Ari Agbayani will be introduced in an upcoming issue of The United States of Captain America, a comic series following the different versions of Captain America across the country including John Walker, Bucky Barns, and Sam Wilson.
Captain America: Marvel Comics has introduced a new Cap in the form of a Filipino-American college student, Arielle Agbayani the fourth to take up the superhero name to defend their local community.
Co-creator Alyssa Wong shared on Twitter that she named the character after “a few Fil Am friends, with help from my Fil Am fam.”
“It means the world to write a character who reflects my community. I'm honored by the support and kind words we've seen about Arielle! And as a Fil Am kid who didn't see many characters like me, I'm glad that's changing and I hope we'll continue to see many more in the future!”
Ari Agbayani will be introduced in an upcoming issue of The United States of Captain America, a comic series following the different versions of Captain America across the country including John Walker, Bucky Barns, and Sam Wilson.
Marvel Comics has already revealed the first gay shield-bearer in Aaron Fischer, a new Black female Cap named Nichelle Wright, and an indigenous Captain America, Joe Gomez.
When the news was first released last week, Ari’s whole name hasn’t been revealed leading to a few netizens slamming Marvel for naming the character after the Tagalog word for genitals. Some also pointed out that ‘Agbayani’ is too literal for a superhero name.
Wong quickly shared her character’s first name as well as its origin and thanked the support of the Filipino-American community.
Ari in Tagalog could also mean ownership, property. Agbayani is also a fairly common name.
Creators Wong and Jodi Nishijima shared that Ari Agbayani is inspired by Bucky Barns and takes up her shield after finding out her best friend is being terrorized by a wealthy student with family ties to the school.
Ari’s character design is also inspired by Barns.
Artist Nishijima explained that she also based Ari’s look on the girls she has known in her life “who in their day to day appear very sweet and empathetic, but when challenged can be terribly fierce.”
According to Marvel, creating different Captain America's and shield-bearers for different communities is a great way to introduce new heroes and show the influence a person wielding the shield can have in the Marvel Universe.
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