Ethnic SuperHeroes- A Black History Month Question

[comhcinc]

so today at school i was asked if there was any superheroes who wasn't white. i was able some quickly The Falcon, War Machine, John Stewart, and Rictor came to mind right away. after that it got foggy.


so who am i missing?

[kahunablair]

http://www.blacksuperhero.com/exhibits2.cfm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_black_superheroes

[conorkilpatrick]

Also,

List of Hispanic superheroes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hispanic_superheroes).

List of African characters in comics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_characters_in_comics) (Some of which are superheroes).

[comhcinc]

that's too easy, i want to test your knowledge!

'sides that doesn't cover other races.

[conorkilpatrick]

And,

In the late 1960s, superheroes of other racial groups began to appear. In 1966, Marvel Comics introduced the Black Panther, an African king who became the first non-caricatured black superhero[24]. The first African-American superhero, the Falcon, followed in 1969, and three years later, Luke Cage, a self-styled "hero-for-hire", became the first black superhero to star in his own series. In 1971, Red Wolf became the first Native American in the superheroic tradition to headline a series.[25] In 1974, Shang Chi, a martial artist, became the first prominent Asian hero to star in an American comic book. (Asian-American FBI agent Jimmy Woo had starred in a short-lived 1950s series named after "yellow peril" antagonist, Yellow Claw.)

Comic-book companies were in the early stages of cultural expansion and many of these characters played to specific stereotypes; Cage often employed lingo similar to that of blaxploitation films, Native Americans were often associated with wild animals and Asians were often portrayed as martial artists.

Subsequent minority heroes, such as the X-Men's Storm (the first black superheroine) and The Teen Titans' Cyborg avoided the patronizing nature of the earlier characters. Storm and Cyborg were both part of superhero teams, which became increasingly diverse in subsequent years. The X-Men, in the particular, were revived in 1975 with a line-up of characters culled from several different nations, including the Kenyan Storm, German Nightcrawler, Russian Colossus and Canadian Wolverine. Diversity in both ethnicity and national origin would be an important part of subsequent X-Men-related groups, as well as series that attempted to mimic the X-Men’s success. In the modern age, minority headliners are still rare but almost all teams feature at least a few minority characters.

In 1993, Milestone Comics, an African-American-owned imprint of DC, introduced a line of series that included characters of many ethnic minorities, including several black headliners. The imprint lasted four years, during which it introduced Static, a character adapted into the WB Network animated series Static Shock.

In addition to the creation of new minority heroes, publishers have filled the roles of once-Caucasian heroes with minorities. The best known example is perhaps John Stewart who debuted in 1971 in the socially conscious series Green Lantern/Green Arrow. Stewart was a black and somewhat belligerent architect who Green Lantern’s alien benefactors chose as Hal Jordan's standby, an idea that initially discomforted Jordan and was meant to discomfort some readers. In the 1980s, Stewart became the Green Lantern permanently, making him the first black character to take the mantle of a classic superhero. The creators of the 2000s-era Justice League animated series selected Stewart as the show's Green Lantern, boosting his profile.

DC has recently passed some other long-established superhero mantles to ethnic minorities. These include the new Firestorm (African-American), Atom (Asian) and Blue Beetle (Latino). Alternatively, Marvel Comics revealed in an acclaimed 2003 limited series that the "Supersoldier serum" that empowered Captain America was subsequently tested on Isaiah Bradley, an African American man.

Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superhero).

[kahunablair]

Kyle Rayner is half Mexican, half Irish? That's awesome!

[comhcinc]

that i did not know.

[kahunablair]

There was a piece of art on DeviantArt that was every major Black superhero. It was fantastic! I had it saved on my old computer for a while. Now I can't seem to find it on the site... Hmm.

[labor_days]

The ones I can think of off the top of my head...

Black Lightning
Mr. Terrific
The Spectre (Allen)
Black Panther
Black Racer
Luke Cage
Black Mantis
Nick Fury (Ultimates)
Thunder
Steel's niece (I can't remember her name)
Jakeem Thunder
Static Shock
Rocket Racer
Night Thrasher
Lightning (Black Lightning's other daughter in JSA)
Vixen
Bishop
Misty Night
Goliath
Blade
Cloak
Invisible Kid
Doctor Mist
Brother Voodoo

[comhcinc]

The ones I can think of off the top of my head...

Black Lightning
Mr. Terrific
The Spectre (Allen)
Black Panther
Black Racer
Luke Cage
Black Mantis
Nick Fury (Ultimates)
Thunder
Steel's niece (I can't remember her name)
Jakeem Thunder
Static Shock
Rocket Racer
Night Thrasher
Lightning (Black Lightning's other daughter in JSA)
Vixen
Bishop
Misty Night
Goliath
Blade
Cloak
Invisible Kid
Doctor Mist
Brother Voodoo

better than i did off the top of my head, through after a minute i did remember spawn

[kahunablair]

Found it! Had to go through 30 pages of "Cheeks" art. He's the guy that designed the characters for the new Spidey cartoon.

http://img37.picoodle.com/img/img37/4/2/11/f_BeforeandAfm_22391d1.jpg

[labor_days]

How did I miss Cyborg? One of my faves.

Shame on me.

[big-e]

Anyone picking up the OGN "Incognegro" (http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=137901) by Mat Johnson? Looks pretty cool...http://www.newsarama.com/Vertigo/Inconegro/INCOG1Galley-20.jpg

[comhcinc]

yes it does

[p4poetic]

I can't believe no one's first name thought was Storm (X-Men). She is probably the most famous black superhero, male or female.

http://www.marveldirectory.com/pictures/individuals/s_1d/storm.jpg

http://www.gangus.net/X2%20update/Storm.jpg (http://www.gangus.net/X2%20update/Storm.jpg)

[jon_samuelson]

Plus there's all of the stuff from Astro City, which is a pretty ethnically diverse comic universe when it gets down to it.

[comhcinc]

I can't believe no one's first name thought was Storm (X-Men). She is probably the most famous black superhero, male or female.


i disagree

http://whoseline1.homestead.com/files/spawn_flames.jpg

[horatio616]

Frank Miller's Martha Washington. Probably the last good thing that Miller wrote. And, yes, I'm including Sin City.

Ah, I think Man Without Fear came out after MW, so actually that's the last good thing he wrote.

[horatio616]

i disagree

http://whoseline1.homestead.com/files/spawn_flames.jpg

No way Spawn is more popular that Storm. He's a flash-in-the-pan. I'd say people actively dislike Spawn. I don't know if you'd consider that being popular.

Right?

[comhcinc]

No way Spawn is more popular that Storm. He's a flash-in-the-pan. I'd say people actively dislike Spawn. I don't know if you'd consider that being popular.

Right?

popular is not the same as being famous. spawn starred in his own movie and his own hbo series plus i remember one video game. storm being part of a group, doesn't have the same recognection. he is way more famous in the larger world.

[kwok_talk]

popular is not the same as being famous. spawn starred in his own movie and his own hbo series plus i remember one video game. storm being part of a group, doesn't have the same recognection. he is way more famous in the larger world.

I don't necessarily agree with that, but would most of that general public know he's even black? I haven't read all that much Spawn, but everything I recall has him either masked or his face burnt to a crisp and unrecognizable with regards to ethnicity. Storm is very obvious in terms of ethnicity and had a very famous black actress portraying her in the movies.

[labor_days]

My utter disinterest in Spawn and Storm causes me to forget such characters even exist.

[horatio616]

popular is not the same as being famous. spawn starred in his own movie and his own hbo series plus i remember one video game. storm being part of a group, doesn't have the same recognection. he is way more famous in the larger world.

Storm has had 3 movies and many more video games. Spawn was very popular in his heyday, but nobody cares about him anymore. Sure,Storm's not a headliner, but she's been an important character for over 30 years and will always be around. You say, who's Storm and people will go, "Halle Barry!" Ask somebody who Spawn is and they'll say, "huh? Oh yeah! The guy from the movie? Ugh."

[esophagus]

popular is not the same as being famous. spawn starred in his own movie and his own hbo series plus i remember one video game. storm being part of a group, doesn't have the same recognection. he is way more famous in the larger world.I'm 99% sure you're wrong. Outside of a few nerdy teenage boys, I can't think of many people who have heard of Spawn, let alone know he is black.

Storm, everyone knows of. Halle Berry can do that for a character.

Still, Cyborg was definitely first in my head.