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

[Alphaxman]

Is that really true? Did someone write Glob or Armor well enough that they are pushing them now? Did someone write Gwenpool good enough that they are pushing her now? Are fans clamoring for that Star mini series?

Could the decision makers be out of touch with Market? Could old bad beliefs be keeping back characters like remember thay Disney didn't put Black Panther, Captain Marvel and Black Widow movie because of one executive beliefs. And the current X-Office doesn't believe in the viability of teen books for example. To think that something the characters are doing alone is wrong imo the factors outside of comics as well.

Exactly!!!! There is no feasible reason Glob, of all people, should be getting any kind of screen time outside scenes of him in the background. Armor on the other-hand has the benefit of the ingenue role during the early 2000's, the role once filled by Kitty and Jubilee respectfully. Plus Logan needed that young female sidekick to humanize him, so there was no need, in the writing staff minds, to add a young black male on the main title.
And as someone stated earlier, Bishop was the last major character created that had any kind of impact on the X-Men. So when any new era starts, most of the cast has to be filled with the main stays, which happens to be Storm and all her white friends from the 60's, 70's and 80's.
In my opinion, one of Chris Clamemont's unintentional mistake was not creating more male POC on the team in the 80's. But he was obviously more interested in his Clamazons, with Storm having the highest priority (which was a good thing).

[Frobisher]

Claremont and Byrne had Thunderbird and Sunfire and tossed them out instantly.

[Havok83]

Claremont and Byrne had Thunderbird and Sunfire and tossed them out instantly.

Yeah I always bring that up whenever people talk about how diverse Claremont's X-men run was. His NM was, but not X-men. He promptly got rid the men of color and never added any new ones except Forge in his 17 run. He only added Jubilee but he created tons of white characters to join the team

[Paleo_Rage]

Yeah I always bring that up whenever people talk about how diverse Claremont's X-men run was. His NM was, but not X-men. He promptly got rid the men of color and never added any new ones except Forge in his 17 run. He only added Jubilee but he created tons of white characters to join the team

Yeah, he seemed repentant later on as he made Neal, Shola, and Hack along with one of my faves Hub( so much potential...They need to re-power her). Magma def should have been a woman of color. It was interesting how X men Evolution had to fix a lot of the racial disparities by making up a Spkye since they didn't have a Black mutant character to add to the main team. Its so telling. Roberto had his melanin intact but he was regulated to the b side storylines and they made Magma the woc she should have been from the get go.

[Killerbee911]

Exactly!!!! There is no feasible reason Glob, of all people, should be getting any kind of screen time outside scenes of him in the background. Armor on the other-hand has the benefit of the ingenue role during the early 2000's, the role once filled by Kitty and Jubilee respectfully. Plus Logan needed that young female sidekick to humanize him, so there was no need, in the writing staff minds, to add a young black male on the main title.
And as someone stated earlier, Bishop was the last major character created that had any kind of impact on the X-Men. So when any new era starts, most of the cast has to be filled with the main stays, which happens to be Storm and all her white friends from the 60's, 70's and 80's.
In my opinion, one of Chris Clamemont's unintentional mistake was not creating more male POC on the team in the 80's. But he was obviously more interested in his Clamazons, with Storm having the highest priority (which was a good thing).

Bishop,Cable and Gambit are the last strictly new characters to have impact outside of X23 who is an anomaly and (Magik and Emma who are previous establish characters whose profile was raise up in the last decade). So the last real push of New X-men characters was Maggot,Celia Reyes, Marrow. You can sneak in Slipstream,Lifeguard,Thunderbird, Stacy-X and Sage. So what does that mean? It means they really haven't try since Maggot and if you consider Darwin.

Which means something have talk about in this thread Black Male attempts have either been Freaky style mutants like Darwin or Maggot, or passive teen mutants like Prodigy,Triage,Genesis and Gentle. Then we have to look how fair where the shots to have success. Synch got killed off, Maggot got short run(then got brought back to be killed),Triage got a short run,Gentle got a short run, Bedlam got short run, Prodigy got a decent run but then was depowered. The only character who got a solid real chance was Darwin. Darwin was just flat out not used again because uhm yeah. I would say about 1 character out of the small group of names got a extended chances to work and fix the flaws the might have and think about if Iceman and Angel had to remain in their original forms how popular do think they would be?

Even worse is since Maggot time on the X-men, They have been writers who have come along and embrace freaky style mutants so Maggot around Morrison or Aaron would have work better. Brisson seems to be in love with using Glob, I don't think he would have a problems utilizing Maggot. People are quick say a character isn't good but how many these characters got shot after their original run or without their original creator. That is not a character issue and design that is editorial side stuff.

[skyvolt2000]

Is that really true? Did someone write Glob or Armor well enough that they are pushing them now? Did someone write Gwenpool good enough that they are pushing her now? Are fans clamoring for that Star mini series?

Gwenpool has folks cosplaying her. Her book was well received. She has an action figure. Marvel thinks high enough of her to DEFY Disney. Disney higher up want her GONE because they don't get why she is liked at all. That is why you saw that Leah Williams mini series.

Glob DESPITE who is co-creator who hates Carol Danvers & Rose from Star Wars is, appeared a lot under that OTHER co-creator and that kept him in books.

Some characters just have writers who want to include them in things no matter what.

If you really want to explore this topic you should consider why Storm and Bishop did and the others didn’t. What differentiates them?

Storm has 40+ years under her belt. There is ZERO discussion about X-Men without her. She was the main black female you saw in the 80s who unlike Monica did not get sidelined by a writer or editor. Bishop same thing.

You skipped all the crappy non-black characters that didn't catch on.

The topic at hand is about BLACK MALES. As for some of those crappy non-black ones-a LOT of them somehow found minis, solos & places in books that their black counterparts can't.

Rocket Raccoon was a FAILED character.
Speedball was a FAILED character.
Squirrel Girl was a FAILED character.
Slapstick was a FAILED character.
Solo was a FAILED character.
Foolkiller was a FAILED character.
Rich Rider was a FAILED character.
Carnage was a failure.

Slapstick, Solo & Foolkiller got to hang with Deadpool in a book. They all got their SECOND solo runs(Foolkiller his second ongoing).
Speedball & Rich were on the scrapheap and then came New Warriors.
Rocket Raccoon had 10 comic book appearances in 30 years. Then came Guardians of the Galaxy.
Squirrel Girl was a JOKE yet a JOKE that boasts toys, 2 tv shows, 50 issue run and New York Best Seller.
Carnage is not a failure anymore is he?

That is not a generation thing that is an EDITORIAL thing. That is what happens when you limit who is allowed to pitch books. Be it due to race or gender. Or pandering to trolls and entitlement folks.

[skyvolt2000]

That's your amazing answer none of them are good. That was critical thinking you put into your answer. Every black male character created was bad. Who created these characters ? Why is they are capable of making good white characters but the black characters suck? Why has there been effort to make one that hasn't sucked? Anyways Thank you for your level of insight, I don't know how I miss that.Thank you for sharing.

1 Who is being allowed to pitch a book with the original roster?

2 Was said black guy added by the writer or editorial?
McDuffie was hired to do JLA. He did not put 4 blacks on the team (that rallied the trolls) that was EDITORIAL. He even admitted that was one he would NOT have put on the team.


3 A lack of interest in the character. See Finn in Star Wars media as a whole. For someone who was suppose to be the 3rd amigo-everyone acted like he did not matter. He is the LEAST developed of those 3.
Also how many top selling books sell a poorly done, background, barely does anything, asexual, no social life having and so on Black guy? Like Cyborg? Then they wonder why his solo sold worst than Moon Girl at her WORST? TWICE.
Duke Thomas was suppose to be Batman's sidekick-what sidekick goes MIA for a YEAR and only has one panel cameos?

We have gotten to a point of writers so DESPERATE to show how well they can do the A lister or the popular WHITE one-that they forget about this. People are paying attention to how you write the OTHERS too.
I would not touch a John Stewart or Cyborg book by Johns nor a Black Panther book by Coates.

Now if Johns was doing Mr Terrific or Jakeem Thunder and Coates was doing Storm-different story. Because BOTH made them interesting enough to want to read more about them.

[dkrook]

1 Who is being allowed to pitch a book with the original roster?

2 Was said black guy added by the writer or editorial?
McDuffie was hired to do JLA. He did not put 4 blacks on the team (that rallied the trolls) that was EDITORIAL. He even admitted that was one he would NOT have put on the team.


3 A lack of interest in the character. See Finn in Star Wars media as a whole. For someone who was suppose to be the 3rd amigo-everyone acted like he did not matter. He is the LEAST developed of those 3.
Also how many top selling books sell a poorly done, background, barely does anything, asexual, no social life having and so on Black guy? Like Cyborg? Then they wonder why his solo sold worst than Moon Girl at her WORST? TWICE.
Duke Thomas was suppose to be Batman's sidekick-what sidekick goes MIA for a YEAR and only has one panel cameos?

We have gotten to a point of writers so DESPERATE to show how well they can do the A lister or the popular WHITE one-that they forget about this. People are paying attention to how you write the OTHERS too.
I would not touch a John Stewart or Cyborg book by Johns nor a Black Panther book by Coates.

Now if Johns was doing Mr Terrific or Jakeem Thunder and Coates was doing Storm-different story. Because BOTH made them interesting enough to want to read more about them.

Insights galore, and all on point my bro! Funny how easy fans of comics and even hero movies willingly ignore the surface politics of race in decisions made in each of these mediums. I can never forgive Disney for the racial bait and switch mess they did with Finn. What would have been the big deal in really just letting this black be THE guy, or let them both be jedi.

[JudicatorPrime]

Man, I miss the old Synch from Generation X.

Powerful
Smart
Adept at using his abilities
Leadership skills
His friendship with Skin

I thought for sure that he was on his way to something big.

Everyone loved Synch. Did they ever give a reasonable explanation as to why he had to die? Have they provided a reason since as to why he hasn't been used now that he's been resurrected? I mean if they killed off Cyclops, he'd be right back in his alpha chair in no time, even if it meant starting up a new X team. Synch was Generation X's alpha. He should have received similar treatment. But did he?

[Killerbee911]

Everyone loved Synch. Did they ever give a reasonable explanation as to why he had to die? Have they provided a reason since as to why he hasn't been used now that he's been resurrected? I mean if they killed off Cyclops, he'd be right back in his alpha chair in no time, even if it meant starting up a new X team. Synch was Generation X's alpha. He should have received similar treatment. But did he?

They probably view him like his Generations Jean Grey whose death was supposed to stick with the cast that is the only thinking that makes sense to me his death was suppose to be a meaningful moment that you really don't want to undo. Why isn't he being used? Someone has a plan for him in Wave 3. My guess (and this just a wild guess) that book about resurrected mutants(X-corpse???) what will probably have Nightcrawler,Angel,M, Banshee showing up in it will probably have Synch. That is my hope ,I am hoping Vita Ayla is writing whatever book he is in honestly. I am just waiting to see if the Leah or Vita projects or the other announce stuff have him in it.

[CRaymond]

I could easily pitch a 6-12 issue mini starring Bedlam(Jesse).

[Michael Watkins]

Everyone loved Synch. Did they ever give a reasonable explanation as to why he had to die?

because everyone loved him? he was close to all of the members of generation x. so his death, theoretically, had the most impact. he's also the only character who doesn't have a power of his own; which makes him less usable. from a reader perspective, i had stopped reading sometime after Bachalo's art got really really cartoony and Operation Zero Tolerance disrupted everything.

[Paleo_Rage]

because everyone loved him? he was close to all of the members of generation x. so his death, theoretically, had the most impact. he's also the only character who doesn't have a power of his own; which makes him less usable. from a reader perspective, i had stopped reading sometime after Bachalo's art got really really cartoony and Operation Zero Tolerance disrupted everything.

Yes he was well liked and served to be the emotional glue of the team but his powers were not a reason to not use him. Synch for me powers were less about mimicking abilities and more about getting in synch however you choose to understand it. It could be powers, emotions, there location in time and space, etc.. So much you could do with him. I also saw Synch's powers working like Peter Petrellis did on heroes. He learned how to recall abilities based on the emotional connections that he forged with those people. Synch was using his abilities to find people and it was not just mimicking or using their abilities better than them. And if that was a limitation why not have him have a story arc where he learns hand to hand combat.. Also since it was always theorized and even shown that he could retain certain abilities he should have actually pushed him self to perhaps to retain one ability or find it was easier to retain mental or physical abilities. I was lowkey pissed he was not used in the AOA. That should have told me everything I needed to know about the x office back then.

[Havok83]

Yeah, I never found Synch to be useless and never thought his powers were a crutch. I dont think any writer that wrote him really felt that was a limitation, at least it didnt come across on panel. Truth be honest, Synch had a more practical power than say Skin

[JudicatorPrime]

he's also the only character who doesn't have a power of his own; which makes him less usable.

I vaguely recall an issue where Synch retained Sabretooth's powers for a fairly long duration. There was also discussion about him having the ability to archive and recover abilities on demand via his aura. This isn't the first time that the X-Men had a power replicator. Rogue and Mimic come foremost to mind, each with the writers ensuring that they had at least one base power set at all times. They could have done the same for Everett. Easy peazy. They chose not to. That's the problem. The choices that they make for certain characters, but not others makes the readership wonder whether or not there is a deliberate agenda at work that has nothing to do with great story telling.