Hailee Steinfeld joins the Marvel universe as new superhero

INSTAGRAM

Hailee Steinfeld was seen filming in New York City's subway, carrying a bow.

While most of the world's focus is on the coronavirus pandemic, the Georgia's Senate race and the ravings of the madman in the White House, there are other things going on -- important things. Important things such as: Is Hailee Steinfeld the latest actress to be cast as a Marvel superhero? and, is the character half-Asian?

For over a year, speculation has run rampant on social media that the 24-year-old Steinfeld was being sought to play Kate Bishop, a central figure in Marvel's new universe of superheroes.

What? Who is Kate Bishop, you ask?

Kate Bishop, created by writer Allan Heinberg and artist Jim Cheung, is the daughter of a rich family. A victim of an attack by thugs, she trains in the martial arts and eventually becomes the leader of the Young Avengers, a group of young whipper-snappers who want to emulate their heroes, the Avengers led by Captain America.

Excitement has been building for a year since it was announced that Marvel wanted to cast Steinfeld as Kate Bishop, but contract negotiations apparently was a rocky road as no official announcement of Steinfeld taking the role has been formally announced.

I'm not sure about the origins of the rumor that Kate Bishop is half Asian -- perhaps its wishful projections, but the rumor has refused to die.

Kate BIshop's ethnicity has never been raised in the comics. Perhaps it's her black hair, a propensity to wearing shades and that particular hue of Bishop's skin possessed by many mixed-race individuals. Maybe, as the artist, Cheung -- in the form of a  guerrilla act -- has given the character a racially ambiguous appearance to spur the debate.

Artist Cheung said in a Tumblr Q&A that he “definitely never thought of her as Asian at all, but I can understand how people might interpret her that way from my art style.”

I take that as "Maybe she could be ..."

Many of the fans of Kate Bishop have assumed her racial heritage and raised alarms when Steinfeld's name was raised as the actress to play their favorite character. They said it was a another "whitewashing" case like Ghost In A Shell when Scarlett Johansson played the role of the Asian lead character.

Those readers apparently didn't know of Steinfeld's real Filipino background via her grandfather. 

Hailee Steinfeld, left, and the character Kate Bishop, aka Hawkeye.

At any rate, a social media campaign arose asking Marvel to emphasized and confirm Kate Bishop's mixed racial heritage.

All this debate was going on for a year and Steinfeld still had not signed on the dotted line, but this week, sharp-eyed comicbook fans recorded the filming of the Young Avengers being done in New York. Indeed, Steinfeld was seen carrying a bow -- Kate Bishop's signature weapon -- and she was wearing a purple outfit, just like Kate Bishop.

Now that Steinfeld's casting has been confirmed, Marvel should seriously consider allowing the hopeful speculation about her race become a reality. As a comicbook character, Kate Bishop is so ... so, white bread bland. It would be so much more interesting in her character development open the door to identity questions if she was part Asian. 

Some have pointed out that in the comics, Bishop has blue eyes. Filipinos with blue eyes are rare, but they do exist. so eye colors shouldn't be the reason to not be racially halo halo. (Hint: Google "Filipinos," "Blue eyes")

Steinfeld has never played a Filipino in the movies because Hollywood casting directors don't see her as a white woman. Certainly, she has reached point in her still-growing career that she can add depth to the characters that she plays by adding a bit of herself into the role.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this is news sprinkled with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions.