The Falcon

The Falcon (Sam "Snap" Wilson) is a Marvel Comics character that has been pretty much every kind of token African American character needed. He's been the angry Black man, the near powerless street fighter, and the token sidekick. He's been forced onto the Avengers super team because of their lack of minority members. Can anyone say Affirmative Action? He's even worked for the mob and been a pimp but that was all before he met Captain America.

Sam was brainwashed and planted for Captain America to find and befriend by the Red Skull. After that, he took the name Falcon and spent his time between the cleaning up the streets of Harlem and playing attache to Captain America. Through the relationship with Captain America, he went on to playing a bigger role in the heroic community including joining America's premier superteam, the Avengers, and working with S.H.I.E.L.D. on many occasions. Because he was brainwashed into becoming a good guy, the memories of his former life have come to the surface more than once but he remains a hero in good standing.


His abilities are that of an highly trained, gymnastic athlete with two exceptions. He has the ability to mentally communicate with birds, a bond that is strongest with his bird companion Redwing. He also has a complicated retractable flying apparatus that provides him with a variety of aerial combat capabilities besides just flying. The latest set was provided by fellow hero and benefactor, the Black Panther.

This character has little obvious impact on the Marvel Comicbook Universe but he has been around since late 1969. He is trustyworthy, caring, and quite heroic but ultimately uninteresting. His abilities are limited but I guess flight added to the ability to kick ass is enough. Considering the era this character was introduced credit does have to be given to the fact that he has stood the test of time. There are action figures of his likeness out there and he even made it to the Marvel animated universe during the short-lived Avengers: United They Stand animated series. Here's a look:

Black, Animated, and Not Quite Human

Growing up on comics and TV, most of all the Black Superheroes had the word "Black" in their name. There was Black Panther, Black Lightning, Black Vulcan, Black Goliath, and the original Black Power Ranger to name a few. They made sure you knew who the Black ones were. Then there were these other Superheroes that everybody knew were black but that fact wasn't played up so much, maybe because they weren't exactly human. Remember Panthro from the Thundercats? Yet another Black Panther. He was the technical one. His weapons were the Nunchucks and he never seemed to get angry, preferring to kick your butt politely. No one seemed to be in a hurry to upset him though.
My personal favorite is Hong Kong Phooey. He was voiced by the irreplaceble Scatman Crothers all those years ago and Hong Kong Phooey hasn't spoken another animated word since which is a damn shame. The character wasn't too bright but he always won in the end and the people worshiped him. Even getting run over by him was an honor. Scatman also did the voice of one of the original Transforming Autobots, Jazz. He was among the first to die in the original Transformers animated movie. The character has since been redone over and over again but has always portrayed to be the essence of style and cool. Can you think of any others?