Green Lantern (John Stewart)
Vixen (Mari McCabe)
Cyborg (Victor Stone)
Black Lightning/Vulcan (Jefferson Pierce)
Static (Virgil Hawkins)
Naomi (Naomi McDuffie)
Mr. Terrific (Michael Holt)
Steel (John Henry Irons)
Bumblebee (Karen Beecher)
Icon (Augustus Freeman IV)
Rocket (Raquel Ervin)
Amazing-Man (Any Version)
Aqualad (Kaldur'ahm/Jackson Hyde)
Other (Specify Below)
None
How do we feel about Martian Manhunter? Is that cool...or nah? Legitimately curious.
With everything else happening in the world, I definitely haven't!
No, I know some people take issue with the name, and I totally get why. But it doesn't seem like they're an overly large group. Some articles online compared to the (apparently successful) ratings for the show tell me that most people aren't pissed about this. Perhaps it annoys them a bit, as it does me, but it doesn't appear that many people are too up in arms over the name.
But like I said, I'd be fine if Jeff just went by "Lightning" from now on. Same with Canary (do most people even know there *is* such a thing as a black canary?) and Arrow.
I'm a student, I did know that. Not sure why that's terribly relevant though?Did you know Google allows you to set a range of years for your searches? Like you can limit it to posts from 2008-2009, for example?
"We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe."
~ Black Panther.
I think it's a bad name, honestly. Too unwieldy, too long. It's descriptive, and it stands out, but not necessarily in a good way.
Since the Manhunter name is such a mess (how many have there been? And Kate's using it now anyway), perhaps just start calling him the Martian? Maybe. I dunno, sounds a little....species-ist? But really, everyone just calls him J'onn these days anyway so not much of an issue either way I suppose.
"We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe."
~ Black Panther.
Short of literally race-swapping Clark, Bruce, or Diana's percieved ethnicities, there are NO heroes of color who can ever achieve Trinity status.
Because that status is not earned in the present or future. It is merely a recognition of the past: that those 3 were only superheroes at the time who survived in their own titles intact during the Atomic Age (1945-1956, usually) through the modern day for 8 straight decades as the same identity. No Black character can match that ... hell, no other WHITE characters can match that.
Not Flash, Not GL, Not Aquaman, Not Shazam, Not Robin, Not Captain America, Not Sub-Mariner, Not Spider-Man.
Nobody.
So the title of the thread is problematic for that reason.
However ... if the question was tweaked to read
"which Black DC character could eventually achieve A- list status with the least amount of roadblocks"?
Then you have a debate!
Black Lightning, Cyborg, and Vixen are DC's Black Trinity. They are not derivatives of older White characters like GL John Stewart is. Their powers do not overlap too much with the other Leaguers. And they can claim media exposure outside comic books.
But I'm going to throw in a name that is largely forgotten, but could, in the right hands, be a titanic hit.
Amazing Man.
His costume and headgear are magnificently unique (who rocks Gold and Green like that?).
He'd need some updating, sure. No trunks on the outside, and maybe his appearance doesn't change to match what he's touches (too Absorbing Man-ish), and his backstory needs major revising.
But he's (I believe) a wholly owned DC property unlike Black Lightning, not a woman (industry and audience are both way more sexist than either can admit) like Vixen, and doesn't have the burden of being mislabeled as a castrated Black man (or being too tied to a well-known lesser team like the Teen Titans) like Cyborg.
Down side: he may as well be a new character as he doesn't have anything of his own: no supporting cast, no rogues gallery, no settings, not much stories to build off of.
I'd love it if some talented creative with clout actually wanted to take a shot on Amazing Man.
Last edited by daBronzeBomma; 10-14-2019 at 11:30 AM.
Letting past wrongs go unaddressed is the logic. You keep putting those on the same level. You shouldn't speed because your car can hurt people. You shouldn't go on a mass shooting because you could hurt people. Same logic, different levels. See? There's a reason that criminal punishments vary in severity.
At the end of the day, saying Black Lightning's name is a product of the time follows the same problematic logic of saying something was okay because of the time. It's not okay now, and it wasn't okay then.
Last edited by SecretWarrior; 10-14-2019 at 03:34 PM.
Lightning is a really iconic name choice for a character who wields lightning. Creative.
Also, the thing about searches was because you dismissed the naming issue as something recognized by 2 or 3 people on this thread when it's been talked about forever.
Ratings isn't a justification btw. I'm sure crowds were okay with Gone in the Wind back in the day.
It's not the same, though. Black Americans were proud to have these characters identified as such back in the '70s, but can that be said of the Confederacy at any time?
Having said that, it doesn't make sense to have all of those Black-this and Black-that from that era today. Still, one of them could be alright with the proper reasoning. Watching Black Lightning on TV, it doesn't feel wrong to me.
A bat! That's it! It's an omen.. I'll shall become a bat!
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