What will be DC's answer to what might be an awesome Black Panther movie?

[dkrook]

What particular character would be positioned to counter the element that Black Panther brings to the big screen. I think that DC might be missing the mark on a great opportunity.

[Lightning Rider]

I'm not sure DC has to respond in a tit-for-tat way with, say, a Black Lightning feature film. Not that I wouldn't love that. But a GL film that puts John on at least equal footing with Hal and then a Cyborg movie wouldn't be bad. Plus Vixen in a team movie would cement it for me.

In fact some might argue it would be superior to have not one flagship black character but multiple prominent black team members with different backgrounds. Sure, Black Panther is unapolagetically black which is great, but he also invokes the noble savage trope a little bit, and placing him in Africa is "safe" in a way that avoids questions of race. Not that he isn't good overall for diverse representation or that DC is going to use their black characters in political ways. I just think that if the goal is for black and minority audiences to feel like they could be a superhero, DC can do it just as easily. Curious to hear what people think about that though.

[MadFacedKid]

Really think it's silly to put black characters or minorities in a bracket to go against each other. I think some of the antagonization about Wonder Woman vs Capt. Marvel is silly just because their female heroes. Despite their world's being vastly different and their themes hardly coinciding.

Regardless Tumblr and Twitter at the very least seem keen on pairing up Black Panther and Aquaman being two minority actors/characters in a titular role.

[darkseidpwns]

A Batman movie?

[Dr. Poison]

DC/WB probably already considers the Cyborg solo movie to be the answer to Black Panther. I hope we get a Vixen movie though as I love the character.

[Assam]

A Batman movie?

Snyder's final plans for Duke.

[Lightning Rider]

DC/WB probably already considers the Cyborg solo movie to be the answer to Black Panther. I hope we get a Vixen movie though as I love the character.

Yeah, I love Vixen.

Snyder's final plans for Duke.

Don't speak of such things!

[Rogue Star]

STATIC. That is all.

[Assam]

STATIC. That is all.

This is one case where I'd rather he just get a good comic first. Although a movie would hopefully lead to a comic, so I guess it'd still be great.

[Rogue Star]

Well, Cyborg certainly isn't the answer. Iron Man is cool because he can take the suit off. No one wants to be stuck in it all day, which is essentially what Cyborg is. Lol.

If they had it so that he could at least appear normal when he's not fighting then yeah, he could become more popular with the youngins. But right now, he's the one on the Justice League that people least want to be. They can't have Cyborg as an answer to Black Panther, a man who is richer than Iron Man, handsome, a genius, royalty and surrounded by beautiful women.

John Stewart, maybe, because at least he is mostly organic material.

But Static could have countered both Spiderman and Black Panther at once.

[Frontier]

I think Aquaman is probably the most comparable movie DC has in production right now, although I think both films are shaping up to be wildly different take on a similar concept.

[Johnny]

Maybe Vixen? Imagine DC/WB announcing the first superhero movie about a female black character(Catwoman doesn't count!) and watch Marvel execs' heads explode. Besides just like T'Challa, Mari is African, not African-American, and her powers are animal-based like his character is. I think she could be the closest thing to a competitor to him that DC has both from a conceptual as well as cultural standpoint. And again, she's a lady so immediately she's got one over on him. Boom.

[Lightning Rider]

Well, Cyborg certainly isn't the answer. Iron Man is cool because he can take the suit off. No one wants to be stuck in it all day, which is essentially what Cyborg is. Lol.

Disagree. Cyborg has much greater control over technology than Stark has, and while the trope of "am I human or machine" gets abused, it adds another dimension to his persona. It's almost insulting to suggest people would never want to be Cyborg because he's disabled.

[Frontier]

Disagree. Cyborg has much greater control over technology than Stark has, and while the trope of "am I human or machine" gets abused, it adds another dimension to his persona. It's almost insulting to suggest people would never want to be Cyborg because he's disabled.

Though I think you can argue that most Iron Man's armors are more visually appealing then certain Cyborg designs, especially his DCEU look.

[Assam]

Disagree. Cyborg has much greater control over technology than Stark has, and while the trope of "am I human or machine" gets abused, it adds another dimension to his persona. It's almost insulting to suggest people would never want to be Cyborg because he's disabled.

What Rogue Star said definitely is bordering on insulting. When I was kid, first getting into computers, I thought it'd be awesome to be like Oracle. And for many years, there hasn't been a character I love and relate to more than Cass. Disabilities don't make characters less appealing or relatable, and for those of us who do have disabilities, they can sometimes be even moreso.

That all said, I do still think Cyborg is a pretty bland character, and, as examples can be seen on a recent thread, there are literally dozens of other black heroes who would make more interesting protagonists in a movie.