r/Invincible • u/ManyMention6930 Battle Beast • Apr 02 '24

Is Mark Korean-American in the comics as well? DISCUSSION

Gallery image

Gallery image

I thought his race/ethnicity was something present in the comics but I’ve been reading through them and have found no mention of it so far

4.4k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • link
  • reddit
  • reddit

95% Upvoted

598 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.1k

u/Medium-Science9526 Comic Fan Apr 02 '24

Nope, new addition to the show from what I gathered was implemented because fans intially perceiving that Debbie and by proxy Mark had Asian descent.

1.0k

u/LightThatIgnitesAll Apr 02 '24

I just find it funny to think how Kirkman reacted to it.

So fans were like "cool an asian superhero lead."

Kirkman: What? Not intentional but uh... sure I guess.

149

u/breath_ofthemild Apr 02 '24

Danny Phantom and My Life as a Teenage Robot had similar experiences, with polar opposite reactions from their creators. Both shows were perceived by fans as an allegory for transgender teenagers. Butch Hartman, creator of Danny Phantom, caught wind of this and IMMEDIATELY got on the defensive, saying that it was in no way attached to LGBT storytelling whatsoever. Rob Renzetti, the creator of Teenage Robot, pretty much said “that was not at all my intention, but hell yeah sure”

44

u/gumptiousguillotine Apr 02 '24

I never considered either of them like that but they were both my favorite nicktoons growing up (the MLAATR Christmas special is one of my favorite animated things ever to this day) but it makes so much sense. I’m a nonbinary transmasculine person who does both male and female drag and always identified with how “othered” both of the MCs of these shows were within their respective narratives.

8

u/RazzDaNinja Apr 02 '24

I am ignorant of this history and would like to learn more as to how Danny Phantom n Teenage Robot were allegories of trans kids

20

u/breath_ofthemild Apr 03 '24

For Danny Phantom, it’s all about Danny’s perspective. While a lot of his tension is centered around basic teenage anxieties, an overarching tension is his parents and their tirade against ghosts. They work as ghost hunters, and with Danny secretly being a ghost himself, he never “comes out” to his parents about who he is as he is worried about what they’ll do to him if they ever find out. And his parents, having no idea what he truly is, continue to talk about ghosts as disgusting creatures, unwittingly becoming their son’s first and most serious enemy. Not the ghosts he fights nor the bullies at school are the ones he fears most, but rather his parents. On top of general themes like his struggling with the perception of masculinity, it’s easy to see how this could be seen in a light mirroring the LGBT teenage experience.

For MLAATR, it’s all about Jenny’s sense of identity. Her mother created her to be a robotic protector of Earth called XJ-9, Jenny insists on living life as a normal teenager, attending school and dealing with average teenage nonsense. A lot of tension comes from her mother’s refusal to fully accept this decision Jenny’s made (even “deadnaming” Jenny throughout the series) and Jenny’s feelings of body dysmorphia, with her at one point even donning a skin suit that had her “pass” as a biological human. All in that frame of mind, if the series were written today, this probably would have been a more intentional decision, but as it stands, the creator more treats it as a happy accident of sorts

5

u/Xerneous12_ Omni-Drip Apr 03 '24

Tbh I don’t feel like there’s anything wrong with a creator saying the allegory wasn’t his intention. People can have their fan theories sure, but why is the creator ‘defensive’ for saying no to their ideas?

I’ve never seen these allegories purported back when the shows were airing at all. Nothing wrong with it, people can have any opinion they want, & the creator isn’t ‘defensive’ for correcting them.

1

u/sodapopgumdroplowtop Apr 03 '24

which characters would that be exactly

1

u/Dziadzios Apr 03 '24

Butch Hartman is a Christian fanatic. He even tried to make a Christian Netflix (Oaxis).

532

u/PeterGriffin0920 Brit Apr 02 '24

Best examples of diversity in media is when its unintentional or doesnt matter, and Kirkman nails it for the most part

174

u/TardDas Apr 02 '24

Common Kirkman W

-26

u/rimurse Apr 02 '24

Read Marvel Zombies :)

26

u/TardDas Apr 02 '24

I have and will pull out my knee caps before I do again. That was a rare Kirkman L

3

u/rimurse Apr 03 '24

Yeah lol I hated it. Invincible is so fucking good though. Can't wait until the next episode 🤞

1

u/Cjpappaslap Apr 03 '24

Marvel zombies 1 and 2 are fun comics your loss

2

u/TardDas Apr 03 '24

You can say that all you like but it was a waste of a read for me

71

u/Daztur Apr 03 '24

Well having a thingie on the wall saying "hi" in Korean in S1 was lazy as fuck. The Korean wedding ducks in S2 were chef's kiss

46

u/Maedeuggi Apr 03 '24

The Korean decor was a nice detail to the feeling of the scenes.  What really stood out was when she took her shoes off in the house.

40

u/Snoozless Apr 03 '24

Do

Do most people not take their shoes off in the house?

27

u/AnonScarySnake Apr 03 '24

Parts of Europe and south, central Americas don’t take ‘em off. USA seems a bit split, but most seem to leave ‘em on. East Asia takes em off, dunno about the rest of the world

10

u/OneGoodRib Apr 03 '24

I'm American and I don't know know anyone who keeps their shoes on inside the house unless they're only going to be staying for like a minute.

3

u/Sapphire_Leviathan Apr 04 '24

Asian here, married into a Mexican household and I had to get used to wearing shoes inside. Very uh, culture shocking.

1

u/alamobaysixteoteo Apr 05 '24

meanwhile I have never met an american who takes their shoes off at the door who isn’t of asian descent, so results may vary

1

u/AnonScarySnake Apr 03 '24

It seems to be a regional thing. I’m really not certain what regions do what as I’m not American, but I don’t discount your experience! It just depends on where you live what the norms are.

3

u/WhatAWonderfulWhirl Apr 03 '24

In America anyway, there's a general kind of unspoken rule for the most part that people will wear shoes on the ground floor of the home, or wherever they recieve guests, because their guests are most likely going to wear shoes into the house anyways. Upstairs, or wherever bedrooms are, tends to be more of a home-by-home decision.

Asking a guest to take off their shoes, or taking your shoes off as a guest, is kinda frowned upon in the states, unless there's some kind of other arrangement in place already.

I also feel like Americans have smellier feet than most of the world. Long commutes, long hours, and seeing a foot doctor is something most people here go their entire life without. Keeping your shoes on is a lot more courteous than taking them off for your average working man, provided he doesn't wanna clear the room. Keeping your shoes on begets keeping your shoes on, the longer they're on the worse the smell gets if that's a problem. Considering the amount of foot fungus treatments we have TV ads for, I'm guessing there's a very large market for them.

TLDR Americans got stanky ass feet and try to be courteous about it, and in doing so only further the stank problem.

3

u/nomadic_weeb Burger Mart Trash Bag Apr 03 '24

Apparently it isn't common in the US to take shoes off in the house. Unusual considering how many countries that's standard practice in, but each to their own ig

6

u/BiggestChad Apr 03 '24

In the UK it’s pretty common to do so

1

u/SomAlucard Apr 03 '24

I'd guess well over 90% of households I've ever been in, in the eastern US, have been no shoes homes. The exceptions are almost always homes with no carpeting. If I see carpet or shoes by the door, I'm taking mine off without asking.

1

u/Maedeuggi Apr 06 '24

It is highly dependent on their ethnic background.  For instance those with European backgrounds mostly don't, and that's how its represented in polular culture. However East and South Asian do (I don't know aboutthe others). Plus its regional-- I've heard that it's the norm for people living in Hawai'i.

-1

u/mad_laddie Apr 03 '24

Her dad's called Oliver so it could be because she's mixed and not too used to the customs?

4

u/belowthemask42 Apr 03 '24

Isn’t changing the race of an established character the thing that people seem to always be complaining about? I’m ok with race swapping in general but I don’t see how it isn’t what other shows do

5

u/RedNUGGETLORD Apr 03 '24

People already thought Debbie was Asian, so it didn't feel like race swapping

1

u/notmatrocles Apr 03 '24

It's funny. On my read-throughs, I always imagined Debbie was Hispanic. Never once imagined she was white

5

u/KingGizzle Apr 03 '24

It sounds like most people didn’t register this as a swap so they didn’t know to be angry

2

u/1-800-GANKS Apr 03 '24 edited Apr 03 '24

1.) the change isn't so drastic, and not an obvious move to pander to anyone.

2.) invincible isn't some sort of time cherished media work yet where your dad is like 'oh invincible? I watched that!' so, there's this recency thing.

3.) they changed a lot of other stuff about the comics too thus far it seems and they're enjoying a pretty fresh artistic take.

4.) I think it's still a very interesting take artistically which is why most people probably aren't upset about it. Making "The Little mermaid (now in Black lead actress) is publicly a very lazy writing move.

Invincible being a hapa is a hugely underrated move. Often a deceptively disenfranchised group, the show mirrors some sort of their struggles ironically well. Feeling as thoigh they can't ever truly belong to one or the other of a culture is suddenly a very layered artistic choice for a half human half viltrumite.

See, black/other race retcons of established characters are usually lambasted because, making a character from a movie that was already made a different race typically adds like, fucking nothing of value. While Mark now being half korean isn't going so far left field, while still adding interest and intrigue.

It's also not like they're constantly saying "oh my God, Korea this Korea that", marks just mark. Debbie's just Debbie.

Just kind of healthy diversity imo.

2

u/Xenoezen Apr 03 '24

It feels soo good to be a half white half korean and catch this rare w of a superhero lead being your specific ethnicity. Cue he's literally me memes

32

u/PersonFromPlace Apr 03 '24

For an odd reason, I kind of relate to Nightwing, Jason Todd, Tim Drake and sometimes Batman as if they’re Asian just because of their complexion sometimes and the way their hair is styled. I know they’re not, but it does kinda feel nice in that they kinda look like me, if I was hotter and more jacked.

9

u/nomadic_weeb Burger Mart Trash Bag Apr 03 '24

Never considered the idea of an Asian Nightwing but I'm all for it. Works well with his primary martial art being eskrima which is a Filipino style

4

u/[deleted] Apr 03 '24

Nightwing also enjoys sweet spaghetti from jollybees

1

u/[deleted] Apr 03 '24

Nightwing also enjoys sweet spaghetti from jollybees

1

u/[deleted] Apr 03 '24

Nightwing also enjoys sweet spaghetti from jollybees

6

u/cinepresto Cosplayer Apr 03 '24

I think the biggest reason for me was because Robin in Teen Titans had that spiky Asian anime protag hair and I was happy with any black haired representation at that point. The moment twelve year old me saw that Aang grew black hair in his coma, I definitely freaked out over the realization he was actually probably Asian

5

u/David_ish_ Apr 03 '24

Well for sure Damian is Asian so we got at least one canonically Asian Robin

2

u/Material-Taste1080 Apr 03 '24

Same as the immortal being Abe Lincoln

47

u/MNM0412 Apr 02 '24

Honestly, I thought that they were made Asian because of their voice actors.

45

u/NightHunter909 Apr 02 '24

they were changed to be Korean-American because of the voice actors they cast.

40

u/Clamper Apr 03 '24

Not even just that, Omni-Man was tweaked to look more like Simmons. (Mainly the blue eyes)

3

u/Saduolf The Immortal Apr 05 '24

also Amber

22

u/stankgodd Apr 02 '24

i just assumed mark cuban was from cuba

11

u/NightHunter909 Apr 02 '24

They changed it because of the voice actors they cast

15

u/Medium-Science9526 Comic Fan Apr 02 '24 edited Apr 03 '24

I thought their VAs were specifically picked because they made this change to have give them Asian descent.

3

u/NightHunter909 Apr 04 '24

im pretty sure Kirkman has said before in interviews they cast Sandra Oh and Steven Yeun first before changing the designs

1

u/IndecisiveMate Apr 03 '24

Woah really. I thought Mark was half asian.