Why aren't there any black superheroes?

Question

Is it racist?

Answer 1

how about O J Simpson

Answer 2

The answer would have to be yes back at the beginning of comics, it WAS racist and there weren't any black superheroes because comics were made by white guys, for the most part.
Nowadays, there ARE a lot of black superheroes invented both by black and white writers and artists. Some examples:
Spawn by Todd MacFarlane (white).
Black Panther.
Steel.
Mr. Terriffic.
Luke Cage.
Bishop.
Storm.
Cyborg.
Vixen.
John Stewart (Green Lantern)
And these are just from the top of my head.
I guess "minorities" (God knows why they call them that, as if the whole world was mostly white) are not well represented in comics, where you get very few Asian, Hispanic or Native American characters. Most tend to be Jewish (like Ben Grimm and Kitty Pryde) or Anglo (like the majority), just as it tends to happen on TV and movies.

Answer 3

What about Blade? Otherwise, no it's not racist. It's an oversight like anything else. Why do most popular black figures have to be negative? Why don't we see more black doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc. in movies/television. I think the studios are narrow minded. They are so concerned with their bottom dollar that they are afraid to try something new. They stick with what has been done before to guarantee more profits. Hopefully, in the future, there will be more black superheroes ( I actually pondered this question last week). Dont' forget XXX, either.

Answer 4

Well, first & foremost, there's The Black Panther, originally in Fantastic Four around 1966, before the political movement.
Then there was the Falcon, originally introduced as Captain America's sidekick, around 1968.
Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, later just Powerman, was introduced in '71 or '72, And later acquired his own sidekick, Iron Fist (or was that the other way around?)(No wait; I had it right the first time: the title not only continued the numbering of Powerman, but was also published sequentially to it.)
Black Goliath briefly in '75-'76.
Tony Isabellas' much loved & missed Black Lightning, originally around '76-'78; recently, around '93-'95, and in between, in Batman & the Outsiders and then The Outsiders.
Rage was briefly (I think) in the Avengers around '92, '93.
There was the Milestone Universe, distributed by DC Comics, but financially separate from them. I didn't have time to read their comics by then, but one hero, Static, recently had his Saturday morning show, Static Shock.

And I'm certain that this list is incomplete; I've not only left off SOMEONE'S favorite, but probably also got a couple of years wrong. Sorry. I've been reading comics for quite a few years now, but I didn't read EVERYTHING...until I had a store, it didn't seem necessary, and by then, I didn't have TIME.


modify) Well, Storm & John (Green Lantern ) Stewart should've been obvious to me; not only I was reading those titles when the characters were introduced, but I once owned the original page on which Storm was introduced, in GS X-Men 1. And I read most of the Teen Titans w/ Cyborg when they were new, also.
My initial list should be understood to have been just off the top of my head, BEFORE reading the other answers and NOT checking any reference materials (hence the potential for errors in the years of publication.)

Answer 5

Green Lantern on "Justice League" on Cartoon Network is a black guy.

"Static Shock" was popular on WB kids and he was a middle class black kid.

After Superman was killed, one of the spin off comics was about a black man who built a "Steel" frame and fought crim in the absence of Superman.

On the show "Heroes" there are at least two black superpowered people. One can pass through matter, the other can erase memory.

Maybe there could be more black superhero characters. Maybe some black comic artists owe us some more diverse heroes...

Answer 6

yes there are black superheroes blade the vampire slayer is black storm from the x-men is black ,bishop from the x-men surprisingly enough is black i never got that i just assume he was mixed, when tony starks got ill jim rhodes wore the iron man suit for a while then became his own superhero war machine there was a black green lantern. see partners there were a lot of black superheroes i'm not listing all of them cause i don't know comics like that but these are the few i know

Answer 7

There are: Steel, Black Lightening, Vixen, Luke Cage, Falcon, Storm, John Stewart Green Lantern . . . . the list goes on.

Comics were kind of rascist in the beginning, as was the rest of the country: you never saw a movie much with black people unless it was a white man painted up looking like "coon". The comic book industry was pretty much the same, until the 1960's and 1970's.

Answer 8

There are TONS of them! Heck just in X-men series alone right now there are Storm, Bishop, Black Panther is making a showing, Blade pops up sometimes, etc etc. Comic books have a lot of ethnic diversity, at least the ones I read. Maybe you should read a little more before coming up with half-****** comments like that?

Answer 9

Two words...John Henry. And the hepcat crows helped Dumbo learn to fly. Sebastian helped Ariel. Donkey guided Shrek. Brer Rabbit kicked Brer Fox and Brer Bear's butt. Val has girl power. Mary Melody gave Furrball a home.The black seven dwarfs defeated the mean ol' queen with a mallet. And I helped scare away the Big Bad Wolf.

Answer 10

There are:
Black Lightning, Mr. Terrific, Luke Cage: Hero For Hire, Cyborg, Falcon, Black Panther, Storm, War Machine (Iron Man's replacement), Blade, Jon Stewart (Green Lantern, who has been a Green Lantern since the 70s, there are hundreds of them of all races and species), Steel and his daughter, Spawn, etc.
Most of these are mainstreem super heroes, it's just that their books don't sell as well, so they aren't out there in the public eye like Batman and Superman. That has nothing to do with racism. It's probably more due to the fact that most comic book nerds (like myself) are white.

Answer 11

I don't think it is deliberate, but I gather when they made the classic super-heroes back in the 50s or so they tried to appeal to the most audience which happened to be mostly white folk with money. you can see that nowadays there are lots of things in pop culture directed at the black community because they have more money. See the thing about pop culture is that its not about culture its about money.