Characters to which Race and Ethnicity are an intrinsic part of their concept.

[mathew101281]

They're unquestionably iconic, but I don't think their concepts have anything to do with their ethnicity.



Conceptually, Ben is just a guy that looks like a rock. He doesn't have to be Jewish.



From the myths, Heimdall was even said to have been the whitest one (as in glowing white) of the Aesir.

Conceptually the new X-men were designed to be a group of characters from around the world.

[Iron Maiden]

They're unquestionably iconic, but I don't think their concepts have anything to do with their ethnicity.



Conceptually, Ben is just a guy that looks like a rock. He doesn't have to be Jewish.

But Jack Kirby did drop some clues in there along the way and of the FF, Ben is the one he identified with. Kirby was born and grew up in Hell's Kitchen. For one reason or another it wasn't specifically mentioned that Ben was Jewish until many years later, long after Kirby had passed away. It was never brought up while Stan and Jack where still at Marvel. My guess is that there was still a lot anti Semitism in those days since neither of them used their real names. And maybe they just didn't want to rock the boat and never brought it up.

This is a card that Jack Kirby sent out to his friends one year.

[MyriVerse]

Conceptually the new X-men were designed to be a group of characters from around the world.

Okay, you mean the All-New All-Different X-Men. Still, most of their nationalities are not part of their concepts. Nightcrawler is just a teleporter that looks like a demon. Wolverine doesn't have to be Canadian. Colossus doesn't have to be Russian. Etc. Storm and Thunderbird are probably the only ones whose ethnicity is arguably a factor.

But Jack Kirby did drop some clues in there along the way and of the FF, Ben is the one he identified with. Kirby was born and grew up in Hell's Kitchen. For one reason or another it wasn't specifically mentioned that Ben was Jewish until many years later, long after Kirby had passed away. It was never brought up while Stan and Jack where still at Marvel. My guess is that there was still a lot anti Semitism in those days since neither of them used their real names. And maybe they just didn't want to rock the boat and never brought it up.

Yes, but that's not part of the concept.

[Ragged Maw]

Just like the Egyptian gods should be portrayed as middle eastern looking.

.......From the neck down?

[DrNewGod]

I can only picture a handful of non-Euro-descent superheroes that didn't have race or ethnicity at the center of their concepts:

• Storm (I know, but they didn't do much with her heritage until way later, before that she'd always been more about being a goddess than an African)
• Cyborg
• Captain (Monica Rambeau) Marvel
• Bloodwynd

On the non-superhero front, Superman's colleague Ron Troupe, and Captain America's neighbor Josh Cooper.

I'm sure the list isn't exhaustive, but it seems comics (or at least, The Big Two) didn't give us too many examples of POC that were people first.

[ed2962]

Thor and all the Norse gods. They are based off of Nordic mythology and the Nords were almost exclusively white. Just like the Egyptian gods should be portrayed as middle eastern looking. Comic wise I don't think this has ever come up but in the movies it obviously did with Idris Elba as Heimdall.

It actually "sorta" came up in the 80's. There was a crossover with the X-Men and New Mutants where the two teams go to Asgard. The younger team gets separated from each other and Sunspot ( who's black Brazilian) ends up in a warrior's bar and someone calls him "shadow skin." The Warriors Three show up later remark that Bobby's skin tone is common on Migard (Earth). Point being, at the time there weren't that many brown people in Asgard.