It wasn’t until Falcon’s appearance in Captain America, 1969, that a black superhero appeared in a mainstream comic book. Since then, though the industry remained dominated by predominantly white characters, there have been a steady stream of black superheroes who have changed the game. Here are just a few of the black superheroes to know and love!
1: Spiderman (Miles Morales)
There have been a dozen iterations of Spiderman, but Miles is the first ever black adaptation. Miles first appeared in Ultimate Fallout #4, released in August 2011. Morales’ Spiderman got its own animated feature film in 2018, Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse, with Morales being voiced by Shameik Moore.
2: Allison Hargreeves (The Umbrella Academy)
Allison, known to the public as ‘The Rumor,’ is the third member of The Umbrella Academy, a band of adopted children with superhuman powers. By speaking the phrase, “I heard a rumor,” Allison can compel people to do whatever she wants them to do—a pretty handy and unique ability. In addition to this powerful manipulation ability, Allison gets into quite a few fights and knows how to hold her own.
3: Cyborg
Half man, half machine, Cyborg’s comic book iteration has a sad origin—the result of scientist parents performing experiments on their own child.
4: Black Panther
Since Marvel released the Black Panther film in 2018, everybody knows the character. But it wasn’t until the movie was released that the character began to receive the appreciation he deserved. Black Panther debuted in comics in 1966, and is the first Marvel character of African descent to get their own comic series.
5: Sister Night (The Watchmen)
Angela Abar’s storyline has everything we love: a complicated history, a complex romance with the most all-knowing being in the universe, the search for justice, and no shortage of drama. Sister Night appears in HBO’s Watchmen television series.
6: Falcon
Falcon made his big screen debut in Captain America: The Winter Soldier in 2014, and replaces Steve Rogers as Captain America in the comics in 2015 after Rogers’ retirement. Falcon has mechanical wings and telepathic abilities that he uses to control birds.
7: Black Lightning (all of them)
If you haven’t seen the Black Lightning series yet, do yourself a favor. Black Lightning, also known as Jefferson Pierce, is a retired-superhero father who is a school principal by day, but leads a vigilante double life with his daughters, Anissa and Jennifer, by night.
8: Luke Cage
Cage, the victim of a failed prison experiment that left him with bulletproof skin and super-strength, first appeared in 1972 in Luke Cage: Hero for Hire. Most recently, his character has gotten major screen time on Netflix, played by Mike Colter.
9: Bishop
A member of the X-Men, Bishop uses his powers of energy absorption and projection—and some pretty big guns—as his weapon of choice, and appoints himself as an official-unofficial bodyguard of Xavier.
10: Static
So many of us grew up watching the Static Shock television series back in the early 2000s, that no list of black superheroes would be complete without Static. 14 year-old Virgil Hawkins is the victim of a chemical explosion during an altercation with police that leaves him with the ability to manipulate electricity and magnetism. Upon discovering his new powers, he takes on the alter ego of “Static Shock.”
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