The current run of big screen adaptations of comic book characters can be traced directly back to Richard Donner’s 1978 film Superman. Since then, we’ve had five more Superman movies, seven Batman movies, a Green Lantern movie, four Spider-Man movies, two Fantastic Four movies, five X-Men movies, three Iron Man movies, a Thor movie, a Captain America movie, and a movie with Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America. This week, Thor: The Dark World, the sequel to 2011’s Thor, hits theaters, and next summer we’re getting X-Men Days of Future Past, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Guardians of the Galaxy.
What do all of these movies have in common, besides being big budget superhero movies? The titular characters are all white men. In the case of Superman, Thor, and Captain America, they’re the whitest and manliest of white men.
While I love the fact that the comic book characters I loved reading about as a kid (and as an adult) are making their way to the big screen, it’s time for Marvel and DC to bring more than just another white guy to the silver screen. It’s time for minority superhero movies.
While it’s easy to say “Well yeah, of course there should be superhero movies with minority leads.”, the problem is that superhero movies in particular rely on the fact that their built-in fanbases have been carefully cultivated over decades. You can’t whip up a superhero out of nothing, shove him into a big-budget action movie, and expect that people will show up. Some will, but most will shrug and wait for it to hit Netflix, if they watch it at all.
No, you need established heroes. You need characters that have fanbases that can carry a $150 million summer tentpole movie. While there are a number of minority superheroes, those qualifications narrow our list down significantly.
On the Marvel side of the house, three names immediately spring to mind: Heroes For Hire, Captain Marvel, and Black Panther.
Heroes For Hire is the weakest of the three in terms of a built in fanbase, but would easily feature the most diverse cast. Luke Cage and Misty Knight are both black, Colleen Wing is asian, and Iron Fist is up for grabs (although nominally caucasian). Luke Cage and Iron Fist especially have a history with Marvel’s Avengers supergroup. Given the current populist strain taking root in American society, a movie about superheroes that aren’t super-rich (*cough* Batman! *cough* Iron Man! *cough*), that offer up their services to help their fellow man and keep their own neighborhoods and streets safe has real potential.
Captain Marvel (formerly Ms. Marvel) is heavily rumored to already be in development, with Battlestar Galactica‘s Katee Sackhoff reportedly looking at a five picture deal similar to what current Marvel leading men Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America) signed at the start of their Marvel careers. Captain Marvel is problematic, in that she gets her powers from an alien Kree, Mar-Vell, who also goes by Captain Marvel. Marvel comics differentiated the two by referring to Carol Danvers as Ms. Marvel, and Mar-Vell as Captain Marvel, but in recent years has given Carol her due as an Air Force Captain by officially bestowing her with the Captain Marvel moniker. Also, her costumes will need to be reworked for the big screen, as they have a tendency to be a little skimpy. Even if she’s nigh-invulnerable and arguably the most powerful member of the Avengers, I would imagine a it gets a little chilly in space wearing little more than a swimsuit and boots.
Black Panther has also been rumored to be in development, but so far there hasn’t been a whole lot of news on when the King of Wakanda will make his way to the big screen. Ironically, Black Panther is the easiest “sell” out of all the potential movies Marvel has lined up; he’s got a massive fanbase, name recognition, and his origin story is fairly well known. The real stumbling block is creating the fictional African country of Wakanda, a high tech utopia with no clear Western analogue, as well as whether American audiences will accept a black hero and a presumably white villain (Ulysses Klaw, although Erik Killmonger is also an option). T’Challa’s role as both the King of Wakanda and the Black Panther adds an interesting element to a potential story; imagine if Iron Man were also the President, and how that might affect both internal politics and foreign relations with other nations. Regardless, Black Panther’s popularity makes him a prime candidate for Marvel’s Phase 3.
As an honorable mention, once Sony reboots Spider-Man (again), they should seriously consider going with Miles Morales as Peter Parker’s replacement.
The DC list is significantly shorter, but features a pair of bigger names: Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman.
But wait, didn’t we just have a Green Lantern movie with Ryan Reynolds? And wasn’t it terrible? Well, yes. Fortunately, DC has gifted us with more than one Green Lantern, including John Stewart and Kyle Rayner. John Stewart, of course, was made famous by the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited cartoons. Arguably a more compelling character than Hal Jordan, John Stewart would give DC the chance to not only expand their cinematic universe, but reboot the Green Lantern franchise without actually rebooting it.
Kyle Rayner is another interesting option. Although the youngest of the three main Lanterns, his mixed Irish/Hispanic ancestry has excellent storytelling potential.
Finally, the Princess herself, Diana of Themyscria, aka Wonder Woman. Getting Wonder Woman onto the silver screen has been something of a pipe dream for decades now. The Wonder Woman television series starring Lynda Carter remains the most popular incarnation of the character, and over the past ten years a live action film version has consistently failed to get off the ground, culminating with Joss Whedon’s departure in 2007. Whedon, of course, went on to write and direct Marvel’s The Avengers, while Wonder Woman remains un-filmed. There are rumors that Princess Diana figures heavily into DC’s upcoming Batman vs. Superman film, but nothing has been confirmed. Regardless, bringing Wonder Woman to the big screen would be a huge coup for DC, especially if they manage to beat Marvel’s Captain Marvel there first.
The reason that it’s important to bring these kinds of characters to the big screen should be obvious to anyone; the face of America is changing, and our heroes have to change with it. Over the next thirty years, America will become a minority majority country and our heroes should reflect that. Beyond that, it’s important to tell these kinds of stories from more than just a single perspective. Luke Cage’s background as a black kid from Harlem in the 70s is different from Steve Rogers’ as a white kid from Brooklyn in the 50s, and those are the stories that need to be told.