Marvel has disgraced itself by firing Star Wars author Chuck Wendig

It took a side when it should have stayed neutral, Marvel has disgraced itself by letting Star Wars author Chuck Wendig go.

It was only just last week, during New York Comic Con, that Marvel announced that Star Wars author Chuck Wendig would pen a Darth Vader miniseries, titled Shadow of Vader. Yet today, Oct. 12, Marvel decided to let Wendig go, due to a series of Tweets that he had sent.

For those who are unfamiliar with Wendig, he is best known amongst Star Wars fans for his Aftermath trilogy novel series. He has also penned countless other Star Wars-related comics, and other novels not connected to the universe.

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And it was when that very first Aftermath novel was released, that eyebrows were raised, hair was ruffled, and the long journey to where we are now started; with Marvel deciding to pick a side and showing Wendig the door.

When the novel was first introduced, in 2015, a series of canonically LGBT characters were introduced. This didn’t go down well with some of the fandom, who made their voices heard, some more than others, and some of it hate-filled and unnecessary.

Wendig himself is not one for sitting by and would routinely engage with those who would harass and intimidate. This occurred each time the next novel in the series was published, and as Wendig pointed out, was not the only one being targeted.

Which brings us up to present day where Marvel decided enough was enough and fired Wendig.

Marvel has disgraced itself

Here’s the thing, Marvel’s decision is outright disgraceful. According to Wendig, Marvel’s reason’s in reaching such a decision was because there was too much politics, too much vulgarity, and too much negativity on Wendig’s part.

Yet all he was doing was defending his position. Call it what you will but that is ultimately what he was doing.

You might not agree with Wendig introducing LGBT characters, or his work as an author in general, you might not agree with how he conducts himself and the language he uses on social media, and that’s fine. Have a healthy debate or conversation about it Marvel, don’t fire someone for defending themselves and standing up to a bully.

Firing him means you have taken a side, a side that sends a very worrying message around the world, especially for creators. One that says if you want to undermine, suppress and harass someone, that it is OK to do so; as long as your voice is loud enough.

Hopefully, Marvel will see the errors of their ways and reinstate Chuck Wendig, although if I’m honest, I doubt they will.