Although there are many publishers of comics, and even more superheroes, when one hears "superhero" they think of powerhouses DC and Marvel. DC is the creator of household names such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the Justice League, whereas Marvel is known for Spiderman, X-Men, Captain America, and the Avengers. Unless you're really deep into comics and superheroes, chances are, your favorite superhero comes from one of these universes. Think of your favorite heroes from each of these universes. When it comes to diversity, how does your list of favorite characters stack up?

IGN lists its top 25 superheroes from DC Comics and you guessed it, only 1 of them is black (Cyborg). They manage to include 2 Green Lanterns, and still leave off John Stewart—the black Green Lantern.[3]

Black people make up roughly 13% of the population, but white, non-Hispanic people only make up 60% of the population. If the comic book industry was as diverse as the United States, showing equal care to the storylines of minority characters as white characters, the superheroes on the list would have the following racial makeup: 4 Hispanic, 3 black, 1 Asian, 1 multi-racial, and 16 white characters.[1] Of course, you'd still expect epically awesome superheroes to exist for even smaller minority groups such as Native Americans and Pacific Islanders.

If the list reflected worldwide demographics, these numbers would change even more dramatically! Based on worldwide demographics 61% (15)—more than half—of the superheroes should be Asian. 4 should be from Africa, 3 should be European, 2 from Latin or South America, and 1 from North America.[2] IGN's top 25 list for Marvel stacks up far better with 4 black superheroes making the list (Black Panther, Storm, Blade, and Luke Cage).[4] Not only does this paint Marvel as more progressive in creating well written diverse characters, all four of these characters, plus a few others, have made it in to their cinematic universe, and Nick Fury, a white man in the comics, was recast as a black man.

The difference in diversity across IGN's lists shouldn't surprise you, though. Marvel broke the mold in creating the first mainstream black superhero to have his own comic in mainstream America. That superhero was Black Panther, an African prince from a technologically advanced city, hidden in the midst of Africa. Black Panther was introduced in 1966.[5] For perspective, this was 2 years before my hometown began the process of integration and 3 years after my undergraduate university admitted its first black student. DC's first black superhero to have his own comic, Black Lightning, wasn't published until 1977—over 10 years later![30]

While Black Panther is widely accepted as the first black superhero to star in a comic of his own, he wasn't the first black superhero to appear in a comic. In fact, he wasn't actually the first to have his own comic. The first black superhero to have his own comic was created in the summer of 1947 by All Negro Comics.[7] All Negro Comics was black owned and operated. That's right, it was a for us, by us moment. It marks the first comic to both feature black heroes as the stars of the comic and to be drawn by black artists.[6] All Negro Comics stared Ace Harlem as an expert detective and Lion Man the first black superhero.

The first black person to appear in a superhero comic, as a supporting character of course, came just a little sooner, probably in 1934. Many credit the appearance of Lothar in Mandrake the Magician as the first black supporting character in a comic. Lothar was not a superhero, and fits neatly into the tropes I've been mentioning all month: he's the main character's sidekick, illiterate, and dresses "exotically."[8][9]

If you're old enough, you know that Black Panther isn't the first film to have a black man star as the main superhero in cinema history. 20 years ago, there was The Blade Trilogy starring Wesley Snipes as the titular superhero, Blade (also a Marvel superhero). There's also been Hancock, staring Will Smith, Meteor Man (1993) starring Robert Townsend, and Steel (1997) staring Shaq. However, Black Panther is still a first of sorts.

Most of the superhero movies starring a black actor that I saw in my youth were more like comedies than superhero movies. Meteor Man, along with the Disney Channel Original movie Up Up and Away, felt like a parody of superhero movies rather than actually superhero movies. Not surprisingly, they both star and were produced by Robert Townsend. Hancock, though not as joke-y as Meteor Man or Up Up and Away, doesn't quite have the superhero feel to it either. Perhaps it's because Hancock is an antihero; he has a bad attitude, is always drunk, and everyone hates him—including the viewer, I can't remember ever actually liking the Hancock character.

If you've been paying attention, you probably noticed that I haven't said much about DC in terms of film. While I can't think of any black DC characters that have made it to the big screen, this year DC comics launched Black Lightning a series about their first black superhero to have his own comic. Marvel's Luke Cage has been on Netflix for a while, as well.

You're probably already familiar with Storm, a black female superhero from the X-Men series. Storm first appeared in 1975. Though depicted by Halle Berry and Alexandra Shipp in the recent X-Men movies, Storm does not appear to be a light skinned black woman in the comics—though she does have blue eyes and white hair.

Another black female superhero, Misty Knight, actually appeared 3 years earlier than Storm in 1972. She even has an iconic 70's afro, which screams black pride!

As a woman, it saddens me to know that despite the progress we've seen with black male superheroes, women are still trailing behind. I realize that women in general have not been featured as superheroes the same way men have, however, white women are still better represented in this area than black, Latina, and Asian women. Hopefully this current revolution will spill into our realm, as well.

Checkout the following articles, books, and videos for more information.