Why aren't there more Black supervillains?

[BADunn]

Steven wrote a great article on this subject--and he let it deviate into even more pressing issues--but Vince Moore's was also a good call for more black badness (or something like that.)

I would love to see more black superheroes, and not just as team members (tokens) but solo heroes with their own adventures. However, now that I think about it, it would be great to have more black supervillains (also not on teams as tokens) to menace everybody. I don't know that I need a black Dr. Doom, and I really don't need or want someone whose villainy is defined by his blackness, but to have someone be a foul menace who happens to be black? That would be great!

[Steelhead]

I agree. Reminds me, though the Daredevil movie is a steaming pile, I actually liked the casting of Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin.

[bartl]

More non-black blacks as villains:

Nekra, who was African-American albino (Mandrill started out as a Caucasian with African features, until he mutated further into a KKK'ers nightmare; if Gerber were still alive, I'd ask if that was his intent).

Mr. Bones (who started out as a villain) who was quite surprised to find out he was African American, as his skin and blood were transparent.

Black Manta, sort of, as he wore a full body suit and helmet.

I think Thunderball of the Wrecking Crew qualifies as the first black supervillain where his complexion and ancestry was irrelevant to his character; anybody have an earlier example?

[Lord Destiny]

Lots of things to speculate about in this topic...

...but if I were creating master villains for Marvel or DC, I'd stick with white people just to avoid being called a big ol' racist. That, and the vast majority of real historical bad guys (American history, and its parentage in Europe) have been white males anyway.

[Imaginos666]

Most people aren't aware of how profound the social barriers are in America. Racism — or any kind of xenophobia —*is really nothing more than a reflection of a person's own limited experience in life (which is a polite way of saying "ignorance," I guess.)

I don't think Marvel/DC's limited number of black characters is a symbol of overt racism. It's a reflection of creators' hesitation to put their own ignorance on public display. This kind of experience needed to write an "authentic" character isn't the kind of thing you can learn from a library book. And no matter what you do, readers will be lining up to second-guess your motivation, anyway, because everyone will define "authentic" using their own limited collection of experiences.

As for black villains that transcended fictional stereotypes, how about Spawn and Chapel? Spawn might qualify for that nebulous "anti-hero" definition, but I don't recall race every being a factor for these characters (which was about the only thing I admired about those otherwise wretched comics.)

[Imaginos666]

More non-black blacks as villains:

Nekra, who was African-American albino (Mandrill started out as a Caucasian with African features, until he mutated further into a KKK'ers nightmare; if Gerber were still alive, I'd ask if that was his intent).

Mr. Bones (who started out as a villain) who was quite surprised to find out he was African American, as his skin and blood were transparent.

Black Manta, sort of, as he wore a full body suit and helmet.

I think Thunderball of the Wrecking Crew qualifies as the first black supervillain where his complexion and ancestry was irrelevant to his character; anybody have an earlier example?

Black Manta was still a racial supremacist (he wanted to create an underwater world where blacks could live in freedom.) Still, I always liked that David Michelinie turned him into such a bloodthirsty character back in the '70s.

What's interesting is that Manta was later given another origin that falls in line with something else Steven wrote about this week. As a child, Manta was kidnapped by pirates where he was used as a slave —*and was sexually abused for years —*before winning his freedom. This is one of the only(?) cases I can think of in mainstream comics of a male being sexually assaulted by other males.

[AoAMimic]

Sometimes the similarities are eerie between characters in superhero comics and professional wrestling. There's been a similar issue with characters in the squared circle. In comics, the characters are defined by their "blackness," and in wrestling, also a white male dominated industry, the nature of the character is similarly defined by location. It's almost a joke that every black wrestler comes from a) Harlem b) the Deep South or c) a foreign land known for having black people. On C, it doesn't have to be specific "the jungles of Africa" or "the islands of the Carribean."

[Froggy]

i would LOVE to see some villain like ras kass

idk why but I have this idea of a dude dressed like him talking in midair and superman flies at him and he sticks his hand out and Supes stops

[NatGertler]

This is one of the only(?) cases I can think of in mainstream comics of a male being sexually assaulted by other males.

There's always this.
Then there's the question of whether one considers League of Extrordinary Gentlemen to be "mainstream".

[Nitz the Bloody]

There's always this.
Then there's the question of whether one considers League of Extrordinary Gentlemen to be "mainstream".

Same grounds as the raping of Herr Starr in Preacher; it's a bad guy who gets it as punishment for being a bad guy, so the rape is just cruel humor. I can't think of a storyline where a good-hearted man is raped and actually suffers post-traumatic stress from it.

[Brenz]

Dethlok: a black hero whose race is unimportant, but also a black hero stripped of his race.

Good? Bad?

[bartl]

Dethlok: a black hero whose race is unimportant, but also a black hero stripped of his race.

Good? Bad?

I'm kind of indifferent.

[comicsmetal]

I think you do not see more black Supervillans or superheros is:
1.Marvel and DC do not want the racist card
2.Not that many blacks read comics as I have seen in the comic shop most of them are all white(I do see few black in the shop.)

[bartl]

I think you do not see more black Supervillans or superheros is:
1.Marvel and DC do not want the racist card
2.Not that many blacks read comics as I have seen in the comic shop most of them are all white(I do see few black in the shop.)

Most of the blacks you see in the comic shop are all white?

Watch out for zebra crossings....

[comicsmetal]

Most of the blacks you see in the comic shop are all white?

Watch out for zebra crossings....

Sorry for my bad sentence structure but there are not many black people in the comic book store.The average audience who read comics are white male so you are going to see a bundle of white characters then black.