Black Superhero movies: How many are there?

Everybody is excited about the upcoming Black Panther, but it is hardly the first superhero film with a black lead…

Superhero films seem to be a dime-a-dozen these days, and though there is constant social media talk of wanting diversity in Hollywood, it is still a rarity to see a superhero film without a white male lead.

Next year, Marvel Studios will release Black Panther and it will be heralded by many as the first black superhero film. That honour doesn’t exactly ring true.

While some might point to Halle Berry’s Catwoman in 2004 or even Shaquille O’Neal’s Steel in 1997, would it be a surprise to know that the first Black superhero predates even Christopher Reeve’s Superman?

Today we look at exactly how many Black Superhero films there are in Hollywood.

(Just to be clear: this list only includes films where the main character is a black superhero. Team films will only be included if the black actor receives top billing.)

1 – ABAR, THE FIRST BLACK SUPERMAN (1977)

A year before Christopher Reeve made us believe a man could fly with Superman (1978), we had this little blackploitation film about a superpowered bodyguard. Originally titled SuperBlack, the film’s title was changed on its theatrical release, and once again changed on its VHS release to In Your Face (likely done to avoid confusion with the DC superhero).

2 – THE METEOR MAN (1993)

Sixteen years later, Robert Townsend gives us The Meteor Man. In this film, Townsend plays a cowardly schoolteacher, Jefferson Reed, who witnesses a robbery by two kids who were trying to join the local gang, the Golden Lords. After hiding in a dumpster to evade the pursuing members, he emerges and is struck by a chunk of green meteor that grants him superpowers. Could the writers of Smallville have been influenced by this when they created their kryptonite-powered baddies? The world may never know…

Meteor Man was popular enough that Marvel Comics gave him his own comic book series where he crossed over with Spider-Man.

3 – BLANKMAN (1994)

Years before Scary Movie, the Wayans Bros. were really the ones the created the parody genre. Here, Damon Wayans stars as a simpleton inventor who becomes a superhero with a bulletproof costume. While a funny film, this received negative reviews from mainstream critics and was not a success at the box office.

4 – MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS: THE MOVIE (1995)

Yes, the Power Rangers do technically count as superheroes…but how does an awful 90s film based on an awful 90s TV show end up making this list? Simple. Karan Ashley appears as the Yellow Ranger and through the quirk of the alphabetical billing, her name is shown first in the credits.

5 – SPAWN (1997)

The first black superhero film to be based on an actual comic book, Spawn centers around an elite mercenary who is killed, but comes back from Hell as a reluctant soldier of the Devil. It surprised many comic readers even when it was revealed that the title superhero in the comics was black, mainly because Spawn always appears in his costume. It might even be for this reason that Spawn’s actor, Michael Jai White, doesn’t receive top billing for his own movie, instead going to John Leguizamo, who plays the film’s villain.

6 – STEEL (1997)

Two weeks after Spawn, we have Steel starring Shaquille O’Neal. Originally intended as a spinoff for a planned Death of Superman film, when that film underwent significant production delays, Steel was rewritten as a standalone, severing any ties to the Superman character. In this film, O’Neal plays John Henry Irons, a weapons designer for the military. When his project to create weapons that harmlessly neutralize soldiers is sabotaged, he leaves in disgust. When he sees gangs are using his weapons on the street, he uses his brains and his Uncle Joe’s junkyard know-how to fight back, becoming a real man of “steel.”

This movie is terrible. God awful. Don’t watch this movie. Just watch Nostalgia Critic’s review. I guarantee it’s far more entertaining.

7-10 – THE BLADE TRILOGY – Blade (1998), Blade II (2002), and Blade Trinity (2004)

Wesley Snipes battling vampires? How does that not become a success? Though the first Blade film received mixed reviews from critics, it was still a hit at the box office, earning $200 million on a $40 million budget. Blade is widely credited as opening the door for subsequent Marvel films. Without its success, we would not have the Marvel Age of Cinema as we know it.

11 – UP, UP AND AWAY! (2000)

Television movies don’t usually get included on these lists, but considering black superhero films are already a rarity, we can make an exception. Plus, this one is actually pretty good. One of the earliest Disney Channel Original Movies, Robert Townsend directs this film about a non-superpowered kid growing up in a family full of superheroes. It’s an intriguing premise that’s worth a watch.

12 – CATWOMAN (2004)

Similar to Steel, Catwoman was originally intended as a vehicle for Michelle Pfeiffer following Batman Returns. However, the project got so delayed that even she backed out. While other actors were attached at various points, the only real reason the movie ever got made was because Warner Bros. wanted a superhero film that year and took the first script they had lying around. What follows is a movie that has a messy plot, no connection to the comic book, and is only tangentially connected to the previous Batman films. Halle Berry’s performance is good though and might be the only saving grace of this movie.

13 – HANCOCK (2008)

There are heroes. There are superheroes. And then there’s Hancock… It came out the same summer as Iron Man and The Dark Knight and hardly gets talked about. Will Smith stars as a superhero whose ill-considered behaviour regularly causes damage in the millions. He changes when the person he saves helps him improve his public image. The premise is interesting, but the execution wasn’t done in necessarily the best way.

14 – SUICIDE SQUAD (2016)

Technically not a superhero movie. It’s a supervillain movie, but since the villains have to act like heroes in order to save the day, it qualifies. Will Smith once again stars and receives top billing in a cast that is already stacked with great names like Margot Robbie, Vila Davis and Jared Leto. The overall movie is terrible, nothing redeeming about it except for Will Smith scene-stealing portrayal of Deadshot. We wouldn’t watch Suicide Squad 2, but we’d sure see a Deadshot spinoff.

15 – BLACK PANTHER (2018)

The 18th instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Black Panther will be released on Black History Month and will feature a majority-black cast. Will this movie flop like most others on this list? Probably not. Marvel Studios has a good track record so far, both critically and commercially, and Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther already proved to be a highlight in Captain America: Civil War so audiences will already have prior knowledge of the character. Perhaps it will even set the standard for black superhero films going forward the way Wonder Woman did for the female superhero? Only time will tel…

What did you think of this list? Were there any films we forgot about that we should have included? Let us know!

At only 15 films in a 40-year period, it’s clear Hollywood has a long way to go to promoting black superheroes. With several prominent black characters in the comic books, such as Cyborg, War Machine, Green Lantern, Miles Morales, Black Lightning, and more, filmmakers certainly have a lot to draw from.

Black Panther will premiere in theaters on February 16, 2018.