It’s simple. The fanboys who read comic books are the same white, angry, overprivileged, undersocialized, suburban neckbeards who populate Internet message boards, and they don’t want to see black people in their comic books. I remember the outrage and blatantly racist griping by the same fanboys when it was announced that GTA:San Andreas would have a black protagonist. Mainstream comic books are, by and large, made by Angry White Males for Angry White Males. They like their male superheroes authoritarian and mesomorphic, their female superheroes underdressed and overmammaried, and their black superheroes… absent.
Comic books and Superheroes originate in the 1930s. 90% of the characters from DC and Marvel were already in existence by 1963. Before the 60’s, America was pretty much entirely dominated by white men. White men ran the country. Black characters in comic books before then were often relegated to comic relief roles. There were a few white women heroes, but the numbers were pretty sparse.
And to an extent, even though gender and racial divides in this country have been narrowing, superhero comic books are still mostly white men. Marvel and DC make pushes at diversity - but the sad fact seems to be that new characters fail most of the time. Irrespective of gender or race. But Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man remain consistent sellers.
Oh, I dunno. The dark hair is a bit of a giveaway (and really, how many blonde male superheroes are there?). And look at this picture - that’s a Jewish nose if I ever saw one.
The Human Torch (both the Golden-Age one and the Fantastic Four version)?
The Golden-Age Green Lantern?
The Golden-Age Hawkman?
Green Arrow?
Aquaman?
The Silver Age Flash?
They may not be the elite-level heroes that the four you named are, but they certainly are “A-Listers”, or were in their era. And tons more, if we get into B-Listers. Especially long-lasting B-Listers whose feature you might not realize lasted so long, such as Johnny Quick.
More to the point, there’s so much that is inescapably Jewish about the genre of comic books.
Inside the world of the stories, there’s:
-the preoccupation with justice
-the need for an outsider to bring it about
-the essential urban-ness of the typical setting
-the need for an alternate identity
-and of course, the constant presence of threat
Outside of the stories, there’s the making of the books:
-the tradition of storytelling with morals
-the drive to bring meaning and seriousness to a “cheap,” “pop” medium
-the eternal love-hate symbiosis between the artist and the businessman
In both cases, there’ve been two - both blond. For GA, the second has black and asian ancestry that comes through strongly in his appearance, depending who’s drawing him…and he’s STILL blond.
Add Booster Gold, Geo-Force (officially strawberry blond - it switches between that, red, and straight blond depending on the colouring), Captain Britain, Chase Stein, Element Lad of the Legion of Superheroes (also Brainiac 5, but since he’s, you know, green…), Havok…
Again, no ‘Superman’ level popularity, but hardly an obscure list.
Here’s a shortlist of black superheroes, just off the top of my head:
Black Panther
Falcon
Black Lightning
Storm
Brother Voodoo
Black Goliath (later Giant-Man #2)
Mal Duncan (Alternately ‘Hornblower’ or ‘Guardian #2’ in the original Teen Titans series.)
Bumblebee (Mal’s g.f. Joined original TT shortly before the series was cancelled.)
Cyborg (of the New Teen Titans)
Luke Cage, Power Man
Misty Knight
Nubia (‘black Wonder Woman’ - made appearances in early 70s issues of WW)
Black Vulcan (of “Challenge of the Super Friends”)
Amazing-Man (from “All-Star Squadron”, retconned into Golden Age DC history.)
Sunspot (“the New Mutants” and “X-Force.”)
Bishop (X-Men)
Captain Marvel #2 (later changed name to “Photon.”)
Night Thrasher
Rocket Racer
Prowler
Ant-Man Garrett Morris (one-shot SNL skit)
Hancock
Invisible Boy (“Mystery Men” movie)
Invisible Kid #2 (Legion of Super-heroes)
Tyroc (Legion of Super-heroes)
Rage (Avengers and New Warriors)
Shadowman
Frozone (“the Incredibles”)
Green Lantern John Stewart
James Rhodes - Iron-Man #2, later War Machine
Blade
Steel
Vixen
Spawn
Static
Super-Stretch & Micro-Woman (short-lived mid-70s saturday morning 'toon.)
Vykin the Black (of Jack Kirby’s “the Forever People”)
Tempest (member of the mid-70s Doom Patrol)
Not a complete list by any means. Feel free to add to it.
