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

[Will Evans]

I didn't like how X-men featured Oya just to put her in a coma on the 1st issue.

They pushed Oya at one point.

[MYCMTSC]

They pushed Oya at one point.

They did. Not to the extent they pushed Pixie, but by the time Gillen departed so did the good ideas for her character.

[OopsIdiditagain]

They did. Not to the extent they pushed Pixie, but by the time Gillen departed so did the good ideas for her character.

She was written well in ANAD X-men

[kcekada]

Easy asnwer: Storm is an A character --- great character, powers and visuals. The rest are C characters. It has nothing to do with skin color -- the rest are mainly supporting characters.

[skyvolt2000]

Easy asnwer: Storm is an A character --- great character, powers and visuals. The rest are C characters. It has nothing to do with skin color -- the rest are mainly supporting characters.

Meanwhile D-F list folks have more than these so-called C list characters.

You know Squirrel Girl, Antman, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Starlord, Carol Danvers, Moon Knight, Gamora and so many others who were mainly supporting folks.

What great characteristic and powers did Rocket Raccoon have? From 1976-2007 he had 10 appearances. Squirrel Girl 1991-2005-she was MIA.

Monet was a LEAD in a book for over 5 years.

So what was so great about them that got them off the scrape heap? To have solos, minis, tv roles, toys and movie roles unlike Monet? Heck unlike Storm in some cases.

[Havok83]

Easy asnwer: Storm is an A character --- great character, powers and visuals. The rest are C characters. It has nothing to do with skin color -- the rest are mainly supporting characters.

Thats the problem. Why is Storm the only A list black character after all these decades? There's literally no effort at even making these C-listers into B listers.. Monet is arguably the second most prominent black X-women and they've barely done anything with her. (heck the erasure of her blackness has been subject to controversy). Next would be Cece and again no effort.

[9th.]

Easy asnwer: Storm is an A character --- great character, powers and visuals. The rest are C characters. It has nothing to do with skin color -- the rest are mainly supporting characters.

Sounds like bs to me Storm is a drawing, she's a great character because she had writers put time and effort behind her. You have to have stories to be an A character, if what you said was true then Blue Marvel would have a solo right now and Moses Magnum would be Doom level.

[danielsan52]

406289C3-21A9-4F26-AE9F-C7E481E91804.jpg

I want to see this group of mutants on Krakoa. Especially Lightbright.

[OopsIdiditagain]

Sounds like bs to me Storm is a drawing, she's a great character because she had writers put time and effort behind her. You have to have stories to be an A character, if what you said was true then Blue Marvel would have a solo right now and Moses Magnum would be Doom level.

I agree.

Characters like Kamala, Miles and even Blue Beetle at DC prove that if you give a character enough push they will succeed despite whatever critics they have.

Gwenpool's only been out for a few years but has had a lot more push than say M. Not saying the writer's on Gwenpool didn't help her get a large following though.

[Devaishwarya]

With the X-Men and X-Women specifically (because they do play an important and major part of the X-World history) you have to ask:
How did Claremont make Storm the A-list character she is today? What was his process in doing so? And...Why, did he develop her in that direction?

Then ask yourself:
Are there any writers now who, despite having their personal faves, really look at individual characters (far less, Black female characters) the same way Claremont did?

"Push" is necessary but before that step, you have to have Writer Interest and Writer Intent, which in the case of such a large group of characters like the X-Men as they exist today is not really at the forefront of writers' minds when it comes to secondary and tertiary characters.

[Killerbee911]

I agree.

Characters like Kamala, Miles and even Blue Beetle at DC prove that if you give a character enough push they will succeed despite whatever critics they have.

Gwenpool's only been out for a few years but has had a lot more push than say M. Not saying the writer's on Gwenpool didn't help her get a large following though.

Here is the irony in your post and note it isn't a criticism of your point.all of those characters are legacy characters. Legacy characters are built to capitalize on popularity of the original while being unique. It is smart strategy that has successfully created many minority characters that have longevity.

The X-men smartly applied that strategy to CotA and X-men fans in general murdered it without an issue being out. But like your post despite the critics these things have had success. It just fun point out how some fans sabotage progress.

[Devaishwarya]

That's a great point, KB.

For all intents and purposes they do push minority characters at least they try to in the face of the vocal X-fans who "murder" such attempts because...It's not the character or characters they personally (as individuals) want to see given that push.
Sabotage, indeed.

[OopsIdiditagain]

Here is the irony in your post and note it isn't a criticism of your point.all of those characters are legacy characters. Legacy characters are built to capitalize on popularity of the original while being unique. It is smart strategy that has successfully created many minority characters that have longevity.

The X-men smartly applied that strategy to CotA and X-men fans in general murdered it without an issue being out. But like your post despite the critics these things have had success. It just fun point out how some fans sabotage progress.

Good point. Even when I think of major black characters in both Marvel and DC only a few of them are non-legacies. Black Panther, Static Shock, Cyborg, Storm and maybe Vixen.

Then again all 5 of them saw a rise in popularity after getting adaptations(cartoons, solos, movies). Even Miles and Blue Beetle got more love after some promo.

[kurenai24]

This is a question I would like to know, where are the black female x-men at? Where are the black x-men outside of Storm (and Bishop) at? Where are the black female superheroes in general at?

[Ikari]

Thats the problem. Why is Storm the only A list black character after all these decades? There's literally no effort at even making these C-listers into B listers.. Monet is arguably the second most prominent black X-women and they've barely done anything with her. (heck the erasure of her blackness has been subject to controversy).

I read original Generation X when it came out and especially noted M and thought 'man, this girl is going to be huge. Great visual design, cool powers, defined personality, mysterious past.' And did she? No...Generation X seemed to be pretty much kiss of death to anyone involved. They never caught on to anything same degree as New Mutants did in previous decade. Even Jubilee who was mega-popular at that time of groups creation took a dip. Now I missed a ton of stuff in the '90s/early 2000's so I am not up to date with everything but that was my impression anyway. Emma Frost was saved because Morrison gave her a central role right after.

Monet's background revelations which were - shall we say - not the best idea ever - IMO were a major reason for this and hurt the character bigtime even after the title ended.

Now lots of people say that it is hard to break through glass ceiling estabilished by O5 and Claremonts' GSXM1 lineup. And to some degree it's true, but lets face it, not everyone of those character is an A-lister today (or ever was) and it's well known that O5 were never really super popular in their own time. Several people already made this point but I again give the example of Magik - character of 3rd generation who was virtually forgotten for 20 years and is now an A-lister. How did it happen? Well, there were writers who loved the character, wanted to bring her back, did their homework and put her to limelight in cool story arcs.

Now, some people might be under impression that this kind of thing is purely an editorial decision but it's not like you can just tell your writers "Hey you, go hit a home run". You need someone who has the inspirational spark and motivation to make it happen and THEN the editor greenlights them. You need several stars to align for any of these characters to make it big but above all, you need someone who is willing to dedicate paneltime and effort to make them tick in a series where they are in a central role instead of making cameos every now and then in a 20+ character mega crossover.