Meet the Myth Master Reinventing Marvel Comics

The fate of the Marvel universe rests on Axel Alonso's shoulders.

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Standing in front of a mural depicting the fantasy world he watches over, the editor in chief of the nearly eight-decade-old comics publisher slings a replica Mjölnir battle hammer over his right shoulder in the "Thor Room" at the company's offices in midtown Manhattan. He does not look like your typical executive. Emblazoned on his bicep, a Mayan calendar tattoo peeks out from under the sleeve of his black V-neck tee. (He got inked to commemorate his ethnic heritage after the death of his father, a Mexican immigrant, he says.)

Alonso, a journalist turned modern-day mythologist, is leading the world's top comics publisher during a time of great disruption. In an industry historically dominated by caucasian males, Alonso is breaking the laminated seal of stodgy tradition by adding people of every ilk to the brand's roster of writers and dramatis personae. Under his watch, the Marvel universe has expanded to accommodate costumed crimefighters of myriad ethnicities: a biracial Spider-Man, a black Captain America, a Mexican-American Ghost Rider, to name a few. Last year he hired the company's first ever black female writers.

By encouraging his crew to buck the status quo, Alonso has won admirers as well as detractors. He says he has "seeded conversations" about shaking up Marvel's ways of doing things, such as swapping in new superheroes, but mostly he leaves his creators to their own devices. The ideas are theirs and the onus is on them, he says. He describes his role as one of a traffic cop. "You're show-running 17 different popular shows all in the same universe," Alonso says. When someone has a new idea, he must bring everyone together "to avoid car crashes and create car pools."



Still, by transforming beloved characters, Marvel has also encountered backlash, including a refrain that's now familiar to anyone on the internet: "You're ruining my childhood." Top editors, in particular, make good whipping boys. As Fortune's sister Time presciently put it at the time of Alonso's promotion six years ago, the "new job is a fairly thankless position in terms of public response: very often, anything that goes right is perceived as the creators’ doing, and anything that goes wrong is perceived as the editor-in-chief’s fault."

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