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

[The Kid]

I honestly think that part of the problem is Storm. I hate to say this because she is one of my favorite characters, but because she is SO high profile, writers may feel like they are showing diversity just by using her, and having one other somewhat high profile black mutant with Bishop. They feel their "quota", either imagined or mandated, is filled because her importance, history and presence fills it. News to them, just because of all that, does not mean it makes up for the lack of other black mutants, and specifically to this topic black male mutants especially.

It's why Sunfire, a C lister at best at this point, is the male asian representation, Psylocke (aside from the beginning and very recently) and Jubilee, in their minds, made up the "Asian representation".

I should clarify that I don't agree with that stance nor is it possibly even intentional, but I think it's what happening unintentionally.

Yup this is on the money. Your example of Sunfire being the most relevant male Asian X-Men supports that

[Big Joe]

What is so important about him being straight to you? This is some hotep ****.

I think we've read that differently, and I hope I'm right and you're wrong. But I didn't think that was meant to convey Midnight's opinion, I think (and hope) he was referring to the way the media or parts of society in general view young black men.

[Killerbee911]

I honestly think that part of the problem is Storm. I hate to say this because she is one of my favorite characters, but because she is SO high profile, writers may feel like they are showing diversity just by using her, and having one other somewhat high profile black mutant with Bishop. They feel their "quota", either imagined or mandated, is filled because her importance, history and presence fills it. News to them, just because of all that, does not mean it makes up for the lack of other black mutants, and specifically to this topic black male mutants especially.

It's why Sunfire, a C lister at best at this point, is the male asian representation, Psylocke (aside from the beginning and very recently) and Jubilee, in their minds, made up the "Asian representation".

I should clarify that I don't agree with that stance nor is it possibly even intentional, but I think it's what happening unintentionally.

This is one of the answers I expected and other day I am in planning stage coming with concept for a comic book that I want to do and I found myself limiting the amount of black People I was putting on the team. Then light bulb hit me that you never worry about that with white characters you can have 10 man team and 8 characters could be white and 1 Asian and 1 Native american. With minorities we have trained ourselves to believe that after the white characters get their slot the minority draft begins you pick a black character,you move on to Asian character, maybe female or LGBTQ and you can't replicate these minorities because you have so many "slots".

Now honestly I don't think they are picking characters by race but more by popularity and history,So the classic X-men and popular X-men get pick first. Since most of those character are white ,most teams end up heavier slanted in that direction. Now a character like Storm actually breaks that pattern if She is one of the early member picked so if you are doing a book you are trying to get the popular or classic members for example Jean Grey, X-23, Storm, Nightcrawler, Gambit now if they are trying round out cast with some diversity then you put on Gentle and Trinary. When you start off a team with Kitty ,Old Man Logan, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Prestige because hey these are popular/classic characters then last couple of spots might be just Storm and Iceman. That is biggest problem you need A-list minority character to justify not using the Cyclops,Rogues,Jeans and Kitty on a team. Which is Psylocke being changed back kinda sucked because she was the A-list "Asian" character that you could justify putting over another character. It is easy for editor/writer to say I didn't put Gentle on a team because who do fans want to see Cyclops or Gentle. Storm isn't part of problem Storm is the solution you need more characters like her so when they are building rosters they can't use the excuse this character isn't popular. The goal is build stable base of popular minority characters to were you can't justify instant picking white characters.The most frustrating part of this process is a character can't become A-List if they aren't used in big time stories.That's why characters like Sunspot, Moonstar, Warpath, M, Karma are so important because these characters are on the cusp of breaking out. All they need to be is in classic stories now.

The biggest fight is against stagnant characters I am sorry but Angel has been dead since Remender killed him,Colossus and Kitty have been trapped in the same story cycle and Nightcrawler has no role on the X-men but to be a taxi. Classic X-men does not instantly mean good stories. I would love to see big time writer get their hand on Emplate on turn him into a big time X-villain, I would love to see A.I.M versus the X-men. Nostalgia makes them over look guys like Sunspot because Angel and Psylocke for million time have get in conflict over his Archangel personality.

[danielsan52]

Cloak or Windshear would make a cool X-Man.

[Fokken]

GAWD I miss Synch. I miss him so hard. So much story potential there. And such a versatile power with a unique energy signature all his own.
I mean, Yes, we have had SO many mimics and copiers, but his really sold me strongest. I miss him.

That being said, especially since he's ACTUALLY available: I am DESPERATE to get Roberto back. His next-leveling as an Avenger was inspired and I NEED MOAR SUNSPOT. The additions to his power-aesthetic make him look even cooler (the gold energy threads paired with his signature Kirby dots)

I'd love to see an X-team that is primarily consisting of non-white characters, like Ewing's previous New Avengers.
That team had Luke Cage, Spectrum, Blue Marvel, Power Man, White Tiger as core team, with Danny Rand and Jessica Jones. That ratio is just not something one typically sees in comics, and it was terrific and refreshing. It flies in the face of that token nonsense we're so accustomed to. Same goes for his subsequent Ultimates title with Blue Marvel, Black Panther, Spectrum, America and Captain Marvel.

[DragonsChi]

I think it be better to have a writer take general interest in developing the minority characters with the mindset of making them interesting, then it would be to give us a token team for the sake of it.

A huge problem with a lot of the newer characters at Marvel is that they lack depth. To some degree many of them aren't even real characters but instead are just mouth pieces. I would much prefer 2-3 well developed minority characters that fans will latch on to, than some team of tokens that goes away in a few months. When those get some traction then rinse and repeat.

People praise Al Ewings run but his first Mighty Avengers had quite a few filler issues and some of the characters just seemed to be there for no reason at all. And interesting enough almost all of those characters who were on that first team are currently sitting in limbo again.

[Psycwave]

Yeah, it’s time to bring back Bedlam and add him to the forefront of some teams with the likes of Prodigy, Sunspot and Gentle. Bishop can’t keep doing all the “heavy” lifting and all of these characters are so vastly different that their perspectives would be a welcome change. It’s really going to be down to the writers to actually want to add to them though. And it’s weird because they all know it’s a problem but it always seems to get pushed to the back burner.
I was actually shocked Bedlam didn’t pop back up in the books after Deadpool 2.

[Tazpocalapse]

I think it is because most of those characters have not had the chance to get much of a footing in having a presence in other platforms the X-men are displayed on. Bishop has multiple animation and game appearances. The others besides Darwin and Sunspot have not had enough exposure to garner much attention.

The X-men are kinda more reliant on team book sells more than of the other franchises that have long term series and fanbases that can keep a series afloat.I think how Roberto was developed outside the x-books maybe a good path for others to gain a fanbase.

[Havok83]

bc none of them have been cast members of a flagship title.

[wano]

Not commenting on his full post but in America and Europe in multiple forms of media the Black male is hardly ever seen/depicted in engaging in a hetero relationship. They are also often depicted with what would be deemed as feminine qualities, asexual, and/or Beta Males.

Are you sure? Because American and european media keeps pushing black male - white female relationships for some reason

[CRaymond]

for some reason

The reason is diversity is key to inclusivity. You sell more **** when the audience sees more faces on screen.

[PhoenixStudies]

They should bring back Synch and ditch Hope.

[sungila]

bc none of them have been cast members of a flagship title.

This is true and the flagships no longer sail...or sell...other than X-23 I can't think of a stand-alone character created since the mid nineties with the long running development, supporting cast, individual impact, multiplicity of complexities, substantial independent presence in multiple titles and genuine fan base that such a fully realized character could generate and then draw from.

But that's not a good answer really.

There is no good answer. It's wrong.

To this day, the X-Men's POV is fixed in romanticized and fettered representations of race and gender that do not transcend or transform and may not be able to in 12 issue runs with choppy creative control and short fused explosions. Especially when those being represented aren't in complete control of that representation.

[MYCMTSC]

Sunspot, Manifold, and Gentle have potential IMO to still take off.

I would love to see other options. I’d like to see some Black X-Men with cooler powers

[Havok83]

They should bring back Synch and ditch Hope.

Hope isnt preventing Synch from being used

Sunspot, Manifold, and Gentle have potential IMO to still take off.

I would love to see other options. I’d like to see some Black X-Men with cooler powers

Gentle has potential and its a shame that his development in Red has seemingly been ignored