Why Does Marvel Not Have Any Black Women Super Heros?

Remember the movie Blade; probably not. Blade was a movie about a man who was part vampire and human; he was black and in the movies played by Wesley Snipes. Although his movies managed to make their money back in the box office, they hardly pulled in much. However this was also a time when most Marvel movies weren't fairing so well in the box office: X-Men, DareDevil, and DC wasn't doing any better, remember Cat Woman? But once Blade left the theatres, he left the mind and hearts of many. But then here came Black Panther!

Black Panther was actually first introduced within the mid to late 1960's. He was created after the creator gain inspiration from the Black Panther Party of that time. It wasn't until the Captain American(2016) movie when people first got a glimpse of him, and the crowd went wild! Black Panther stole the movie for many especially those in the black community. Black youth rarely see any body who resembles them on the screen, and when it finally happened, it was too much to hold back. The character was also introduced while the American country was being ripped apart by police shootings said to be racially motivated. Black Panther became an sensation over night, and soon Hollywood jumped on the band wagon and green lighted a Black Panther movie for 2018, and again, the crowd goes wild!

Netflix has finally announced Luke Cage coming to the streaming service site. No one was holding back the fact Luke Cage will be the first black male super hero to get his own show, yes, he will be the lead character. This is great times to be a black man in Marvel, but where are the women?

Wonder Woman is DC's first movie where a woman is the lead. Back to Marvel, there was Fantastic Four with Sue Storm but to say the least, she's probably the weakest out of the bunch. She can only turn invisible, so without those three other men in the group, not much would get accomplished for defeating Dr. Doom.

Nonetheless, Wonder Woman had her own show in the early 70's along side of Flash, Superman, and Batman; it would seem DC is doing better when it comes to introducing more diverse characters to the screen, but for so many years to past without one woman being the lead in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is depressing.

The year 2014 would be the change of Marvel and female characters we've been waiting for. (White) female characters began getting more lime light such as in shows like S.H.E.L.D and Agent Carter. Although ABC announced Agent Carter was canceled, it was still a good move by Marvel, and there's still hope Netflix will take the show in later years. Jessica Jones did extremely well on Netflix in 2015, and though a second season won't air until 2018, she still managed to to be number 23 in Netflix Top 50.

But where are the Black girls? And other women of color?

Black women are finally slowly being introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For the comic Marvel universe, Marvel hired their first black writer. She's black, she's queer, and she's here. To many out there, this might come as a shock. It was never known who Marvel had writing for them, or drawing for them even if the heros who were popping out were mostly white, but now, it's known they hadn't had a black female writer until now. Many are stunned, and are asking the question, why? Why did it take so long to hire a black female writer?

Maybe the answer to this is the same answer many were questioning about Hollywood and their lack of black actors in nontraditional or non stereotypical shows/movies. Hollywood responded by saying many black people weren't showing up to the auditions. Maybe the same can be said for Marvel, maybe black women weren't applying for the job. They have female writers and drawers such as the woman who is in charge of Ms. Marvel, the comic about the Muslim teenager. But Roxanne Gay didn't apply for the job, she was asked to join the team by Ta Nehisi, the developer of the comic Black Panther.

But things are looking better for Marvel with the introductions of new black female super heros, as well as other women of color such as Latinas, and Asians. In fact, the new Iron Man is a black college student who is 15; her name is Riri Williams and she has an genius IQ. There's also the female version of Black Panther. There's Spectrum, Shard, and a lot more! Here's a incomplete list:

Black Females:

Riri Williams
Misty knight
The female black panther
Spectrum (led the avengers)
M
Silhouette
Shard
The second angel
Cecilia reyes
Debrii

Latin Females:

Spider-girl 2
Echo
Firebird
Feral
White tiger
Ms America
Silverclaw
Tempest
Tarantula
Slingshot
LA lunatica

Asian Females:

Ms. Marvel
Colleen Wing
Mantis
Dust
Jubilee

It is sure that list will continue to grow and since Netflix will be streaming the Iron Fist show soon, we can expect to see his love interest, Misty Knight!