The X-Men comics recently finished one of its most successful eras. Dubbed the Kraoka Era, it was divisive for all the right reasons. It drew in people tired of pleading to be accepted by society. It captured fans tired of seeing minority characters killed off. The biggest critique came from people who felt the X-Men were no longer heroes because they weren’t sacrificing themselves to assimilate into a society that hated them.
For those unfamiliar, the X-Men are a superhero team of mutants. Creators and fans are aware of the mutant metaphor, which symbolizes oppressed groups. Throughout history, this idea has been applied to Jewish people, Black people, the LGBTQ community, and any group who has felt ostracized or hated by mainstream society.
The Krakoan Era started in 2019 when so many people were tired of rolling over. People were tired of trying to “go high” while evil prevailed. There was an urge to fight back.
The books were cathartic and developed many new fans and communities. The creative room was far from perfect, but it was more diverse and united than any other X-office with writers like Tini Howard, Vita Ayala, and Leah Williams playing pivotal roles in developing this new landscape.
The five-year period wasn’t perfect, but there was a passion and a warmth about the books rarely found in mainstream American comics.
Then, Krakoa suddenly rushed to an end and Tom Brevoort, the new editor, stepped forward. It became clear rather quickly that he took issue with the previous era.
He felt death shouldn’t be taken off the table. The current X-Men era has only been running for a few months and multiple characters have already died, a large percentage of them minority women.
Fans also noticed quickly that the main teams were very white, and Black men were nowhere to be found.
Where are the Black men?
When asked about diversity in the X-Men comics Brevoort said:
“just because there are some particular types of characters that I see a deficit of in the X-Line (I wish there were more viable black male characters, for example) that doesn’t mean that those deficits are going to be immediately addressed. They become more of a general guidepost for development as we go.” -source
Although the Krakoan era comics were some of the best-selling books each month, it is no secret many traditional comic readers complained about them being too woke. Woke, as we all know, means diversity.
When I read this, it felt like he was trying to place those people at ease. “See, we are giving the comics back to the straight White guy.” Now, I admit this is likely a hostile read.
The more innocent read, especially knowing Brevroot’s main goal is making money, is that Black men are not popular characters. There is some truth to this.
If we are talking about Black men who have served on an official X-Men team, the number is limited. If we are talking about Black men who are born in America, the number is minuscule. We are looking at two or three depending on how you qualify them, and none of them have mainstream success outside of comics.
Storm
Storm is one of the most popular X-Men. She was easily the most popular Black character at Marvel until the movie franchise. She lead the X-Men through most of the 80s as a Black woman. Of course, many writers seem to work on a quota, so Storm would often take up the spot for the one Black character.
Interesting note, although Storm was born in America, she grew up in Africa. Most Black mutants were born outside of the United States. This has always stood out to me, and it is a little annoying for a book usually based in New York.
Bishop and Sunspot
Bishop and Sunspot are probably the next most famous Black X-Men. Bishop is of Aboriginal Australian descent and a time cop. A Black man from the future who is also a cop didn’t really speak to me as a youth.
Sunspot is Brazilian and if you asked anyone who only knows him from his cartoon and movie appearances, they wouldn’t know he was Black. Sunspot, maybe more than any other character, is a victim of whitewashing. Creators constantly feel a need to erase his Blackness. He also comes from a rich Brazilian family, and for young me, he still didn’t connect with my Black experiences.
Synch
In 1994, Synch was introduced and joined a side team known as Generation X. Synch was an American teenager and was introduced while being targeted by the police. It was a bit cliche, but I was immediately drawn to him. This attachment grew when I realized Synch was not the common stereotype of the 90s. He was calm, resourceful, and talented. He outperformed his teammates in most mental tasks and quickly became a leader for his team. I remember being particularly hooked because his intelligence was a defining trait but he wasn’t a Steve Urkel clone. He felt like a real Black character, something nerdy media rarely got right in the 90s.
In many ways, I saw myself in Synch. So, of course, they killed him. He was the only member of Generation X to die in their book.
Darwin
Darwin is worth mentioning as one of the few Black American men to be considered an X-Men. His power is to adapt to every situation and he was killed in his one movie appearance unable to adapt. (Yes, it is as confusing and frustrating as it sounds.)
Prodigy
Prodigy is the one Black man who hasn’t disappeared after the Kroaka era. This is due to Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing, the writers of NYX. Most of the post-Krakoa books had a relatively specific outline, but Kelly and Lanzing had some freedom and immediately snatched up Prodigy.
Although it isn’t a main X-Men book, seeing at least one Black man somewhere in the X-universe is nice.
For those who follow superhero comics, you may have heard the joke about all Black characters having lightning powers. However many you are thinking of, it is more than that. There are so many of them.
Luckily, Synch, Darwin, and Prodigy don’t fall into this trap. However, they fall into another one. They don’t really have their own powers. They all kind of “steal” from people around them. With them being some of the few Black Americans on the X-Men, there is something too on the nose here.
Synch uses other people’s powers.
Prodigy gains the knowledge and skills of anyone around him.
Darwin changes based on his environment.
This also makes them hard to stand out when a character like Rogue is one of the most popular X-Men characters. (Rogue’s power is similar to Synch’s.)
I can see why Brevroot feels Black men aren’t popular, but it is also up to the writers to make them popular. The Krakoan era did an excellent job with this.
They brought Synch back to life and officially placed him on the main X-Men team for the first time. The readers watched him grow and eventually become the leader of the team. He was one of the hottest characters coming out of the Krakoa era.
So, where is he now? He isn’t popular enough? This is why it is hard for me to take Brevroot’s comments seriously.
Making excuses for the lack of diversity is easy, especially in nerd culture. So many characters and heroes were established in a time when Black people were still barely considered human. It is so easy to step backward when so much of America is doing so at this very moment.
However, this is more reason to march forward. Characters become popular because they are used. Storm is one of the most popular characters because she was the star of the comics in the 80s. She is in almost every adaptation. It is the job of creators and editors like Tom Brevroot to make these characters popular. It has been done many times before. The real question is, what is stopping them now?
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of LG Ware's work on Medium.