Does Marvel hate Masculine Black Men?

From the title you can see that I'm not asking a rhetorical question. Then again, depending on your thoughts about Marvel and its history with masculine Black men; it just maybe a little more than that. Why such a polarizing question? Because, its a polarizing subject. Marvel, like America in general has issues with masculine Black men. Lets keep it a stack, masculine Black men scare people. Its scares white folks, and unfortunately it even scares booklicks in our own populus. When someone is masculine that person is simply showing traits that are traditionally attributed to men and boys. However, the PR program of certain groups has made masculinity a toxic trait. Words like toxic masculinity get throwed around like a balloon at a sporting event. So there has been this "effort" to feminize Black men or to make them "soft". Let's keep it real. Black men traditionally have been considered by the society as threatening. Our size, the color of our skin, the mannerisms of traditional (free) Black men have always been a problem for white society. Is it possible for this same white society to approach entertainment and fandom in a similar way? If so, how. Subtleness.

Marvel made the 2022 movie Wakanda Forever under director Ryan Coogler a "tribute" to the passing of Chadwick Boseman. Millions of Black Panther fans trauma bonded for nearly 3 hours. They were made to witness to King T'Challa's funeral, followed by a troubling funeral of Queen Romonda later on. My brothers Paul and Otis and I as well as others have discussed the truth about Black Panther on screen. The Black Panther in the movies is different than the Black Panther in the comics. It is not even close. While we salute and honor Chadwick Boseman for his noble efforts in embodying the character, the Black Panther fans of the comics know that King T'Challa in the comics books is way more aggresive and his skills as a tactician are unmatched. There was a lot deference to Shuri from the beginning. No one has a problem with this except Marvel took away the ripe opportunity to give young boys a Black masculine hero to emulate and be inspired by. No one in general can refute this. America has taught us since Cripus Attucks, that our Black men, heroes or not are supposed to die. The comic books for Black Panther have been almost the same. The 15 issue run of Black Panther written by John Ridley was not stellar. While many of my brothers have cursed this run to adnauseam, I do think it was run where Ridley was trying to hold up a mirror to Black America and particularly Black men. It was lost in translation and in communication by many who viewed Ridley's run as an assault on the character itself (all of course at the sanction of Marvel comics slash studios). The weakness and brokeness of T'Challa was devestating to observe, which I personally believe was the point. However, with respect to my fellow Black Panther fans, especially the hardcore. That was simply trash and nothing more. Regardless, we saw the masculinity of T'Challa attacked and steps through Eve Ewing's 10 issue run tried to (salvage or save face if you will) but personally it failed as well. An introduction of a transgender character into the story pulled focus from T'Challa's redemption arc into something else. (Draw your own conclusions). Suffice to say that this story arc tried to convince the reader that T'Challa is so much more than the King of Wakanda. I give it a C plus for effort. Truthfully from a pecking order perspective which is a masculine view of matters, there are gods, then kings, and then others. That is it. Trying to pull inspiration from a character who was exiled from the kingdom he is suppose to rule and protect is crazy. You cannot protect what you do not guide or rule. Period.

Let us shift gears to Blade. A complex character with a simple mission. Kill Vampires. However, for whatever reason efforts to make the next Blade movie have been terrible. Multiple writers and directors have either been fired or jumped ship. At this point, why even bother? It has gotten so bad that even the original Blade actor, Wesley Snipes has weighed in on the fiasco. Marvel's far left leaning has crippled itself. Blade is a straight shooter type character. He is complex but there's really no nuaunce to his mission. He is not an Alpha male but a Sigma male. A lone wolf who is committed to his task and carries it out without fanfare because in his life, its just not necessary. However, like T'Challa they want to neuter this character and they know that to do so, would be character assassination. They can kind of play around with T'Challa but with Blade, they cannot because its central to his character in the modern setting. Attempts to produce stories have proven to not pass the smell test and Mahershala Ali who is playing Blade is not going out like a poot butt. They must do it right because Ali does not want to be the guy who clipped Blade and made him a shell of himself. Not happening. Yet, of course this is coming from a masculine man who is confident in his abilities on screen and off. I asked the question, does marvel hate masculine Black men for a reason. Historically we all saw those Black Goliath covers where the Black giant was always being knocked out by the villian or by his own heroic brother Luke Cage. It has been so bad, its been a running joke among Black men who are comic book fans. I wont even discuss Sam Wilson's Cap. Marvel's shell game regarding this character is bothersome. There is something wrong when you take an original character and make them a legacy character. Yet, some would say this a leg up versus a step down. There's a lot of meat on that bone but I'm not interested in tackling that porterhouse steak. Does Marvel hate masculine Black men? They certainly don't love us and while some may consider hate as the opposite of love, I remind you it is not. The opposite of love is not hate, it is fear. So, there's that to consider. -Richard J Wright