Where is Black Love and Romance in comics

So our friends over at we got this covered published this article on the top 8 romances in comic book movies and I had to pause not to throw up for a minute. 
http://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/8-best-couples-superhero-movies/
Granted, these are "love" stories from the movies and some ripped straight from the pages of the comics that inspired them, but it made me pause because the list was whiter than Maine in December.  All 8 couples from the movies were all white and not even a hint of love for people of color.

But this made me think even deeper and in the modern comic book universe in movies and on television, there is no real love interest for Black characters WITH another Black character. Storm and T'Challla had a storybook romance and wedding over 10 years ago now, but beyond that, finding a Black power couple in the world of comics and comic book movies is hard as fuck to find.  Lets break this shit down for you!

X Movies
Now we really only have Storm to go on here, right?  That's a problem in and of itself, but Storm has been in 5 X-Men movies( 4 for Halle Berry and 1 for Alexandra Shipp) and Storm cannot find any love? They teased a romance with Nightcrawler in X2( but he ain't Black) and she found swirl love with Wolverine in a cut scene from Days of Future Past but beyond that- nothing. Yet we are burdened with the Cyclops- Jean Grey- Wolverine love triangle, along with Iceman-Rogue- and Kitty Pryde throughout these movies. In comics, Storm has been unlucky in love, too.  Forge loved her, but took her powers and the marriage with T'Challa didn't exactly pan out but X movies have yet to focus on or create a credible Black, male character in comics beyond Bishop and Bishop appeared for all of 13 seconds in Days of Future Past.  And never, ever bring up to me Darwin from First Class. EVER!

DC Movies and Television
Modern DC movies have only 1 Black "hero" to appear in them and that is Deadshot, played by Will Smith.  In Suicide Squad, you see him with his daughter, who appears to be African-American, but we don't see head or tail of the mom.  Amanda Waller also makes an appearance but there is no apparent man in her life and technically she is not a superhero.

DC gets alot of props for its diversity on its television shows, but Black on Black romance and love is lacking.  There is plenty of swirling going around but love between Black characters is about  non existent.
Flash has Barry swirling with Iris and even the little tease Iris had with Tone Bell this year- you knew that shit was not gonna happen since they been teasing Barry and Iris season episode 1.

On Supergirl, James Olson was swirling with both and with Supergirl( Kara) and Lucy Lane.  Even John Diggle on Arrow is swirling with Sarah.

Marvel Movies and Television
If we examine the heroes in Marvel movies, we see four Black heroes in Nick Fury,  War Machine, Falcon, and most recently Black Panther. Fury is married to his job, I guess.  War Machine has no romantic interest and neither does Falcon.  Black Panther, as introduced in Civil War, was focused very much on his mission and seemed to not have anytime for romance.  Yet, we get a full on love story with Captain America and Agent Carter AND Peggy Carter over the course of these movies.  We get to see Tony Stark and Pepper Potts love story play out.  Hawkeye has a secret family tucked away with a wife and kids.  Thor has Jane Foster and Lady Sif he wanted.  Hell even Black Widow and the Hulk have a romance in Age of Ultron.  But the Black folks? Nah, Falcon and War Machine are too busy following orders from their white besties and getting paralyzed to have a romantic relationships. Hell, they can't even get their swirl on!

And on Netflix, between Jessica Jones and Daredevil, The Night Nurse, played by Rosario Dawson, is sort of swirling with Daredevil, and Luke Cage is swirling with Jessica Jones.  It seems in the upcoming  Luke Cage series, Luke may possibly get with Misty Knight, but they have rarely been a thing in the comics.  She has mostly swirled with Iron Fist.



So why is Black love and romance so taboo in comic related properties? Even currently, before he was killed, War Machine was with Carol Danvers( Swirl) Luke Cage is with Jessica Jones( swirl), Black Panther is married to being the King of Wakanda, and Storm is single as single can be up in that X-Mansion.  The only real Black romantic couple are Sam Wilson and Misty Knight and for how long will this last as most people ship for Iron Fist and Misty Knight.

This all comes down to lack of love interest/ options in both comics and movies for Black characters and the inability for white writers to see and write Black characters in love.  The fact that there are so few Black characters is only part of the problem.  The lack of representation in the writing room, leads white writers of books/movies/shows to put characters in relationships they feel comfortable with and wont offend their majority white audiences. Their inability to know/see/write Black characters in love and relationships leads to massive swirling on screen and in comics.  And there is nothing wrong with the swirl. My wife is Puerto Rican and my kids look more like Miles Morales than T'Challa, but the void of Black characters in romantic relationships is troubling at best and disturbing at worst.

I truly believe Hollywood fears Black people in love and in unity more than they fear Black rage and anger.  This lack of Black love on screen and the decolorization of Black women in particular is troubling and disheartening.  I pray that Black Panther has a Black love interest in his movie and she is not the one light skinned sista in Wakanda.  And for damn sure T'Challa best not be swirlin' or we gonna burn these theaters down!

The Producer

Did Marvel learn its lesson?

By now, you have probably seen the trailer for Captain America:Civil War.  I would imagine most Blerds and Bleeks have seen it since it has over 100 million views on yotube.  I know I have watched it probably 5 times and it made me quite hyped for the movie.  I even recorded a trailer review which you can find here:

Civil War Trailer Review

However, when my hype died down and I went into my quiet place, I began to feel uneasy because of the mess that was Avengers Age of Ultron.  That movie, although cool in certain parts, was an overall disaster.  Too many heroes, with a plot that was all over the place, and seemed to be made with the overall intention of selling toys. The constant trailers and product placement ads for soda, cars,  and merchandise, made the movie seem secondary to making money OFF the movie.  The trouble and friction between Marvel and director, Joss Whedon, are well documented, as it seems Marvel got overly involved in the production and crushed the directors overall Vision( see what I did there) for the franchise.  The movie suffered for this and it eroded much of the goodwill Marvel had with fanboys after the original Avengers.

Now they get a second chance with Civil War, but you can see some troubling similarities.  There are a ton of heroes in this movie!  I mean between Team Cap and Team Iron Man, you have 10 heroes. That does not factor in villains( at least two with Crossbones and Zemo) and other ancillary characters such as SHIELD, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Thunderbolt Ross, etc! Possibly because the movie is still a few months away, we have not seen all the product placement surrounding that  AoU. Are we going to see Captain America plastered on cereal boxes and soda cans and driving an Audi or Chevy? I don't know?  But maybe Marvel learned its lesson. Maybe?  Could it be possible that they saw all the clapback from fans about AoU and kept their grubby little hands off Civil War?  Is it possible that they trust the Russo Brothers and writers of the this movie to allow them to tell their story without getting involved in every single detail?  You see fanboys, although annoying at times, are smart.  We know when we are being given shit to eat- even tho you tell us its Caviar.  AoU was shit!  Marvel tried to dress it up as Caviar and give us "moments" in the movie that would make us excited, but overall the movie was shit.  And the stink of that shit has hung with us for the last year!  Its why there is a bit more trepidation for Civil War!  And you really have to wonder if Marvel feels that, too.

Now don't get me wrong, its not like I am not going to see Civil War. I will be there opening Saturday with my family after Free Comic Book Day just like I was last year.  I will still be hyped and ready to go with popcorn and candy that I snuck into the movie!  But, if I start to see Captain America Dr. Pepper ads,  Black Panther Shampoo, Iron Man Chef Boy Ardee Ravioli, and Civil War Cereal before the movie opens, I will know that Marvel doesn't give a shit anymore and this movie, much like AoU, will just be a vehicle to make more money and the movie is an afterthought.  That's a real shame, too because the Civil War has the potential to be the best comic book movie Marvel has made.  I truly hope they don't fuck it up!

The Producer

Marvel: Civil War Issue 1

As we did with Legion Quest to get you ready for Xmen: Apocalypse, @brothascomics is going to walk you down issue by issue to Captain America: Civil War, looking at the comics that inspired the movie( well, at least the title).

Civil War: Issue 1

Story by : Mark Millar
Pencils by: Steve McNiven

The book opens in the control room of a tv studio and flashes to a neighborhood in Stamford, Connecticut.  The New Warriors are the stars of a hero reality show and the shows is capturing their every move- including any potential battles with super villains.  The Warriors have rolled up on a list of villains on the FBI's most wanted and Speedball, the leader of the team, wants to take them on- against the protest of some of his teammates.  But the New Warriors need positive press for their reality show and against better judgement attack the villains.

It all seems to be going well but the main bad guy of the group, Nitro has escaped and the New Warriors are in hot pursuit.  Nitro, a being who can make himslef explode, is caught by Namorita in front of a local elementary school.  Nitro is not about to be taken down by the cousin of Sub Mariner and explodes himself in front of the school and on live television for everyone to see.  He kills Namorita and between 800-900 other people including most of the children at the school.

The book then shifts to the aftermath and the clean-up as heroes have come to the scene.  Xmen, Avengers, Fantastic Four, and others are all there and each of them has an opinion on what happened, why it happened and what the future holds.  The seeds of discontent are planted early between Iron Man and Captain America with each believing change is coming on how society views and deals with its heroes.

The public's reaction is swift and extreme.  People and the government want the heroes to be accountable for the damage they cause and the lives that are loss protecting them from evil doers.  A funeral affects Tony Stark/Iron Man the most and the movement for super heroes to be registered begins.

This leads to a huge, super hero pow-wow at the Baxter Building-home to the Fantastic Four.  In that meeting, there are large discussions on how to move forward with no real consensus. Some heroes believe in registration, while others are adamantly against it.

Meanwhile, SHIELD is pursuing registration under the watch of Maria Hill and she looks to get Captain America on her side.  Cap is totally against registration and he lets Maria Hill know it and she informs Cap that if he is not working for her, then he is against SHIELD and the US government and moves to have Captain America arrested. Captain America escapes and flees the SHIELD Hellicarrier!

When news gets back to Iron Man that Cap has gone rogue, he decides its his responsibility to bring Cap in!

That's the end of issue 1. Looking back, this series is almost 10 years old and it still holds up well. Even tho they undo much of it over time, when it came out originally, the story was fresh and different and all the side books with the battles between heroes was fun to watch and read.  Captain America taking the side of individual freedom has played out in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I am curious to how they weave this story around Winter Soldier to pit Iron Man VS Captain America.
Join us back in two weeks as we review issue 2 and get you all ready for the movie Captain America: Civil War!

The Producer