Dark Stars: Black Superheroes and Villians
In Comicazi Issue #0 we break it down that DC is seriously non-brutha friendly, but when you dig deep in the long-boxes of Marvel and DC’s mainstream history, there is a pretty solid line of Black heroes and supervillians:
- Black Panther
- Falcon
- Luke Cage
- Storm
- Blade
- Isaiah Bradley
- Patriot
- James Rhodes
- Monica Rambeau (Captain Marvel)
- Bishop
- Cyborg
- Black Lightning
- Mr. Terrific 2
- Bill Foster (Giant Man)
- Vixen
- John Stewart
- Thunder
- Steel
- Misty Knight
- Brother Voodoo
- Black Manta
- Firestorm
- Moses Magnum
- Derek Khanata
- Deathlok
- Kasper Cole
- Vibraxas
- Thunderball
- Cloak
- Black Racer
- Maggott
- Bronze Tiger
- Silhouette
- Rage
- Night Thrasher
- Prowler
- Rocket Racer
- BattleStar
- Alex Wilder
- Crispus Allen
- Killmonger
- Nekra
- Windshear
- Cardinal
- Cardiac
- Angel
- Tempest
- Doorman
- Natasha Irons
- Bushman
- Slyde
- Calypso
- Manslaughter
- Cottonmouth
- Amanda Waller
- Man-Ape
- Tyroc
- Black Mask
- Mandrill
- Bloodsport
- Maxim
- Triathlon
- Black Talon
- Anarchist
- Axum
- Bandit
- Joanna Cargill
- Rem-Ram
- Hammer/Anvil
- Aegis
- Amazing Man
- Daddy Long Legs
- Talisman
How many did we clock up to? 73? Believe it or not, there’s more! It’s clear that Marvel is tryin’ to win the war on diversity in Comics since 90% of the heroes and villians in the list are from the house of M (but is slippin’ when it comes to prominent Black characters having their own line — Black Panther and Blade being the only ones with a regular monthly feature).
Each week in the Dark Stars column, I’ll take look at a different Black character in Marvel and DC Comics ( get down with some Comics clue on Darkstars and why the column is tagged with a similar Comics headline).
The list is organic and will grow over time. I am only taking into consideration mainstream history from both houses, excluding joints like Ultimates, or any other Elseworlds style flavor. Rock with me as I build this collection and in the meantime drop a comment, slide me some email, or hit me via instant messenger if you want to suggest more Black characters to add to the list.
September 22nd, 2006 at 11:53 am
Hey, my friend!
What a great column. You know, when you’re done with this, you’re gonna have to hit up Native American characters next.
I’m going to be hard-pressed to come up with close to 70, though…….
Be well.
September 22nd, 2006 at 2:11 pm
And don’t forget the asian characters! How many characters there? 20? One character that’s in his own category: Conor Hawke aka Green Arrow II, son of Oliver Queen. He’s black, white, and asian. He’s usually portrayed with brown skin, asiatic eyes and blond hair. You know Tiger Woods had some heavy influence here.
By the way I was in the shop yesterday, glimpsing at a GL trade and I couldn’t get over how militant John Stewart was when he was first recruited by Hal Jordan. Like Shaft with a power ring.
Peace.
September 22nd, 2006 at 2:38 pm
Jews! Do the Jews!
September 22nd, 2006 at 3:56 pm
Isn’t Steel part of DC? And I think Jon Stewart is a Jewish talk-show host. :)
Although I absolutely loved Monica Rambeaux — Captain Marvel. She rocked.
September 22nd, 2006 at 4:00 pm
Ah — I didn’t read past the jump and thought you were only listing the Marvel ones. :)
September 23rd, 2006 at 6:44 pm
How about Black Widow, Black Bolt, or the Black Knight? (sorry, bad joke)
Here are some links to check out:
http://www.blacksuperhero.com/exhibits2.cfm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_black_superheroes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Black_supervillains
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Native_American_superheroes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Asian_superheroes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_superheroes#Comic_books_and_heroes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_stereotypes_in_comics
September 25th, 2006 at 12:54 am
So…what do these characters and/or their stories have in common? What are they doing right for the Black character and where are they missing the boat?
I’d be interested to know the race/ethnicity of those who are writing and penciling these characters as well!? Mainly to validate the representations of the characters as having an ‘authentic source’ and not the result of some in-house diversity training (slash marketing strategy) to make the Big Boys ‘look’ like they are sensitive to ALL peoples!
Anyway. I’d like to see a Native American-Latino-Asian-Caucasoid hero (or villain) struggle with his identity AND his arch nemesis at the same time… which could be anyone who KNOWS where he/she has come from!
September 25th, 2006 at 9:16 pm
Man, you’ve got some old school cats on here I haven’t heard in years! I’m glad that your plan to get this off the ground is beginning to reach fruition. Job well done..!
September 27th, 2006 at 10:24 am
In response to this posting by b:
“I’d be interested to know the race/ethnicity of those who are writing and penciling these characters as well!? Mainly to validate the representations of the characters as having an ‘authentic source’ and not the result of some in-house diversity training (slash marketing strategy) to make the Big Boys ‘look’ like they are sensitive to ALL peoples!”
I’d be interested in your perspective as well. For instance, some of the more popular black characters (T’challa, Luke Cage, Storm, Jon Stewart, Black Lightning) I think were all created by white men. But, I don’t think they were created during a time of diversity training. With the exception of Storm who was created to fit into a truly international superhero team, I think they were more a result of the civil rights movement and a greater awareness of black people in the United States as having their own cultural identity. Were they trying to exploit a market to sell more comics? Yeah a little bit, sure. But were they also trying to create greater stories with different perspectives? Yes, I think they were. Does it invalidate the attempt to give a different perspective because the creators were white? I don’t think that it does completely, although it leaves much room for misinterpretation and misinformation. Plus, it is tough to judge the original intent and impact by our modern perspective.
I remember an interview with Stan Lee once where he was asked if he had ever tried to teach anything in his comics. He said that for the most part he never did. He was more concerned with telling stories. However, he went on to say, if there was something that he wanted to get across to people, it’s that he did try to tell people not to be racist. This may have been born of his own exposure to anti-Semitism, but a good writer would be able to take those experiences and apply them to stories about other ethnicities. The story is universal, whereas the details may be lacking.
Sorry for the long post
September 30th, 2006 at 8:35 pm
I couldn’t resonate more with Stan Lee’s comments about ‘telling a story.’
My own experience has been that when I DO want to represent an ethnicity other than the one I own, I come across some problems. Some of them are the direct result OF things like “Diversity Training”-like activities combined with good (but ignorant) intentions.
For example, I was asked to create a Mural for the side of a Boys and Girls Club building. I needed to SHOW that ALL kids were welcome here, which means boys and girls from varios ethnic origins… WHICH raised the issue of stereotypes!
In order to avoid stereotypes of race and gender, the characters got really watered down, and ultimately, this mural looked like one of those forced-mix families you see in bad commercials and sitcoms. All intentions were good, but I took my name off the mural and it was so bad (once they had it put on the wall) they painted over it a few weeks later.
It would be really interesting to write your auto-biography as IF you belonged to a different race. How would that change your interpretation of the events in your life? etc..
I digress.
um… Bahlactus Rules?
b
September 30th, 2006 at 8:37 pm
I spelled ‘various’ wrong.
October 8th, 2006 at 10:28 pm
[…] Always Bet on Bahlactus has started a weekly feature on black superheroes called Dark Stars and the first one features none other than the severely underused John Stewart. […]
January 3rd, 2007 at 7:17 pm
[…] Dark Stars is about Black superheroes (and supervillians) that have appeared in MARVEL/DC mainstream history. It all started with a challenge to some friends at the Comics shop that they couldn’t name twenty Black characters between BOTH houses along the superhero & supervillian line. Like ABSOLUTE GALACTUS, I’ll be sharing my finds within the Dark Stars of MARVEL/DC with each appearance of one of these Black characters added to my collection along the way. […]
January 17th, 2007 at 2:05 am
[…] Dark Stars is about Black superheroes (and supervillians) that have appeared in MARVEL/DC mainstream history. It all started with a challenge to some friends at the Comics shop that they couldn’t name twenty Black characters between BOTH houses along the superhero & supervillian line. Like ABSOLUTE GALACTUS, I’ll be sharing the Dark Stars of MARVEL/DC appearances as they are added to my collection. […]
June 18th, 2008 at 3:53 am
There was a black sort-of-villian in Ghost Rider named Suicide. I wouldn’t concider him an example of a strong black male in any sense of the phrase other than physically, though. But then again, concidering his origin, why would he be?
Anyway, since he’s something of an embarassment to claim (regardless of race or sex), I could see why you may have intentionally left him off your list if you knew he existed. You seem to have this comic stuff down, so I’m probably not telling you anything new, but if I did, that’s just one more thing for you to check out.
Excellent work on the page, by the way. I was going to bed about two hours ago when I stumbled across it and started reading.
June 20th, 2008 at 12:20 am
Karsher, ‘preciate you stoppin’ through (and thanks for the clue as well) — Suicide may have been overlooked. I’m sticking to mainstream DC/MARVEL continuity (i.e. no alternate universe characters of any sort). If he’s in the regular mix, he’ll definitely get added to the list at some point. Good lookin’ out on that. Be easy!