Where Are the Black Superhero Movies?

[3dman27]

Oh my god, one of the worst heroes ever created what was marvel thinking? Nothing is what I'd say. Not much thought is put into creating black heroes. They are there more so for diversity then actually having something to do. Afew are good, but the rest ughh.

you refer to trathalon and not war machine i take it

 

[MangleBoP]

1. Bishop is Aborigine, not African-American
2. I always said Martian Manhunter should be black when pretending to be human.(John Jones just sounds like a black name to me)
3. As much as I like the charecter, I really don't think "The Prowler" is the kind of name we want for a black superhero!

 

[tzarinna]

I'm kind of running out women to be for Halloween,it was fun being Storm, with the wig and the lenses.

I guess Niobe and Lt.Uhura will be next.

I love Halle,but come on. Folks look at me like I'm crazy when I try to debate the issue.

 

[GoldGoblin]

Am I the only one who saw the blade trilogy then? I mean, isnt blade a black super hero??

^

 

[Advanced Dark]

I think the author of that article needs to do some research himself. Writers and artists have drawn hundreds if not thousands of characters and the ones that become popular are the ones that the publishers will focus on. Too bad if it's not a black person, white person, etc...There should not be an affirmative action in comic books. If someone wants a superhero of a specific race then make one yourself, create the character, and see if it's popular. If not then maybe try the character out overseas. There's plenty of characters out there that would be supportive of the population ratio but "most" of these characters aren't going to be accepted by the majority or the mass markets because by definition they're a Superhero represented by a minority and a character that is looked up to by minorities. However there will be a certain % that bust through all racial barriers and are accepted by all. Blade for instance as a kick ass vampire slayer was pretty much accepted by all action/comic/horror fans of all races. It's a smaller pool of fans in that genre to begin with and the R rating even makes it smaller. Back to my point. You can't force a particular race onto a superhero. The character needs to be developed and it needs to not only be a viable source of revenue for the studio or publisher but also the best use and investment of their funds at that particular time. If you look at Marvel's 10 pic Paramount distributed slate it includes only one prominent Black hero...Black Panther. That's 10% of the slate. That's about right dont' you think? Also these 10 films are not going to be small productions. They're going to be all PG-13 or softer with emphasis on toy line, merchandise, and video game support. They're not going to have these films financed and not take advantage of that so Marvel had to choose 10 characters that not only would work on film but would also have potential to sell high volume in the other arenas. The characters don't have to have a huge fan base to have "hit" potential on film either. So there's surely loads of characters of other races that could be retooled for the mainstream audiences. If you're a stickler about that and want these characters to remain 100% true to form then they'll likely never see the light of day on film. They're two different mediums.

 

[MJB]

you refer to trathalon and not war machine i take it

Yes. triathalon.

 

[MJB]

And I agree with whoever said a Static movie would be great. Unless they cast Bow Wow, or something!

Bow Wow? Please don't give Hollywood anyideas. I don't want to see anybody from the music industry take on the Static role. Thankfully we will never see a Static on the big screen.

 

[Kmack]

I think Black Panther could really be a good quality film, with the right actor and creative team. I've always thought BP had a lot of potential

 

[Advanced Dark]

Black Panther could be real cool though there's not many actors that could do it justice. Snipes and Foxx are the only two that jump out at you. Whoever it is has to have the right personality and can't be just some stand in with muscles, or some TV actor looking to jump up to the big screen. I prefer Snipes because when he's in the right role he becomes that character. The funny thing is he's usually not in the right role. Major League, Blade, and WMCJ were showcases of what he can do with his personality.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Blade unlocked th' door.

X-Men blew it off th' hinges.

They're both responsible, it was a team effort.

 

[deemar325]

Will that covers comic book characters for the "silver" community! But what 'bout da brothers!! To say nothing of the black filmmakers and novelists now writing comics!! (of some of them weren't doing it already)

Well Vin is half black. so I guess he'd be the Silver Blinger!

 

[Super Flight]

They really should make that Static Shock into a Movie that has been on kid WB, i always liked it,might be cool

!!STATIC SHOCK!!

 

[deemar325]

^ heh. cool just no Bow wow.

 

[Super Flight]

^ yea, then he'll write and sing the songs for it, which will make it horrible

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Didn't Bow Wow guest star on it? Or was that another li'l generic rapper kid? I dunno, I ain't down with th' hippity hop.

 

[Cosmic]

It's a nice article, but I've grown tired of hearing people ask this question. We don't have to sit around waiting and hoping for things to change. We can make our own movies, tv shows, and comics. We can support the stuff we like with our cash, and help promote it through word-of-mouth. We can pass on our love of comics (or donate comics we no longer want) to kids who might never have otherwise picked them up. And we can make the extra effort to show up at cons and book signings, to let the creators and retailers know just how diverse their audience really is. There are all sorts of things we can do ourselves, instead of whining and waiting around for someone else to do it for us.

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

From a marketing standpoint, how well financially would a superhero film with colored superheroes be?

Did you say...colored? Is it 2006 or 1956?

 

[3dman27]

Didn't Bow Wow guest star on it? Or was that another li'l generic rapper kid? I dunno, I ain't down with th' hippity hop.

i think lil romeo was the guest rapper on static shock

 

[Super_Ludacris]

Tracy McGrady was in an episode to and voiced himself I believe as well

 

[The Question]

They really should make that Static Shock into a Movie that has been on kid WB, i always liked it,might be cool

!!STATIC SHOCK!!

No KidsWB. The cartoon was incredibly dumbed down. Make it more like the actual comics.

 

[Red Mask]

That cartoon wasn't dumb. And if Static should start teaming up with his old Milestone buddies I'd just laugh at him.

 

[November Rain]

personally if they are going to make a film around a character just because of their colour rather than what they have to offer, i'd rather not have one.

don't want superhero movies that just fill a void....

 

[The Question]

That cartoon wasn't dumb. And if Static should start teaming up with his old Milestone buddies I'd just laugh at him.

It was dumbed down compared to the comics. And what's wrong with the other Milestone characters?

 

[terry78]

I think a Static live action film could work, if they make it a little more mature as the original comics are. And on the subject of black heroes, I notice that more often than not the black superheroes are made out to always be these bad ass mutha****as, as opposed to some of the other heroes who are bad ass in their own right, but they don't go spouting it off like some of "our" heroes do. I would like to see a black hero that has massive powers, but is a reluctant hero as well. I sense that writers tend to put all black male characters into this John Shaft mold for some reason.

And I also don't care for the remarks that black heroes are there just to be black. While that does happen, why can I not see a hero that looks like me on occasion? People gripe about it being politically correct, but if most superheroes are already your race, what the **** do you have to complain about?

 

[Super Flight]

No KidsWB. The cartoon was incredibly dumbed down. Make it more like the actual comics.

It was a comic book???? i thought it was just a cartoon.