7 Black Female Comicbook Superheroes Who Deserve The Spotlight
Brains Beauty & Black Girl Magic!
Disclaimer: I originally wrote this for a now defunct publication
Most superheros on the big screen and on television are either male or white. And that's cool. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that (except for Iron Fist. He whines too much). But let's be honest. We ALL know most of the time it's the women kicking just as much, if not more ass than the male protagonist.
Take Wonder Woman for instance. It was amazing! It was fun to see a female superhero finally taking the lead because women deserve to be represented. And representation is one of the reasons Black Panther was such a huge deal for the Black community.
Representation of women superheroes in starring roles is finally catching on. Now, let’s turn our attention to Black female superheroes.
In 2019, we’ll have at least two more women superheroes as the lead protagonist (Captain Marvel and Dark Phoenix). So, while we wait, let's recognize some of the Black female superheroes whose stories would be amazing on the big screen or TV show too.
Karen Beecher aka Bumblebee
No, not Bumblebee from “Transformers". Karen Beecher. Bumblebee is one of the dopest, yet underrated genius superheroes in the DC Universe.
Image Source: DC via Young Justice Wikia
While she doesn't have metahuman abilities, her superpower is her intelligence. She's a research engineer and she built her "bumblebee-themed super suit" just to make her boyfriend, Mal Duncan on Teen Titans, look good for his team! Her suit gives her super strength, allows her to fly and of course she can shrink to the size of a bee.
Bumblebee should have her own stand-alone show as head of S.T.A.R. Labs, leading the Titans West team against those who would do harm to New Earth. She's the epitome of brains beauty and black girl magic.
Moon Girl
Lunella Lafayette is a 9-year-old genius. According to Marvel, Lafayette, aka Moon Girl is the smartest person in the Marvel Universe.
Image credit: Marvel Comics via Tech Times
Moon Girl loves to play with electronics and embark on self-guided projects. She has the inhuman gene but it hasn't been triggered yet. And she doesn't want it to. She doesn't want superpowers nor does she want to change. She values her intelligence and feels like becoming inhuman would take away from her accomplishments.
In February 2018, Deadline reported that black-ish star and executive producer, Laurence Fishburne will be producing the animated film, Moon Girl, for Disney. It is currently in production with no release date. Still, Moon Girl could be a fun, smart, sci-fi superhero adventure in theaters, starring Quvenzhané Wallis.
Storm
Storm - Storm is a Kenyan princess who was raised between Cairo and Harlem. She's one of the most powerful mutant superheroes in the Marvel Universe.
In the comics, she's beyond badass. But in the X-Men films, Storm was relegated to this sort of Great Value-version of a superhero. Her story deserves so much more. She needs her stand-alone film that showcases her power, intellect and range as a hero. She's an Omega-Level mutant, meaning there's basically no limit to her power.
Halle Berry did an good job as Storm. Amanda Shipp was phenomenal in X-Men Apocalypse. But those roles could not do justice to the most famous Marvel female superhero. Storm needs a standalone film series.
Martha Washington
Normally, Frank Miller's writing of women of color in his comics is quite problematic. But he got it so right with the debut of the "Bring Me Liberty" series in 1990, featuring the heroics of Martha Washington.
Image credit: Dark Horse Comics via Digital Spy
Martha Washington was born in 1995 and raised in Chicago's Cabrini Green projects during America's second Civil War. She joins the PAX Peace Force (futuristic version of the U.S. Army) where she embarks on daring and heroic military missions. She fought in South America to save the rain forest and battled an egomaniacal colonel who resembles a certain, current egomaniacal U.S. president.
Martha Washington could be an exciting live-action television series starring Lupita Nyong'o.
Vixen
Vixen - If you read comics and don't know Vixen, you are out of line! But don't worry, here's the 411 on DC's Ghanaian superhero.
Image Credit: Nerd Bastards
She debuted in 1981 in "Action Comics" #521. Mari Jiwe McCabe aka Vixen is an international supermodel from the fictional African nation, Zambesi. She became a superhero thanks to a mystical totem that allows her to mimic every animal that ever lived on Earth, including self-healing. She's as dangerous as can be, but uses her powers as the totem intended--to protect the innocent.
Maisie Richardson-Sellars did a fantastic job of portraying Vixen on the CW's Arrowverse show Legends of Tomorrow. She'd do well in a three-part Vixen movie series.
Misty Knight
Misty Knight was introduced to the Marvel Universe in 1975, during the height of Blaxploitation films.
Image Credit: Marvel
Misty is a private detective who resembles the sexy, dangerous and "Don't eff with me" attitude of the likes of Sheba Shayne of Sheba Baby and the self-titled film heroine Foxy Brown. Misty Knight could have a stand alone Netflix series along side Luke Cage.
Matter of fact, Simone Missick does an exceptional job playing Misty on Netflix’s Marvel series. And if what we saw in season 2 of Iron Fist, a “Daughters of the Dragon” series with both Misty and Colleen would be even better. Though, it wouldn’t be on Netflix, but on Disney’s upcoming streaming service.
Amanda Waller
Is she good or evil? Hero or villain? We don't know for sure.
Image Credit: DC Comics via Massive Hassle
What we do know is that she strikes fear into the heart of even Batman! She does what needs to be done in order to protect the world. Amanda Waller runs the Advanced Research Group Uniting Super-Humans (A.R.G.U.S.).
You have to be beyond ruthless to make the decisions she has to make in order to run this super secret government organization. That's probably why people are afraid to cross her. Many have tried and failed miserably, paying with their lives. Although we got a glimpse of her ruthlessness in DC's Suicide Squad and on the CW’s Arrow, she's a powerful, dynamic woman who deserves to be explored more in a television series about her rise to power and running A.R.G.U.S, played by Octavia Spencer.
Representation is something that we are finally beginning to see in our media. But it hasn’t been without a fight and we still have a ways to go. We’ve always had Black, female comic book characters, but that rarely, if ever translates onto the big screen. And even less represented in our media are geeky Black girl journalists. Which is why Black girl nerds create these geeky corners to say, “Hey! What about the Black girls?” Thank you, Black Girl Nerds and Black Girl Gamers.
Which superhero, male or female, do you think finally deserves to be front and center? Share with is in the comments.
