I Love This Picture And This Message So Much

Comic books taught us to value other people and other cultures. Villains were portrayed as sexist, racist, totalitarian or xenophobic. 

Black Panther is about civil rights. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Black Panther. 

Captain America literally fights Nazis. He is the embodiment of fighting fascism. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Captain America. 

Wonder Woman is strong, smart and fearless. She promotes principles of feminism and gender equality. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Wonder Woman. 

 Deadpool is queer; he’s pansexual. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Deadpool. 

X-Men is about human rights. They teach us that it's completely normal to be different. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get X-Men. 

Superman and Thor are immigrants. They are outsiders, strangers to a new world. Those comics are pro-immigration and pro-acceptance. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Superman or Thor. 

Therefore, if you’re upset that there’s a black Spider-Man, or a black Captain America, or a female Thor—or any other things so-called comic book fans say is “stealing your childhood”— you never got it right in the first place.

If you consider yourself a fan of these comic books, but you still think the LGBTQ community is trying to get “special rights”, or if you have a problem with Black Lives Matter, or want to “take the country back" from immigrants, then you were NEVER really a fan. Comic book superheroes didn’t suddenly become progressive...They always were. They taught us to strive for a better more peaceful world.

You just grew up to be intolerant. You became the villain in the stories you used to love. Let that sink in.

By Robert Bernardo.