A Case Study for the Black Superhero
Analysing the depiction of black superheroes in movies and television.
Superheroes have been a pop culture mainstay since we’ve had sliced bread. One thing that has always been levied against the medium is their lack of diversity. It’s fair to say throughout the year’s comics, movies and videogames after often plastered with square-jawed, white saviours.
For years, fans have asked Hollywood to represent women, LBGTQ+ and people of colour accurately in the media and not just sidekicks, thugs and stereotypes.
Black superheroes are fundamental for the normalisation and representation for black youths within media. Young POC may internalise or feel connected to seeing larger than life figures who look like them. In a medium that makes billions yearly, it’s fair to assume there should be variety in their portrayal.
Here’s an ode to the black superhero.
The first big-budget black superhero movie didn’t occur until 1997 with ‘Spawn’, a mere 23 years ago. Spawn was a step in the right direction. However, the movie or it’s DC comics cousin in DC’s ‘Steel’ failed to resonate fans or critics. It wasn’t until Marvel released ‘Blade’ in 1998 where a black superhero hit mainstream media with a bang.
On TV, black superheroes were more common, yet more problematic to a degree. Whether you see it as tokenism or diversity, black people were plentiful in shows like ‘X-Men’ with characters like Storm or Bishop.
Also, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers featured the second-in-command Black Ranger portrayed by African American actor Walter E. Jones.
While shows like Static Shock have a black character front and centre, more often than not, Storm, the Black Ranger or Green Lantern were often in supporting roles to their white leads.
It wasn’t until 2018’s ‘Black Panther’ where a black superhero was represented in its full glory in a movie. Set in Wakanda, it sees many fictionalised African traditions, set pieces and culture brought beautifully to the big screen.
Black Panther also had a black director in Ryan Coogler to boot with many philosophical and real word statement pieces throughout. Black Panther also grossed over $1 billion, making it among one of the most successful movies ever.
The movie was referred to as the equivalent of Star Wars for black people from publications. Chadwick Boseman starred as the title character king T’Challa for the film alongside Micheal B. Jordan.
Love or hate their portrayal, the black superhero is so pivotal to black children worldwide. It was refreshing for audiences and liberating for black youths to see a leading hero that looked like them. King T’Challa wasn't depicted as a sidekick or a stereotype, he was royalty.
We should celebrate how far they have come. Superhero media is also working harder for the representation of marginalised groups by making the X-Men’s hero Iceman now openly gay. A start but there’s still a long way to go.
