Help Us Create Marvel’s New Chinese Superhero

Anti-Free Speech Man? Corruption Reaper? Harbinger of Harmony? Send us your ideas and sketches.

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 08:  Actor Paul Rudd attends the European Premiere of Marvel's "Ant-Man" at the Odeon Leicester Square on July 8, 2015 in London, England.  (Photo by Anthony Harvey/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 08: Actor Paul Rudd attends the European Premiere of Marvel's "Ant-Man" at the Odeon Leicester Square on July 8, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Anthony Harvey/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 08: Actor Paul Rudd attends the European Premiere of Marvel's "Ant-Man" at the Odeon Leicester Square on July 8, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Anthony Harvey/Getty Images)

Marvel movies are huge in China. Ant-Man, Marvel’s most recent film, earned $43.2 million over the weekend of its Oct. 16 premier in China, bumping the film’s global box office revenues to $454 million after its mediocre performance in the United States.

Marvel movies are huge in China. Ant-Man, Marvel’s most recent film, earned $43.2 million over the weekend of its Oct. 16 premier in China, bumping the film’s global box office revenues to $454 million after its mediocre performance in the United States.

But now Marvel wants to make its films even more appealing in the world’s largest film market outside the United States. According to an Oct. 18 report in Chinese state news agency Xinhua, Jeffrey Reingold and executive producer Steve Wacker announced at an event in Chengdu that Marvel was considering developing more Chinese characters for the global comic franchise. “We have felt the passion of Chinese fans,” said Reingold according to the report. “As long as there is a demand in the market, it is possible to add Chinese elements and culture to Marvel products and create Chinese heroes and stories.”

Such a move would make Marvel only the latest in looking to grab more market share in China’s massive and still-growing market. Released in 2014, Transformers: Age of Extinction broke Chinese box office records with its cameos by Chinese pop stars, Chinese product placements, Chinese landmarks, and depiction of the Chinese government as efficient and disciplined. Other major productions, such as 2013 zombie apocalypse film World War Z and 2015 critical flop Pixels, have reportedly taken measures to appease Chinese censors charged with protecting China’s image.

This isn’t the first time comic masters have considered creating Chinese characters. Back in February, Stan Lee, the 92 year-old co-creator of such characters as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men, announced that he was creating a Chinese superhero known as the Annihilator. The X-Men character Jubilee is Chinese-American.

With more on the way, we’d like to turn to our readers. What characters might best appeal to a Chinese audience — while also bypassing the Chinese censors’ ax? Anti-Free Speech Man? The Corruption Reaper? The Harbinger of Harmony? We at Foreign Policy’s China channel, Tea Leaf Nation, want to hear your best suggestions. Sketches are welcome! Particularly compelling entries may be featured in an upcoming post. Send submissions to tealeaf@foreignpolicy.com.

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Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian is a journalist covering China from Washington. She was previously an assistant editor and contributing reporter at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @BethanyAllenEbr

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