# Ok...1. I didn't know Comicbook Blade is English **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-books-manga\ **Created:** [November 25, 2021, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-1-i-didnt-know-comicbook-blade-is-english/954910 "2021-11-25T03:38:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2021, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-1-i-didnt-know-comicbook-blade-is-english/954910/1 "2021-11-25T03:38:46Z")
1. Is Blade the only black, British Super-hero in DC or Marvel?? That seems like kinda a big deal. My friend pointed out Blade when I asked him if there were any Black, British supers in DC or Marvel. And is Idris Elba (Bloodsport) the only black British meta in the DC/MCU movies?? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2021, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-1-i-didnt-know-comicbook-blade-is-english/954910/2 "2021-11-25T03:51:11Z")
As far as the MCU films, there are several black supers, but all of the ones I can think of are either American (Falcon/Captain America, War Machine), or Wakandan (Black Panther et al). Edit: Also in the MCU is Maria Rambeau (appeared in _WandaVision_, no superhero name yet), who’s also American. Storm of the X-Men is half-Kenyan, half-American (at least that’s her background in the comics), but the X-Men movies are not yet considered part of the MCU continuity. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2021, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-1-i-didnt-know-comicbook-blade-is-english/954910/3 "2021-11-25T04:23:44Z")
There really aren’t that many British superheroes in Marvel or DC, period. Wikipedia only lists [23 British superheroes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:British_superheroes) total, ever, from all media. That’s obviously an undercount (they don’t list Marvelman/Miracleman, probably the single most prominent UK superhero, for example), but still, it’s a pretty small sample size. Marvel and DC superheroes are overwhelmingly American, and extraterrestrials probably outnumber non-American humans. Add to that the fact that for decades Marvel and DC superheroes were overwhelmingly white, and the intersection of “Black”, “British”, and “Superhero” is unfortunately going to be pretty small. Add to _that_ the fact that in the American imagination, at least until very recently, the UK has been very much a White country. Heck, in the _British_ imagination, until fairly recently, it seems like the UK was a pretty White country. In the last couple of decades, British TV and movie exports to the U.S. have had increasingly diverse casts, but for most of the history of Marvel and DC comics, their writers and artists would mostly have been consuming pretty darn White depictions of the UK. In the DCEU, I’m trying to think of any other _British_ metas, of _any_ description, and…Gaius Grieves, also from _The Suicide Squad_ is the only one I can come up with. In the MCU, Karl Mordo from _Doctor Strange_ is played by a Black, British actor, and is presumably supposed to be a British character. Beyond that, the only other British MCU meta of any description I can come up with is Captain Carter, from _What If…?_. The MCU’s Asgardians have British accents, for some reason, and, interestingly, Idris Elba plays Heimdall in the MCU, so he may be the only Black meta with a British accent in _both_ in the MCU and the DCEU. It’s also true that there are a _lot_ of British _actors_ who have prominent roles in the MCU and the DCEU, but very few of them are Black, and a lot of them are Idris Elba. \*By the way, technically, Bloodsport in the DCEU isn’t a meta, he’s just a highly skilled killer with high-tech weapons. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2021, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-1-i-didnt-know-comicbook-blade-is-english/954910/4 "2021-11-25T04:44:37Z")
Thank you GDave!! That was very interesting and insightful! Edit: Yeah off the top of my head, I see Wolfsbane isn’t on that super-hero list. Neither is Moira McTaggert, but she’s only recently a meta, and possibly not a ‘hero’. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2021, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-1-i-didnt-know-comicbook-blade-is-english/954910/5 "2021-11-25T04:47:44Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > The MCU’s Asgardians have British accents, for some reason, and, interestingly, Idris Elba plays Heimdall in the MCU, so he may be the only Black meta with a British accent in _both_ in the MCU and the DCEU. That reminded me that Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) is another Black Asgardian, with a British accent, of course. (I suspect that they have those accents because, in the comic books, Asgardians often spoke with flowery, pseudo-Shakespearean language.) ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2021, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-1-i-didnt-know-comicbook-blade-is-english/954910/6 "2021-11-25T04:47:54Z")
There was Manchester Black on the CW’s _Supergirl_, who was a black British man played by David Ajala. He did hook up with some superpowered beings but I don’t think he actually had any superpowers until he managed to steal a technomagic device. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2021, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-1-i-didnt-know-comicbook-blade-is-english/954910/7 "2021-11-25T04:52:15Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > That reminded me that Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) is another Black Asgardian, with a British accent, of course. D’oh. Yeah, of course, can’t believe I forgot her. So Idris Elba is only 2/3 of the total population of Black metas with British accents in the DCEU/MCU. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2021, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-1-i-didnt-know-comicbook-blade-is-english/954910/8 "2021-11-25T15:56:36Z")
It’s funny. I’d have been fine with the MCU making Stephen Strange English. But for some reason Benedict Cumberbatch’s condescension in an American accent works better for me. Maybe because our ears are trained to hear all English people as slightly sneering. So when i hear that perfectly trained sneering in an American accent it makes me laugh. “Please. Scooby-Doo this crap.” ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2021, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-1-i-didnt-know-comicbook-blade-is-english/954910/9 "2021-11-25T21:58:02Z")
It always amazes me that there’s a comic book character named Manchester Black. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2021, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-1-i-didnt-know-comicbook-blade-is-english/954910/10 "2021-11-26T00:57:45Z")
> [@Pavelb1](#): > > It’s funny. I’d have been fine with the MCU making Stephen Strange English. But for some reason Benedict Cumberbatch’s condescension in an American accent works better for me. Maybe because our ears are trained to hear all English people as slightly sneering. So when i hear that perfectly trained sneering in an American accent it makes me laugh. Between Cumberbatch, Benedict Wong, Tilda Swinton, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, you have to wonder how the producers were apparently unable to find any American actors for a movie set in New York City. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2021, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-1-i-didnt-know-comicbook-blade-is-english/954910/11 "2021-11-26T02:27:42Z")
Only one of those characters is a New Yorker (although Rachel McAdams is Canadian, so they’re 0 for 2 for Americans playing New Yorkers). I wonder how they were apparently only able to find a single actor of Asian descent for a movie set in Tibet.