Cartoonist

Ardian Syaf, currently the artist for X-Men Gold, has been criticised for including the images.

Marvel fans pointed out that Colossus's shirt contained the words "QS 5:51" and, in another scene with new X-Men leader Kitty Pryde, a building had 212 written on it.

The references go against the company's inclusiveness policies, Marvel said.

It is also removing some artwork from the online edition of the comic.

QS 5:51 is a reference to a verse in the Koran, while 212 marks a protest on 2 December in Jakarta.

Bill Leak, who created some of Australia's most recognisable and inflammatory cartoons, has died of a suspected heart attack in hospital. He was 61.

Last year, his caricature of an indigenous man with a beer can who could not remember his son's name was labelled "disgusting" and "discriminatory" by Aboriginal leaders. The artist had also faced death threats and was forced to move out of his home after publishing an image of the Prophet Muhammad following the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris.