Black Super Heroes

[Acey]

This is stacktastic, one of my favorite Youtube shows. I've had a beef on my shoulder for a while about the lack of prominent Black Super Heroes and this thoughtful video has given me a chance to address some these issues:



I want real black super heroes. I really want these role models for my kids to be able to look up to. Sure a black kid can look up to a white super hero or a hispanic super hero or a skrull super hero but there is no doubt that we associate on a more personal level when a hero resembles us more. So here are my beefs and questions:

1) Black Panther, Marvel's first black super hero: why not just "Panther", there are no "black" panthers, just "panthers". Oh, he was marvel's first main stream black super hero, let's call him "black" something. Still gets to me.

2) Storm: Invented in 1975 as a part of X-Men new multicultural team with heroes from Africa, Japan, Native American, Canada, Russia, Germany, etc... Storm was only introduced in order to be multi-cultural. Nice weave.

3) Taking a white hero and making a black version: War Machine, John Stewart, Steel, Isaiah Bradley Capt. America, Patriot, Nick Fury, Miles Spider-man (more on him later), 'nuff said.

4) Homeboy heroes: Nothing is as bad as raping Roadblock from G. I. Joe but arguable the most main stream, popular black marvel super hero is Luke Cage, Power Man, hero for... hire? What, a poor black man from the projects has to be paid in order to be a super hero? What about doing it because it's right? Misty Knight is another one, potential just lost. I just chalk this up to the stereotyping from the 1970s, similar to "Black" Panther. I think Marvel has gone a long way to make Luke much more real now. Thanks Brian Michael Bendis.

5) Real black heroes: There are some examples of the good stuff though, far fewer than the white heroes, but it's a start.

5a) Cyborg, always black, not a copy of another hero and not a stereo type. Love him and his fuzzy hair. I real respect that he's not bald and they draw his hair right. Right there I'm impressed. Now he's taken John Stewart’s spot as the token black guy in the Justice League in the New 52. He's been well developed in the Teen Titan cartoon (much better than in the comics) and I love this guy. I'm impressed DC. Keep it up.

5b) Spawn: Wait... Spawn is black? Oh yeah! And always has been, always will be. Married, CIA, assassin, fairly normal life until the events unfold that make him into Spawn. Arguably the #1 super hero of the 1990s.

5c) Miles Morales: ok, so he's black Spiderman, well, half black, half hispanic, so we can hit two segments of the population at once, but he's still written as a young black man. If the Ultimate Marvel Universe keeps Peter Parker dead and keeps Miles as their #1 Spider-man, then this will be the best thing that has happened, period. Miles is real to me, with real problems and real challenges. I want to see his life for the next 40 years of comics and develop just as any other hero would. I want my grandkids to be Miles Morales for Halloween. Marvel don't let me down.

6) Marvel's black villains: Spoiler alert, Bishop becomes one of Marvel's best side switcher villains, besides Cyclops. The Runaways (great trade paperback) also had their prominent young black leader turn evil. Marvel has a long history of making villains into heroes but making heroes in villains in anything besides a one issue story is really kind of new. Bishop did it best and it was never about color or race. Bishop lived to save us all from his past. So... other black villains... um... Tombstone, but he's albino. I actually went to Wikipedia for this one and most of Marvel's black villains were adversaries to Luke Cage or Black Panther and no one will recognize any of them... so... well... first let's get this hero thing down, then we can get make some good villains in a few decades.

Anyways, those are my thoughts. I'm hoping to hear some of yours as well. Race doesn't matter, but neither should weight or hair style but it all does on at least one level. Please leave your comments below.

p.s. Oh, and don't get me started on Marvel vs. Capcom... let's see... Storm... I guess that's it then.

[Arkady]

Isn't panthers villain mainly Moses magnum man ape and Ulysses klaw?
I'm fairly sure Ulysses is always trying to get his grubby little claw on the vibranium

[trexrell44]

Well when you look at the big picture is actually about who reads the books. I've herd this more than once or twice. The readers have to relate to the characters. And most readers probrobly are not black. In DC comics there are a lot of black heroes Mr terrefic, black lightning very well educated guys who really don't get that much recognition. And than u have chracters like cloak grew up in the streets but he got the bad end of an experimental drug playing the opposite of a privileged white girl who had it made and still got the good end of everything making cloak actually need her to survive. Don't ge me wrong I like the book but it really kinda down plays cloak in the end.

To me though black panther is a big deal.His resume speaks for itself. I kinda make it apoint to how my kkids the black heroes whenever they the in any media. Amanda waller, John Stewart and even bronze tiger when he was in the brave and the bold. So I kinda feel the same way. Prob more so cause atone point or another I had them all on my MUGEN whip list .

[Acey]

Did some research for some round numbers:

World Population by race:
Hispanic/South American: 8%
Eastern Indian: 8%
Black: 15%
White: 16%
Asian/Pacific Islander: 54%

This is rounding up so it adds up to over 100%. There are no definitive source and some of the data is in question but it's a good starting place for discussion.

One thing is certain, all of these heroes are being written in North America.

[trexrell44]

That's actually a pretty intrresting statistic. Asian cover more than half the worlds population. Never knew black and white were neck to neck like that.

[Tha Lando ( Le CROM )]

Blue Marvel has got to be a good fav of mine since finding out about him some years ago.



Spawn is def the man always in my book.  I do as well wish for more Nubian heroes.  I had a friend of mine recently came and wanted to have some artwork found so he can make a poster for his son with just nubian heroes from Comics. he wanted some toys for him as well. the only one he knew was Black Panther Luke Cage , Storm and Spawn.

[Kriven]

This post is primarily in response to Trexell, but it's also a response to the OP.

It's true that the comics are written to cater to a specific niche audience, in the case of Marvel and DC that would be young, white males. Probably straight males. But they have also been, largely, created by young, white males. I'm not denying that there have been some marvelous ethnic artists and writers, but the fact is that those creators are always assigned to a franchise which was already created... by a white male.

So really, if we want more cultural exposure, we need more ethnic creators creating new books. I mean, we can hold the white creators all at gunpoint and make them create black or hispanic or whatever characters, but that has historically proven to be... not awesome. That's not to say that there aren't exceptionally awesome black characters, but that the vast majority of the black characters created by white artists and writers are caricatures of their culture. So what needs to happen are black writers and black artists creating new black characters. Until that happens, until the main two are not afraid of creating new characters and new titles (most of their "new" books are always spin-offs of pre-existing titles... titles which primarily feature a white cast created by white dudes) we aren't going to get the diversity that other cultural groups deserve.

On a less essay-ish note: Bumble Bee, Static, and Black Lightning are all good black heroes. Although I suppose Black Lightning could fall into the stereotype of naming a black character "Black Something"? I actually always assumed it was because his lightning was black... but maybe that's also just stereotyping?

Forget Black Lightning. Bumble Bee and Static still stand. As does Kaldur'ahm Aqualad, who is really only a "clone" in name, as his powers of choice make him a vastly different character from previous members of the Aquafamily.

Editing to Add: a comic series about Anansi the Spider would also be awesome.

[Cayne]

I have to disagree with miles morales brah. He is the worst thing to happen to the ultimate universe since marvel killed off wolvie and cyclops in the same story arc. He is way to young to have any reasonable excuse to be web swinging at night. Michonne from walking dead is to me the highlight of not only the comic but the show as well. Storm does not rock a weave either, chick be getting mohawks. Also lets honorable mention Dr.Ryes from the classic Cassandra Nova arc in X-men.

[Acey]

Speaking of hair, my daughter took out her braids this weekend and was said because she prefers long hair to puffy hair. I told her that she looks like a super hero and we looked up images of Misty Knight and that made it all better.

I agree with Michonne, fortunately the TV show created much more recognition for Walking Dead.

[animaraz]

My top 10 favorite black heroes:

10.- Storm (X-Men)
9.- Blodwynd (Justice League)
8.- Steel (Superman)
7.- Icon/Rocket (Milestone)
6.- Static (Milestone)
5.- Lando Carrisian (Star Wars)
4.- Uhura (Star Treak)
3.- Cyborg (New Teen Titans/Super-Powers)
2.- Black Vulcan (Superfriends)
1.- Lothar (Mandrake)

[Cayne]

Yo been down with static since 93. Too bad the only mugenized version of him is way cheap. I need to learn how to sprite man.

[Cain]

I've always wanted more of a spotlight on Monica Rambeau (Pulsar/Photon/Captain Marvel the 2nd) from Marvel comics. Sadly, this will never happen because that spotlight will forever belong to Storm.

My Favorites:

Pulsar (Avengers)
Storm (X-Men)
Cyborg (Teen Titans)
Steel (Superman)

[DizzyTheConquer]

The first super hero I was actually a fan of was Static Shock. After I got into the comic craze back in 2012 I looked up som many black super heroes to Black Panther, John Stewart, Steel, Spawn & a lot more.  My favorite as of right now, my favorite Superhero is Luke Cage (of course). I think it's great to see some diversity when it comes to superheroes. Honestly, there needs to be more of it.

[trexrell44]

I also think media exposure creates much more exposure for characters. Nick fury and luscious fox are now house hold names. And connected to sme large franchises in a big way. If Luke Cage happens (with terry cruise) and some good wrighting of course it could be huge. As long as they make it funny and include a big name villain it could be a hit and really bring a good character into the spot light outside of comics. Look at blade I first seen him on spiderman next thing I know he ended up in three movies.

[-Whiplash-]

You guys think you got it bad? How many arab superheroes can you think of?

I did a google search. and I got this guy:
http://marvel.com/universe/Arabian_Knight_%28Abdul_Qamar%29

He's the biggest stereotype ever. I mean sure, we have that new green Lantern (Who is AWSOME) and Dust (another stereotype) but that's it, all the other Arabs I can think of in Comics are evil. (Ra's Al Ghul (who's name they never pronounce right (except in Nolan Movies), Black Adam, (I know he became a cool Anti-hero later but he was still originally evil) and Apocalypse.)