Decolonizing Media Fandom Disability, Race, and Marvel Superhero Fans

From the beginning, the superhero genre has revolved around narratives of transformation. Through traumatic experiences, physical disabilities evolve into super strength and invulnerability; mental disabilities grant telekinesis and foresight. Characters considered “outsiders” are tasked with lead roles in saving the world. All of these attributes appeal to the marginalized fan. Yet, the default fan is often assumed to be white, Anglo-American, and able-bodied.

Decolonizing Media Fandom focuses on the globally diverse fan base of a massively popular Western text: the Marvel superhero universe. Drawing on fanworks from Archive of Our Own, a survey spanning sixteen countries, and one-on-one interviews with Marvel fans who identify as non-white and/or having a disability, Divya Garg examines the strengths and limitations of fandom from the perspective of those who are often relegated to the margins.
 

Divya Garg is a research fellow at the Centre for Culture and Technology in the School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry at Curtin University. Her work appears in Fame and Fandom: Functioning On and Offline (Iowa, 2022) and Queerbaiting and Fandom: Teasing Fans through Homoerotic Possibilities (Iowa, 2019). She lives in Perth, Western Australia.