The Forgotten Racist Backstories Of Marvel Superheroes

Comic book covers
Via Pxfuel
Leslie Taylor-Grover
September 27, 2021

Marvel superheroes were originally created from a horrendous combination of white supremacy and good old-fashioned American racism – from the superheroes to the awful backstories on Black characters. It’s actually ridiculous when you look into it! Here are just a few examples.

Whitewash Jones was an ally of Captain America, with his own squad of young people who fought bad guys. But why were his powers eating watermelon and playing the harmonica? And he was dressed like a blackface minstrel, too!

The Falcon may have been Captain America’s peer, but that didn’t stop white writers from dressing him like a pimp and painting him as a thug and killer! They never called him a pimp directly, but we know a pimp when we see one.

Black Mariah wasn’t only a drug dealer and thief, but she was head of a gang of other Black villains. Oh, and she was also giving serious “mammy” vibes in the earliest depictions of Marvel stories.

Old-school comic book heroes are the subjects of movies that target our dollars. Before we hand over our money, we need to demand they show HONEST portrayals of the incredible people that we are – and not stereotypes!

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