DC Comics is About to Give Us a Black Batman

Bleeding Cool ^ | 9/2/2019 | Rich Johnston

[bkopto]

The hot gossip coming out of comic book shows this weekend from a number of prominent sources, is that in the summer of 2020 leading into 2021, DC Comics is planning to bring us a black Batman. Not Bruce Wayne, but someone else donning the cowl and cape.

Who this new Batman will be, I don’t know. All I have been told is that it won’t be Duke Thomas, the young man previously teased as taking on the role of Robin and Batman to come.

Marvel Comics has given us a black/Latino Spider-Man with Miles Morales, popularised in the Into The Spider-Verse movie. Sam Wilson took on the role of Captain America, reflected in the Avengers: Endgame movie. And Nick Fury has been replaced in the Marvel Universe by his black son, Nick Fury, Jr, reflecting the casting of Samuel L Jackson in the Marvel movies. While in Doomsday Clock, DC Comics’ unauthorised sequel to Watchmen, the new Rorschach is a black man, and son of the original Rorschach’s psychiatrist. It looks like the mainstream DC Comics Universe may be heading in a similar direction with Batman. Could this also find itself reflected in the DC movies?

[Major Matt Mason]

Literally every single white male character is being converted to either a female or black (or non-white) male. Apparently the writers don't have the ability to create new characters.

[YogicCowboy]

How often do they take a non-white-male character and rebirthed it as a heterosexual white male? Can you name one? I used to collect, and I cannot.

Socio-politically, it is a big deal - as they intend, and as reflected by the accommodating values of the young people subverted by such entertainment.

It turns out the “Seduction of the Innocent” [1954] was more accurate and prescient than the leftist media would admit - just as with Joseph McCarthy.

[YogicCowboy]

rebirthed = rebirth.

[YogicCowboy]

Virtually everything in entertainment is socio-political redistribution: away from Caucasian, conservative, Christian, to anything that is not.

[LeonardFMason]

No sale.

[Dr. Sivana]

How often do they take a non-white-male character and rebirthed it as a heterosexual white male? Can you name one? I used to collect, and I cannot.

All comic book superheroes were white during the Golden Age of comics (unfortunately, Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern, was ret-conned as a homo a few years back), so there were no characters to go from Black or Asian to White.

There were only a handful of female super-heroines, mostly knock-offs of the male version (Supergirl, Mary Marvel) but also Black Canary, Lady Liberty and Phantom Lady. As 85% of the comic reading audience was white boys, and 10% white girls, this made sense. It also made sense that the girls also had perfect figures.

One notable exception is the original Red Tornado was a heavy set working woman named Ma Hunkel. Much later on, the Red Tornado returns as a male android.

Non-whites were sometimes relegated to the role of sidekick, the Green Hornet's Kato being the most famous example, and he goes back to the '30s. His heritage changed depending on foreign policy. The Silver Age Green Lantern had an Eskimo sidekick named Pieface.

This is all off the top of my head.

[x]

Just another sign that it's a dying medium and genre.

Chances don't breathe new life into it. They just reveal its exhaustion.

Getting upset about changes only reinforces the illusion that there's some life in the medium/genre.

[a fool in paradise]

Bill Gaines, creator of EC's 'New Trend", Tales From The Crypt, and MAD (among others)

[Exit148]

Will an Asian one be next? Gotta be PC, ya know!

[Phil DiBasquette]

Oh goody! Can Whitekanda be far behind?

[OKSooner]

You sayin’ Batman cain’t be black?

[Secret Agent Man]

Yeah.

No thanks.

All this stupid crap is not groundbreaking smart storytelling.

[txnativegop]

would that movies based on comic books and graphic novels (is there a difference?)came to an end. However, hollyweird has long been out of ideas and so we have the current state of affairs.

[NormsRevenge]

Rev. Al or JE$$e HI_Jackson as MOONbatman works for me.

[Vaquero]

They will rework Dick Tracy I guess.

Big Dick Tracy.

[RArtfulogerDodger]

That is bleeding cool. The only thing better would be a male to female chimera. I mean “transgender.” Yes—an African female-looking Batman.

[Vince Ferrer]

He will be the hero we deserve, but not the one we need. Or asked for, or wanted.

While in Doomsday Clock, DC Comics’ unauthorized sequel to Watchmen, the new Rorschach is a black man, and son of the original Rorschach’s psychiatrist.

This is the only thing that interests me in the article. Rorschach is one of my favorite characters, and his battle with his psychiatrist was one of the great superhero fights ever, even if it was only a battle of ideologies and viewpoints, instead of fists. I'd be interested in seeing his son become a costumed vigilante.

[Steven Tyler]

I put forward someone like Huggy Bear, from the TV show Starsky and Hutch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc6rbEt7Xwc

or Snoop Dog
from the Howard Stern show, lots of profanity, cause that’s Snoops personal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvq6ULRKGCQ

[Fedora]

Will he have a crossover issue with White Lightning?

[RetiredTexasVet]

Why not a Black Asian Latino Female Transgender Fluid Batman?