Marvel has done wonders for Black representation in pop culture. Characters like Storm, Black Panther, Miles Morales and Blade will forever remain iconic. However, Marvel has also made major missteps in this area.
Even though the majority of Marvel’s most popular characters are white, a decent amount of their Black characters have sizable fanbases of their own. 2018’s “Black Panther” would not have made almost $1.35 billion worldwide if the character was not widely beloved. However, Marvel Studios has not done right by the character of T’Challa in recent years.
Chadwick Boseman’s death in 2020 resulted in T’Challa’s death in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When looking at it from the perspective of Marvel Studios and the cast at the time of production, it makes sense that he was killed off. The decision to not recast him was made in an attempt to honor Boseman, and this is understandable.
However, T’Challa should be recast and kept alive in other forms of media. He is too important and beloved of a character to be erased. This is especially true when it comes to young Black males who look up to him for strong representation.
Outside of the films, T’Challa was also not included in 2024’s “X-Men ’97.” It is a revival of the 90s’ “X-Men” animated series. Instead of T’Challa, T’Chaka, his father, was Black Panther in “X-Men ’97.” This did not make sense because T’Challa was established as Black Panther earlier in the same continuity.
Beau DeMayo, creator of “X-Men ’97,” said that this decision was made in response to Boseman’s death.
“Felt too soon to do T’Challa,” said DeMayo. “Put humanity before continuity.”
Even though Boseman’s portrayal was iconic, the character of T’Challa should not die with him.
What makes this situation worse is that Marvel Studios had a similar situation with the character of Thaddeus Ross. William Hurt, the actor that originally played him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, passed away in 2022. However, instead of killing Ross off in the franchise, Marvel Studios recast him, with Harrison Ford playing him in this year’s “Captain America: Brave New World.”
It could be said that Ross is nowhere near as important of a character as T’Challa, and therefore, it is acceptable to have someone else play him. Even if this is the reason why Hurt was replaced, doing this for a white character and not a Black one looks very unfair. Rumors of T’Challa being recast were shut down by Marvel Studios earlier this year, so it seems like this decision will remain.
Speaking of “Captain America: Brave New World,” its production issues also lend credence to Marvel’s mishandling of Black characters. The film was announced in 2021 as the fourth entry in the “Captain America” series and starred Sam Wilson, played by Anthony Mackie, as the new Captain America.
The film’s production issues are notorious. Reshoots, script rewrites and budget increases were among the biggest issues plaguing “Captain America: Brave New World.” Even though these things are a common occurrence in Hollywood filmmaking, they have become more prevalent when it comes to Marvel films in the last 5 years.
The biggest detriment of the film, however, comes from its story and characters. Sam Wilson fought Thaddeus Ross, who turned into the Red Hulk and became the second villain of the film. The main villain was Samuel Sterns, also known as The Leader. The problem with these two being the main villains of the film is that they are Hulk’s villains, not Captain America’s.
Because the Marvel universe is so vast, it could be said that it is acceptable for heroes to fight villains that are not their own. This does happen in Marvel stories, but the way it was done in “Captain America: Brave New World” felt unnecessary and unnatural. Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, faced Captain America villains in all 3 of his films. Because of this, the stories in those films felt true to the character.
Since Sam Wilson does not have nearly as many villains as Steve Rogers, it is believable that Marvel had a harder time figuring out who to have him face off against and how to make the story interesting. However, having the storyline from 2008’s “The Incredible Hulk” continue in his first solo film was the wrong call. It feels like the film was hijacked and made into something that it should not have been.
In light of T’Challa’s death, “Captain America: Brave New World” should have been the showcase for Sam Wilson as the new and definitive Black male hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Instead, it made him feel like a place holder and stepping stone for someone else’s story.
Another example of Marvel not doing their Black characters justice is the way that the protagonist of “Ironheart” is portrayed. “Ironheart” is Marvel Studios’ latest show on Disney+ and premiered on June 24. It stars Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, a tech genius who builds her own suit of Iron Man-like armor and is set up as his successor.
In the series, she needs money to develop her technology further. To get it, she teams up with criminal Parker Robbins, also known as “The Hood” and played by Anthony Ramos. Together with his crew of thieves, they commit crimes and force bosses of big companies to sign over money to them.
Even though it is established that Williams does this because she is not financially well-off, it still comes off as a stereotypical story: Black people stealing and not having a lot of money. The show puts her decisions into perspective in a big way in the finale, but this aspect of the story still felt like retreaded old ground.
Marvel is not perfect when it comes to Black representation but can turn things around in the coming years. It is not too late.
This story was written by Christopher Hayden. He can be reached at christopher.i.hayden@marquette.edu.