The world might be getting a black Captain America.
Disney+ just launched its second Marvel miniseries, “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” spinning off two characters from the world-encompassing Marvel Cinematic Universe. One aspect the six-episode series will explore is the consequences of the African-American Falcon (Anthony Mackie) having been handed Captain America’s shield at the end of 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame.”
Falcon’s turn in the famous stars-and-stripes costume is just the latest in an increasingly wide range of black superheroes, and could be a big symbolic step forward.
“Captain America was conceived to intentionally represent the nation, to literally embody it, and America’s self-conception has always been presented as white — as well as male, straight, able-bodied and so on,” Jeffrey A. Brown, a professor of Popular Culture at Bowling Green State University, told The Post.
“It is important that all of the abstract ideas that we have assumed define America — heroism, righteousness, strength, perseverance, morality, compassion, exceptionalism — have historically been symbolized exclusively by white male characters,” Brown said. “Recasting Captain America as a black man is a major step toward … showing that a black man is capable of representing all the same positive qualities we associate with America.”
Such a move would have been unimaginable in 1966, when Black Panther — the comic world’s first mainstream black superhero — made his debut.
Panther was created by Marvel editor Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and both men later said they were motivated by the realization that there were almost no non-white characters in comics.
The character first appeared in the 52nd issue of “Fantastic Four,” bounding his way across the cover, marking a leap forward for superhero diversity and a brave move by Marvel.
Only, even while making an important statement, the team at Marvel were careful to pull their punches.
Kirby initially drew a different costume than the one we all now know: the one featured in the 2018 film. Instead of a full mask covering his face, Kirby drew the Panther with a half mask that left the bottom of his face exposed.
Legend has it that someone at Marvel got cold feet about placing an obviously African superhero on its cover for fear of a backlash, and Kirby was ordered to redraw the cover, this time with the mask covering Panther’s entire face.
For years, comic book companies and movie studios have been reticent to put non-white heroes front and center.
“They’ve been selling a myth that female superheroes and black superheroes won’t sell on-screen,” said Sheena Howard, author of the new book “Why Wakanda Matters.” “With [2017’s] ‘Wonder Woman’ and ‘Black Panther,’ we see that’s just a myth that’s been sold to us. If they treat black superheroes the same way they treat white superheroes and give them the quality, resources and support, they can be successful.”
Several high-profile black superheroes have emerged during the last several years, including Miles Morales from 2018’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” Javicia Leslie as the titular heroine in the latest season of The CW’s “Batwoman” and, most recently, Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), an African-American military woman who gained superpowers in the Marvel series “WandaVision.”
Even still, Mackie — prepping for a historic role as the potentially first black Captain America — has said he’s aware of the pressure involved in playing a high-profile black superhero.
“I didn’t want to be the face of the first Marvel franchise to fail,” he recently told Variety. “Like, ‘See? We cast the black dude, and now this s–t is awful.’ That was a huge fear of mine, and also a huge responsibility with playing a Marvel character.”
Rumor has it that the granddaddy of all superheroes is also in for a change. Producer J.J. Abrams and writer Ta-Nehisi Coates are reportedly planning a new Superman movie that will star a person of color. The move could open the character to new angles.
“We get tired of the same white, male, heterosexual superheroes, good vs. evil storylines that honestly don’t have the nuance or complexity that a person of color, or a black person, could bring to a storyline, because there’s a lot of historical nuance you could play off of,” Howard said.
“I think it is an interesting idea, but risks being accused of not being the ‘real’ Superman,” said Brown, whose new book is “Panthers, Hulks and Ironhearts: Marvel, Diversity and the 21st Century Superhero.” “He could be seen as a knock-off or just a PC publicity stunt.”
For now, audiences can tune in next week to see the latest African-American hero get the spotlight in “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”
“Sam Wilson, as played by Mackie, is different than a Thor or a Black Panther, because he’s not from another planet or a king from another country,” Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige told Variety.
“He’s an African-American man … Mackie was excited to dig into it as this man, this black man in particular, in the Marvel version of the world outside our window.”