as the
biological son of Fu Manchu in Special Marvel Edition #15 (December 1973). While Shang-
Chi rebelled against his father’s criminality, eventually joining British intelligence MI-13,
Shang-Chi’s original debut featured him assassinating a British official. Shang-Chi originate
from acts of Yellow Peril criminality demonstrates Asian characters were created to fit a
“true” representation in the imagination of white Americans. And while Shang-Chi’s father
was retconned and renamed Zheng Zi, Zu still follows the Fu Manchu trope. Shang-Chi’s
attire of a kung-fu gi, a headband holding long black hair and bare feet characterized the
martial arts craze occurring in the 60’s. Shang-Chi now features a more Bruce Lee-esque
appearance which holds true to the iconography of the skin fitting leotard in red/black as
opposed to the famous yellow/black combination (Hickman, Avengers #2 - We Were
Avengers). The usage of Bruce Lee iconography in the modern representation of Shang-Chi
supports Eisner’s definition of stereotypes in which “comic book art deals with recognizable
reproductions of human conduct. Its drawings are a mirror reflection, and depend on the
reader’s stored memory of experience to visualize an idea or process quickly” (Eisner 17).
The iconography of martial arts equipment, the biography of familial ties to Orientalist
villain Fu Manchu/Zheng Zu set identifiers for an Asian superhero, martial arts uniform and
 11

martial arts abilities. Moreover, these symbols mark the Asian superhero as other and
originating from everything non western.
Shang-Chi illustrates how Orientalism still resides in the mind of comic book creators
and how this vestigial Orientalism now produces itself yet again in contemporary Asian
American superheroes. American superhero comics, specifically Marvel comics reproduces
Orientalist tropes despite the fact these superheroes were all American born and raised. It is
this sense of Asian being not accepted and inassimilable into American society that these
superpowers based on Orientalist natures reinforces itself. The stereotype not only reinforces
itself due to the creators part, but for the consuming reader as well. The acceptance of
Orientalism as part of the Asian American superheroic body and as part of the heroism
demonstrated by Asian American superheroes.
I want to be explicitly clear that I am not arguing there are no Asian American
superheroes in existence or Asian American superheroes outside the scope of the characters
examined in this research. Locating the ethnicity of all of these characters was intriguing
because it demonstrated that in the many ongoing comic book universes spanning major
distributors to up and coming independent studios there exists a surplus Asian American
comic book characters. The distinction of this list demonstrates that while there is a sizable
population, it is important to ask how many of these characters are the lead protagonists of
their own books and or play prominent roles if they are part of an ensemble. Jubilee is one
example of an Asian American superhero that rose from sidekick status to leader and title
character in her own self titled comic books. Her adventures as a mutant teenager, to a
technology powered rebel, and finally in her present day incarnation as a vampire
demonstrates how the evolution of a superhero is brought together to make them relevant.
The superhero acts symbolically of the protector and manifestation of American
society. Thus the narrative of the American experience is intertwined within comics as
reflections of citizenship and civic duty. Asians faced racist treatment judicially through the
many exclusion acts and anti-immigration laws levied against Asian ethnic groups. Asian
Americans also faced extrajudicial actions at the hands of white lynch mobs who raided
Asian enclaves.
With the Asian American still subjected to being viewed as perpetually foreign, this
sense of foreignness and exoticism translates into representative symbols on the comic panel.
 12

Asian Americans superheroes are symbolic of the Asian American stereotypes personified.
The narrative of the superhero story is guided by the unspoken narratives of Asian experience
barely being threaded ion the fabric of the American narrative.

DEFINITION OF TERMS
Research on comics has yielded a plethora of names for comics which seek to
differentiate and legitimize the medium. I am picking simple terms to facilitate the ease in
reading a interdisciplinary piece. With awareness of the gendered connotations, superhero is
used to identify both male and female characters.
I define the Marvel Universe as part of the oeuvre of continuing work of Marvel
Comics. The Marvel Universe, however, is not solely one continuum but a vast Multiverse
of divergent possibilities and reinterpretations of characters. The Marvel Universe in this
paper is the 616 Universe, Marvel’s primary continuum where the major canonical events
occur. This continuum is the most popular with readers following stories of the different
characters who populate this continuum. The 616 Universe serves as a starting point for all
the characters discussed in this research and the focus of any canonical event discussed
because of its close relations and parallels to reality. The 616 Universe becomes a great site
of information to understand the world in which Asian American superheroes inhabit.
Comics over the last twenty years have come to be known by many terminologies. To
understand which print copy type I am referencing, I will define certain publication styles to
delineate the difference in format. Comic books will be used to define a single issue copy.
These are typically 30 to 40 pages long and lead by a unique cover art usually done by an
artist not currently working on the book’s current art. A trade paperback is a collected set
comic book issues which usually comprises one story arc. A trade paperback will usually
carry the cover artwork of all the comic book issues inside. The difference between both is
that extra content may be provided on each. In comic books, as of 2012, Marvel has added
electronic codes which you could scan for a digital copy of the bought issue which can be
then viewed on a smart phone or a laptop. Special features of trade paperbacks include
additional story content as well as concept artwork or part of the collection of artists. Comic
books and trade paperbacks offer unique looks into the industry and how Asian American
characters develop and are represented.
 13

I define Asian American as American citizens with an ancestral link to Asia. More
specifically towards this research, I am focusing on Asian American superheroes who are
children of second generation born in the United States. Asia is hard to define as the ongoing
conversation of where Asia begins and ends.
 14

CHAPTER 2

METHODOLOGY

My analysis of the visual and discursive representations of Jimmy Woo, Amadeus

Cho, and Jennifer Takeda is to trace Orientalist themes, challenges, and contradictions to the
Asian American superhero. I identify how Orientalist schemas are used to lock characters in
a unilateral representation to articulate and reinforce the perpetual foreignness of the Asian
American superhero. Dialogue between the characters and friends, family, and villains
subconsciously reveal the underlying assumptions of race and ethnicity on the Asian body in
comic books. It is through the representations of physical appearance, costume, and
execution of powers that stereotypes reveal a more active role in the creative imagination.
Current research suggests that the usage of such stereotypes derived from “racial essentialism
can also hamper creativity” (Tadmor et al. 102). The inability to break free from these
stereotypical notions demonstrates neither the lack of imagination nor the will to imagine
Asian Americans something other than exotic. This racial essentialism limits the function of
the Asian American superhero because the limited biases create barriers to what an Asian
American superhero can be or accomplish.
At the time of my research, only Amadeus Cho and Hazmat are involved in
continuing storylines with Jimmy Woo’s last active story and appearance was in December
2011. I have confined my research to books produced from 2000 onward, characters that are
active in major events or story arcs may change rapidly or unexpectedly. This paper assumes
that the last comics to be analyzed will be in the last week of March and the first week of
April 2013. I chose to read and view the graphic and narrative representations through story
arcs and art direction that demonstrate the flow of representation of the Asian American body
as superhero.
Developing a framework intersecting comics and ethnic studies is a challenge with
the limited scholarship being conducted. I seek to contribute to the discussions of race which
has been sorely missed in the field of Comics Studies, as well as introduce the realm of
comic books to Asian American Studies. The research provided in this thesis follows a post-
 15

colonial ethnic studies analysis intersected with a post-structuralist analysis of text and image
to interpret how race is rhetorically constructed discursively and visually. Archival research
of academic literature and comic literature from Marvel Comics was conducted. Comics
were viewed in print and digital format. Through print format, single issues and trade
paperbacks were read. Digital comics were viewed on Digital Marvel Comics Universe
(DMCU). I chose to specifically focus on single copy issues of the comic book runs
specifically for the story content and cover content. Comic book covers are analyzed to
observe the importance of driving sales in conjunction with Asian American characters being
portrayed as asset to the story. In major story arcs, Asian American characters will be noted
in how many appearances they make as a cover as cultural historian Ron Goulart
demonstrates in his work comic book covers are significant because comic book covers
“dealt in giddy anticipation of a violent act rather than in a depiction of the violent act itself”
(qtd. in Harvey 40). The anticipation of heroism sets up the Asian American superheroes
capability to be victorious.
Three Asian American superheroes were chosen from the Marvel Universe to
demonstrate the usage of Orientalism as a foothold to progress characters. These characters
are Jimmy Woo, Amadeus Cho, and Jennifer Takeda. Takeda, Cho, and Woo have
superhero codenames standing as “Hazmat,” “Mastermind Excello,” and “Yellow Claw”
respectively. With Jimmy Woo and Amadeus Cho as well carry titles of prestige with the
organizations they run. Woo is the Khan and Amadeus Cho is the Prince of Power. I focus
on how names and titles inflect changes and contradictions to Orientalist depictions yet stay
strapped to them. The stories and books used during he course of this research are published
from 2000 to present. These books are used to demonstrate Asian American representation
in the start of the 21 century. Older comic books are used as references for each character
and to track previous portrayals and histories. The research gauges the evolution of each
character and observes if writers and artist are thinking outside the box in creating fleshed
out complicated representations.
Following Coogan and O'Neil's definition of the superhero, I will use the three
aspects of the superhero: the mission, the powers, identity and the costume as markers of
identity of both Asian American and superhero. By using Coogan and O'Neil's definition, I
set out to demonstrate how race and ethnicity become emblematic and come to embody the
 16

Asian American body. By observing these facets, I argue that these superheroes’ ethnicities
play a major role in how their appearance, superpowers, and mission are indelibly marked as
Asian and that Marvel uses longstanding stereotypes to simultaneously hinder and progress
Asian American representation.
I analyze the appearance of the superhero to understand what perceptions govern
Asian American portrayal. I wanted to see at the utmost personal level how Marvel Comics’
artists were drawing characters that looked like me. The image of Asian Americans has often
been masked by the visage and masks of Orientalism. One of the most recognizable
stereotypes of Asian Americans is the slanted eyes, buck teeth, and sallow skin. Only the
latter was represented when the first Asian superhero Shang-Chi in 1966. Though the
modern representations of Shang-Chi and other Asian American superheroes feature realistic
skin tones now the secondary aspect of appearance is the superhero costume. The costume
functions as symbolic of the superhero’s mission as well as an symbolic aesthetic to the
hero’s powers and abilities. The costume of Asian American superheroes lends a gravitas to
the notion describing “Asian.” A costume is part of the system of symbols that comprise a
superhero. The costume of an Asian American superhero marks the intensity or subtlety of
represented stereotypes. Through these combinations of signifiers artists render
representations of Asian-ness and furthermore “believably” Asian due to the recognizable
stereotypes invoked by the medium of comics.
The second aspect in which I will analyze Asian American characters are
superpowers, perhaps the most fantastic and iconic aspect of the superhero genre is the
imagination of superpowers lends to the excitement of the genre. Superpowers, however,
have tended to be very limited for Asian American characters. The definition that Coogan
and O'Neil provide us also recognizes enhanced or fine tuned abilities as superpowers as
well. This places skill sets such as martial arts or subterfuge as part of the superhero canon.
The superpowers Asian American superheroes demonstrate are stereotypically tied to
ethnicity. Jubilee, a Chinese American teenager when she found she was a mutant and thus
possessing powers had the ability to project pyrotechnic energy plasmoids, demonstrated in
the comic books as well as X-Men: The Animated Series as fireworks. This
consubstantilaization of Jubilee’s superpowers and iconic Chinese inventions and traditions
demonstrates how woven together race is in comics. I aim to demonstrate that Asian
 17

American superpowers are intrinsically linked to representations of the Asian American body
and an extension of how the American public views the abilities of Asian Americans.
The final aspect of the superhero I will analyze is the mission. The mission of the
superhero is the core of the heroism and morality that the superhero genre entails. Coogan
and O'Neil define the mission as “prosocial and selfless, which means that his [or her] fight
against evil must fit in with the existing, professed mores of society and must not be intended
to benefit or further his [or her] own agenda” (31). Within this definition are implicit tones
of nationalism, specifically American. Thus Asian Ameican superheroes become part of the
narrative and actions of preserving American ideals even when they are portrayed as not
directly fighting for it.
Coogan and O'Neil's definition provides the framework to analyze the aesthetics of
the Asian American superhero. It is from these components that we begin to see Asian
American superheroes, yet created with clichéd representations. I will focus on three
characters that will serve to demonstrate this metaphoric/symbolic interpretation of
Orientalism in modern day Aisan American superheroes. These three superheroes will be
divided by age since two of them originate from the 1960s and 1970s while the latter two
first debut in 2006 and 2011. The aging delineates certain traits of Orientalism found in their
biographies, appearances, powers, and mission.
Another fascinating aspect of Jennifer Takeda, Amadeus Cho, and Jimmy Woo is that
all three of them have been featured as Avengers. It is from this participation as an Avenger
that we must also come face to face with the ongoing conversation of how to define
American. I bring up the notion that the Avengers are implicitly tied to perceptions and
representations of Americaness due to the recent success of the 2012 blockbuster hit The
Avengers. Reflecting back on the movie though, I realize the overtones of white masculinity
and hegemony in the spaces of the superheroes. All of the superheroes who participated as
Avengers were white superheroes. The team consisting of a six-man roster featuring Captain
America, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Hawkeye, and the Black Widow defended New York
City from a Chitauri invasion lead by Thor’s half brother, Loki. The semiotics of race and
politics abound in superhero movies as well. The Avengers evoked from me were the
possibilities of a non white superhero in future Avengers movies. Marvel has a plethora of
superheroes of color who demonstrate equal if not more power than some of the heroes used
 18

in the movie. I bring this conversation to Woo, Cho, Takeda because each served a role in
the Avengers, whether it be officially, or in a completely different time zone. Analyzing the
roles in which each superheroes participation and contributions during their tenure as an
Avenger demonstrates show much editorial staffs are willing to create Asian American
superheroes which challenge the mainstream.
Within Asian American Studies, scholarship on comic books and graphic narratives
remain limited. The lack of scholarship on Asian American superheroes was finally
addressed in two comic book anthologies entitled Secret Identities: The Asian American
Superhero Anthology and Shattered: The Asian American Comics Anthology challenge
stereotypes by subverting and transforming both the visual and discursive body. These
literary texts inform my strategies here, augmenting my thinking and research for this current
project. They also help me demonstrate how Asian American producers, writers, and artists
were able to subvert Orientalist stories and representations and turn them into heroic and
compelling tales featuring Asian Americans as lead characters, and most of all as
superheroes. While scholarship focusing on race and masculinity skews towards cinema and
prose literature, Secret Identities and Shattered opened the conversation to discussing race in
attention to the Asian American condition. These anthologies are important to the
conversations I wish to carry in this research, however, there is still a finite need for
academic research in addition to works of fiction.
The continuity of comics’ timeline itself is problematic with having to key into
continuity resets and understanding what is and is not exactly canon. The Death of
Superman storyline is the quintessential example for impermanence in comics. The classic
result of this story arc is that Superman returns from the dead after a cataclysmic battle with
villain Doomsday. With Superman’s “resurrection”, the permanence of death for comic book
characters instead died. Captain American sidekick, Bucky Barnes, and former Robin, Jason
Todd are also examples of impermanence of death in comic books. The only character to in
fact stay dead is Ben Parker from Amazing Spider-Man. Canon or permanence in comic
books, specifically superhero comics remain nonexistent. The canonicity of chronological
events is primarily what critics use to dismiss comics studies as a rigorous discipline.
However, these calculated redactions allow for the measurement of understanding race in a
 19

specific body of time as well as considering the ever changing views and temperament in
America.
The last limitation of this project is with the delivery and accessibility of comics
itself. Comic books and selected title may run bi-monthly or monthly. These releases are
also hit with unexpected delays such as late delivery or editorial delays. Comic book single
issues may be hard to come by since issues may not have second printings and will only be
reprinted in the event of trade paperback publications or put together into completed sets by a
local comics shop. This release of comics itself does not hinder the progress of this research
since the actions of publishing reflect how well a character is doing is reflected in their sales.
The more a character sells the more books and issues they release. The fewer books a title
sells triggers a reduction in the amount of printed books and possible termination of the book.
Jimmy Woo’s Agents of Atlas and Atlas were cancelled due to poor sales. These remainder
stories were published either in their own books such as the two part X-Men vs. Atlas and the
four issue mini-series Avengers vs. Atlas. Atlas writer Jeff Parker responded:
…our orders for Atlas 1 started off in the low 20ks, which isn't surprising because
a lot of things are coming in low right now, and we've always been on the fringe.
Atlas has actually always sold better than a lot of books that get to go on much
longer- a good bit of DC's line. But the Marvel danger zone is 20k more or less,
and since books tend to trend downward, that always sets off alarms. (qtd. in
Sims)
Parker outlines the criteria for Marvel Comics and what precipitates the cutting board for a
book. When Parker was pressed to ask what would be next for Jimmy Woo specifically,
Parker sidestepped the comment:
CA: Is there anywhere we can watch for the characters? Obviously we know
where Gorilla-Man's appearing next, but what about Jimmy Woo?
JP: The next big appearance will be Venus as a part of Hercules' new God
Squad! And you know, I am a little happy that for now, I get to write the end of
the series, knowing it's the end- which makes a difference. We really go all out
with the Return of the Three Dimensional Man story, as will become clear in
issue 3. And there's a lot of fun stuff to look for throughout- like go back to issue
one and see how many times Threes follow Del Garrett around. He's been a great
character to write. But at least I get to work with the team supreme of Gabe
Hardman and Elizabeth Breitweiser again! We wanted to work together still. (qtd.
in Sims)
Parker’s evasion of an answer about the future of Woo demonstrates the uncertainty of using
an Asian American superhero to lead a superhero team, much less a superhero book. This is
 20

not an indictment of Parker as a writer but moreover, I interpret Parker’s statement as one
demonstrating a deeper culture of within Marvel Comics in regards to race and
representation.
 21

CHAPTER 3

LITERATURE REVIEW

While literature on Asian American masculinity and sexuality is very accessible,

academic literature focusing on the field of Comics Studies is very limited, especially content
regarding race. Comics Studies texts tend to deal with specific artists, writers, or the function
of comics. And while physical signifiers such as ethnicity constitute an important aspect of
the physical nature of comics, very little scholarly work focuses on race critically except for
minor footnotes and references. This lack of focus on the visual and the semiotic nature in
which race is inflected in comics demonstrates the need of an interdisciplinary approach in
my research. Thus, the literature reviewed focus on the intersections of superheroes,
masculinity, and the Asian American body politic.
The academic debate on comic books as legitimate literature continues to be hotly
debated. The discussion that the word cannot be divorced from image is discussed in
William Nericcio’s article “Artif(r)acture Virulent Pictures, Graphic Narrative and the
Ideology of the Visual” argues comic books such as works produced by Gilbert and Jaime
Hernandez with images “intercept and disrupt the logic of an other image” (93). The
Hernandez Brothers’ oeuvre of books challenged the notions of race and gender held in the
American mind’s eye of Latina people. Characters such as the bombastic Palomar mayor
Luba in their acclaimed and beloved Love and Rockets series distinguishes her not only as a
strong, complex Latina woman; as well as space to challenge stereotypes on the Latina body.
Comic books as a space of wedded text and image comingle to create not just a story but an
experience arguing for the same detailed attention to interpretation and critique between the
discursive and the visual. Our “capacity to read images is immense, as immense as our
inability to read them critically; our capacity to interrogate words critically outstrips our
ability to reshape them progressively” (Nericcio 80-81) elucidates the need to understand
race more intrinsically on a visual nature.
Literature regarding race in Comics Studies is also limited. Specifically discussing
race, scholarship continues to grow interdisciplinarily at an increasing rate. Scholars such as
 22

Adilifu Nama and Frederick Luis Aldama write extensively on the representations of race in
comics. Nama’s book Super Black: American Pop Culture and Black Superheroes examines
the niche Black superheroes possess in comic book universes populated with a majority of
white superheroes. This examination of race and the complications of Black superheroes
make apparent in their characters demonstrates how America is not in the post racial era it
believes itself to be in. Nama’s work on these heroes also deals with the idea of superhero
clones, specifying how some Black characters are merely a replica of white superheroes just
black. These clones are not just cheap representations. Nama contends:
these racially remixed superheroes offer audiences familiar points of reference
that, as black superheroes, suggest a range of ideas, cultural points of interests,
compelling themes, and multiple meanings that were not previously present.
Frequently the black versions are more chic, politically provocative, and
ideologically dynamic than the established white superheroes there were modeled
after. (92)
His assertion is critical for since the sociopolitical experience of Asian Americans differs
from other ethnic groups in that the American narrative contends that Asians Americans are
foreign and alien.
Likewise, Frederick Aldama’s Multicultural Comics: From Zap to Blue Beetle, is an
edited anthology dealing with the intersections of race and comics. While Aldama does
focus one chapter on Asian Americans, the chapter focuses on the work of authors such as
Derek Kirk Kim, Gene Luen Yang, and Adrian Tomine, who produce independent graphic
novels on the Asian American experience. While the examination of these authors work is
important to further understanding Asian American rhetorical space in comic book,
Multicultural Comics lacks any academic articles focused on Asian Americans and the
superhero.
The field of Comics Studies literature on the functionality of comics continues to
grown increasingly. Focusing on a definition of comics, Scott McCloud defines the medium
as “juxtaposed pictorial images in a deliberate sequence, intended to convey information
and/or produce an aesthetic response in the viewer,” (9) implying that a range of symbols are
embedded visually and discursively and that the reader renders an interpretation and response
of the information. McCloud’s definition found in Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
is a valuable tool in understanding how comics works. McCloud’s comic book form of a
 23

book teaching about comic books allows readers new to Comics Studies to see relevant
examples and understand how semiotics are embedded in comic books.
Similarly to this is French Comics Studies theorist Thierry Groensteen’s The System
of Comics provides the groundwork to understand comics on a philosophical and theoretical
level. Delving into the form and function of comics and the transmittal and reception of
information in comics. Groensteen argues:
standard readings, which privilege, in each image, the enunciable quality, flatten
the semantic richness of the image to profit from its immediate narrative function.
Only a descriptive reading—attentive, notably, to it graphic materiality—and an
interpretive reading allows the image to deploy all of its significations and
resonances. (127)
I complicate Groensteen’s notions because to read race simply the source’s “graphic
materiality” disservices the origins of visual stereotypes that exist in comics, especially those
pertinent to race. The comic book character, in this case the superhero, must not be read as a
homogenous figure but as one open to many interpretations. Through Groensteen we have
the opportunity to extrapolate on the superhero’s meanings gleaned from their actions,
biographies, and artistic representation and its relation to Asian American identity.
Asian American Studies development on academia specifically on Asian American
representation as well as Asian American masculinity continues to inform and challenge
hegemony. While there is a oeuvre of academic literature discussing race and comics, few
texts exists on Asian American superheroes. One of the few academic pieces is Wilbert
Mui’s Master’s Thesis “The Uncanny Chinaman: Asians in the Modern Age of Marvel.”
The title of Mui’s thesis is a play on the popular Marvel series Uncanny X-Men and also
utilizes the same symbolisms of ostracized mutants in relation to the representations of
Asians in comics as perpetual foreigners and that Asian characters are personifications of
Asian stereotypes. While my research does bear similarities, my research does not chronicle
a vast catalogue of Asian superheroes preferring to focus more in depth on particular traits.
Secondly, my research focuses on specifically Asian American superheroes rather than the
entire roster of Asian superheroes. While Mui does focus on a milieu of established Asian
and a relative few of Asian American characters, Mui elides on referencing Jimmy Woo from
Agents of Atlas though he references the title. His focus on examining weakness in Asian
characters is stopped short at examining the worth of a strong Asian American superhero.
My research on the Asian American superhero furthers that while Asian Americans are kept
 24

stereotypical in origins, their portrayals account for much stronger characterizations and
divergent from the narratives that Mui explores. The storylines of Takeda, Cho, and Woo
demonstrate the distinctions now being made for Asian American superheroes.
Distinction of the Asian American body is the driving force of Lisa Lowe’s
Immigrant Acts: On Asian American Cultural Politics which remains one of the most
influential books on Asian American representation in America. Lowe’s seminal theory on
developing Asian American representation that entails “heterogeneity, hybridity, and
multiplicity in the characterization of Asian American culture as part of a twofold argument
about cultural politics, the ultimate aim of which is to disrupt the current hegemonic
relationship between ‘dominant’ and ‘minority’ positions” (66-67). She utilizes this
argument to discuss how different Asian ethnicities are often homogenized into singular
identities. Lowe’s theory is crucial to my research because the Asian American superheroes
demonstrate how these hegemonic and stereotypical representations limit the potential of the
Asian American community. More specifically there is an overwhelming notion that Asia is
comprised of only East Asia.
Postcolonial Studies scholar Edward Said’s Orientalism provides vital framework for
discussing the origins of Orientalism and its progressions. Said gives us the tools to explore
how Orientalism participates in modern discourse and thought. As I explore the
representations of Asian Americans wrapped in Orientalist stereotypes, the distinctions Said
makes is between “an almost unconscious (and certainly an untouchable) positivity…[called]
latent Orientalism, and the various stated views about Oriental society, languages, literatures,
history, sociology, and so forth…manifest Orientalism” (206) which take place within the
editorial board and readership for the former and the semiotics and system of comics in the
latter. Latent and manifest Orientalism intrinsically are a part of the Asian American
superheroes creation and viewing. Thus since latent Orientalism guides how comic book
readership will respond to a character, and the superseding goal is to make money for the
survival of the book; the Asian American superhero must be subjected to the lenses of
manifest Orientalism.
David L. Eng’s exploration of masculinity in Racial Castration: Managing
Masculinity in Asian America through the intersections of Asian American Studies and
psychoanalysis provides the framework to interpret the visual nature of the Asian American
 25

superhero. Eng’s writing on identification provides important framework for understanding

the trappings of race and how identification of idealized images can become fragmented.
Additionally, Eng argues:
idealized images such as masculinity, heterosexuality, and racialization also imply
an obverse set of images such as femininity, homosexuality, and racialization.
These culturally devalued images are ones that socially marked subjects are
encouraged to loath. Even more, they are encouraged to disidentify with these
images. When held to these unpleasant and devalued identifications, the subject
experiences them as external impositions, which leads to a negative sense of self
and a psychic sense of dislocation. (115)
Eng’s work demonstrates that Asian American masculinity differs from white masculinity.
Additionally, Eng’s work substantiates the assertion that Asian American superheroes are not
taken seriously or followed by a larger body of readers. Navigating Eng’s book was difficult
due to the intricate arguments and bodies of work he covers. This difficulty is representative
of the first book of its kind seeking to intersect two very distinct academic disciplines. Asian
American superheroes, according to Eng, fall victim to being on the weaker side of an
hegemonic binary.
Ronald Takaki’s Strangers from a Distant Shore: A History of Asian Americans
delivers a comprehensive history of Asian experience in the United States and the push and
pull factors that lead them to immigrate. Takaki blends together historical event and records
of oral histories to bring to light the untold narratives of Asians in America. Takaki’s work
provides a framework for analyzing the development and representations of Asian Americans
superheroes. The notion of being a “stranger from a distant shore” and being a superhero
complicates the notion of the hero’s mission because while the superhero is fighting a pro-
social mission, that mission is usually on the micro level for the benefit of the state. Since
Asian American superheroes are considered perpetual foreigners, there is mistrust in their
actions really being “American.” Takaki’s detailed histories of different Asian ethnic
communities demonstrate heterogeneity, hybridity, and multiplicity Lowe argues for.
The one work I am using extensively in this project is Peter Coogan and Dennis
O'Neil's Superhero: The Secret Origins of a Genre published in 2006. Coogan and O'Neil
provide a steady groundwork for the definitions of a superhero which I use to demonstrate
the rhetorical outlay of modern Asian American superheores. The definition Coogan and
O'Neil provide originates from the verdict of Action Comics vs. Fawcett Comics by Judge
 26

Learned Hand deals a comprehensive definition by which we can discuss what embodies a
superhero. Besides the chapter on the “Definition of the Superhero”, the chapter on “The
Ideology of the Superhero” demonstrates how political leanings are inflected into the story
by the creative boards. Coogan and O'Neil discuss how the brand of the superhero is more
concerned with “power and justice—physical, economic, ideological—both within the
narratives themselves and in scholarly analyses of them. As such, superheroes can be read as
liberating or oppressing” (Coogan and O'Neil 238). This interesting concept complicates
how to interpret the Asian American superhero’s action. Furthermore, it demonstrates that a
superhero’s actions and the good they accomplish is relative. This complicates the image of
the Asian American superhero since they appear to be outside the discourse of the American
narrative and are postured to seem the antithesis to that narrative, attention must be paid to
the methods in which they save the day.
 27

CHAPTER 4

THE WALKING DREAD: HAZMAT,

TOMORROW’S AVENGER [?]

The newest Asian American superhero introduced to the Marvel Universe is Jennifer
Takeda, also known as her superhero identity, Hazmat. Introduced in Avengers Academy #1
the series showcased a particular set of young up and coming superheroes; these teenage,
student superheroes were chosen for the academy because of their backgrounds stipulated
they were the closest to becoming supervillains. Hazmat, the team’s only Asian American
member is presented as the powerhouse due to her ability to shoot radiation beams. Avengers
Academy was first published in June 2010 and ran for 39 issues when the series ending in
2012. The Avengers Academy students were also featured in crossover appearances in
Amazing Spider-Man, Thunderbolts, and Avengers Academy Annual. A majority of Avengers
Academy dealt with the students’ knowledge that they were only chosen for the academy
because of their likelihood to become villains but also mastering their abilities to become
certified Avengers. Hazmat is the only member that hates the she is a superhero. Hazmat is
a progressive representation of younger Asian Americans but is a contemporary heroine
created using Orientalist tropes. Her journey to accepting her powers and becoming a fully
active and valued member of the team, albeit as the sardonic anti-hero, demonstrates that
Asian American superheroes are now being written to challenge stereotypes.
Hazmat’s existence in the Marvel Universe creates serious questions of gender, the
Asian American body, and masculinity. How do Hazmat’s nuclear powers affect her
humanity and how does that affect her sense of duty as a superhero? How is the model
minority stereotype defied with the knowledge that Hazmat was chosen because of her high
possibility of becoming a supervillain? And lastly, what does Hazmat’s self-contained
isolationism in her say about the Asian American condition?
 28

GROWING PAINS
As a student and an Avenger in training, Hazmat’s journey to becoming a superhero
is marked with many challenges, both as a superhuman and teenager, during her induction
into the Academy. Hazmat’s hails from a rich interracial family is rich living in a posh
suburb of San Francisco. She is a role model college bound student and socially popular.
Her family is part of the American social dynamic, not causing political or societal trouble.
This normalcy changes with the manifestation of Hazmat’s powers while she begins to be
sexually intimate with her boyfriend. In one fell swoop Hazmat loses every aspect of her life
as her body reeks radiation and toxins risking the lives of any within close proximity to her.
Hazmat is shown to be doomed to a life of isolationism trapped in her containment suit. The
loss of her entire world, includes the near deaths of her parents and ex-boyfriend and the
death of her dog symbolically demonstrates that while the Asian American community
appears to be assimilated into American culture, the threat of it upending remains a constant
afterthought. The growing pains of becoming an adult and a superhero are prevalent in
Hazmat’s development. Her evolution of Hazmat’s character correlates with her acceptance
of her identity as a hero, a journey which parallels how Orientalist stereotypes impact her
narrative. Hazmat’s cynicism and sardonic wit is typically used to make light of the life and
death fights and the teenage life her and her fellow teammates find themselves in.
Furthermore she demonstrates the propensity to follow through on threats and lead her
teammates awry and in defiance of her teachers. Hazmat’s headstrong nature plays into the
Dragon Lady stereotype of her being a dominant female and one sometimes without remorse.
Hazmat is seem focusing on her own agenda on numerous occasion. She pursues vengeance
on Norman Osborn, the man who instigated the increase in her powers after their initial
appearance.
During a scared straight session planned by her school’s instructors, she initiates an
EMP blast which takes out the security of a superhuman prison called the Raft, a skill
unknown to the faculty. Hazmat and two other Avengers Academy students stand at the cliff
as they decide to kill or leave Osborn be. The students ultimately do not kill Osborn, which
demonstrates that Hazmat possesses selfless qualities. The pursuit of vengeance and
fulfilling a personal vendetta does not comply with Coogan and O'Neil's definition of a
superhero. Furthermore, students going rouge and acting as a hit squad demonstrates more of
 29

the route of possible supervillains, which the series plot indicates for the characters. If
Hazmat’s anger comes from the isolation and loneliness of her physical self imposed exile in
her suit, a radioactive resistant polymer that diminishes the toxicity her body exudes, this
reprieve separates Hazmat from experiencing real sounds, touch, and seeing which she sense
through the audio equipment and visor of her helmet. Coming to terms with her situation
rectifies her selfishness and brings about her heroic selflessness. Hazmat’s growth from this
isolation expresses growth in the Asian American identity breaking from the confines of self-
containment and moving and participating into the greater narrative.
Hazmat’s questionable attitude leads her into another group foray which almost
results in her expulsion from the academy. When her classmates find out that their
instructor, Tigra, was assaulted by criminal mastermind The Hood and the ordeal videotaped
and disseminated to the internet and other media sources, Hazmat is part of the team which
savagely beats him in retaliation. This experience delivers another note of Hazmat’s failure
to be neatly defined as a superhero. It is after this ordeal that she receives a one day break
with the mutant Leach1 which grants her a one day break from being a walking weapon of
mass destruction. Her exuberant return to life as a teenager is shattered when her parents
express disdain more from the lack of a permanent cure. She turns down the opportunity to
have a weekly day with Leach on the grounds she wants to always be ready for battle and
furthermore a commitment to working on her own issues. This act of selflessness for her
own growth and her teammates demonstrates a growth in Hazmat’s character. Choosing to
no longer feel sorry for herself, Hazmat’s developing sense of selflessness becomes more
evident in her interactions with other teammates. Her determination demonstrates an
ownership of her responsibilities as a superhero. Hazmat is not an unwilling cog in the
machine, but an active driver in the determination of the Avengers. The important singular
fact of Hazmat’s actions is her ability to make an independent choice. Hazmat demonstrates
recognition of surpassing her own struggles and transcending as an Asian American
superhero.

1
Leach is a mutant with the power to dampen a superhero’s power for a temporary period. His mutation
is physical featuring oval eyes and green skin.
 30

This selflessness evolves during the Fear Itself arc when Hazmat chooses to stay
behind to trigger the kill switch for their base’s self destruct after the Absorbing Man and
Titania possessed by the spirits of two Norse gods infiltrate their base in an attempt to kill
them. The notion of self sacrifice for the benefit of the team symbolizes Hazmat’s
acceptance of her path and conscious of moral choices. She must let her friends escape and at
the same time, destroy their headquarters which is on a crash course for New York City.
Hazmat is ultimately saved by Avengers Academy headmaster Giant Man but her choice to
be the suicide switch demonstrates the prosocial nature. Hazmat’s decision to be left behind
may seem relative to her condition and an out to living a life as a walking nuclear power
plant. Hazmat’s actions contradicts the Yellow Peril stereotypes brought on by her Japanese
heritage being synonymous with kamikaze fighters in WWII. She is not simply acting out of
blind loyalty for a nation or cause, rather for herself, her friends, and because it is the heroic
action. Hazmat’s heroism in the Fear Itself arc, thus, symbolizes the increasingly visible
Asian American contributions to American history.
Hazmat’s finality in accepting her superhero life comes in the last major arc of
Avengers Academy. The arc entitled “Final Exam” follows the team’s final mission in take
down Jeremy Briggs, a superhuman with the power to change everything on a chemical level.
This arc proves to be pivotal for Hazmat because Briggs cures her of her powers and her and
Mettle, who is also cured, are able to spend time together as normal human beings. Of
course, Briggs has ulterior motives and the team is forced to come together and bring him.
Hazmat and Mettle sacrifice their short time and their only chance at being human forever
when they take the antidote to recover their powers. This of course causes Hazmat to
become radioactive again. She does receive one last coup de grace to her normalcy because
her powers help reactivate Mettle’s invulnerability and super strength by burning off his skin
and revealing his iconic red skeletal body after their final kiss as “humans”. Hazmat’s
greatest sacrifice solidifies her as a superhero because she prioritizes the safety of her friends
and the world over her own happiness which was a major component of her plotlines for the
series. By accepting her role as an Avenger, Hazmat emblematically represents the Asian
American community actualizing and taking an active role in American politics. By
choosing to keep her powers, Hazmat’s actions symbolizes that the Asian American
population is not looking to be assimilated butseen as part of the American narrative.
 31

A WALKING W.M.D.
From Avengers Academy #1 - Permanent Record, Part 1 the reader sees that Hazmat
nearly kills everyone dear to her. Hazmat’s entire body emits radiation at an alarming rate
able to kill an adult with prolonged exposure. While in her containment suit Hazmat is able
to shoot controlled blasts of radiation at will. Her containment suit which is able to channel
those energies into sustained blasts which she can control in various levels of discharges.
Hazmat’s powers affect her entire biological system, not only does she exude radiation but
her tears, saliva, breath, seminal fluids are all toxic as well. This leaves Avengers Academy
teammate, Mettle, as the only one who can provide close physical comfort to Hazmat without
her suit, thus her powers and costume defeminizes and asexualizes rendering the notions that
Asian American female sexuality simultaneously dangerous and inert. With nuclear
armaments a major issue in global politics as well as nuclear energy and the aftermath of the
nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan Hazmat becomes symbolic entry into talking about
Asian American and global issues.
Hazmat’s powers are demonstrated in two ways. The first in her costume which
allows her to shoot the radiation in controlled bursts depicted by green energies. The second
as an aura around her body when she is out of her costume. While an aura does not
specifically envelop her every representation she has been seen being wrapped in it both in
and out of costume (Gage, Avengers Academy #36 - Final Exam, Part 3) or very
symbolically such as a glowing green light through her window from the outside (Gage,
Avengers Academy #39 - Commencement). Hazmat’s powers seem to increase with the rise
of her emotions, particularly when enraged her fists glow green in anticipation of the usage
of her powers. The emotional component of her powers subverts the model minority
stereotypes that Asian Americans are emotionless drones. The aura and increased efficacy of
her powers due to emotions erode demonstrates on the visual symbolic level that Asian
Americans emote.
This usage of an Asian American superhero with nuclear powers is no coincidence;
especially when it’s linked to Hazmat’s Japanese background. Nuclear powers evoke the
fear of nuclear warfare specifically the fear of nuclear warfare on American soil as well as
the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. Conjuring the Yellow Peril
stereotype, Hazmat represents the threat of war, in the American psyche by China and North
 32

Korea. The possession of nuclear superpowers and the need to control then becomes
consubstantial with American and the United Nations’ efforts to isolate North Korea in its
pursuits of nuclear armaments. Also, Osborn’s expansion of her powers and the channeling
abilities of her suit are symbolic stand-ins for the weaponization of radioactive materials.
Hazmat further symbolizes the threat of nuclear war due through the weaponization and
mastery of her powers. Furthermore, because Hazmat is Japanese American, the memories
of America’s usage of an atom bomb being used to attack Hiroshima and Nagasaki become
recognizable.
Hazmat also has secondary abilities. Hazmat was shown to produce a powerful
electromagnetic pulse which disabled the security and power for the Raft. This power is kept
a secret by Hazmat. She only uses this ability once and it his placed into obscurity. During
the team’s prison visit, Hazmat does not show any compunction in utilizing her powers,
especially in her gambit to assassinate Norman Osborn. She threatens an inmate who tries to
take her hostage with the prospects of getting cancer. Hazmat is also able to use her radiation
in different ways for certain situations. Hazmat is able to fluctuate the amounts of radiation
and use it to disable assailants nonfatally similar to the Active Denial System used by the
military (Gage, Avengers Academy #21 - Welcome, Students) or produce anti-matter (Gage,
Avengers Academy #12 - Put Away Childish Things) which leads to her saving the day when
the reality altering being Korvac returns to earth. Hazmat’s mastery of her powers
symbolizes the stereotype that Asian Americans are talented at everything. While this may
be an advantageous stereotype it also creates imbalances for Asian ethnic groups such as
Cambodian and Thai students which may receive less help because of the implications of the
model minority. Hazmat’s narrative provides that the Asian American community is one of
limitless potential where abilities can transcend in innumerable destinations. Hazmat’s
mastery of powers doe not simply represent the diversity in which the Asian American
community contributes American society.

CHERNOBYL IN ABERCROMBIE AND FITCH

Before the series’ premier, six posters were released featuring the heroes of the series.
Hazmat’s poster featured the quote “I am a weapon of mass destruction” followed by her
codename stylized in yellow and black capitalized block letters with the letter “A” stylized
 33

with the triangular Hazmat symbol ("Last Two Revealed"; See Figure 2 in Appendix). Her
codename already implies a poisonous implication of origin and this same message of
lethality is transmitted into Hazmat’s costume. Hazmat’s costume is yellow jumpsuit lined
with black on the sides with a yellow helmet which partially shows her face specifically her
eyes and her nose. Without being able to see her face clearly because the glass panel for her
helmet is often times in colored blue, physical signifiers are symbolic to understanding how
Hazmat is Asian. The reader when looking at Hazmat’s face a reader naturally will look to
the face for expression. However, you are focused only on her eyes which are a significant
stereotype of the Asian American community. This physical trait, in conjunction of
Hazmat’s Bruce Lee-esque costume, also evokes the same kind of correlation with race and
identification. But moreover, the yellow of the costume indirectly indicates that Hazmat is
Asian, a vestige of the visual rhetoric in comic books to denote a character’s race was
“Asian”.
The costume is an important aspect of Hazmat’s origin and biography. Hazmat, when
she is first seen in her costume by her fellow students, is described as “Chernobyl in
Abercrombie and Fitch” (Gage, Avengers Academy #1 - Permanent Record, Part 1). Thus a
connotation of wealth and style is ascribed to Hazmat’s body following the model minority
stereotype of assimilation and wealth of Asian Americans in the United States. What is also
ascribed in that statement is the sense of peril because of the reference to the doomed Soviet
nuclear power plant and community Chernobyl. By referencing the most severe nuclear
meltdown in modern history is perpetually demonstrated as emotional breakdown and the
discharge of her powers. This allusion to Chernobyl is seen on the cover Avengers Academy
#37 - Final Exam, Part 4 (See Figure 3 in Appendix) depicting Hazmat’s compromised suit
failing and all of the radiation spilling out of her hands and eyes vaulting upwards. This
cover also demonstrates the sexualization of Asian American women. Hazmat’s powers
manifested as a teenager when she was about to engage in sexual intercourse (Gage,
Avengers Academy #3 - Scared Straight, Part 1: Boyfriend in a Coma) which leads her to
shun having human contact without the aid of her suit. She eventually begins a relationship
with teammate Mettle. However their first attempt at having sex (Gage, Avengers Academy
#21 - Welcome, Students) breaks down as Hazmat’s emotional stigma from nearly killing her
parents and ex-boyfriend overwhelm her. Hazmat is finally able to move past her emotional
 34

trauma when her and Mettle is consummate their relationship (Gage, Avengers Academy #39
- Commencement). These representations complicate the narrative of Asian American
women as sexualized object of desire. Hazmat’s powers cut her off from the world
physically as well as emotionally. This isolation subverts the Dragon Lady stereotype as
Hazmat seeks to distance herself from everyone due to her condition and her powers.
Hazmat’s choice to isolate herself demonstrates the underlying current of how Asian
Americans seek recognition as Americans yet are placed out of the narrative due to external
forces: radioactive powers/foreign perceptions. However, with Hazmat’s further diligence in
proving herself to be an integral part of the Avengers Academy team and leadership Hazmat
displays the image of strength, leadership, and loyalty; elements considered not
consubstantial with Asian American identity.

CONCLUSION
Hazmat’s representation displays usage of the Trojan Stereotype due to her
acceptance of being superhuman and, as an Avenger, demonstrating symbolizing a break
from the isolationist and perpetually foreigner stereotypes held to Asian Americans.
Hazmat’s nuanced biography leads her to be the most progressive Asian American female
superhero in Marvel. Furthermore, with speculation that Hazmat may be leading a new team
of Avengers, writers and artist present Asian Americans are not shying away from
hypersexualization from her poses and or biography. While her costume plays a particular
role in challenging the hypersexualization drawn onto the bodies of many superhero women,
Hazmat’s costume demonstrates the role of applying stereotypes that demonstrate Hazmat’s
identity as Asian and as woman. Hazmat’s story continues in the new series Avengers Arena
where she is already being debated as becoming a new leader of an Avengers team in online
forums. The biography and adventures of Hazmat prove that creating original story content
including Asian American characters can be recognized and complicated characters.
 35

CHAPTER 5

ONCE UPON A MYTH: THE HERO’S JOURNEY

OF AMADEUS CHO

Amadeus Cho can easily be described as a blatant representation of the model

minority stereotype, however that is superficial. Cho was introduced in 2007 in Amazing
Fantasy #15 - Mastermind Excello as an ally to the Hulk. Creator Greg Pak, an Asian
American writer, featured Cho as an integral part of the smash hit story arc, World War Hulk.
Cho is the newest Asian American male superhero in the Marvel Universe. Cho is the one
character who has appeared in many of the Marvel event arcs for a better part of the decade
since his inception. Cho has been a ostensible force in the Marvel Universe. He was an
important player during and after the events of World War Hulk and later in following the
Secret Invasion of earth by the shape shifting Skrulls. Cho also serves as an Avenger during
the Dark Reign arc serving with the Greek demi-god Hercules, eventually leading him to lead
the Prince of Power mini-series which heralded the mini-event Chaos War written by Greg
Pak and Fred Van Lente featuring penciling from Khoi Pham. Cho was not returned to the
sidekick role with the return of Hercules but stood as a hero in his own right (See Figure 4 in
Appendix).
Cho’s paradigm as a superhero is guided by a subversion of the model minority
stereotype. Intended to be the “seventh smartest person in the world” (Pak, Amazing Fantasy
#15 - Mastermind Excello) Cho is anything but a complicated variation of the personified
model minority stereotype and an even more complex human being. Cho’s character
problematizes the intersection of the model minority and the superhero. Specifically when an
Asian American attains power is that individual regarded by his own merits or by the allies
who help them to it? How does the vision of the emasculated Asian American male impact
the creation and reception of the Asian American superhero? What does a smart Asian
American superhero accomplish?
 36

ONE AGAINST THE WORLD

Amadeus is still in high school when his life becomes one of superheroism. At the
age of 16, Cho wins the Excello Soap Company Brain Fight contest where he is proclaimed
to be the seventh smartest person on earth. The victory is bittersweet as Cho’s parents are
murdered and his sister goes missing. This leads Cho into a bellicose state, distrustful of
people in general. He is nearly arrested for his pet coyote but is saved by Bruce Banner, who
later saves him as the Hulk. This act of heroism inspires Cho’s unmitigated loyalty to the
Hulk. While loyalty is undoubtedly part of the definition of the superhero I am framing, Cho
does not meet this paradigm in his initial appearance when he allies with the Hulk in his bid
for vengeance against the Illuminati2 for his exile from earth and at the time the death of the
planet he became the ruler of. Cho blindly believes that the Hulk would never take a life, a
belief that is crushed when the Hulk is captured at the end of the series. It is Cho’s naiveté
and disillusion of the government that Cho acts rebellious and at times displays anarchist
rhetoric. Cho’s anger over the death of his family is his driving motivation for his continued
distrust and hatred for S.H.I.E.L.D.. This disgruntled and skeptical attitude is seen in World
War Hulk: Aftersmash as Cho begrudgingly assists S.H.I.E.L.D. in calculating and repairing
the collateral damage from Hulk’s war on New York City. While it is pro-social and selfless
to make sure New York City did not turn into the greatest sinkhole in the world, Cho’s
suspicions of S.H.I.E.L.D. leads him to realize his further involvement with S.H.I.E.L.D.
would lead to Cho being used to calculate and implement military strategies.
Cho’s refusal to be a pawn of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the government demonstrates his
active role as a superhero but more in the vein as an anti-hero. This is seen in his initial
adventures with new traveling companion Hercules as they attempt to escape from
S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hercules’ half brother Ares. Cho nearly crosses the line when he launches
a computer virus which causes the destruction of the entire S.H.I.E.L.D. infrastructure. It is
only after Hercules’ intervention in making him see his own anger at himself is causing him

2
The Illuminati is a secret alliance comprised by Iron Man, Charles Xavier,Reed Richards, Namor, Dr.
Strange, and Black Bolt who as some of the most intelligent and strongest beings on earth sought to keep the
peace in the shadows. Their decision to exile the Hulk came as a bittersweet sweet solution to cease the
immense damage he would cause on his rampage. The shuttle in which they exile the Hulk is used by one of
the Hulk’s alien allies, Miek, to destroy the planet Sakaar. Miek, subsequently frames the Iluminati and begins
the Hulk’s war against the Illuminati and earth.
 37

to destroy an organization which has done much good in the world that Cho relents. It is this
act of repentance that ushers Cho’s into acting for the greater good rather than his own
desires.
Through his adventures with Hercules, Cho becomes an invaluable asset and member
to the Mighty Avengers lead by Hank Pym, in his guise as the Wasp. As an adventurer Cho
fights side by side with Hercules saving the universe in Secret Invasion, the earth in Battle
for New Olympus and finally the existence of the universe in Chaos War. Cho’s evolution
from a sidekick to stand alone hero reveals how Marvel is engaging in creating more
characters of color via the Trojan stereotype. While the representations and portrayals of
Amadeus Cho demonstrate his evolution into a hero like his peers, the reception of Cho as a
leader is often challenged Cho sees time as a leader in the events of Siege where he leads the
remnants of the Mighty Avengers after Hank Pym’s latest mental breakdown. Cho summons
and brings the Mighty Avengers to battle in the ruins of Asgard demonstrate the amount of
respect his teammates have for Cho to lead them through the mission of saving Asgard from
invasion. Cho does not simply lead and direct as his power and forte would suggest but
enters combat against Mr. X an expert mutant assassin with low-level telepathy. Mr. X’s
abilities give him a major advantage over Cho’s team but during his fight with Cho, Mr. X is
defeated when Cho uses randomized actions such as throwing a quiver of arrows into the air
and letting them rain on Mr. X to subdue him (See Figure 5 in Appendix). Cho proves to be
capable of leading the Avengers in the midst of a major event arc. Furthermore, his action of
assembling the Avengers counters Osborn’s plans of retrieving a magical artifact that could
tip the scale of power in Osborn’s favor. Cho fulfills the definition of mission in this respect
of the situation because Siege is an event where many characters died during the invasion of
Asgard. While the Mighty Avengers storyline in Siege is part of the larger narrative which
included the return of Steven Rogers and the death of Thor; Cho’s actions ensure all of the
Avengers a better margin of victory. The insurance of victory during the Siege arc
demonstrates that Asian Americans can lead a superhero team in a complex storyline. While
Cho’s actions still takes place with a peripheral team, as opposed to the one lead by Captain
America, Cho’s demonstration of leadership symbolizes Asian Americans ability to be
leaders as opposed to being relegated to the sidekick role.
 38

What is important to understanding about Cho’s Mighty Avengers team is that it is

not the official Avengers team for the United States. Cho’s Avenger series takes place
during the Dark Reign in which Norman Osborn installs supervillains masquerading as
superheroes as the official Avengers. While the Avengers act on behalf of the world, these
‘Dark Avengers’ are Osborn’s personal hit squad. Pym’s team is actually serviced by the
international organization the Global Reaction Agency for Mysterious Paranormal Activity
(G.R.A.M.P.A.). The mainstay Avengers, including Captain America, Spider-Man, and
Wolverine as part of the operative Avenger roster currently, went underground due to
Osborn’s consolidation of power were the focus of the title The New Avengers. Thus, Cho’s
appearance and designation as an Avenger cannot be counted since the Mighty Avengers do
not represent the interests of the United States unlike Osborn’s Avengers. This speaks to the
Asian American condition participation in the American narrative but not truly being a part
of it.
Cho is framed ultimately as a successor to Hercules to become the new Prince of
Power after Dark Reign, a title that the latter has held for millennia. This succession does not
mean that Cho will succeed Hercules as a traditional superhero. Hercules’ representation in
Marvel comics has been the “punch first, keep on punching” variety as his title corresponds
with the Greek Bronze Age as the “hero of strength” (Pak and Van Lente, The Incredible
Hercules #116 - Prologue to Sacred Invasion: Metamorphases). Amadeus is the opposite,
which leads to the representational binary of a white superhero vs. an Asian American
superhero, Amadeus is destined and prophesized by Hercules’ sister Pallas Athena for the
Iron Age to be the “Hero of the Mind.” Being a hero relying on logic rather than strength,
Cho falls into the tropes of Orientalization and emasculation where Asian American men are
capable thinkers but are physically inept. Cho challenges these stereotypes when he saves
the world by coming up with a solution to destroy the Chaos King to end Chaos War by
capturing him in the Continuum world that had sucked in Hercules in Battle for New
Olympus. Cho’s heroism and quick thinking demonstrates the need of Cho’s intelligence and
the need to view intelligence as masculine.
The view of intelligence and thinking as effeminate as subservient to the masculinity
of direct combat and physicality is lionized in Cho’s appearance during the Fear Itself: The
Home Front when he assembles a team to fight against an invasion force threatening to
 39

destroy Honolulu, Hawaii. While Cho does participate in the battle physically, the effects of
the Model Minority stereotype cloud his teammates’ judgments of Cho’s ability to lead and
fight. Cho brings together a team of Avengers analogues in hopes of repelling and subduing
the assault, but also in the hopes that they could come together as a new Avenger team.
Since Cho is responsible for bringing them together he is, in effect, a nominal leader. The
team succeeds in saving Honolulu however the team is disbanded after the event in which
Cho is kicked in the crotch as the rest of the team storms off home angrily. It is not that Cho
is an incompetent leader, but rather his actions are seen as conniving. The original Avengers
team of Ant-Man, Wasp, Ironman, Thor, and the Hulk came together by the schemes of Loki
and only chose to keep working together when they saw how much good they could
accomplish. Cho’s vision was the same must only be disrupted by his ethnicity when
Thunderstrike challenges his masculinity and physical abilities. This argument is furthered
when Thunderstrike calls Cho “Hercules’ boyfriend” (Van Lente, Fear Itself: The Home
Front #5 - The Chosen, Part 1 of 3). This verbal altercation demonstrates that when Cho is
used by different authors that they will represent Asian American characters stereotypically
and reinforces the negative connotations and stereotypes of Asian American effeminacy.
Cho is not an ineffectual leader but the emasculation and the dissolution of the team cannot
be realized Cho as leader. This leads to the question if Cho had been honest with his
intentions in forming the team would they have answered the call and stayed to form a new
Avengers team? Cho’s appearance during the Fear Itself arc reinforces that Asian
Americans can be effective leaders in the field but public perception as well as professional
perception parleys Asian American non-desirability as leader and as hero. While this
representation can be construed as negative, the conversation evoked calls to question why is
sidestepped when he brought together a team to act in the best interest of America?
The white superhero challenging the masculinity of the Asian American superhero is
a design of creative unimaginability and the non-desire to showcase Asian American as a
possible direction for the Avengers. Thus the Trojan stereotype only works when writers,
artists, and an editorial board seek to push the boundary. “The Chosen” storyline ends with
Cho getting kicked in the crotch by X-23 when he asks if the team will stay together in front
a local news crew. This act of emasculation on Cho further denigrates the notion that an
Asian American male could lead a team of up and coming superheroes. It is not merely a
 40

comedic notion but reinforces the negative stereotypes of Asian American weakness. The
kick to the groin itself is an act of the Trojan Stereotype in action. The kick to the groin
causes the reader to consider, “what if?” What if the team Cho’s team stayed together?
While it leads to editorial concerns and the direction that Marvel undertakes, Cho’s
leadership sets the foundation for Asian American superheroes to become major players in
the Marvel Universe and for Asian Americans to take higher profile roles in American comic
culture.

THE SEVENTH SMARTEST PERSON ON THE PLANET

Amadeus Cho is uniquely gifted with a “hypermind”, someone who is able to process
immense calculations of all variable and possibilities in a given situation to command the
most advantageous outcome. Cho’s power is illustrated as math calculations around his head
to symbolize the expansive calculations he makes; they are often complex and elegant
equations such as the equations of the movement of kinetic energy, is a common expression
of Cho’s powers especially in situations when he is under fire. The demonstration of
complex math equations firing off to account for different possibilities leads many of his
allies such as Athena and Ajak to comment that he “recognizes patterns better that
99.9999999993% of people in the world” (Pak and Van Lente, The Incredible Hercules #117
- Sacred Invasion, Pt. 1: The God Squad) demonstrates that he is smarter than a majority of
the universe. Cho’s powers definitely make him an asset to any team or cause he sides with.
There are only a few people in the world who have the kind of intelligence that Cho
possesses, and for Cho to be in the top ten signifies that Cho was intended by his creator,
Pak, to really make a significant impact in the Marvel Universe. Despite being an Asian
American superhero that is super smart, Cho’s abilities allow him to be a game changer. The
second physical aspect of Cho’s powers is that they are inked in neon pink. The color pink is
used to symbolize Cho’s brain power but also connotes a feminine or queer persona which is
counter to the hypermasculine imagery of the white, male American superhero. The choice
of color hints at a sense of emasculation because Cho is not like a traditional superhero who
fights with his fists. It is not simply an aspect of color since the man who killed his parents,
Pythagoras Dupree, possesses the same powers as Cho, the only difference is that his
calculation color is green. The usage of engendered colors denotes that there is apprehension
 41

on behalf of the artists and the editorial board of presenting a masculine Asian American
hero. Despite all of the good and potential good that Cho can do, these tiny microagressions
of race are still prevalent in how Amadeus is presented.
After the fall of Hercules, the next biggest power that Cho gets is wealth. Cho is
appointed as CEO of the Olympus Group, a proxy organization that houses the financial
assets of the Greek pantheon. The convention and excitement of superhero comics are the
fights. Physical fights whether they are hand to hand, ranged, magic, or via technological
proxy are preferred to the methods which Cho employs. But would thoughts change about
Cho if he adopted the more physical and direct combat route? And what does the increase of
Cho’s abilities and power say about the Asian American condition?
Cho inherits Hercules’ divine adamantine mace which he begins to use in more direct
combat. Also armed with a large assortment of Bruce Banner’s technology and
immeasurable wealth from the Olympus Group, he is able to equip himself to the degree
Reed Richards and Ironman are able to. Cho has access to subspace pockets from his time
with Pym and is able to use those hold armaments which he can use at a moment’s notice.
He has also used the adamantine mace to channel energy bursts which makes him a long
range as well as a close up fighter. This milieu of abilities places Cho on a level where he
fights many supervillains and superheroes head on without difficulty. This differentiates
Cho’s earlier appearances as only contributing as the sidekick rather than acknowledged as a
primary superhero fighting in the front lines.
Cho demonstrates a different representation with the mace when he combines both his
Hypermind abilities and actual physical combat. This changes the pattern of Cho’s fighting
abilities since the conjunction of both power fighting styles places Cho as a formidable
fighter able to calculate innumerable strategies to defeat powerful opponents. This fighting
style is predominantly seen in Prince of Power #1-4, Chaos War, and Fear Itself: The
Homefront. Cho is shown not fighting using martial arts such as Tae Kwon Do or Kung Fu,
he is just swinging the mace as hard as he can, thus the skill he displays is not honed
technical expertise it is one of calculated usage of force. Amadeus Cho subverts the passivity
of the model minority stereotype by adapting a more brash, brawling fighting style rather
than honed martial arts. By displacing the notions that all Asian Americans are martial artists
Cho dispels the notions of the “sensei” and sidekick stereotypes dominating American media.
 42

While Cho fulfilled the stereotypical techie and strategy planner role, the evolution of Cho’s
character demonstrates Asian Americans more equally adept to the epic hand to hand battles
expected of the superhero genre.

MASTERMIND OF POWER
Amadeus Cho is known by his real name and two other aliases: Mastermind Excello
(Pak, Amazing Fantasy #15 - Mastermind Excello) and the Prince of Power (Pak and Van
Lente, Heroic Age: Prince of Power #1 - Blasphemy Can Be Fun). The Mastermind Excello
codename which Cho debuts with pays homage to the Marvel Golden Age character Earl
Everett the original Master Mind Excello. Cho’s abilities as a Hypermind is similar to
Everett’s abilities as a low-level telepath because they are able to see and predict possible
outcomes thereby crafting the future to their advantage. As the modern day permutation of
Mastermind Excello, the notion of omniscience, which underlies Cho’s abilities,
demonstrates that he is more powerful than his white predecessor. Thus, Cho becomes
vaunted way to critique intelligence within the realms of race and gender to dismantle the
negative connotations of the Model Minority stereotype. This tribute to the Golden Age
comics superhero Mastermind Excello and his legacy successor demonstrates Marvel’s
reimagining the Marvel Universe for better diversity and representation of the American
narrative. While Cho is known as Mastermind Excello, this name is linked to the murder of
his parents and the disappearance of his sister Maddie. And for a majority of his appearances
he is only referred to by his real name. This non-usage of his superhero identity by other
characters is assumedly is due to his age. While there are many superheroes that use their
real name, it begets the question of why he is referred to by his name by his allies.
Due to Cho’s connections to Hercules and Athena, Pak and Van Lente use Cho to
demonstrate that Asian Americans can be heroes. This action is predominantly seen in Cho’s
solo adventure when he defeats Dupree. Throughout the books, Cho’s storyline is narrated
with passages of Joseph Campbell’s description of the hero’s journey (Pak and Van Lente,
The Incredible Hercules #133 - Road of Trials). This insertion of Cho into the narratives is a
direct rhetorical action to bring Asian American’s into the fold of western narratives. By
incorporating Cho into the theory of the hero’s journey and demonstrating Cho’s biography
 43

with it, Cho becomes accessible and understandable with the basic story structure and his
development into a superhero.
As Mastermind Excello, Cho does not have a standard costume. Throughout his
appearance, Cho always wears regular clothes. The precedent of wearing normal clothes was
established through his appearances in The Incredible Hulk, The Incredible Hercules, and
The Mighty Avengers titles. This aspect of his character leads him not to be definable as a
superhero in the context of Coogan’s definition. The normalcy of Cho’s attire, mostly jeans
and a rugged green jacket invokes the meaning of ordinariness and sets no special identifiers
to mark Cho as a superhero. It is within the visage of normalcy that despite not wearing a
standard costume Cho still produces great feats of heroism. Cho’s everyday clothing also
speaks to the perception of Asian American passivity. By not producing a uniform he is not
a part of the superhero narrative, just like the Asian American experience is not part of the
greater American narrative. Thus, the regular clothes do not just symbolize the anti-hero and
teenager facets of Cho’s character, but the rhetoric of an Asian American community that
does not make trouble.
Cho’s costume changes to an expensive suit made of alpaca llama fur when he adopts
the Prince of Power title following Hercules’ death. He is known by this title, not his code
name starting in the Prince of Power mini-series, Chaos War, and is identified by this code
name in Fear Itself: The Homefront. His utilization of his title rather than his codename,
which still stands as Excello Mastermind, serves to further differentiate Cho from the
paradigm of traditional superheroes. This continues the views of Asian American men not
measuring up to western ideas of masculinity. Cho’s formal attire in his suit connotes the
business mentality and since Cho becomes more active when he receives Hercules’ mace, the
assimilation of the usage of force to his long-established usage of his mind becomes
symbolic of assimilation into American culture. This binary of science and magic mirrors
the binary of west and east. This binary is challenged due to Cho being an natural born
American citizen, a lifelong Arizona resident. This is referenced intensively that Cho is
aware of politics when he is called an “eromenos” (Pak and Van Lente, The Incredible
Hercules #121 - Love and War, Part 1) by Delphynne Gorgon, a snake-haired Amazonian
descendant of Medusa who believes that Hercules and Cho are sexually intimate. Pak uses
this opportunity to challenge the narrative of effeminate/asexual Asian American men when
 44

he makes Delphynne Cho’s girlfriend. The implications of this pairing though demonstrates
that Asian American men are not in the same league as white or black men and thus Cho
must only enter into relationships and sexual encounters with fallen women. This parallels
the history of Asian men in America. Due to legislation being passed barring the entry of
Asian women, Asian men started dating white, black, and Mexican women predominantly on
the west coast. The parallel demonstrates that racial discrimination of Asian American men
still occurs. Pak and Van Lente’s portrayal of Cho’s ongoing relationship is a testament
supporting more complicated representations of Asian American men in relationships.

CONCLUSION
Amadeus Cho’s development demonstrates how an Asian American writer can
impact the biography and efficacy of an Asian American superhero. Cho’s representation as
normal yet possessing incredible abilities speaks of the Asian American community need to
be seen with more imagination. Greg Pak’s creation has seen a variety of representations
from different writers and artists. Yet the majority of progress Cho’s character saw in the
story was from Pak. Cho as a CEO and Prince of Power and a former Avenger is someone
that cannot remain out of play for so long. Cho’s current run in Frank Cho’s Savage
Wolverine demonstrates that an Asian American writer and artist can take Cho to new
territory in the storyline of one of Marvel’s most beloved characters. Cho’s evolution from
child delinquent to corporate executive/Greek mythology champion parallels his evolution
from sidekick to superhero. Starting Cho’s biography as an orphan and as a sidekick to
Hercules implants Cho in the tropes of being the dutiful Asian sidekick. His maturity
critiques how American media portrays Asian Americans and how the American public
consumes and processes these representations. Amadeus Cho provides the space to imagine
Asian Americans contemporarily as possessing strength and leadership. Furthermore,
Amadeus Cho creates a space within comic books to imagine Asian American males beyond
the scope of emasculation and periphery. The panoply of comics featuring Amadeus Cho
must be continued to be watched to see the development of his biography and as a method to
track the perception of the Asian American community.
 45

CHAPTER 6

THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KHAN: JIMMY

WOO, THE MAN ATOP OF ATLAS

Jimmy Woo is the oldest Asian American superhero involved in this research. Woo’s
first appearance was to challenge the Communist mandarin Yellow Claw in Yellow Claw #1
written 1956 by Al Feldstein and penciled by Joe Maneely. Woo has the distinction of being
the first Asian American superhero in Marvel Comics. Woo’s initial beginning as a Federal
Bureau of Investigation agent for the United States and later as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent is
complicated with his ascension as the leader ofthe Atlas Foundation lead by his arch nemesis
the Yellow Claw. Woo brings back together his old team, an eccentric and uncommon bunch
of superheores which eventually become the Agents of Atlas. Woo’s initial debut was one
that demonstrated a very progressive representation despite the usage of a Chinese American
hero vs. a Chinese villain. Overall, Woo’s large biography and recent books lead the
questions of the implications of an Asian American superhero leading a team of non-humans.
What does Woo’s ascension as Khan symbolize in the American psyche? Why does it take
an alternate universe to imagine Woo as the leader of the Avengers?

SECRET AGENT KHAN

Woo’s mission like any other superhero is to protect the world. Based in San
Francisco, Woo’s subterranean empire takes on a liberal and immigrant narrative with San
Francisco’s sizable Asian American population. While the Bay Area is Woo’s primary base
of operations their technological prowess allows Woo and his agents to traverse the world in
a matter of minutes. Woo’s secondary mission is to also clear the Atlas Foundation of all
illegal operations working under the Atlas banner or utilizing Atlas funding. These “evil”
operations were set up under his predecessor to provide Woo adequate challenges to build his
prestige and recognition where Plan hoped to see Woo ascend to high office in the FBI and
hopefully American government. However his Department Zero Team is disbanded by FBI
Director J. Edgar Hoover and Woo is sent into bureaucratic oblivion in the directorate of the
 46

S.H.I.E.L.D.. This passing over of recognition, especially after Woo’s first successful
mission of rescuing President Eisenhower from one of Plan’s plots, reveals the racism
directed at Asian Americans. While Woo dutifully completed all of his tasks, the mistrust of
his team of adventurers as well as Woo’s ethnicity demonstrates the intolerance of heroism
outside the white hero paradigm. As an American superhero, Woo is targeted not as a viable
hero deserving to be recognized. Thus, Woo’s ascension to the Khanate of the Golden Horde
while fulfilling a stereotypical representation provides the opportunity to challenge and
subvert the yellow peril stereotype. Woo and his team will not be recognized as superheroes
because of the Atlas Foundation’s criminal record. Nonetheless Woo demonstrates his
perseverance to heroism by reaching out to other superheroes.
Even though law enforcement agencies around the world consider the Atlas
Foundation a criminal organization, it is not without allies. Woo establishes alliances with
the X-Men and Cho’s organization the Olympus Group demonstrates a liberalization and
coalition of underrepresented groups. The alliance with the X-Men stems from Woo’s
mission to steal Cerebra, the X-Men’s telekinetic amplifier, while the alliance with the
Olympus Group stems from Cho’s ascension as the chief executive officer. Allying with the
X-Men, which at the time had formed its own autonomous state, symbolizes coalition
building practice of ethnic communities. This defies the notion that all Asians are
homogenous or that each Asian ethnic group carries its own unique struggles. It
demonstrates that minority communities oftentimes do not realize that they can accomplish
more by coming together rather than opposing each other.
Woo’s loyalty to the United States becomes secondary to the well being of the world.
However, the safety of the world is complicated by his body and memories returning to the
temporal state of 1958. Woo’s reincarnation heavily parallels that of Captain America as a
man out of time. Woo’s acclimation to the present proves to be psychologically traumatic.
Furthering the talks of Avengers, in Atlas #3-5 in an alternate universe, Woo is discovered to
have brought together the Avengers of that dimension. The role that Woo fulfills is one like
Charles Xavier who leads the X-Men. This discovery is only made when Woo and his team
travel to a bridge world parallel to theirs that was recently targeted by the alien threat they
were following. It is discovered that Woo’s leadership was imperative for the parallel
world’s success in repelling the alien invasion. The placement of this leadership in a parallel
 47

world rather than the 616 Universe demonstrates that an Asian American holding true
prominence as a superhero can only happen in an alternate reality. It also brings to light the
racist realities that limit the representation of Asian American superheroes. The imaginary
world also demonstrates the physical capabilities that Asian American men are barred from
in real life. While Woo is a prominent and decorated character of the 616 Universe, simply
because he is Asian American closes the doors of recognition and achievement.
By reintroducing Woo as the successor to his nemesis, readers recall the fantasies of
Fu Manchu and the threat posed by the Yellow Perils. The image of Woo as a marauding
Mongolian/Chinese American Khan is subverted by Woo using his “horde” for justice
internationally and, more importantly, in the American state undermines the notion of Asian
Americans acting in the interest of their ancestral homeland. Woo’s choice to rule Atlas by
his own self-determination and act in the interest of the United States subverts the perception
Asian Americans as perpetual foreigners.

THE ABILITY TO LEAD

Out of all the Agents of Atlas, Woo is considered the most normal of the bunch. He
in fact has no powers or augmented abilities save for the age reversal which brought him
back to the age of 25 from 65 years old at the expense of his memories. With his experience
as a secret agent, Woo is versed in many forms of martial arts, firearms training, and has
access to Uranian and Atlas technology which gives him a significant tactical advantage over
other fighters. Woo also does not like to be sidelined handling administrative duties. Often
getting chastised by his advisor, Mr. Lao, Woo is often on the frontlines with his inner circle.
This compulsion to lead by example demonstrates a contradiction to the passive obeying
automaton seen in Asian Americans. Woo is not the sidekick but the leader of an entire
super-powered team. His most significant ability is leading people efficiently. Woo’s
prowess as a leader is important because he portrays these abilities on the same level as his
white counterparts Captain America of the Avengers and Cyclops of the X-Men. His ability
to bring out his teammates skills portray that Asian Americans are not passive individuals
and can thrive in interpersonal situations. This power is not to be underestimated in terms of
efficacy and power as a superhero nor representation as an Asian American. The uncanny
ability to lead teams is a trait held by many titular characters such as Iron Man and Captain
 48

America. Whereas Iron Man and Captain America’s leadership stems from the intimate
knowledge of his team members, Woo demonstrates the same ability from brief looks at
dossiers; Woo excels at bringing a fledgling team fighting as a “ten year unit” (Parker,
Agents of Atlas #1 - The Golden History).
When Woo brought together his team, one of his team members M-11 the Human
Robot becomes an extension of Woo’s powers. While M-11 is a sentient robot capable of
choosing its own destiny, M-11 is almost inseparable from Woo. Thus this particular
alliance in the group symbolizes the technological prowess of Asian Americans but also
Woo’s impenitence for doing what is necessary. This is primarily seen on two occasions
when Woo orders M-11 to eradicate an entire platoon of Skrull invaders in Secret Invasion
(See Figure 6 in Appendix) and while not using M-11 orders his other subordinate the
Uranian to subconsciously implant orders to assassinate Norman Osborn in the mind of team
leader, Scourge. Woo’s ability to do what is necessary as opposed to what is right
differentiates himself from other superheroes like Spider-Man who battles to stay behind the
lines of brutality. While this may diminish Woo as a superhero, it lends itself to the Yellow
Peril stereotypes he is trying to subvert. This narrative must take into account that similar
white characters such as Nick Fury, former director S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Punisher would have
no hesitation in annihilating the Skrull invaders. Thus, race complicates Woo’s motives and
actions of heroism during wartime. Woo’s actions can be interpreted as heroic and
immediate as his orders came during the hostile takeover of Skrull forces in the face of the
incapacitation of the real Avengers. While Woo’s orders to assassinate Osborn stems from
the need to eliminate a psychotic sociopath using his power for personal gain. Woo’s usage
of his assets and leadership are for the benefit of the United States and ultimately the world.
Furthermore, the demonstration of Woo’s leadership prowess showcases how Asian
Americans provide valuable contributions to society. Instead of acting as a general in the
rearguard, Woo’s action as a vanguard leader and fighter destabilizes the notions of white
superheroes being the pinnacle of courage.

ONE KHAN TO RULE THEM ALL

Woo maintains his name as his main identity, only taking up the name Yellow Claw
to maintain the Atlas Foundation’s cover. This alias is symbolic of the assimilated nature of
 49

his upbringing. He often chooses to be called Jimmy which presents his embrace of his
American identity. Woo is only referenced by his Chinese given name, Woo Yen Jet only on
a few occasion. The first is when his arch nemesis Yellow Claw clandestinely approaches
him during the team’s vacation. This interaction of the Yellow Claw and Woo symbolizes a
series of different binaries: east/west, old/new, good/evil, and progenitor/successor. These
binaries are blurred when Woo chooses to take control and succeed Plan Chu (Yellow Claw)
since Plan meant all along for Woo to succeed him, Woo’s ethnicity and upbringing
complicate his mission goals as a superhero. He is now responsible for protecting of the city
of San Francisco as well as the protection of his subterranean empire and all of its denizens.
This role is inclusive with his acceptance of the title of khan. Woo’s acceptance of the
khanate signifies the vehicle Marvel made Woo relevant for new story arcs. The newly
enthroned khan rooting out the evil that his predecessor established builds upon his legend as
a straight arrow agent. Woo’s khanate is itself is an important aspect of Woo’s identity. As
the leader of the Atlas Foundation, Woo also becomes the leader of a secret Mongolian
Horde waiting in the depths of the San Francisco underground. It is Woo’s insistence in
maintain his own personal character that he defies the conventions of the Yellow Peril and
uses the resources of the Atlas Foundation for the benefit of humanity.
In the style of pulp heroes, Woo has a very extensive wardrobe. Unlike Cho’s
wardrobe which oftentimes reflected his age, Woo’s costume is selective and contextual to
the mission they embark on. During the Dark Reign arc, Woo adopts an updated Yellow
Claw attire which is a contemporary version of his predecessors gown, opting for a red tunic
adorned with the golden claw motif and silk pants. Plan’s costume leant itself to the image
of Fu Manchu complete with the long traditional black robe, circular cap, and long slender
mustache. The change of costume from the Fu Manchu-esque visual to the contemporary
tunic symbolizes a more realistic representation of Chinese apparel (See Figure 7 in
Appendix). By adopting the alias Yellow Claw to complete covert missions, Woo adopts
Yellow Peril symbols to feign his acceptance of his “villainy,” “otherness,” as shedding of
his American-ness. This representation is only subterfuge to derail the plans of Director
Osborn. Woo’s Yellow Claw costume also stands in defiance of Osborn’s costume and
 50

identity as the Iron Patriot3. Woo uses the identity of Yellow Claw to battle the of the Iron
Patriot; the Orientalist stereotype of the Yellow Peril is thus reversed and Woo becomes the
Yellow Savior protecting America from the designs of the madman Norman Osborn.
The alias of Yellow Claw is revealed (Parker, Agents of Atlas #6 - The Master Plan)
to be a misnomer. Woo’s predecessor intended the title to be “Golden Claw,” which carries a
more heroic connotation than Yellow Claw. The mistranslation which is explained in the
final issue of the 2006 Agents of Atlas series demonstrates that Woo is dedicated to
preventing crime throughout the world at the cost of his own name. Thus, Woo’s allowance
of the continuing subversion of his name proves to demonstrate Asian American superheroes
make the same sacrifices as their white counterparts.
Woo’s identity as khan maintains his heroic nature and reimagines the Yellow Peril
as the Asian savior. When Woo is not in his Yellow Claw persona, he is typically dressed as
a soldier dressed in camouflage and sporting dual pistols. This regular soldier/spy costume
represents Woo as a masculine figure similar to the famous spy figures of the Marvel
universe such as Nick Fury. His costume as a soldier asserts that Woo takes an active role on
the battlefield instead of running the operation from the back. These combinations of
costumes challenges the reader to reimagine Asian Americans as G.I Joe-esque figures
leading from the front. The transitions from criminal costume to soldier gear demonstrate the
transitions of villainy to heroism in the mind’s eye of the reader.

CONCLUSION
Woo demonstrates that Asian Americans superheroes can lead superhero teams and
save the world just like Captain America or Iron Man. Lacking in Woo’s representation is
the underlying notions that Woo can be a leader under the auspices of being an incumbent
Mongolian Khan or through the eyes of an alternate version of himself. The imagining of
having an Asian American leader demonstrates how to incorporate Asian Americans into the
larger narratives. While Woo’s representation remains one of the most powerful in the

3
The Iron Patriot is an codename Norman Osborn adopts in the Dark Reign arc. It is an amalgam of
symbolic motifs of Captain America’s uniform in conjunction with Iron Man’s armor. This identity was used as
propaganda for pro-American nationalism and militaristic absolutism in the aftermath of the Skrull invasion of
earth during the Secret Invasion arc.
 51

Marvel Universe, his actions in major plots since the Fear Itself storylines demonstrate that
Marvel intends to push him back to the periphery. Woo and Atlas can become a stronger
force for good from the shadows if they are allowed to serve in the light.
 52

CHAPTER 7

CONCLUSIONS AND QUESTIONS FOR FUTURE

STUDY

Jennifer Takeda, Amadeus Cho, and Jimmy Woo represent progressive Asian
American superheroes locked in Orientalist stereotypes. All three characters are
representations of the Model Minority stereotype and the Yellow Peril stereotype. Despite
being locked in the confines of these stereotypes, all three characters are able to transcend
and push new ground in Asian American representation. The fact that these characters have
been prominently featured in stories within the last three years alone demonstrates changes in
the Marvel Universe in terms of what and who is American, Asian, and what is heroic.
Comic books are a shaky industry that faces many challenges with the inevitable
death of print media and the rise of the increased digitization of literature. As a collector and
a scholar of comics, I prefer to collect the print copy as part of a physical collection and the
nostalgia of thumbing through a comic book. The comic book to me also symbolizes
material units of product, where comic book sales constitute the life of a comic book title.
The anticipation of picking up my print weekly pickups of titles I’m following is a constant
reminder of how well the books may be doing; or, as in the case of Chaos War or Atlas, the
delays and nonchalance of errors in a failing book or the early termination and finale of one.
Asian American superheroes such as Amadeus Cho and Jimmy Woo were victims to poor
sales. The survival of a superhero’s title depends on its sale. And the sales spoke for Cho
and Woo.
This thesis gave me the opportunity to continue the research I started as an
undergraduate. As well as an opportunity to fill a research need for the Asian American
community. I realized how important this research is when I spoke at the Advancing Justice
Conference held in Chicago in September of 2012. In a panel addressing the 20 year
anniversary of Vincent Chin’s murder, Rabya Khan of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations brought up the importance of the newest Green Lantern, Simon Baz, was a
Lebanese American Muslim. I took the opportunity during the question and answer section
 53

to respond about the need to have Asian American superheroes showing the rest of America,
Asian Americans can make a difference in the world. My answer to the packed conference
spurred me to blog about the intersections of Comics Studies other academic disciplines
online.
Questions evoked over the course of my research stemmed from understanding the
legitimacy of comic books as reflections of race relations in America. Comic books are
slowly gaining recognition as compelling literature. But this recognition has been slow due
to the stigma of the mid 20th century and the campaigns of Frederic Werthem to outlaw
comics as detrimental to American youth. I wonder where the comic book industry will go
in light of death of print media; will the digital format be able to survive and keep the comic
industry going?
Since specific characters like Wolverine and Hulk receive ongoing and sometimes
multiple titles because of their popularity, I wonder if there will be an Asian American
character who will rise to the same stature. The Japanese swordswoman Katana and Simon
Baz, the newest Green Lantern, both headline their own titles albeit in the DC Comics
Universe. Does DC Comics have a competitive edge in progressive representations of
superheroes of color? And what kind of forces would make Marvel take more chances in
diversifying the rosters of superheroes?
For future research, the economics of comic book publishing needs to be analyzed at
a deeper level to understand how companies make decisions in what books to keep and
which books they cut. Not only are publishers something of interest to me, but also the
comic books stores and the patrons who loyally buy every week. Myself, being a part of this
population, I feel an important need to understand how the comic book consumer makes their
choice in picking up books and if race is part of that decision making process. Following the
money I feel will reveal how comic books progress and how Asian American characters will
be represented in the future.
Besides continuing to research Asian American superheroes, it is my hope to also
create one. Whether that will be in the realm of the Secret Identities books, independently, or
into the Marvel or DC Comics universe itself, I hope to help shape positive narratives with
complex Asian American characters, that contribute to bringing the Asian and Asian
 54

American experience to life in comics and expand the cultural vocabulary and imagination in
how to read and see the Asian American body.
Asian American superheroes provide the opportunity to expand and diversify the
American narrative and the definition of American. Furthermore, this research has expanded
to research different representations of other superheroes of color communities. Superheroes
of color add to the complexity of the superhero narrative and challenge many of the
privileges of white superheroes and, by extension, white privilege in the world. It can only
be a matter of time until the stereotypes that chain Asian American superheroes are shattered.
 55

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the-end-of-agents-of-atlas/>.
Tadmor, Carmit T., et al. "Not Just for Stereotyping Anymore: Racial Essentialism Reduces
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Howard Chaykin. Color by Javier Tartaglia. New York: Marvel Commics, 2011.
Print.
Yang, Jeff, et al., eds. Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology. New
York, NY: The New Press, 2009. Print.

WORKS CONSULTED
Aldama, Frederick Luis. Your Brain on Latino Comics: From Gus Arriola to Los Bros
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Barthes, Roland, and Annette Lavers. Mythologies. New York: Hill and Wang, 1972. Print.
Beaty, Bart. Comics versus Art. Toronto: University of Toronto, 2012. Print.
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Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #2 - Gifted and Talented. Art by Mike
McKone. Color by Jeromy Cox. New York: Marvel Comics, 2010. Print.
 58

Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #4 - Scared Straight, Part 2: Fix You. Art by
Mike McKone. Ink by Rick Ketcham. New York: Marvel Comics, 2010. Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #5 - Fame. Pencil by Jorge Molina. Ink by
Andrew Hennessy. New York: Marvel Comics, 2010. Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #6 - I Dreamed a Dream. Pencil by Jorge
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Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #7 - Always on My Mind. Pencil by Tom
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Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #8 - Powerless. Pencil by Mike McKone. Ink
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Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #9 - Teach Your Children. Pencil by Mike
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Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #10 - Redemption Song. Pencil by Sean Chen.
Ink by Scott Hanna. New York: Marvel Comics, 2011. Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #11 - Growing Up. Pencil by Tom Raney. Ink
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Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #13 - Prom Night. Pencil by Sean Chen. Ink by
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Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #14 - Disaster Response. Pencil by Sean Chen.
Ink by Scott Hanna. New York: Marvel Comics, 2011. Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #14.1 - Peer Pressure. Pencil by Sean Chen.
Ink by Scott Hanna. New York: Marvel Comics, 2011. Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #15 - No Unwounded Soldiers. Pencil by Tom
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Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #16 - Fear Itself, Chapter 2: A God-Awful
Small Affair. Pencil by Tom Raney. Ink by Scott Hanna. New York: Marvel Comics,
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Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #17 - Battle Scars. Pencil by Sean Chen. Ink
by Andrew Hennessy. New York: Marvel Comics, 2011. Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #18 - Bad Guys. Pencil by Andrea Di Vito. Ink
by Jeromy Cox. New York: Marvel Comics, 2011. Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #19 - Things Fall Apart. Pencil by Tom Raney.
Ink by Scott Hanna. New York: Marvel Comics, 2011. Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #20 - Endings. Pencil by Tom Raney. Ink by
Scott Hanna. New York: Marvel Comics, 2011. Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #22 - Disappointments. Pencil by Sean Chen.
Ink by Scott Hanna. New York: Marvel Comics, 2012. Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #23 - Second Chances. Pencil by Tom Raney.
Ink by Scott Hanna. New York: Marvel Comics, 2012. Print.
 59

Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #24 - Family. Pencil by Tom Grummett. Ink by
Cory Hamscher. New York: Marvel Comics, 2012. Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #25 - Class Reunion. Pencil by Tom
Grummett. Ink by Cory Hamscher. New York: Marvel Comics, 2012. Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #26 - Career Day. Pencil by Tom Grummett.
Ink by Cory Hamscher. New York: Marvel Comics, 2012. Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #27 - War with the Runaways, Pt. 1 of 2:
Homecoming. Pencil by Karl Moline. Ink by Jim Fern. New York: Marvel Comics,
2012. Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #28 - War with the Runaways: Homecoming
Part 2. Pencil by Karl Moline. Ink by Jim Fern. New York: Marvel Comics, 2012.
Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #29 - Protective Services Part 1. Pencil by
Tom Grummett. Ink by Cory Hamscher. New York: Marvel Comics, 2012. Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #30 - Protective Services Part 2. Pencil by
Tom Grummett. Ink by Cory Hamscher. New York: Marvel Comics, 2012. Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #31 - Protective Services Part 3. Pencil by
Tom Grummett. Ink by Cory Hamscher. New York: Marvel Comics, 2012. Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #32 - What the Heart Wants, Part 1. Pencil by
Timothy Green II. Ink by Jeffrey Huet. New York: Marvel Comics, 2012. Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #33 - What the Heart Wants, Conclusion.
Pencil by Timothy Green II. Ink by Jeffrey Huet. New York: Marvel Comics, 2012.
Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #34 - Final Exam, Part 1. Pencil by Tom
Grummett. Ink by Cory Hamscher. New York: Marvel Comics, 2012. Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #35 - Final Exam, Part 2. Pencil by Tom
Grummett. Ink by Cory Hamscher. New York: Marvel Comics, 2012. Print.
Gage, Christos N., writer. Avengers Academy #38 - Crosstown Rivals. Pencil by Tom
Grummett. Ink by Cory Hamscher. New York: Marvel Comics, 2012. Print.
Heer, Jeet, and Kent Worcester. A Comics Studies Reader. Jackson: University of
Mississippi, 2009. Print.
Locke, Brian. Racial Stigma on the Hollywood Screen: The Orientalist Buddy Film.
Baskingstoke, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Print.
Madrid, Mike. The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book
Heroines. [Ashland, Or.]: Exterminating Angel, 2009. Print.
Mao, LuMing, and Morris Young. Representations: Doing Asian American Rhetoric. Logan,
UT: Utah State UP, 2008. Print.
McLuhan, Marshall, and Quentin Fiore. The Medium Is the Massage. Corte Madera: Gingko
Pr., 2001. Print.
 60

Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. Chaos War #1 - The End is Nigh. Pencil by Khoi
Pham. Ink by Ted Palmer. New York: Marvel Comics, 2010. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. Chaos War #2 - Return of the God Squad. Pencil by
Khoi Pham. Ink by Ted Palmer. New York: Marvel Comics, 2010. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. Chaos War #3 - Paradise Lost. Pencil by Khoi Pham.
Ink by Ted Palmer. New York: Marvel Comics, 2010. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. Chaos War #4 - Facing Oblivion. Pencil by Khoi
Pham. Ink by Ted Palmer. New York: Marvel Comics, 2011. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. Chaos War #5 - The End is Here. Pencil by Khoi
Pham. Ink by Ted Palmer. New York: Marvel Comics, 2011. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Heroic Age: Prince of Power #2 - Valhalla
Blues. Pencil by Reilly Brown. Ink by Tery Pallot. New York: Marvel Comics, 2010.
Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Heroic Age: Prince of Power #3 - Our Lady of
Slaughter. Pencil by Reilly Brown. Ink by Tery Pallot. New York: Marvel Comics,
2010. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Heroic Age: Prince of Power #4 - Omnipotence
for Dummies. Pencil by Reilly Brown. Ink by Tery Pallot. New York: Marvel
Comics, 2010. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #112 - The Incredible Herc,
Pt. 1: The Birds of Stymphalis. Pencil by Khoi Pham. Ink by Stephane Peru. New
York: Marvel Comics, 2008. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #113 - The Incredible Herc,
Pt. 2: The Shirt of Nessus. Pencil by Khoi Pham. Ink by Paul Neary. New York:
Marvel Comics, 2008. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #114 - The Incredible Herc,
Pt. 3: Walls of Troy. Pencil by Khoi Pham. Ink by Paul Neary. New York: Marvel
Comics, 2008. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #115 - Glory of Hera. Pencil
by Khoi Pham. Ink by Paul Neary. New York: Marvel Comics, 2008. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #118 - Sacred Invasion, Pt.
2: Dream Time. Pencil by Rafa Sandoval. Ink by Roger Bonet. New York: Marvel
Comics, 2008. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #119 - Sacred Invasion, Pt.
3: Contact. Pencil by Rafa Sandoval. Ink by Roger Bonet. New York: Marvel
Comics, 2008. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #120 - Sacred Invasion, Pt.
4: Conclusion. Pencil by Rafa Sandoval. Ink by Roger Bonet. New York: Marvel
Comics, 2008. Print.
 61

Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #121 - Love and War, Part
1. Pencil by Clayton Henry. Ink by Guru Efx. New York: Marvel Comics, 2008.
Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #122 - Love and War, Part
2: Bullets and Bracelets. Pencil by Clayton Henry. Ink by Salvador Espin. New York:
Marvel Comics, 2008. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #123 - Love and War, Part
3: Axis Mundi. Pencil by Clayton Henry. Ink by Salvador Espin. New York: Marvel
Comics, 2009. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #124 - Love and War, Part
4: The Weight of the World. Pencil by Clayton Henry. Ink by Salvador Espin. New
York: Marvel Comics, 2009. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #125 - Love and War, Part
5: Liberated. Pencil by Clayton Henry. Ink by Salvador Espin. New York: Marvel
Comics, 2009. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #126 - The Origin of
Hercules!; The Search for Kirby. Pencil by Rodney Buchemi. Ink by Takeshi
Miyazawa. New York: Marvel Comics, 2009. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #127 - Dark Reign: Part 1.
Pencil by Dietrich Smith. Ink by Cory Hamscher. New York: Marvel Comics, 2009.
Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #128 - Gauntlet. Pencil by
Dietrich Smith. Ink by Terry Pallot. New York: Marvel Comics, 2009. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #129 - The Descent. Pencil
by Dietrich Smith. Ink by Terry Pallot. New York: Marvel Comics, 2009. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #130 - The Judgement.
Pencil by Ryan Stegman. Ink by Terry Pallot. New York: Marvel Comics, 2009.
Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #131 - The Harrowing.
Pencil by Ryan Stegman. Ink by Terry Pallot. New York: Marvel Comics, 2009.
Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #135 - Meeting with the
Goddess. Pencil by Rodney Buchemi. New York: Marvel Comics, 2009. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #137 - Atonement. Pencil by
Rodney Buchemi. New York: Marvel Comics, 2009. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #138 - Assault on New
Olympus Pt. 1: Playing Gods. Pencil by Rodney Buchemi. New York: Marvel
Comics, 2010. Print.
 62

Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #139 - Assault on New
Olympus Pt. 2: Faithbomb. Pencil by Rodney Buchemi. New York: Marvel Comics,
2010. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #140 - Assault on New
Olympus Pt. 3: The Fourth Extinction. Pencil by Rodney Buchemi. New York:
Marvel Comics, 2010. Print.
Pak, Greg and Fred Van Lente, writers. The Incredible Hercules #141 - Assault on New
Olympus, Finale: Everybody Dies. Pencil by Rodney Buchemi. New York: Marvel
Comics, 2010. Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. Agents of Atlas #2 - Building the Army. Pencil by Leonard Kirk. Ink by
Kris Justice. New York: Marvel Comics, 2006. Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. Agents of Atlas #3 - The Dream Team. Pencil by Leonard Kirk. Ink by
Kris Justice. New York: Marvel Comics, 2006. Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. Agents of Atlas #4 - Recent Developments. Pencil by Leonard Kirk. Ink
by Kris Justice. New York: Marvel Comics, 2006. Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. Agents of Atlas #5 - The People’s Leader. Pencil by Leonard Kirk. Ink by
Kris Justice. New York: Marvel Comics, 2007. Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. Agents of Atlas #6 - The People’s Leader. Pencil by Carlo Pagulayan. Ink
by Michael Jason Paz. New York: Marvel Comics, 2009. Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. Agents of Atlas #1 - First Contact. Pencil by Carlo Pagulayan. Ink by
Michael Jason Paz. New York: Marvel Comics, 2009. Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. Agents of Atlas #2 - The Dragon’s Corridor, Pt. 1: The Sale. Pencil by
Carlo Pagulayan. Ink by Gabriel Hardman. New York: Marvel Comics, 2009. Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. Agents of Atlas #3 - The Dragon’s Corridor, Pt. 2: Interlude at Sea.
Pencil by Clayton Henry. Ink by Gabriel Hardman. New York: Marvel Comics, 2009.
Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. Agents of Atlas #4 - The Dragon’s Corridor, Pt. 3: Inside America.
Pencil by Clayton Henry. Ink by Gabriel Hardman. New York: Marvel Comics, 2009.
Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. Agents of Atlas #5 - Taking the Fall. Pencil by Carlo Pagulayan. Ink by
Michael Jason Paz. New York: Marvel Comics, 2009. Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. Agents of Atlas #6 - Secrets of the Deep, Pt 1. Pencil by Gabriel
Hardman. Ink by Jana Schirmer. New York: Marvel Comics, 2009. Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. Agents of Atlas #7 - Secrets of the Deep, Pt 2. Pencil by Carlo Pagulayan.
Ink by Gabriel Hardman. New York: Marvel Comics, 2009. Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. Agents of Atlas #8 - Monster Makers. Pencil by Carlo Pagulayan. Ink by
Michael Jason Paz. New York: Marvel Comics, 2009. Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. Agents of Atlas #9 - Terror of the Jade Claw, Pt. 1. Pencil by Dan
Panosian. Ink by Elizabeth Dismang. New York: Marvel Comics, 2009. Print.
 63

Parker, Jeff, writer. Agents of Atlas #10 - Terror of the Jade Claw, Pt. 2. Pencil by Gabriel
Hardman. Ink by Dan Panosian. New York: Marvel Comics, 2009. Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. Agents of Atlas #11 - Terror of the Jade Claw, Pt. 3. Pencil by Gabriel
Hardman. Ink by Dan Panosian. New York: Marvel Comics, 2009. Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. Atlas #1 - The Return of the Three Dimensional Man, Pt. 1/Department
Zero. Pencil by Gabriel Hardman. Ink by Elizabeth Breitweiser. New York: Marvel
Comics, 2010. Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. Atlas #2 - The Return of the Three Dimensional Man, Pt. 2. Pencil by
Gabriel Hardman. Ink by Elizabeth Breitweiser. New York: Marvel Comics, 2010.
Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. Atlas #3 - The Return of the Three Dimensional Man, Pt. 3/The Human
Robot. Pencil by Gabriel Hardman. Ink by Elizabeth Breitweiser. New York: Marvel
Comics, 2010. Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. Atlas #4 - The Return of the Three Dimensional Man, Pt. 4/The Return of
the Three Dimensional Man, Pt. 5. Pencil by Gabriel Hardman. Ink by Elizabeth
Breitweiser. New York: Marvel Comics, 2010. Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. Atlas #5 - The Return of the Three Dimensional Man, Pt. 6/The Return of
the Three Dimensional Man, Pt. 7/The Return of the Three Dimensional Man, Pt. 8.
Pencil by Gabriel Hardman. Ink by Elizabeth Breitweiser. New York: Marvel
Comics, 2010. Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. X-Men/Agents of Atlas #1 - The X-Heist Pt. 1/Atomic Age Heroes. Pencil
by Carlo Pagulayan. Ink by Michael Jason Paz. New York: Marvel Comics, 2009.
Print.
Parker, Jeff, writer. X-Men/Agents of Atlas #2 - The X-Heist Pt. 2/Godmarked (Prologue).
Pencil by Carlo Pagulayan. Ink by Michael Jason Paz. New York: Marvel Comics,
2010. Print.
Sarduy, Severo, and Carol Maier. Written on a Body. New York, NY: Lumen, 1989. Print.
Stuller, Jennifer K. Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors: Superwomen in Modern
Mythology. New York: I.B. Tauris, 2010. Print.
Van Lente, Fred, writer. Fear Itself: The Home Front #6 - The Chosen, Part 2 of 3. Art by
Howard Chaykin. Color by Javier Tartaglia. New York: Marvel Commics, 2011.
Print.
Van Lente, Fred, writer. Fear Itself: The Home Front #7 - The Chosen, Part 3 of 3. Art by
Howard Chaykin. Color by Javier Tartaglia. New York: Marvel Commics, 2011.
Print.
Wright, Bradford W. Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.
Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins UP, 2003. Print.
Yang, Jeff, et al., eds. Shattered: The Asian American Comics Anthology. New York: The
New Press, 2012. Print.
 64

Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States 1942-present. New York,: Perennial
Classics, 2003. Print.
 65

APPENDIX

COLLECTION OF FIGURES
 66

Figure 1. "Preface: In the Beginning" by Jeff

Yang (w) and Jef Castro (p). Source: Yang,
Jeff, et al., eds. Secret Identities: The Asian
American Superhero Anthology. New York,
NY: The New Press, 2009. Print.
 67

Figure 2. "Hazmat - Avengers Academy

promotion," by Mike McKone. Source: "Last
Two Revealed Members of Avengers
Academy." Comic Vine, 2010. Web. 30 Apr.
2013.
 68

Figure 3. "A Walking W.M.D.," released October 2010. Source: Gage, Christos N.,
writer. Avengers Academy #3 - Scared Straight, Part 1: Boyfriend in a Coma. Art by
Mike McKone. Ink by Andrew Hennessey. New York: Marvel Comics, 2010. Print.
 69

Figure 4. "Amadeus Cho - Prince of Power cover,"

released July 2010. Source: Pak, Greg, and Fred Van
Lente, writers. Heroic Age: Prince of Power #1 -
Blasphemy Can Be Fun. Pencil by Reilly Brown. Ink by
Tery Pallot. New York: Marvel Comics, 2010. Print.
 70

Figure 5. "Cho Fighting Mr. X” released May 2010.

Source: Parker, Jeff, writer. Thunderbolts #142 - The
Spear of Destiny. Pencil by Wellinton Alves. Ink by
Nelson Pereira. New York: Marvel Comics, 2010. Print.
 71

Figure 6. "Woo's Firing Order," released on August 2008. Source:

Parker, Jeff, writer. Who Do You Trust #1 - The Resistance. Pencil by
Leonard Kirk. Ink by Karl Kesel. New York: Marvel Comics, 2008.
Print.
 72

Figure 7. "Woo's Coronation," released on March 2007. Source: Parker, Jeff, writer.
Agents of Atlas #6 - The Master Plan. Pencil by Leonard Kirk. Ink by Kris Justice.
New York: Marvel Comics, 2007. Print.