because villains are generally less cyclical - heroes are the ones who change and grow with the times, but the threats stay the same. There's been like seventeen batmen, and maybe three jokers. There's been a bunch of spider-mans, but only one Doctor Octopus.
part of this is that insights into a supervillain's non-costumed life are much rarer. black spider-man is interesting because half of any given issue of spider-man is him bumming around new york and playing basketball with elementary school kids, or whatever. you don't see kingpin playing basketball with elementary school kids.
the exceptions to this - villains who have had a few identity changes over the years - are, not coincidentally, villains that are popular enough and nuanced enough to have had solo series before, or even be considered anti-heroes. Lady Venom and Lady Loki, as two random examples.
Another part of it is that, while I don't want to say that changing a superhero's race or gender is solely a marketing move - there are interesting stories that have been told with those changes - it is definitely an aspect of them. That isn't really a bad thing, in moderation, comic books are a business after all, but it does mean that characters who aren't really part of the 'marketing' are less likely to get these sorts of changes. people might like the green goblin, but nobody is going to make an article about how we should cast forest whitaker as norman osborne.
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part of this is that insights into a supervillain's non-costumed life are much rarer. black spider-man is interesting because half of any given issue of spider-man is him bumming around new york and playing basketball with elementary school kids, or whatever. you don't see kingpin playing basketball with elementary school kids.
the exceptions to this - villains who have had a few identity changes over the years - are, not coincidentally, villains that are popular enough and nuanced enough to have had solo series before, or even be considered anti-heroes. Lady Venom and Lady Loki, as two random examples.
Another part of it is that, while I don't want to say that changing a superhero's race or gender is solely a marketing move - there are interesting stories that have been told with those changes - it is definitely an aspect of them. That isn't really a bad thing, in moderation, comic books are a business after all, but it does mean that characters who aren't really part of the 'marketing' are less likely to get these sorts of changes. people might like the green goblin, but nobody is going to make an article about how we should cast forest whitaker as norman osborne.