Marvel President Kevin Feige caught many by surprise at the SDCC (San Diego Comic Convention) when he announced that two time Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali will be taking over the role of Blade in an upcoming solo film. Watch that announcement below:
There’s just one more thing... #SDCC pic.twitter.com/0Q3F4AZJLg
— Dustin Sandoval @ #SDCC (@DustinMSandoval) July 21, 2019
Oscar Best-Picture Nominee #BlackPanther returns to the big screen beginning February 1st and ending February 7th.
Fans of all ages can see the movie for free in honor of Black History Month at participating AMC Theaters.
Academy Award®-nominated “Black Panther” returns to the big screen to celebrate Black History Month for a one-week engagement, February 1-7, at 250 participating AMC Theatres locations.
Simply click here to find your state and claim your free tickets: Black Panther Tickets
The CW has had great success with its superhero shows which include Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow. the network is now adding a new African American hero to its lineup and he's called Black Lighting!
The CW has released the first photo of Cress Williams in costume as the titular hero in “Black Lightning,” the DC comic book drama pilot.
Based on the comics of the same name, the series will follow Jefferson Pierce (Williams), who hung up the suit and his secret identity years ago. But with a daughter hell-bent on justice and a star student being recruited by a local gang, he’ll be pulled back into the fight as the wanted vigilante and DC legend — Black Lightning.
The superhero’s suit is designed by Laura Jean Shannon.
The husband-and-wife team of Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil wrote the pilot, which comes from Warner Bros. TV and will be executive produced by the Akils along with Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter.
“I knew way too much about the world as a young boy growing up in Richmond, California,” Salim Akil said in a statement. “I was no stranger to violence, death, hopelessness or the feeling that no one cared about what was happening in my life. Comics were a great way for me to escape. I was about 13 when ‘Black Lightning’ was created, and finally there was a Black Super Hero that gave a damn about our neighborhood and our lives. Resurrecting him at a time in our society when a sense of hope is lacking… ‘Black Lightning’ will be that hope. And in updating the suit, it will signal to a new generation that it’s time to harness and release our power, and become our own Super Heroes.”
Created by writer Tony Isabella and artist Trevor Von Eeden, Jefferson Pierce is one of the first major African American superheroes to appear in DC Comics. The character debuted in 1977 in a self-titled series that ran for 11 issues.
Four other DC comic book adaptation series already exist on The CW, “Arrow,” “The Flash,” “Legends of Tomorrow” and “Supergirl,” all executive produced by Berlanti as well, though it’s unclear at this point if “Black Lightning” would join the so-called “Arrowverse” or exist in its own world.
By George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.com
The $135 million plus opening weekend success of Suicide Squad can be attributed in part to its appeal to minority moviegoers. It seems that using a Fast & Furious type casting approach when it comes to diversity helped drive minority auds to the theater to see the film. It should be no surprise (except to studio heads) that Black and Latino audiences turned out to see to see actors like Will Smith (Deadshot), Jay Hernandez (El Diablo), and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Killer Croc) playing superheroes/supervillians.
After seeing it I can attest that although fun and action packed it is not a good film and appears to have scenes that were cut out after the team finally gets together. There are none of the obligatory get to know you, don't like you, fight you, and then like you bonding scenes that help you get to know the characters. But that didn't stop minority audiences from going to see the superhero/supervillain film that featured characters they felt they could relate to.
Per PostTrak, the combination of African American and Hispanic moviegoers made up a huge 41% of the audience with both audiences giving the film a whopping 81% positive score. [SOURCE]
The diverse film cast includes Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ike Barinholtz, Scott Eastwood, and Cara Delevingne.
Check out this new trailer for Marvel's Luke Cage series which features an African American superhero. Michael Colter stars as Luke Cage and the series will air on Netflix starting September 30,2016.
.SYNOPSIS: After a sabotaged experiment leaves him with super strength and unbreakable skin, Luke Cage (Mike Colter) becomes a fugitive who attempts to rebuild his life in modern day Harlem, New York City. But soon he is pulled out of the shadows and must fight a battle for the heart of his city – forcing him to confront a past he had tried to bury.
You probably haven't heard of Vixen a show that airs on on CW Seed. The show features a black female superhero from Detroit via Africa.
It is based on the DC Comics character Mari McCabe / Vixen, a costumed superhero crime-fighter with the power to mimic the abilities of any animal that has ever lived on Earth. The series is set in the Arrowverse, the same fictional universe as Arrow, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow. The six-episode series concluded on September 29, 2015. On January 10, 2016 it was announced that The CW renewed Vixen for a 7 episode second season, set to premiere in 2016.
Check out the first episode here: http://www.cwseed.com/shows/vixen/vixen-season-1/?play=24dac429-d147-4492-bbe9-818188019537
Great news! The company that gave us Static Shock, Hardware, and other super heroes of color is back, Milestone Media has risen again!
The idea arose not just in the wake of Dwayne McDuffie’s death, but also at the wake to remember the man.
Reggie Hudlin, the “Django Unchained” producer, spoke at the gathering in 2011 with artist Denys Cowan and Derek Dingle, who with McDuffie had co-founded Milestone Media, the prominent minority-owned comics publisher. McDuffie, also known for his DC Comics work, was widely considered to be a pioneer in his efforts to diversify the comic-book industry, prior to his shocking death at age 49.
“Derek said, ‘It’s been too long. We’ve got to restart the company’,” Hudlin recounts to The Post’s Comic Riffs, of that day in 2011. “So the three of us have been working for the past two years on sorting out all the business, and now we are the core of Milestone Media 2.0.”
That’s right. Hudlin, Cowan and Dingle tell Comic Riffs that they are working together to revive the company that debuted more than 20 years ago before its demise in 1997 — a publisher that could boast of such heroes of color as Icon, Hardware and Static Shock. That means Milestone titles will soon return to comics shops physical and virtual.
Read more here: Milestone Media rises again. Hudlin, Cowan and Dingle will revive company with eye toward characters of color
