# Black Panther is first Black Superhero Film By Black Director with Predominantly Black Cast, truth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 21, 2018, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-is-first-black-superhero-film-by-black-director-with-predominantly-black-cast-truth/809250 "2018-02-21T06:25:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-is-first-black-superhero-film-by-black-director-with-predominantly-black-cast-truth/809250/41 "2018-02-24T11:15:13Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Just in case anyone here missed this one: > > Martin Freeman, who played Bilbo Baggins, and Andy Serkis, who played Gollum, are the only two major roles by white actors in _Black Panther._ They’re the Tolkien white guys. :smack: Oh my. I can’t believe I respect that. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-is-first-black-superhero-film-by-black-director-with-predominantly-black-cast-truth/809250/42 "2018-02-24T15:00:38Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Just in case anyone here missed this one: > > Martin Freeman, who played Bilbo Baggins, and Andy Serkis, who played Gollum, are the only two major roles by white actors in _Black Panther._ They’re the Tolkien white guys. [50’s hipster]snaps fingers[/50’s hipster] ---
**Author:** ![bmoak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@bmoak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmoak)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-is-first-black-superhero-film-by-black-director-with-predominantly-black-cast-truth/809250/43 "2018-02-26T05:59:29Z")
-The issue with Storm is that she wan’t created to be African, or African-American, or a mutant, or an X-Man. When artist Dave Cockrum jumped from DC to Marvel, he brought characters that he had created for a rejected proposal of a Legion of Super-Heroes spinoff book with him to X-Men. Nightcrawler made the jump pretty much as is. Storm was a composite of three of the characters Cockrum had developed for that back. Like almost all LSH characters, they were aliens, which accounted for unusual elements of Storm’s design, such as her hair and eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Reluctant\_A](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@Reluctant\_A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reluctant_A)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-is-first-black-superhero-film-by-black-director-with-predominantly-black-cast-truth/809250/44 "2018-03-01T01:33:49Z")
> [@Dr.Hackenbush](#): > > … Perhaps I’m projecting some of that baggage onto this film… “Perhaps”? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-is-first-black-superhero-film-by-black-director-with-predominantly-black-cast-truth/809250/45 "2018-03-01T01:48:00Z")
> [@choie](#): > > Huh. Rats, I saw it last year (I’m, um, a little behind on my pop culture consumption!) but don’t remember the technicality you might be referring to. I know I enjoyed it quite a lot, especially Will Smith’s performance, but that’s pretty much it. Superheroes are generally not gods. That’s usually reserved for villains. Even Thor admits somewhere along the line (in the MCU anyway) that he’s not actually a god, just really, really powerful. Hancock & the other one were pretty much immortal gods, so long as they stayed away from each other. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-is-first-black-superhero-film-by-black-director-with-predominantly-black-cast-truth/809250/46 "2019-01-06T04:12:53Z")
> [@Dr.Hackenbush](#): > > There was an article I read aaaaaaaages ago about how the Black Panther comic was basically an exploitation comic in the vein of Marvel’s All-Negro Comics #1 from the 1940s. Finally saw _Black Panther_ and I was checking out the threads on the movie when I saw this. I’ve been doing research on black superheroes. _All-Negro Comics_ has a superhero called Lion Man, who is considered to be the first black superhero. He isn’t, and I’ve got a big article on that I’m working on, but I need to correct the slur on _All-Negro Comics._ That was the exact opposite of an exploitation comic. First off, get rid of the notion that it came from Marvel (or Timely or Atlas or whatever corporate identity they were using in 1947) or from any big comics company. A group of black creators led by [Orrin C. Evans](https://web.archive.org/web/20090307212906/http://www.tomchristopher.com/?op=home%2FComic+History%2FOrrin+C.+Evans+and+The+Story+of+All+Negro+Comics) pooled their money to create a company specifically to launch a comic book written and drawn by blacks about black heroes (and black villains). It was intended to get black comics to an audience beyond the many strips run in the black newspapers of the day. It failed for many reasons, but exploitation was definitely not one of them. I realize this is just a nitpick, but as soon as I saw it I felt it had to be corrected. Sorry, Dr. Hackenbush, my brother-in-Marx. I’d give you a chance to rebut but you were only on the Dope for five days and are long gone. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-is-first-black-superhero-film-by-black-director-with-predominantly-black-cast-truth/809250/47 "2019-01-06T14:32:10Z")
STEEL was obliquely mentioned upthread. There’s also Invisible Boy from MYSTERY MEN (Kel Mitchell; the movie was based on a comic book, but I think Kel’s character was invented for the film). Has SPAWN been mentioned? And I’m not entirely sure what the difference between a superhero and an action hero is. PASSENGER 57, THE MIGHTY QUINN (both Quinn and Maubee) and I’M GONNA GET YOU SUCKA are relevant to the discussion. So is THE LAST DRAGON. No comic book tie-in and varying degrees of costume. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-is-first-black-superhero-film-by-black-director-with-predominantly-black-cast-truth/809250.md?page=2)