That's a good question. I think it all comes down to the creators. You make what most looks like you. Since most of the creators were white, that's who they created.
But I don't think the X-Men should fall into this category. They've always been a multicultural, multinational, etc. effort.
But as your list shows, they are out there, they just may not get the silver screen time desired.
It's true that the majority of the superhero's are white.
But DC and Marvel tried hard in the 70's to have titles featuring black hero's but they never caught on, unfortunately. A few of them were:
Black Lightning- the book sucked but it lasted a while. They even had Superman guest star.
Power Man- this was a good book, but he usually shared his time with a weak hero named Iron Fist. Power Man was popular though. His character's real name was Luke Cage. And as a matter of fact, a young actor named Nicholas Copolla changed his name to Nicholas Cage in honor Power Man. And a movie is being made about Luke Cage as we speak, to be directed by John Singleton.
Personally, I remember several black hero's from the 90's when I collected- Night Thrasher, who led the New Warriors; Rage, short term member of the Avengers; James Rhodes became Iron Man for a while, later War Machine; Black Panther is still a big name; Steel was one of the people who had Superman powers when he died (Shaq stared in the movie).
And recently DC re-launched its Firestorm title with a black character being his alter ego. And in a Captain America special last year, Cap found out that the super soldier formula was first tested on black soldiers.
While there is diversity, I think the problem is there aren't many popular titles featuring black characters. Maybe if some of the big writers/artists got involved more we would see a change.
It's unfortunate, but I think that Heck's right. There are SOME titles out there, and I'm sure that there are probably some underground movements going on, but I have to admit, I won't just gravitate to any old black superhero. Meteor man? C'mon...
It's kinda like a lot of the black sitcoms out there. Many of them just plain suck, so I can't sit down and watch it just out of support cuz I feel that by doing that, I'm dumbing down my own sense of humour, which does more harm to me than the good I feel I'm doing by supporting black endeavours.
When quality black characters are developed and given strong writing and artwork, along with quality and engrossing support characters and storylines, I'll be more than happy to support. But as it stands now, besides Spawn, and to a lesser extent, Power-Man (I give PM credit though, because he was created awhile ago and had to endure being teamed with the idiot Iron-Fist...), I haven't been very willing to get into black characters because the majority of them weren't developed well and were therefore shallow and uninteresting.
HECK said this in post #5 : SD, I was going to point out the black sitcom connection as well. It's like, people won't watch or read crap. It has to be good, first.
-HECK!
Very true, I don't like TV in the first place so I don't watch many shows. But I do watch My Wife and Kids regularly. Not only is it a good show, but it has a black cast, which is even more of a plus. The same can be said for George Lopez. There are good black shows, it's just that they are often paired with mediocre blacks shows that no one wants to watch.
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malcolm xx said this in post #6 : CATWOMEN is a better role for HALLE than STORM. ANGELLA BASSETT should be her replacement.
doesn't a black captain america will do better than a power man movie? only comic readers know who power man is.
Halle Berry should have never agreed to do Catwoman because with comic books, you have to deal with fanboys. It's not her fault, but because the producers (i.e. Warner Bros.) took so many liberties with the source material, the movie is going to be a destined flop. I don't care how good it is, the movie will be a failure. Unfortunately, Halle Berry will take the bullet or film's failure, but she has herself to blame somewhat. When she was talking about getting a bigger role for X-Men (a role I thought was suited for Iman), people thought she was getting big headed. She'll probably won't try to cal lthe shots if she returns to X-Men.
But with X-Men you also have to blame the director and writers, and not the actors. They don't give her anything to do, so I can understand when she says she wants a bigger part. The writiers need to do a better job of incorporating Storm, not just have her shoot lightning. I would even be content with her nonsensical poety before she uses her mutant powers like in the cartoon.
quote:
Heavens11 said this in post #7 : Funny, but I remember The Green Lantern being white, with an Asian sidekick (Bruce Lee).
I think you mean Green Hornet, not Green Lantern. Green Lantern is the series where the characters have power rings that allow them to create a variety of tools and shapes all according to their minds. There a re many Green Lanterns that makeup a Corps of basically space cops.
I think a Green Lantern Corps movie is great idea over the horrid rumor of using Jack Black in a comedy, what way to tarnish a great comic book concept.
Black Superhero
* Spawn Remake (Henry Simmons should star)
* Green Lantern Corps. (featuring John Stewart and other Lanterns)
* Luke Cage aka Power Man
* Black Panther (I hear Wesley Snipes is going to produce it, Blade: Trinity is his last action movie, but my friend says they'll butcher it, I think so too)
* Any others?
I think those would be adequate titles for black superheroes. However, I would like to see some new blood and not the stock, as I call it, "Black cast."
Black cast - The same actors used repeatedly in every black movie (i.e. Morris Chestnut, Taye Diggs, Sanaa Lathan, etc.)
I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
- Bill Cosby
The guy who takes a chance, who walks the line between the known and unknown, who is unafraid of failure, will succeed.
- Gordon Parks
With Storm though, Halle need to understand that she's not the biggest character. Wolverine is first and foremost the fan favorite. So you have to bring in his story, involve Jean Grey and invariably Cyclops, supporting cast, back story, villians, there just isn't room left for Storm.
And Catwoman tanked in the box office, which was a surprise to no one. Freakin' Hollywood dip's screwed up once again.
With Storm though, Halle need to understand that she's not the biggest character. Wolverine is first and foremost the fan favorite. So you have to bring in his story, involve Jean Grey and invariably Cyclops, supporting cast, back story, villians, there just isn't room left for Storm.
And Catwoman tanked in the box office, which was a surprise to no one. Freakin' Hollywood dip's screwed up once again.
-HECK!
they need to give Halle(storm) some more lines to give her a reason to complain.
ICB i agree, Iman would be a good choice to play Storm but i think her age will hurt her with this particular character.
i hope the Storm character gets more lines and we se a better presentation of her powers. maybe the uniforms could change to the popular ones drawn in comic books.
I think you mean Green Hornet, not Green Lantern. Green Lantern is the series where the characters have power rings that allow them to create a variety of tools and shapes all according to their minds. There a re many Green Lanterns that makeup a Corps of basically space cops.
I think a Green Lantern Corps movie is great idea over the horrid rumor of using Jack Black in a comedy, what way to tarnish a great comic book concept.
Black Superhero
* Spawn Remake (Henry Simmons should star)
* Green Lantern Corps. (featuring John Stewart and other Lanterns)
* Luke Cage aka Power Man
* Black Panther (I hear Wesley Snipes is going to produce it, Blade: Trinity is his last action movie, but my friend says they'll butcher it, I think so too)
* Any others?
I think those would be adequate titles for black superheroes. However, I would like to see some new blood and not the stock, as I call it, "Black cast."
Black cast - The same actors used repeatedly in every black movie (i.e. Morris Chestnut, Taye Diggs, Sanaa Lathan, etc.) [/B]
I personally think they should use the Truth storyline it was about the first super soldier (before Capitan America) and how they used him to perfect the serum to give to a "worthy" person 'IE' a white soldier (even though he the black Captain America went through all sorts of heck and proved himself worthy of the title.
malcolm xx said this in post #6 : CATWOMEN is a better role for HALLE than STORM. ANGELLA BASSETT should be her replacement.
doesn't a black captain america will do better than a power man movie? only comic readers know who power man is.
Bassett wouldnt be bad...but I always pictured the model Iman as Storm...at leat when she was younger...shes too old for the role now i think...so I agree with the earlier statement.
I heard recently that the Green Lantern is going to be made soon...starring none other than Jack Black...thats right, JACK BLACK...and its going to be a comedic take on the character...since John is actually the GL for our sector now, any movie should reflect that....
It's the truth that the TRUTH makes them so uptight!
07-21-2004 09:37 PM
