There have been a lot of changes in comics over the last decade, but it’s within the last five years that things have really started to turn around. The title of Captain America went to Sam Wilson, a black man; Laura Kinney has taken the mantle of Wolverine; and Jane Foster has proven worthy of Thor’s hammer. All of these changes were met with trepidation from longtime comic fans, some of whom accused Marvel of forcing these changes on creators. Yet, Thor writer Jason Aaron told The Wall Street Journal in 2014 that Thor’s gender-swap “was all my idea. This was not about Marvel coming to me and saying, ‘We want you to change this character to a woman. Any woman will do.’ This was me having a very specific story in mind.”

This also goes back to 2011 when Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli created Miles Morales in the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man. The change, which saw the mantle of Spider-Man passed from Peter Parker to Miles Morales, got a lot of media attention and accusations flew that Miles was just another marketing stunt.

“I know that sometimes things feel a little stunt-y, especially when something explodes like this, but I can tell you from my heart of hearts that it was story-first for years, and once we knew that we had something we were really proud of, absolutely we let people know, and if people want to jump on the story, great,” Bendis told Newsarama.

There aren’t invisible hands at Marvel forcing these changes on creators as much as it is writers and artists realizing they have the freedom to do more and be more inclusive in the process. The idea that inclusivity or diversity will somehow “ruin” comics makes no sense; it’s easy to rely on the same characters repeating the same stories, but to try and expand your audience will stimulate creativity—not stifle it. Far from being a stunt, Miles Morales became so popular that he has joined the main Marvel universe (where he now co-exists with Peter Parker as Spider-Man) and has joined the Avengers.

Such changes aren’t exclusive to Marvel. The success of series like Gotham Academy at DC or Lumberjanes at Boom! speak volumes as well. DC has seen success by shifting its focus to more of its female characters. Harley Quinn has become one of the premiere women of the DC universe and her book is consistently one of DC’s best selling titles. Characters like Batgirl got design changes to reflect the shifting perspective of women in comics while Wonder Woman’s outfit now reflects that she’s a warrior to be feared. Last year, the publisher launched the DC You initiative, which focused on expanding their roster of titles to include more women and minorities, on both sides of the page.