Meet Safespace and Snowflake, Marvel’s super modern heroes

THE Hulk has superhuman strength, Iron Man a powered armour suit.

But it seems Marvel’s latest heroes boast the worthiest power of all: They’re super-duper ‘woke’.

The comic book franchise is hoping to appeal to the so-called ‘snowflake’ generation by introducing two new characters – a pair of psychicpowered twins who are ‘hyper aware of modern culture’.

Snowflake, with cropped blue hair and matching leotard, is non-binary – meaning an individual who does not identify as either male or female – and can make snowflake-shaped blades for throwing.

And twin Safespace – a term used to describe an environment free of bias, conflict or criticism – can create pink force-fields for defence against any unkind enemies.

The twins, who will be introduced as part of a series called New Warriors, see their powers as ‘a postironic meditation on using violence to combat bullying,’ according to cocreator Daniel Kibblesmith.

But the heroes have not been entirely well-received, with some claiming the characters’ names make a mockery of the LGBT+ community and others branding the release a cynical publicity stunt.

One critic described the launch as ‘extremely tone deaf’, while another wrote on Twitter: ‘The Marvel “New Warriors” are so badly designed I thought they were parodies of “stuff as many LGBT/minority characters in the main cast as possible” series.’

But Mr Kibblesmith said: ‘The connotations of the word “snowflake” in our culture right now are something fragile.

‘Snowflake is a character who is turning it into something sharp.’

Snowflake is the franchise’s first explicitly non-binary superhero, although Marvel writer Al Ewing previously said Thor’s nemesis, Loki, is bisexual and ‘gender fluid’.

The New Warriors series also features modern superheroes B-Negative, Screentime and Trailblazer.