Batwoman Earns its Wings

When the CW announced Javicia Leslie as the newest Batwoman the network knew it was entertaining an uncharted territory with a list of firsts. Leslie’s casting makes her the first-ever African American woman to lead a comic-based series, play Batwoman, and for extra merit, as a proud member of the LGBT community, she is the first lesbian woman of color to lead a series also. 

The season 2 premiere doesn't waste any time jumping into the action and fixing the series Kate Kane problem. It’s not long before Leslie’s character Ryan is introduced and we see that season 2 is going to be a very different show. Season 1 of Batwoman dragged primarily due to Rose’s character being outshined by virtually all of her costars and the fact that she was never relatable as a hero, so the new season wastes no time making the audience connect with the character of Ryan. Writers thankfully have avoided using any type of stereotypical tropes that usually befall Black characters in urban settings, especially in a crime-filled city like Gotham. Instead, writers have opted for presenting Ryan as a once optimistic resident of Gotham whose life is drastically changed after suffering a great tragedy. And yet the tragedy doesn’t turn her into an angry one-dimensional character. She has the much-needed personality that was missing in season one to match the energy of costars Campus Johnson and Nicole Kang, as well as the commanding presence needed to wear the Batsuit and terrify criminals throughout the city. Not to mention the relationship she has with her plant is the cherry on top.

Already I'm loving the direction season two is taking. In regards to the dynamic between the hero and villain, I'm already more invested in the relationship between Ryan and Alice as compared to the first season with Kate. Acknowledging the writers were trying to parallel the Batman and Joker dynamic, the reason people tuned into season one was to see what made Batwoman unique, not for the female version of Batman. 

With Luke Cage canceled on Netflix, and Black Lightning airing its final season, Leslie's Batwoman couldn't have come at a better time to fill the growing void of Black superheroes on television. Here’s hoping the series is here to stay. 

Nia DaCosta Makes Marvel History

Marvel is making history once again with its cinematic universe and the Captain Marvel franchise. The first film introduced the character as the most powerful hero on the Avenger roster and was directed by Anne Boden, Marvel’s first female director, with Ryan Fleck. While the film was a box office smash it was met with mixed reviews from fans and critics alike so perhaps Marvel is looking to take the film in a new direction with a brand new director. The company has hired Nia DaCosta to direct the sequel to Captain Marvel making her the first African American female director in the franchise.

Dacosta emerged on the scene with the success of her debut film Little Woods, and if her name sounds familiar it could be because she's also directing the highly anticipated reboot of Candyman. There's no telling what direction DaCosta is taking the film in but she is sure to bring a fresh take to film and could bring the much-needed life support needed for a trilogy. A makeover wouldn't be so bad especially when considering it took the Thor franchise three tries before it finally found its footing. It’s also worth noting that Netflix recently made history for hiring its first African  American woman to direct a comic adapted film, garnering rave reviews for its film The Old Guard and showing the industry Black women can produce great action films also.

Aside from her history-making hiring, DaCosta also has received the largest budget to ever be handed to a Black female director. Not much is known about the storyline however the movie will supposedly follow after the events of Endgame and will be set on Earth at some point to connect the movie with the upcoming series WandaVision which will introduce the adult version of Monica Rambeau. In all the future is looking bright for both Marvel and DaCosta. 

Black Lightning and the First Black Superhero Family

DC comics latest live-action series, Black-lightning, is set to debut next year and will finally deliver audiences an African American super hero family.

The hero debuted in his own issue in 1977, running 12 issues, before being canceled. Despite this, his popularity persisted leading to a number of team mashups, affiliations, and reincarnation series in the years to follow. Now the hero is headlining his own television series. Real name Jefferson Pierce, Black Lightning's power of spontaneously producing electricity from his body allows him to manipulate it to grant him flight and create force fields. 

Of course, what makes Jefferson so special isn't his powers but his family. Eventually, Jefferson decides to give up crime fighting to raise his two super-powered daughters Anissa and Jennifer who would grow up to become the heroes Thunder and  Lightning. Lightning takes after her father in having the ability to control lightning, but she also has the power to transform into lightning itself. Thunders' power allows her to alter her density at will, and she can send shockwaves through the ground by stomping. It should be noted that in the comics the girls don't become active heroes until after graduating college, so expect the television series to deal with their ages differently.

While it doesn't seem like a milestone even in this age of comic-inspired movies and television seeing a family of superheroes is a rarity. The former includes the Incredibles and Sky High, both featuring Caucasian families, and products of Disney. The only other preexisting African American superfamily is from the Disney channel original movie Up, Up, and Away (2000). A previous attempt at a tv series following a family with powers aired on ABC for 1 season in 2010, but that family too was not of color.

While hopes were, and still are, high for a series crossover between Black Lightning and the major Arrow-verse series chances remain slim as unlike the others Black Lightning is being filmed in Atlanta, therefore now it remains separate from the established shared universe. However, Supergirl also went through its premier season without being a part of a the Arrowverse, so there's still hoping if the pilot and season do well.

Black Lightning premiers 2018 on the CW.

Where' the MCU Black Super-heroine?

On October 7th many of the Marvel Cinematic Universe actors and actresses met at an undislocuded location for a top secret photo shoot. Not so secret, of course, that a few of the stars couldn't uploaded some candid pictures to their personal social media accounts. One picture in particular that

caused a commotion was shared by Samuel L. Jackson, featuring fellow Marvel Black leading men Don Cheadle, Anthony Mackie, Chadwick Boseman, and newcomer to the franchise Laurence Fishburne. Besides simply being a picture of black excellence, the photo also is a refreshing sight of diversity after years of the cinematic universe being speared by white men.

It's no secret that Marvel has worked hard to address its diversity issue, from color bending characters for points in inclusiveness (sorry Idris Elba, and Tessa Thompson) to adding more Avengers into the fold, but for every leap there are still stumbles. Elba, along with the aforementioned five gentlemen, represent diversity well, in their respective roles, and yes the arrival of Marvels first female led movie is long over due, but one has to wonder why marvel has yet to deliver a canonical female African American hero? While looking forward to Thompson's portrayal as Valkryie, being that in the comics the character is a blonde hair, blue eyed Asgaurdian so the hero doesn't exactly fit the criteria. Similarly, Simone Missick's amazing portrayal of Misty Knight from the Netflix series Luke Cage is also disqualified in that the MCU remains separate from its televised siblings.

There is no logical argument as to why after 16 films we have yet to see a woman of color in the Avengers line-up. It's not as if there's a shortage of Black female Avengers. Notably there's Moondragon, and the new Iron man RiRi Williams, but given the direction of the Marvel movies the most logical is a woman they're already naming a film after. Unless you're a comic fan, the name Monica Rambeau is fairly unfamiliar. However this African American super-heroine has been a mainstay in the Avengers since her debut in the 80s, and is in fact the first female to wear the mantle of Captain Marvel.

After being exposed to extra-dimensional energy, she gains the ability to absorb, generate, manipulate and transform into energy; she joins the Avengers in hopes of learning to master her newfound abilities and over time proves herself as a valuable member, eventually becoming a field leader for the team. Despite beginning her superhero run

as Captain Marvel, over the years the hero has repeatedly changed her code name, allowing Carol Danvers to claim the title of Captain Marvel for herself while Monica most recently goes by Photon. With details about the Captain Marvel movie and the cast remaining top secret, one can only wonder, and hope, that the movie will give us our first glimpse of an African American hero who naturally fits into THE MCU. While the likelihood of receiving a film about Monica Rambeau is highly unlikely, there is ample opportunity to introduce her character into the fold without the necessity of a backstory as done with Hawkeye, Black Widow, War Machine, and Falcon. In contrast, we also don't want a rushed addition just for the sake of adding "more" (as done with the inclusion of Vision).

Understandably, the handling of such a monumental character has to be approached with caution however if marvel truly wishes to expand and represent true inclusion then Black America is going to have to see a Black female as a hero sooner than later.