Julio Bonilla’s Reviews > Super Black: American Pop Culture and Black Superheroes > Status Update

Admittedly, on film, Blade appeared asexual and only his bloodlust for slaying vampires seemed to give him any enjoyment.

Not since the blaxploitation films of the past has such a bold black man and an intrepid black woman been teamed together in a major motion picture and shown successfully fighting the forces of evil.

The first Goliath was originally Dr. Henry “Hank” Pym, a scientist who discovered size-shifting elements that are named “Pym particles.” As s result of his discovery, Hank Pym would have several incarnations as a size-shifting hero: Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath and Yellowjacket.

Nick Fury first appeared in Sgt. Fury And His Howling Commandos (1963).

And even if a race-specific analysis is applied to the duo, Cloak is a much more intricate signifier of black racial identity than the superficial critique leveled at the character. It is exactly because Cloak struggles to harness his powers and promote justice that he is an interesting figure. Internal turmoil and contradictions are the basic...

Similarly, the comic book's Lucas objects to playing by the idiosyncratic prison rules and interests that he encounters. As a result, he suffers various indignities by prison officials that spur him to take a foolhardy chance for freedom. Lucas decides to participate in a cell-regeneration experiment on the grounds that....

In 1966 the Lowndes County Freedom Organization first used an image of a black panther to symbolize their black political independence and self-determination in opposition to the Alabama Democratic Party's white rooster. In October of the same year the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was created and adopted the black panther emblem as the namesake and symbol of their militant political organization.

Whether obscure or prominent, the first wave of black superheroes in DC and Marvel comics drew their raison d’être from racial conflict. In an effort to address the dramatic shift occurring in American society, black superheroes were crafted in creative and artistic ways that symbolized the racial climate.

Black Lightning was the first black superhero in the DC Comics universe to get his own title series, and as a result he could not avoid symbolizing black self-determination or serving as a symbolic reminder of racial tokenism.

Prior to O’Neil and Adams, superheroes were quite predictable in that they mainly battled intergalactic threats or various types of villains committed to the most grandiose schemes often involving a quest for global domination.

Black superheroes are not the disposable refuse of American pop culture, but serve as a source of potent racial meaning that has substance and resonance far beyond their function and anticipated shelf life.