News Article Asks: Why Are There So Few Black Supervillains?

[Stronguy]

I have a question along these lines. So if in The Walking Dead (TV) they are in Atlanta, where are all the black folks? :shrug: I've never seen so many white folks in down town Atlanta in my entire life.

[Flaming_Telepath]

Doesn't ASM #583 have a black supervillian on the cover?

 

Tit.

[Flaming_Telepath]

I have a question along these lines. So if in The Walking Dead (TV) they are in Atlanta, where are all the black folks? :shrug: I've never seen so many white folks in down town Atlanta in my entire life.

 

 

...and also a bit...

 

[Mr. Zipper]

Doesn't ASM #583 have a black supervillian on the cover?

 

Tit.

 

Oh come on.

 

It was funny.

 

[CKB]

I think you forgot to add badd asss to your super-villain search. That list combined would be lucky to beat Power Pack

 

Seriously - not a Dr. Doom, Red Skull, or Kingpin among them.

 

[seanfingh]

I think you forgot to add badd asss to your super-villain search. That list combined would be lucky to beat Power Pack

 

Seriously - not a Dr. Doom, Red Skull, or Sandman, or Kingpin among them.

 

What did frickin' Sandman have to do to get included with three of the best villains of all time?

[CKB]

I think you forgot to add badd asss to your super-villain search. That list combined would be lucky to beat Power Pack

 

Seriously - not a Dr. Doom, Red Skull, or Sandman, or Kingpin among them.

 

What did frickin' Sandman have to do to get included with three of the best villains of all time?

 

Sorry, just someone who has been around for 40 years. I will strike him from the record.

 

[conditionfreak]

black panther's nemesis the gorilla dude.

Man-Ape, and most of T'Challa's foes from Wakanda.

 

Of course, they are African villains.

 

I am South African. While in University in Canada I had a girl say to me, "You're from Africa? But you're white." No wonder recent grads are having trouble finding jobs

 

 

 

So, are you an African-American? Or an African-Canadian? Just curious how you would view it and be viewed legally.

[Bruce1971]

black panther's nemesis the gorilla dude.

Man-Ape, and most of T'Challa's foes from Wakanda.

 

Of course, they are African villains.

 

I am South African. While in University in Canada I had a girl say to me, "You're from Africa? But you're white." No wonder recent grads are having trouble finding jobs

 

 

 

So, are you an African-American? Or an African-Canadian? Just curious how you would view it and be viewed legally.

 

Well the African in African-American or African-Canadian would refer to African roots (black). Whites from South Africa just say they are South African.

[conditionfreak]

Interesting prospective. Doesn't make a lot of sense though. But interesting.

 

So....if the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve allegedly lived, was in Africa. Then all of us "could" be considered African? If the first people who lived in Africa started out as pink skinned but evolved over time to have a darker skin, could we/they be considered as formerly-caucasians? Ifv Adam and Eve were dark skinned and my forefather and foremother, could I claim to be African-American?

 

If I, born in America, move to South Africa. Am I known down there as an American-African? Or just as an American?

 

So many questions. So little interest.

 

A friend of mine is African-American and his wife is Puerto Rican. Thus their children are a mixture of those two.

 

When they were busing African-American children in Cleveland. They did not want their children bused so they registered them as Spanish and they were not bused. A few of years later, the system decided to bus the spanish and not the African-Americans. This couple simply went to the school system and changed their childrens race to African-American.

 

It worked.

 

Many promotions and jobs have a preference for minorities (as we all know). So, can a person jump from one race to another, depending upon the potential benefit that may arise? Such as my grandchild being half "white" and half "Puerto Rican"? Will his parents be able to keep him from getting bused by saying he is a minority? Will he be able to get promotion/job points for being not entirely caucasian? But will he be able to get in the "old boys club" by looking caucasian?

 

Just musing.

 

As to the original theme of this thread. Black villians are not used as much because most of the stories are based in America and Americans tend to not want to be associated with portraying blacks as criminals. Thus, on the few occasions that writers do portray them as such. They (as stated in the initial story) are given semi-credible reasons for turning bad, and usually turn to the good side when they realize that not all white folk are KKK types.

[Silver Surfer]

So many questions. So little interest.

 

That about sums it up.

[Drakeprimeone]

From Wiki:

 

DC Comics

 

* Black Manta

* Black Mass

* Black Spider

* Crowbar

* Cyborgirl

* Enforcer II (Mica, a female assassin for the 2000 Committee. From Firestorm #14)

* Fatality

* Flare (Fatal Five)

* Freeway (ninja who trained under Asano Nitobe)

* Houngan (Brotherhood of Evil)

* Killer Croc

* Maitresse (enemy of Sovereign Seven)

* Peek-a-Boo

* Power Ring III (Antimatter counterpart to Green Lantern John Stewart)

* Pulsar (Benjamin Day, nuclear powered villain from Brave and the Bold #196)[1]

* Ron Evers (a cyborg and former friend of Victor Stone/Cyborg)

* Shadow Thief (Carl Hammer, the second Shadow Thief, got his "shadow suit" from the Monitor, as seen in Vigilante #14)

* Skorpio (enemy of Steel)

* Tally Man II (One Year Later)

* Tattooed Man III

* Tobias Whale

* Wunda (member of the Female Furies)

 

Milestone Comics

 

* Bubbasaur

* Bulletproof

* Pyre (formerly Holocaust)

 

Wildstorm Comics

 

* Emoticon (from Welcome to Tranquility)

* Infidel (enemy of Samaritan from Astro City)

 

Image Comics

 

* Angstrom Levy

* Killswitch (ShadowHawk foe)

* Titan

 

Marvel Comics

 

* Achebe (Black Panther villain)

* Advisor (comics)

* Aries

* Alex Wilder

* Barracuda

* Baron Macabre

* Bedlam (Member of the Exemplars)

* Black Mariah

* Bolt (Daredevil foe)

* Bushman

* Bushmaster

* Cardiac

* Cardinal

* Catherine Wilder

* Chemistro III

* Chronok

* Cockroach Hamilton

* Coldfire

* Comanche (Power Man (Cage) foe, partner of Shades)

* Condor (Nova (Richard Rider) foe)

* Cottonmouth

* Creaux (Spider-Man/Gambit foe)

* Daddy Long Legs

* Dark Art (She-Hulk villain)

* Darkoth

* Eric Killmonger (Black Panther villain)

* Four (of Eugenix)

* Foxfire (comics)

* Genecide (leader of Eugenix)

* Geoffrey Wilder

* Hairbag

* Hammer (Leroy "Hammer" Jackson, member of the team Hammer and Anvil)

* Hardcore (Luke Cage villain)

* Impala (villainous member of Bad Girls, Inc.)

* Jakarra (Black Panther foe)

* Joanna Cargill

* John M'Butu (enemy of the reimagined Squadron Supreme)

* Kiber the Cruel (Black Panther foe)

* Killjoy (Black Panther/Deathlok foe)

* Locus

* Lord Karnaj

* Madam Slay

* Malice I

* Man-Ape (Black Panther villain)

* Manslaughter

* Menace (comics)

* Midnight's Fire

* Moses Magnum (Black Panther villain)

* Mr. Fish

* Mute (servant of Madam Slay)

* Mubaru

* Nekra

* Nightshade

* Nine (of Eugenix)

* N'Kama (A Zulu Warrior hired by Damon Dran to capture the Black Widow)

* Princess Zanda (Black Panther foe)

* Powerhouse

* Prowler

* Puff Adder

* Rock Python

* Rocket Racer

* Salamander K'Ruel

* Scope

* Shades (Power Man (Cage) foe, partner of Comanche)

* Slyde

* Solomon Prey (Black Panther foe)

* Sombre (Black Panther villain)

* Tempo

* Thunderball

* Tombstone

* Vermin

* Wheeler

* Zambada (leader of the Lightning Lancers)

 

Independents

 

* Africa (12 Comics)

* Baxter Stockman (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

* Darcticus (Blac Ice Comics)

* Dark Widow (Purrsia Press)

* Fixer (Irredeemable)

* Hook (Blokhedz)

* Charles Gunn (IDW Publishing)

* Mr. Bigg (Purrsia Press)

* Nebula (Arcane Comics)

* King Vulture (Blokhedz)

* Sick Sistah (Onli Studios)

* Steven Dark (Guardian UMI)

* Suge Punic (Ronin Studios)

* Troubleman (Hometown Productions)

* Block (Big City Comics)

* Seduction (Big City Comics)

 

Killer Croc and Ares are black?

[kdoginohio]

Croc mutated.

[Korvac Saga]

black panther's nemesis the gorilla dude.

 

Ah yes.. Man Ape

 

Also there is a personal fav of mine, Barracuda from the Punisher series but this may be another "stereotype" even though he kicks all kinds of

 

Barracuda was great!! (worship)

[The Less Blob]

I can't be bothered to read the whole thing, but I think it's safe to assume that Marvel and DC writers in the 70's and 80's, where most of these characters were created, were loath to create "true evil" black characters for fear of being called a racist, so the black villians were simply products of their surroundings... with enough love or thought they could become good guys like Luke Cage, Rocket Racer, the Prowler, etc. Not to mention, you expand your demographic audience (or did back then) with heroes, not villians, so the emphasis would be on black heroes.

 

Anyway, I do kindah recall Moses Magnum having a good run at the Avengers.

 

And isn't Apokolypse kindah black if he's an ancient egyption or something?

 

Plus, not a lot of african americans work in nuclear reactors, so less opportunities for mutant children.

[DrWatson]

I can't be bothered to read the whole thing, but I think it's safe to assume that Marvel and DC writers in the 70's and 80's, where most of these characters were created, were loath to create "true evil" black characters for fear of being called a racist, so the black villians were simply products of their surroundings... with enough love or thought they could become good guys like Luke Cage, Rocket Racer, the Prowler, etc. Not to mention, you expand your demographic audience (or did back then) with heroes, not villians, so the emphasis would be on black heroes.

 

Anyway, I do kindah recall Moses Magnum having a good run at the Avengers.

 

And isn't Apokolypse kindah black if he's an ancient egyption or something?

 

Plus, not a lot of african americans work in nuclear reactors, so less opportunities for mutant children.

You blew it with that last line.

[dupont2005]

Baxter Stockman

[Subliminal]

The answer is: Not enough black comic writers and artists

[greggy]

I can't be bothered to read the whole thing, but I think it's safe to assume that Marvel and DC writers in the 70's and 80's, where most of these characters were created, were loath to create "true evil" black characters for fear of being called a racist, so the black villians were simply products of their surroundings... with enough love or thought they could become good guys like Luke Cage, Rocket Racer, the Prowler, etc. Not to mention, you expand your demographic audience (or did back then) with heroes, not villians, so the emphasis would be on black heroes.

 

Anyway, I do kindah recall Moses Magnum having a good run at the Avengers.

 

And isn't Apokolypse kindah black if he's an ancient egyption or something?

 

Plus, not a lot of african americans work in nuclear reactors, so less opportunities for mutant children.

You blew it with that last line.

[followtheleader]

Come on bro. There is a dude that fights Spider-man and wears roller skates.

 

Rocket Racer baby

 

Pat