The complicated history of the black superhero

It's been a long journey to get to this particular moment in popular culture

Michael B. Jordan and Chadwick Boseman in 'Black Panther.'
(Image credit: Matt Kennedy/Copyright Marvel Studios 2018)

It's been a long journey to get to this particular moment in popular culture. Black Panther — the much-anticipated adaptation of one of Marvel Comics' most culturally significant superheroes — debuts this weekend on the big screen, a month after The CW started airing Black Lightning, a thrilling and original TV series drawn from DC Comics' belated attempt to compete with Marvel.

Both Black Panther and Black Lightning have often been underserved by their publishers. They were introduced in 1966 and 1977, respectively, in part to address superherodom's shameful racial imbalance, with the characters' creative potential almost an afterthought. But over the decades, passionate writers and artists — including Black Panther writer-director Ryan Coogler and Black Lightning showrunner Salim Akil — have committed themselves to fleshing these heroes out, by aiming first and foremost to tell compelling stories about them, from a black perspective.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Noel Murray

Noel Murray is a freelance writer, living in Arkansas with his wife and two kids. He was one of the co-founders of the late, lamented movie/culture website The Dissolve, and his articles about film, TV, music, and comics currently appear regularly in The A.V. Club, Rolling Stone, Vulture, The Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times.