ABSTRACT
One of the most obviously glaring aspects of the superhero genre has, traditionally, been its overwhelmingly maleness and its overwhelming whiteness. Minority superheroes have been scarce and, when they do appear in comics and onscreen they are often relegated to the margins as sidekicks, sacrificial lambs or worse, stereotyped in damaging and regressive ways. The first inklings of black super heroism in the major publishing powerhouses occurred during the civil rights era and presented, although clumsy and exploitative, the first diverse characters who, by their mere presence held up a spotlight and a mirror to an evolving and painful glitch within the American social psyche. The aftermath of this foray into progressive and radical cultural discourse was the creation of more complex, reflective, and self-aware black heroes tempered by the continuing fetish of “Blaxploitation” films. We will examine the shift from the bodily dominance of traditionally white superheroes to the less jacked, street smart characters of milestone comics then place the marginalized black superhero within the context of post 9/11 America. Anchored in an analysis of the Black Panther film we will examine how the black superhero is mediated after a prolonged period in which notions of Americanness were predominantly white and militarized.
