If Black Panther taught us anything, it's that a black superhero can headline a blockbuster that can pull in a lot of cash. We know he isn't the first thanks to previous successes including Wesley Snipes' Blade trilogy, Michael Jai White's Spawn and even Robert Townsend's Meteor Man, which proved a black superhero was bankable, but until Chadwick Boseman took us to Wakanda, there wasn't much money to be made. Fortunately, Marvel and Disney pushed forward and brought us a truly memorable group of characters without the need to "whitewash" anyone. Now that we know a black superhero can succeed in Hollywood, it's time to open the pages of our favorite comics and release more movies starring talented black actors and actresses who can bring these characters to the screen.
Over the years, characters like T'Challa and Spawn have gotten a lot of attention, but there are dozens of unique black characters to choose from. We have already seen several make the leap to the silver screen with notable examples including Storm in the X-Men films, Falcon in the Avengers and War Machine in Iron Man. More await the transition to the silver screen! We have chosen our favorite 15 to bring you Black Superheroes Who Will Make The Move To The Big Screen (in no particular order). Some have been confirmed and some have been rumored, but we believe all of these characters will soon follow Black Panther in making the leap to a movie theater near you... and hopefully soon.
15 WHITE TIGER
Over the years, there have been a number of characters to take on the name "White Tiger" in Marvel Comics. The third was named Kasper Cole, an African American police officer with Jewish ancestry. Cole once found T'Challa's costume and like most people who find discarded superhero garb, he threw it on and pretended to be the Black Panther. He eventually requested to eat the heart-shaped herb to acquire the superpowers T'Challa had but was convinced by Killmonger to instead take a synthetic version in exchange for a favor he would owe him down the line.
He was able to get out of owing Killmonger anything and went on to become the White Tiger, abandoning his "borrowed" identity. As White Tiger, Kasper Cole worked alongside The Crew and other superhero teams including the Heroes for Hire and the Defenders. He wears a white Vibranium-enhanced suit, which is capable of stopping most attacks. Kasper Cole first appeared in Black Panther #50, written by Christopher Priest and penciled by Dan Fraga in 2002. Cole should make the jump to the movies thanks to his close association with the Black Panther. With any luck, he will appear in a cameo in a future Black Panther film, which would help to greenlight his own franchise.
14 M
Monet St. Croix, aka M, is a mutant who has been affiliated with just about every group of Mutants in Marvel Comics including the X-Men, X-Corps, the Hellfire Club and Generation X. She first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #316, written by Scott Lobdell and penciled by Chris Bachalo in 1994. As a Mutant, M has numerous abilities most superheroes could only dream of. She possesses a genius-level intellect, can fly, has a healing factor, superhuman strength, agility, telekinesis, telepathy and more. She isn't just a superhero, she also checks some boxes we need in future superhero movies as well.
M is biracial thanks to her father's side, but beyond being a black woman, she is also a Muslim, which is a religion that is rarely represented positively in fiction. The X-Men and other Marvel series dealing with mutants have introduced a number of minority characters like Monet, who often deal with racism, bigotry and diversity. With 10 films already made and 10 more Mutant movies on the way, it's highly likely M will be seen in film sooner rather than later. She has already appeared on Wolverine and the X-Men and the Generation X television movie, so the time is right to see her transition to a feature film.
13 STATIC
Static is one of those characters many people know but has yet to be seen in the movies, which is strange. Virgil Ovid Hawkins, aka Static, is a young metahuman who got his powers from exposure to a radioactive chemical. This gave him the ability to generate and control electromagnetic energy. Static is a young African American superhero who was created by a conglomerate of African American comic book artists and writers. Not only is he a powerful superhero who fans love, he is also a positive role model to the black community.
He first appeared in Static #1, written by McDuffie and Robert L. Washington III with pencils by John Paul Leon for the now-defunct Milestone Comics in 1993. The character was later picked up by DC Comics where he became a member of the Teen Titans, Young Justice and the Justice League. He has made several appearances in animated series including Justice League Unlimited, Young Justice: Invasion and his very own series Static Shock. With DC spending hundreds of millions to bring together the Justice League on film, producers would better serve the fanbase by establishing smaller characters like Static in what could easily develop into a multi-film franchise.
12 WONDER WOMAN
What? Wonder Woman? Isn't she Caucasian? Sure, Princess Diana of Themyscira isn't a black woman, but this is DC we are talking about! There's more than one universe/reality/history to discuss, which is why there is a character called Nubia who shares the title of Wonder Woman. Nubia first appeared in Wonder Woman #204, written by Robert Kanigher and penciled by Don Heck in 1973. A modern take on the character, Nu'Bia, was introduced in 1999's Wonder Woman Annual #8, written by Doselle Young and penciled by Brian Denham, but for the purposes of this entry, we are going to focus on the more recent (post-Crisis) version, Nu'Bia.
Nu'Bia, like Diana, won the "Tournament of Grace and Wonder" long before Wonder Woman was born. She took on the mantle of the Amazon's Champion, preceding Wonder Woman by an unknown amount of time. Nu'Bia was believed dead, having never returned from her role as the guardian of "Doom's Doorway," but she eventually surfaced and the two Amazonians met. For all intents and purposes, Nu'Bia is Wonder Woman and now that Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman has shown the world wants to see more of the character, DC would be wise to introduce her counterpart to the world via a future sequel.
11 AQUALAD
Aqualad is a character people may believe has been around far longer than he actually has. It makes sense to assume there was a younger version of Aquaman given the existence of both Robin and Superboy, but Aqualad made his first appearance thanks to Brandon Vietti, Greg Weisman and Phil Bourassa who created him for the television series Young Justice. He has made the jump to the printed page with his first introduction in comics coming in 2010's Brightest Day #4, written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Ivan Reis though the animated character and the comic book version have different origin stories. Unlike Aquaman, Aqualad is a black man who derives his parentage from Black Manta, one of Aquaman's greatest enemies.
It's the association between those two characters, which will likely see this character translated to film sometime in the future. DC is finally bringing Aquaman to theaters in 2018 and alongside Jason Momoa who will be reprising his role as the titular hero, they will be introducing Black Manta who will be played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. Once the first film has come and gone, DC will have the opportunity to expand upon their aquatic universe and bring Kaldur'ahm, otherwise known as Jackson Hyde, aka Aqualad, to the silver screen.
10 VIXEN
Vixen has been around the books since she made her first appearance in Action Comics #252, written by Gerry Conway and penciled by Bob Oksner back in 1981. Since that time, she has been adapted into live-action for television's Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow, where she is played by Maisie Richardson-Sellers. That version is a bit different than the one presented in the comics, which is why we think it's high time they adapted Mari Jiwe McCabe, aka Vixen, from the books into film.
Vixen has some interesting powers derived from a magical totem she wears around her neck. The totem was fashioned in Ghana by the Spider god Anansi to endow a chosen warrior with the powers of the animal kingdom so they could protect the innocent from harm. Over the centuries, the totem was passed down from generation to generation before coming to Mari who became the costumed hero Vixen. She went on to become a member of the Justice League of American and even got stuck in the Suicide Squad for a while, but she has always maintained her role as a superhero. Given her rich backstory interwoven with African history, she is a perfect candidate for a solo film inspired by the success of Marvel's Black Panther.
9 DEATHLOK
There have been a few characters to take the name of Deathlok, but the one we are interested in for this list is the second, Michael Collins. Deathlok is the result of a special type of cybernetics, called Deathlok Technology, merged with a dead human to reanimate the corpse. Michael Collins fell victim to becoming the new Deathlok when he stumbled upon the technology while working for the Roxxon Oil Cybernetics Corporation, Cybertek. After finding the tech, he was killed and his brain was transplanted into the body of the previous Deathlok, John Kelly. Collins went on to become a superhero who asserts his will onto the Kelly body and much of his remaining time in print revolves around his search for his original body.
The character was first introduced in Astonishing Tales #25, written by Rich Buckler and penciled by Doug Moench in 199o. The concept of Deathlok was adapted into the character Mike Peterson for Marvel: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as well as Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. A film version was in the works back in the 1990s, but it never came to fruition, despite the character's increased popularity during that time. Like others on this list, Deathlok would make a great subject for a forthcoming MCU film project — we just hope Marvel is digging deeper into its character archive than the main members of the Avengers.
8 TEMPEST
Becka Munroe, aka the mutant Tempest, is the daughter of the X-Man, Storm. She hails from Earth-41001 and comes from the Savage Land. She possesses many more powers than those similar to her mother's. Like Storm, she has the ability to manipulate the weather, which includes altering the temperature and atmospheric pressure. This weather-manipulation power comes with flight and electrokinesis, but she also has powers not derived from her mother's. As a descendant of the Savage Land, her Primal physiology comes with some superhuman benefits of its own. In addition to the powers listed above, she has superhuman strength and stamina, but also enlarged canine teeth and fangs.
Becka Munroe's first appeared in GeNext #1, written by Chris Claremont and penciled by Patrick Scherberger in 2008. She hasn't been around the Marvel Universe for long, but she is a perfect addition to the Mutant community Fox has been building since they first released X-Men in 2000. As they have already introduced her mother, played by Halle Berry, adding Becka to the cast of ever-growing Marvel Mutants seems like an easy choice for any of the upcoming film projects Fox has planned for future development and release.
7 GOLIATH
Bill Foster, aka Goliath, is the first example on this list we know for certain will be making the move to the silver screen. His adaptation was confirmed with the second full-length trailer released for Ant-Man and the Wasp. In the preview, Bill Foster, played by Lawrence Fishburne, can be seen discussing the size he was able to grow to with Scott Lang and the two get into a bit of a competition over their respective growth rates. Foster's involvement looks to be a humorous callback to his time working with Hank Pym, though it isn't clear if he will get close to any Pym Particles in the film or any other projects being released by Marvel in the future.
Bill Foster is not the first character to take on the name Goliath, he is the fourth, but also the second Giant-Man. There have been others including Hawkeye who took on the mantle for a short period. Foster first appeared in The Avengers #32, written by Stan Lee and penciled by Don Heck in 1966, though he wouldn't appear as Giant-Man until an issue of Marvel Two-in-One in 1979, and it wasn't until 2006's The Thing #1 that we got to see him as Goliath.
6 ICON
Icon, aka Augustus Freeman IV and formerly known as Arnus, was first introduced in Milestone Comics' Icon #1, written by Dwayne McDuffie and penciled by M. D. Bright in 1993. The character has since made the move to DC but retained a presence within his own continuity outside the normal goings on in the DC Universe. This changed in 2008 when DC announced the characters acquired via the acquisition of Milestone Comics would merge into the DC Universe as new characters. Icon's origin takes place as far back as 1839 when a starship he was on exploded. He made his way to an escape pod and landed in the American South to be discovered by a slave named Miriam. His form was altered by the pod to mimic the first sentient life form he came across, which is why the alien adopted the look of a black man.
Miriam adopted her newfound alien son who continues to survive to present day. Because he never aged beyond adulthood, he assumed the identity of his fictional offspring, which is why he is now presenting himself as the 4th Augustus Freeman. He possesses numerous superpowers, which put him in close to the same level of power as Superman and the Martian Manhunter. He eventually took on a ward named Raquel Ervin who became his sidekick, Rocket, making him a cross between Batman and Superman. A film starring Icon would introduce an incredibly strong and interesting black character to audiences.
5 BATWING
Batwing is a character who has embodied the idea of Batman, but overseas in Africa, and there have been more than one of them. For this list, we are focusing on the first man to take on the name of Batwing, David Zavimbe, who started out his professional career as a police officer in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Batwing first appeared in Batman Incorporated #5, written by Grant Morrison and penciled by Chris Burnham in 2011. Like his American counterpart, Batwing possesses many of the same skills with a few additional tricks up his sleeve. He is a master of hand-to-hand combat and has an arsenal of weapons and hi-tech gadgets, but he does have an edge on the Dark Knight from Gotham. Thanks to his suit's special wings, he can fly while Batman can only glide.
Like Black Panther, Batwing is based in Africa, which helps to build a character base on the continent formerly absent or only sparsely covered in DC Comics. Many of his enemies are corrupt police officers on the Congolese police force with a smattering of supervillains spread around to keep things interesting. DC might be reticent to greenlight a Batman-esque superhero with their recent disappointments at the box office, but a revamp is probably just what the DCEU needs to start finding its footing again!
4 BLUE MARVEL
Adam Bernard Brashear, aka Blue Marvel, is another recent entry to the pages of Marvel Comics, having been introduced as recently as 2008 in Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel #1, written by Kevin Grevioux with pencils by Mat Broome and Kaare Andrews. You may recognize the name Kevin Grevioux as one belonging to an actor, and the two are one in the same. Grevioux's previous claim to fame was co-creating the Underworld film franchise, where he played the character Raze, but his passion has been to bring life to Blue Marvel ever since he was a kid, which is when he first came up with the character.
Blue Marvel is a mutated human who gained immense superhuman powers following a lab explosion when the project he was working on to tap into energy between the Negative Zone and the positive matter universe blew up in his face. His partner dissolved into energy while he became a walking, talking "antimatter reactor" with the abilities to fly, generate energy, heal from anything and do many of the standard superhuman things most people could only dream of. Like many in his situation, he became a superhero, but encountered racism, which spurned him to retire for many years following a request by President John F. Kennedy... oh, didn't we mention this took place in the '60s? The book handles the issues of racism and heroism so well, this character's absence in the MCU needs to be fixed as soon as possible.
3 AZRAEL
The character Azrael was first introduced as a villain when he made the scene in Batman: Sword of Azrael #1, written by Dennis O'Neil and penciled by Joe Quesada in 1992. Over time, the character evolved into a superhero who even took up the role of Batman for a while. That character was named Jean-Paul Valley, but the one we are interested in here was the second to become Azrael whose name was Michael Washington Lane. Technically, he was the third, but the guy who came between them went insane and killed an undercover cop, so we aren't considering him as a true namesake.
Lane was a former cop, himself, who was approached by the Order of Purity to take up the mantle of Azrael. After getting into a fight with Nightwing, he proved himself worthy to continue to operate as Azrael and went on to become a crimefighting superhero across roughly 65 issues. The character hasn't played a major role in the DC Universe, though he has been adapted to live-action for the television series Gotham. In this version, the character was given a different name and backstory with a truly villainous intent... and he wasn't a black man. Michael Lane has appeared in video game format via the Batman Arkham series, but is overdue for a true live-action film adaptation.
2 SPIDER-MAN
Ever since Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider on a school trip in 1962, the world has known a Spider-Man. Since that time, the character has evolved and expanded to include clones, future incarnations and alternate world versions too exhaustive to write in this one entry. One of those alternate characters is Miles Morales, who first appeared in Ultimate Fallout #4, written by Brian Michael Bendis and penciled by Sara Pichelli in 2011. The character was introduced to the Ultimate Universe following the death of Peter Parker, which left the door wide open for a new Spider-Man to slip into some spandex and swing around New York City.
Now, you are probably already thinking to yourself that Miles Morales is going to be appearing in a forthcoming feature film titled Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in 2018 and you would be right. This is a huge step for the character and we are excited to see the movie, but what we really want to see if Morales make the swing over to the MCU like his pal Peter did in Captain America: Civil War. Granted, it's not the right time with everything that happened in Avengers: Infinity War, but we would love to see an MCU take on the character following his cinematic debut in the Sony Pictures animated release.
1 GREEN LANTERN
Green Lanterns haven't had the best run at the box office, thanks to the poorly received adaptation headlined by a CGI suit-wearing Ryan Reynolds. For that film, DC adapted Hal Jordan, the first Green Lantern of Earth from the Silver Age, but he is by no means the only Green Lantern to call Earth his primary base of operations. In addition to Jordan, there is Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern, Kyle Raynor, Guy Gardner and John Stewart. There are a few more who have popped up over the years, but they are the main ones DC to garner DC's largest focus.
John Stewart is a fan-favorite who got the animated treatment in Justice League and Justice League: Unlimited, where he was voiced by the ever-talented Phil LaMarr. Since that time, he has yet to make the leap to the big screen and it is way beyond time for him to do so. A number of talented actors could easily crush this role and it's time. Fortunately, it looks like we are going to be getting our wish with the forthcoming release of Green Lantern Corps in 2020. While there haven't been many details leaked about the project, Stewart's name has been put out as one of the members to make it to film, so it's just a matter of time.