Warning! Trigger warning for sexual violence.
Marvel Comics is getting called out over the recent appearance of a new character named Princess Matoaka in the newest issue of King Conan, as it has ties to the Native American historical icon who is commonly referred to as Pocahontas. Considering Matoaka is connected to the birth name of the real-life Pocahontas, some readers have called out Marvel, Jason Aaron, and Mahmud Asrar for giving the character the name of a real historical Native American figure.
Pocahontas was born in the late 1500s with the name Amonute while also going by the name Matoaka. She would become a pop-culture figure as her story of saving the life of English soldier John Rolfe was romanticized in the animated film Pochohantas, but historical records show a much darker life for her. Records indicate Pocohantas was only a child when John Smith and English colonists arrived in Powhatan and that she became pregnant before she even turned 16. The romanticized history of Pocohantas seems to ignore horrible details about her life and Smith’s role in it. For anyone interested, it is strongly recommended to read “The True Story of Pocahontas.”
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In this week’s King Conan from Marvel Comics, readers couldn’t help but notice the debut of a new character named Princess Matoaka. In the issue, Conan the Barbarian meets with another prisoner of the undead island he’s trapped on, who goes by the name Princess Matoaka. The scantily dressed character ended up on the island after falling in love with a man who tried to kill her people. But after the bloody battle, Princess Matoaka was sent with her people’s gold to the island of the undead to lure those after the riches into a trap. Immediately, people called out writer Jason Aaron and artist Mahmud Asrar for using the name of the real-life, murdered Native American to an overly sexualized new character.
Native writer Kelly Lynne D’Angelo was one of the many voices online expressing frustration and anger about Marvel using the Princess Matoaka name, calling the use “disgusting” and suggesting the publisher pull the character out of canon. She called out Marvel saying the sexualization of the real-life Pocahontas still has impacts on the real lives of indigenous women today. D’Angelo said Marvel using Pocahontas’ real name was a horrible decision and questioned why a sensitivity reader wasn’t consulted.
this is active violence against us and our community. the sexualization of a real young girl that was r*ped and killed young affects our murdered & missing indigenous women TODAY.
you are backwards, sick, and should donate every penny you earned creating this to #MMIW
— Kelly Lynne D’Angelo ✨ (@kellylynnedang) February 28, 2022
Users pointed out Jason Aaron’s history with writing Native American characters in the series Scalped, while others called out the insensitive design that went with the Princess Matoaka.
No matter the context, naming a character Princess Matoaka was a poor, insensitive, and shocking choice by Aaron and Marvel Comics. The name is connected to the real-life Pocahontas. So, naming a character who’s so blatantly oversexualized to an indigenous girl who experienced sexual violence is a stunning error that should be immediately corrected. There’s no excuse. At the very least, future printings of King Conan should change the character’s name.
Source: Indian Country Today
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Liam McGuire
(2367 Articles Published)
Lead writer for Screen Rant’s comic team. [email protected]. Find me on Twitter @LiamRMcGuire for comic news and reporting.
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