Which of DC's Black Characters Has the Most Potential to Achieve Trinity Status?

[SecretWarrior]

Why were the Blade movies made then. He even got a TV show at one point. What kept those movies out of theaters was Ike Perlmutter, not the notion that the audience did not want to see black leads, which had already been proven wrong long before Black Panther.

Ike Perlmutter justified his decision by arguing using that exact argument. Execs only gave The Dark Tower a $40 mil budget despite having big names because Idris was the lead. Will Smith has always been seen as an exception for big tent pole films in Hollywood (films costing over $100 mil). None of the other Black superhero films had budgets anywhere approaching that.

[Johnny]

Ike Perlmutter justified his decision by arguing using that exact argument. Execs only gave The Dark Tower a $40 mil budget despite having big names because Idris was the lead. Will Smith has always been seen as an exception for big tent pole films in Hollywood (films costing over $100 mil). None of the other Black superhero films had budgets anywhere approaching that.

Catwoman had a 100M budget. Yes, Catwoman. Regardless of how that turned out, it cost nearly as much as the first Spider-Man film did. I imagine because it starred an Oscar winner. I don't understand how the budget argument negates my previous point though. The beginning of Marvel's success in film was with a movie starring a black protagonist. People like Perlmutter were proven wrong long before he started doing his bigoted practices.

[Agent Z]

Cyborg, by design, is a character who is meant to get beat up, since there are no mortal consequences to tearing him apart like there are with characters like Batman or Flash.

The Flash has a healing factor on par with Wolverine's and Batman has survived stuff that should by rights killed a regular human being.

[Agent Z]

I put that in on purpose.

And how many times did we see Cyborg get beat up? Not just in Justice league but his own book?

In fact how many times did he get HACKED? If Riri Williams was in DC-she would have a FIELD day hacking Cyborg.

Priest hardly made it any better now did he? In fact, I recall him giving an interview where he complained about Victor getting upgrades so that tells you his mindset when he wrote that issue.

[SecretWarrior]

Super Friends was the entire reason Aquaman was seen as a joke for the better part of the last 5 decades. The show had huge influence, both good and bad, similar to the 60s Batman show. And Hal Jordan was part of Super Friends, which means that lots of people were exposed to the character, both at the time, and through reruns like I was. Unless you're supposed to be some global spokesperson, I'm not certain who these "most people" you're referring to are supposed to be. Not sure what actors, making fools out of themselves by begging for cbm roles on social media, have to do with anything I said since I never claimed that John Stewart was not a well-known character, I called out an overexaggerated claim regurgitated by a portion of a cartoon's fanbase as if they were pretending to be speaking on behalf of every human being who was not reading DC comics. I'm hardly spinning it, that faux controversy never made it past social media, I don't recall seeing main stream media headlines asking why Green Lantern wasn't black. You're doing the same thing the aforementioned fanbase was trying to do at the time and it looks just as bad today as it did in 2011. Apparently some things never change.

What are you even talking about?

https://www.npr.org/2011/08/09/13912...-for-diversity

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/11...t-a-black-guy/

https://www.themarysue.com/why-movie...lantern-white/

https://sonsofcorax.wordpress.com/20...-john-stewart/

Page one of Google alone...

[SecretWarrior]

Catwoman had a 100M budget. Yes, Catwoman. Regardless of how that turned out, it cost nearly as much as the first Spider-Man film did. I imagine because it starred an Oscar winner. I don't understand how the budget argument negates my previous point though. The beginning of Marvel's success in film was with a movie starring a black protagonist. People like Perlmutter were proven wrong long before he started doing his bigoted practices.

Catwoman was used an excuse not to spend $100 mill or more on a black superhero film even though it was just a crappy movie. How are you denying Hollywood execs not backing big budget black and female-led until recently? I mean, Wonder Woman has been an icon for how long, and she's only gotten a film now?

It's not just for movies. A big justification for making these films is the licensing for toy deals. McDuffie talked about how it was impossible to get a toy deal for Static Shock despite the popularity of the show, a white sidekick, and it being set in the DCAU. The idea is that white kids wouldn't buy black toys.

[SecretWarrior]

The Flash has a healing factor on par with Wolverine's and Batman has survived stuff that should by rights killed a regular human being.

Can he regrow limbs or get them replaced? No. Cyborg is a character designed to get torn to shreds, even if there are more vulnerable, weaker, slower characters around.

[Agent Z]

Can he regrow limbs or get them replaced? No. Cyborg is a character designed to get torn to shreds, even if there are more vulnerable, weaker, slower characters around.

Cyborg didn't have this ability originally and only got it in the New 52. He was not designed with this idea in mind.

[Johnny]

What are you even talking about?

https://www.npr.org/2011/08/09/13912...-for-diversity

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/11...t-a-black-guy/

https://www.themarysue.com/why-movie...lantern-white/

https://sonsofcorax.wordpress.com/20...-john-stewart/

Page one of Google alone...

BleedingCool and The Mary Sue are examples of "mainstream media" now? lol Would you know about any of those sites if you're not a comic book fan or a 3rd wave feminist? Did the NYT or the trades do something like this at the time? By all means keep digging this absurd non-controversy from almost a decade ago instigated by people with too much time on their hands.

The John Ridley article is an opinion piece on Hollywood needing more characters of color in general, conveniently after the GL movie tanked, as if the main character's color had anything to do with the box office results. If they did a Wally West Flash movie using classic Wally that tanked, he would've mentioned they should've used Wallace instead.

That's a cute article by "AJ" though. Enjoyed reading that.

Please don't send me links to Neil Adams or Phil LaMarr doing interviews and peddling the same narrative.

[Johnny]

Catwoman was used an excuse not to spend $100 mill or more on a black superhero film even though it was just a crappy movie. How are you denying Hollywood execs not backing big budget black and female-led until recently? I mean, Wonder Woman has been an icon for how long, and she's only gotten a film now?

I'm not, I said those execs were proven wrong in the past in terms of the perception of black-led movies not selling. If Catwoman was successful they would not have used its failure as an excuse since it was a big budget movie. You don't shell out that much money and hope the movie tanks so you would have an excuse to not push black protagonists anymore. I'm aware that Perlmutter is just one gear in the big machine.

[9th.]

I did tho....

I bought Michael Cray as well, it was a good book

[Bloxer]

How is Static losing out to Naomi on the poll?
He's undoubtedly still one of the most popular black heroes DC has and given all he's been in for the last years is YJ where he doesn't even have that big of a role that's pretty impressive.
What's Naomi been in? Like one series and some AC appearances.

[Anthony Shaw]

Everyone's bitching about the original League roster but y'know what? I dont care. Yeah, they were all white dudes. I don't need DC to retcon that. Don't tell me Cyborg was there when I have the comics and memories to prove that wrong.

I don't care about the past nearly as much as I do the now. Yeah, the League founders are white dudes (and one badass woman). Fine, whatever, let's move on. Instead of trying to paint over a past (which won't work) how about we just put PoC in the League now and focus on telling good, inclusive stories today rather than fretting endlessly over a history that we can't change. And no matter what DC does or says, they can't change it either. They can say Vic or Vixen or Dr. Light (hero) or who the hell ever were League founders. It's a lie, and all of us will never forget that it's a lie. So just put some good PoC on the roster now, use them correctly, and focus on making tomorrow better than yesterday was.

I think it is best to keep things simple.

[krazijoe]

How is Static losing out to Naomi on the poll?
He's undoubtedly still one of the most popular black heroes DC has and given all he's been in for the last years is YJ where he doesn't even have that big of a role that's pretty impressive.
What's Naomi been in? Like one series and some AC appearances.

I don't even know who Naomi is. I am guessing she is Bendis' new character?
Either way, Static and Wallace West have her beat.

[king81992]

How is Static losing out to Naomi on the poll?
He's undoubtedly still one of the most popular black heroes DC has and given all he's been in for the last years is YJ where he doesn't even have that big of a role that's pretty impressive.
What's Naomi been in? Like one series and some AC appearances.

Static can't be used due to legal disputes with Milestone.