A 9-Year-Old Black Girl Is Officially The Smartest Person In Marvel Universe
Marvel has steadily made changes to its comic book roster recently, with the most notable one being Riri Williams — the new Iron (Wo)Man. Now the entertainment company has unveiled another new character that follows in Williams' footsteps.
Moon Girl, a nine-year-old genius, will serve as the smartest person in the Marvel Universe. The announcement came at Comic Con International: San Diego during the event's Women of Marvel panel. According to Sana Amanat, Marvel's Director of Content and Character Development, Moon Girl's story will be a part of the company's Marvel NOW! line.
Amanat didn't go into detail on how the character gains the status of Marvel's smartest person, but here's what we do know:
1. Moon Girl, real name Lunella Lafayette, is a black girl from Manhattan, New York.
2. The series serves as a reboot of the classic Devil Dinosaur stories of the 1970s, transporting the T. rex to present-day New York and replacing his caveman companion Moon Boy with Lunella who, aside from being a super genius, also carries the Inhuman gene. Oh yeah — she's also the reason why Devil Dinosaur is in present-day New York, having accidentally transported the red dinosaur.
3. A number of Marvel superheroes and groups will be making an appearance including: Hulk, Dr. Strange, the X-Men and The Thing.
In an interview with BuzzFeed Marvel senior editor Mark Paniccia confirmed Lunella as Marvel's smartest person — a title that originally belonged to Reed Richards, also known as Mister Fantastic. "There's always been a healthy debate about which super-genius is the smartest," Paniccia said. "Is it Tony Stark? Reed Richards? Victor Von Doom? Hank Pym? Amadeus Cho? The answer is gonna shock the Marvel Universe when it's revealed to be 9-year-old Inhuman Lunella Lafayette."
Issue nine of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur dropped today, so if you've been wanting to get into a new comic book series, this might be the place to start.
