Today our discussion concerns Black (African-American) Superhero and Superheroine movies, and the incredible disparity between the comic book companies and their contributions to the category. Hint: Marvel wins.
There has been a tremendous dearth of heroes from the Black community in comics, and the issue is even worse in film/TV. I love the way Anthony Mackie (Falcon) addressed the issue in Falcon and Winter Soldier. "I'm Just Falcon, kid." The kid says “No no, my daddy told me it’s Black Falcon.” Falcon asks “Is it, because I’m Black, and I’m the Falcon?” The kid says “Well, technically…I mean, yes?” Falcon asks “So are you, like, Black Kid?” Brilliant.
For many years, the comic world just made Black heroes by adding "black" to another name. Black Vulcan, Black Goliath, Black Eagle, Black Racer, Black Spider. Ugh. Thank goodness for Marvel taking a chance in 1966 with Black Panther (the actual name of the animal), Falcon in 1969, and Luke Cage in 1972. These three characters in particular gave a rich depth to heroes that were defined way beyond the color of their skin.
T'Challa was an African prince, Luke Cage, a falsely accused and imprisoned friend of a gangster, and Sam Wilson (Falcon), a social worker turned hero. To date, there have only been 8 characters with feature films or TV series based on Black characters. The best of these have been Black Panther, Luke Cage and Falcon. But let's look at what we actually have as a sample.
(1) M.A.N.T.I.S. (1994)- an original sci-fi TV series from Fox (and Sam Raimi). Carl Lumbly plays Miles Hawkins, a paralyzed scientist that invents a powered exoskeleton which he uses to fight crime. It started off well enough, but faded quickly when they started having MANTIS time travel and fight dinosaurs.
(2) BLADE (1998)- A Wesley Snipes film (actually series of films from Marvel) that started in 1998 and continues to this day. Originally panned, it has gathered a huge following, with a TV series and a film reboot on the horizon.
(3) STEEL (1997)- An awful Shaquille O'Neal (DC) film that I actually like. O'Neal plays John Henry Irons, an inventor who creates a battle suit and a hammer to fill the gap after Superman is killed by Doomsday. The source material is great, the film is not.
(4) CATWOMAN (2004)- I don't know what this DC film was supposed to be, but it's not Catwoman. Halle Berry plays a woman not called Selina Kyle, not fighting Batman. It's regularly listed in the worst all time films lists- not just superhero films, but all films. Any criticism leveled at this train wreck could not be enough.
(5) BLACK LIGHTNING (2018)- It took DC over 20 years of trying before they finally got it right on a Black American centered project. Black Lightning was well done for the first two years, and then went off the rails when they had Jefferson Pierce fight a weird cult. Season 1 featured Marvin "Krondon" Jones III doing an exceptional job playing Tobias Whale.
(6) FALCON & WINTER SOLDIER (2021)- Anthony Mackie has owned the Falcon (Marvel) character from the beginning. He is no less than amazing every time he engages the role. It be interesting to see how he engages the Captain America persona moving forward. The series lacked some narrative depth (crummy writing) but Mackie elevates the character no matter what kind of dismal script he is handed. He's brilliant.
(7) LUKE CAGE (2016)- I cannot say enough about the way Mike Coulter embraced the Luke Cage character. Coulter was Cage in every way. The 2 seasons felt like they were pulled straight from Marvel's comic series. Coulter was both sincere and intimidating. The show gave us a beautiful view of life in Harlem, with that ugly (we hate whitey) undertone we get from some Black-centric projects. The show was a master class on how to represent a cultural paradigm at its best. Bravo Marvel.
(8) BLACK PANTHER (2018)- What Luke Cage did for TV, Black Panther and Wakanda Forever did for cinema. Beautiful, engaging, well-written. The loss of Chadwick Boseman was devastating to everyone who loved Black Panther, but the cast picked up and delivered in the sequel. These two films showed us a world that struggled with power, responsibility, and loss. Just like the Luke Cage TV series, enough good things cannot be said about these two films which had Africa as their setting, but the whole of humanity as their concern. Double Bravo Marvel.
As we move forward from here, it seems that sometimes in an effort to repair the slights of the past, comic book TV shows and films, run the risk of duplicating the mistakes that got them to the position they are in currently. Don't miscast a Kingpin character with a Black actor in an effort to increase representation. Give us solid, authentic Black characters like Luke Cage and T'Challa. We will all stand and cheer.
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