Why haven't any of the Black Male X-men caught on other than Bishop?

[Killerbee911]

It is a pretty simple question, Why haven't any of Black Male X-men caught on other than Bishop? For other minority groups characters say like Asian male the answer is simple they are that many of them( Thunderbird 2nd,Indra,Sunfire?) but other day I was looking up characters they are quite bit of Black male X-characters. Here is the quick list

Sunspot
*Manifold
Prodigy
Gentle
Synch
Darwin
Maggot
Triage
Genesis
Radius
Beldam
Tag
Anarchist
Spike


I mean the obvious answer is going to come up but I am looking more along the lines of design and impact I guess. So maybe the question is better phrased as which character when introduced did you think this character is going to be the next great X-men character?

* Manifold yes I realize he was never in thing X-men related but he trained with Gateway and he is mutant.

[Tycon]

They have the potential to take off, it's just that the X-Office is much more interested in telling the same ol' stories with the ANAD cast of characters which feature 0 black guys. Even with Bishop, this push just came recently. Johnathan Hickman and Al Ewing revitalized Sunspot and made him known to the more casual readers but the longer X-Editorial takes to use him, the more this shot is wasted. #BringBackMaggott worked in a way. I guess the Uncanny Trio just dropped Gentle from the roster so they could make way for...........Legion and...............................Multiple Man.

[Snoop Dogg]

Designs aren't really a big deal because while they're very important to a character's ability to catch on, you can change them at any time. Sunspot's new suit and tie aesthetic is much, much better than the generic uniform (which is why the X-Office will put him back in it). But yeah, you can bring people back with sweet redesigns at any time, but first you have to decide to use them. If there's any doubt that this can work, look at Magik this decade.

To really let a lot of these guys have legs, they have to be used and used prominently and consistently after their day in the limelight. Most of the people on the list are known for their big dropoffs after the eras which they really popped. Sunspot could be one of them if the X-Office continues to twiddle their thumbs, or worse, just puts him back on X-Force as a regular member after everything that's happened.

I like Triage.
Someone do stuff with Triage.

[Bl00dwerK]

Don't know, but Sunspot is one of my faves. Still wish they hadn't turned him into the mutant human torch, though.

[Beetle]

They should have kept Cloak back during the Utopia era

[Killerbee911]

For Tag,Radius,Anarchist and Spike it is mix of design and not being in something high profile. Triage,Genesis,Prodigy and Gentle are students which means they are stuck in time until X-office decides to grow them into a adults so they can be used in more mature stories. Prodigy and surprisingly Gentle escaped for were used for awhile back to limbo.

Synch- I think had the most potential out of everyone being mention to catch on big,I don't think heard anyone say they dislike Synch as character now they might have said he was boring but any character who leads will get that on occasionally. He had a solid design and powers. Normally death is an excuse but X-men have brought so many people back so it is not a problem to do one more I believe he was brought back in the event for Selene it isn't has hard to write up something from that. I am also keeping my eye on Age of X-man he and other dead X-men can magically return when stuff is put back in order.

Sunspot- I think the X-office has a plan for him because he is unexplainably absence in X-force,Uncanny and Cyclops/ Wolverine books. He is going to be used at some point I believe .He has had tremendous growth outside of the X-men franchise and should be a big player in the X universe now.

Darwin- I think the design of character is what held him back from catching on and character never really stood out in stories to me. Darwin has a hard use powerset imo

Maggott- Is another case of design not catching on and being a little wonky and weird.The funny thing is the design might have give him use if he was around for some X-men writers the X-men writers seem in love with Glob because he is extremely weird. Maggot fits that weird lane but he might just be a little too weird for consistent use. Also I don't think they had a clue what to do with his powers.

Prodigy- Is slowly building up some momentum with appearances in Young avengers, New mutants dark souls and probably champions at some point. Being Bisexual and Black makes him something pretty unique in comics it seem creators want to use him but never quite on the team. Also can they bring his powers back they have been gone long enough

Triage- Healing is kinda broken as power so they will be always some hesistion to use him.

Bedlam- I remember being hype about the Bedlam Brothers after AoA but they turned out not to be that interesting in the 616. I don't think any had angle they want to do with him.

Gentle- has great design but he is a one trick pony. As pacifist who has to fight he is interesting but at some point that disappears and you need more of a personality and story. If you watch Colossus over the years you have pretty good idea how it will play out.

Manifold- As mention not a X-character and is being used in Black panther stuff but I think he would be a great addition some one decide to use him the X-universe. But with Magik,Pixie and Nightcrawler around those chances wil probably be slim

[jalsrix]

Sunspot isn't black.

His father might be African or native American but his mum is European ancestry.

[Tycon]

Sunspot isn't black.

His father might be African or native American but his mum is European ancestry.

Nope, he's black. Nice try, though.

[RCX]

In Brazil there’s a lot of mix. He’s got black, white and native in him.

[Killerbee911]

Sunspot isn't black.

His father might be African or native American but his mum is European ancestry.

I knew this might come up. Words have different meaning depending on where you are from when I say "Black" from the part of world I am from that means from "African descent". Sunspot,Celia Reyes and Darwin are Afro Latino .

[Tycon]

To jalsrix or anyone else who wants to say that Sunspot isn't black:

[Ramsay Snow]

I knew this might come up. Words have different meaning depending on where you are from when I say "Black" from the part of world I am from that means from "African descent". Sunspot,Celia Reyes and Darwin are Afro Latino .

Did they change Manifold's origin? When Hickman was writing him, Manifold was an Australian Aborigine (Which was never specified, but I always assumed he's Anangu due to the area of Australia he lives in).

Sunspot- Is great. But he was more popular as an Avenger, which some people find unforgivable.
*Manifold-Is boring.

I thought Manifold was pretty cool during Hickman's run. I haven't read anything involving him elsewhere.

[PrezValentine]

On the main topic, I want to say "they didn't try hard enough" and "they didn't dare enough", I guess. Bravest story choice they made with a black character recently was making Bishop a genocidal ******* more than a decade ago. For characters to really catch on they have to be consistently used, and for them to be consistently used they need to have a compelling backstory and interesting personal traits. Main issue is that we don't live in a golden age for comics anymore, so it's not like Marvel is getting a bunch of new readers every week. So, if they try to push black characters and realize it doesn't sell as much as they'd like, they'll probably put them back in the background. It's complicated. I wish they pushed more black male characters, but I don't see anyone outside of an eventual Al Ewing doing it.

[chamber-music]

I like Sunspot, Synch, Bedlam, Prodigy and Anarchist.

It has been mentioned many times before that Sunspot rarely gets drawn to look biracial anymore.

Prodigy needs his powers back.

Terry Crews played Jesse Bedlam in Deadpool 2 although Crews looks more like his villainous older brother Christoper (King Bedlam) physically.

[jalsrix]

There are many black people here, since in countries like Brazil slavery ended less than 150 years ago, therefore the slave trade lasted far too long. There was also the mixing between escaped slaves and native tribes and, naturally, white people. Sunspot is black because he's the son of a black man who may or may not be descendant of african people + native people. My dad comes from a native american family, but some people see him as black since his skin is pretty dark, same for my baby sister. For a lot of people in my country "black" is just someone with dark skin, not necessarily someone who "looks african" or whatever. Of course, I'm talking about my personal experience and the POV of people from my country, it might be different in places like Argentina or Uruguay since, y'know, South America isn't just an homogenous lump of earth where everyone shares the same cultural views, no matter what north-americans might think of us. You'll get different answers depending on who and where you ask about the definition of someone "black" here.

Thanks for this very good answer. So the African slaves were also imported in South America and not North America.

So 'black' doesn't necessarily mean 'African descent' in South America.

How do south Americans call the pure native tribes? I haven't been to South America so please forgive my ignorance.