Year of the Black Superhero

2018 is shaping up to be another monumental year for readers of comics and fans of its televised and cinematic counterparts. This is especially true in the instance of Black characters. After 10 years ( 17 marvel films, 5 DC films) African American comic characters and superheroes are finally being brought to the forefront and leading their own films and series. Thanks to the critical success of the Netflix series Luke Cage, the Marvel execs may have finally realized that they can draw in Black viewers without the act of race bending characters in an effort to reflect "diversity" (i.e. raise ticket sales) and as a result 2018 will be the biggest year for African American superheroes to date.

Marvel is pushing fufther into its 'diversity' frontier preparing for the company's first feature starring an African American male as the lead with 2018's Black Panther. Completely stealing the show in Captain America: Civil war, Chadwick Bossman' s Black Panther is one of the most recognized and beloved Avergers surpassing Stark's technology, Banner's intellect, Thor's honor, and Roger's leadership. Premiering in February, the movie will follow his return to Wakanda, as he deals with the aftermath of the death of his father and his own ascension to the throne.

While it's no surprise that Luke Cage will return to Netflix with a second season next year, it isn't the only streaming service getting in on comic adaptations with Hulu also throwing its hat into the ring this November. The adaptation of the Marvel comic The Runaways will feature African American team leader Alex Wilder, a genius who learns that his parents are actually super villains.

And on the small screen things are growing even bigger for the CW as the network prepares for the premier of its new series Black lightning, based on the DC character, which will feature television's first primetime black superhero family. (http://unorthodoxwisdom.blogspot.com/2017/10/blacklightning-and-first-black.html?m=1)

Although there continues to be a lack of Black female super characters on television and film, this list will also grow with the inclusion of Black Lightning's daughters Thunder and Lightning, while The Legends of Tomorrow continues to brilliantly highlight the DC character Vixen, and Luke Cage will transition Misty Knight towards her heroic calling.

With each of these shows 2018 will be the year with the most black superheroes in movies and television, and if this is any indication of what's to come in the future then we are in for a spectacular ride. (Honorable mention to Arrow's John Diggle and Mr. Terrific, Guardian from Supergirl and the Flash's Wally West).

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.

Hasbro vs DC The Fight of the Bumblebee

Hasbro is suing DC over the use of the name Bumblebee, leaving comic fans and the rest of the world puzzled and collectively scratching their heads. The toy company Hasbro has filed a lawsuit to block the sales of toys featuring the DC super hero Bumblebee who is currently a prominently featured character on DC's Superhero Girls animated series. On the surface it seems as if the case revolved solely around money but there may be other factors driving the lawsuit. The Transformers franchise has soared thanks a successful movie line prominently featuring Optimus Prime as the central character. However, as DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures prepare for the release of a spin-off series featuring Bumblebee as the protagonist conflict arises over usage of the moniker.

Aside from the name being most commonly being associated with an animal/insect, the lawsuit is highly peculiar being that the DC universe version debuted in 1976, as DC's first female African American hero.

 In contrast to Hasbro's Bumblebee which first appeared in 1986 being published by none other than Marvel Comics. In the DC universe Bumblebee is a character who has severed as a notable member of the Teen Titans. She has the ability of flight thanks to a solar powered suit, and can shrink to a microscopic size. The character was brought to life onscreen in the animated version of Teen Titans, eventually becoming leader of a second branch of the team. Currently the character can be seen in the animated Super hero girls (which success has branched into various spinoffs).

Maybe the lawsuit is all about money instead of trying to eliminate competition. After all, aside from the Bumblebee spin-off Marvel will also soon release Ant-Man and Wasp the sequel to 2015s Ant-Man featuring the shrinking, flying female version of Ant-Man ( sorry Wasp, but basically). Surely Marvel isn't thinking ahead and wants to their Wasp to be the lone size altering female. It's not like there is a live action Teen Titans being developed with chances of Bumblebee appearing on the small screen (oh wait there is).

While on the surface the lawsuit reflects the greed many companies exhibit when it comes to sales and profits, there is a bigger price at stake, and that is the erasure of one of the few prominent African American comic heroes that exists. While comic inspired movies and live action television shows continue to rise in number little of the characters are African American let alone women of color. Here's hoping that Hasbro drops the lawsuit, before losing on the grounds that either they can't patent the name Bumblebee, their character is younger, or for simply being a silly case. Until we know the verdict, fingers crossed that Bumblebee makes her live action debut sooner than later and that this  unreasonable lawsuit vanishes never to be heard of again.