Minority Superheroes

*Originally published on 6/6/09


I've often heard it said that there aren't enough minority superheroes in comics. People make the argument that young African American or Hispanic children don't have an iconic hero to look up to. They tried to create diversity in the old Superfriends cartoon and it pretty much ended up backfiring.
It's gotten better in recent years. You've got Storm of the X-Men, Vixen, John Stewart as a Green Lantern, Black Panther, Cyborg and Steel. Former Gotham City cop, Renee Montoya is now acting as The Question and the new Blue Beetle is a young Latino boy named Jaime Reyes. His book got cancelled due to low sales, but he's still around. Another Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner, was revealed to have Hispanic roots. All of them have grown and developed into rich, fully developed characters.

Most of them have been fairly obscure, only being known by comic readers but they are starting to get more exposure. John Stewart was the Green Lantern on the animated Justice League cartoon. Black Panther was featured in the second Ultimate Avengers direct to video movie and will be getting his own animated series. Jaime has been featured in several episodes of the new Batman: Brave and the Bold animated television series

The only thing I never understood is, why does a hero have to match the ethnicity for a kid to idolize him or her? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for having diverse characters like this, but why can't a young hispanic kid look up to Superman? I always saw him as the type of character that we should all look up to and aspire to be regardless or race, creed or gender. It goes the other way too, I shouldn't feel like I can't look up to heroes like Static or Wonder Woman cause I'm a white guy. It's odd logic.

There is the relatable factor as well. This makes some level of sense as there are things that an African American hero might have to deal with that a white one wouldn't. This is fine too. I just don't think kids growing up should be limited to reading about heroes of only their own background.

Another complaint is in regards to the Justice League specifically. Since Superfriends, many have said that the team is too "whitebread". I mean you've got Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Hawkman, Aquaman, Zatanna, Green Arrow. This has been fixed in recent years, adding some of the minority DC characters I mentioned earlier to the lineup to make it more diverse. I have no problem with this. However, while it is true that the Superfriends were all white. The claim that they weren't diverse rings false to me. You've got a Kryptonian, an Amazon Princess, a Martian (Martian Manhunter), an Atlantean, a Thanagarian, and a handful of humans of varying circumstance. While they share skin color, they come from very different cultures.

A diverse cast makes for better stories and it does help draw in kids who may not be interested in superheroes otherwise. I just hope that it acts as a gateway and not an anchor. If a young African American boy wants to start reading Black Panther, great. That can even be his favorite, but I hope that he would feel free to scan the rack and get excited for a new Blue Beetle, Wonder Woman, or Superman issue as well.