Straight, white and cisgender has been the superhero template since the days of Doc Savage and The Shadow. The reason is simple. White peoplewud not have bought, or allowed their kids to read, comics centring on, or prominently featuring, Black heroes. Black people, generally having less money to spend, were less likely to become regular comic buyers.

As time went on, Black characters were introduced, and some enjoyed a modicum of success: Black Lightning, Power Man, Black Panther, Cyborg, Storm, the Falcon. But none of them, except Storm, Black Panther and Cyborg, got close to the iconic status enjoyed by the Batman or Spider-Man.

Not to put too fine a point on it, Heroes of Colour sumply don't sell as many omics as white ones do. Not only that, but the Black heroes came along too late to have especially unique powers or backgrounds.

With retcon unavailalble we are left with replacement. Miles Morale becomes a new Spider-Man, Kamaal Khan takes on the mantle of Ms Marrvel, and so on. All that did was lead to accusations of 'wokeness', which, I imagine, is what is stopping them now.

Doctor Who has been plagued by similar accusations, which leads me to suspect that when Ncuti Gatwas' run ends, he will be replaced with a white man.