In the wee hours of the morning DC Comics blanketed any one who “Likes” Marvel Comics with their timeline for upcoming films. I was having a bit of insomnia, and happened to catch it in my peripheral vision, while posting “Happy Birthday” to friends on Facebook.
At first when I saw the word ‘Comics’, I just thought it was a Marvel announcement, but something said take a look. Low and behold DC was calling me, I liked their page, but have always been more into Marvel Comics magazines. Just as much as any other boy growing up, who among us, didn’t love the DC characters “Superman” and “Batman.” These two were always stand-outs, as I grew into puberty “Wonder Woman” began to take on a special place, I still appreciate the stature of an Amazon statuesque female today – gulp. DC Comics has brought a few Black super-heroes to the table, including “Black Lightning” (that became “Black Vulcan” for television https://museumofuncutfunk.com/2010/12/31/black-vulcan/ ), “Vixen,” “Green Lantern John Stewart,” and soldier “Sgt. Rock.” It was the characters created by Marvel Comics though that stood out for me. There was “The Falcon,” Captain America’s cohort, who first appeared in 1969. As well as the soldier “Gabe Jones,” in the stories of “Nick Fury and his Howling Commandoes,” representing a black character but not a super hero. Nowadays, Sergeant Nick Fury is portrayed by the undeniably black Samuel L. Jackson, but that wasn’t how he was introduced in the pages of the magazine. In 1972, Luke Cage: Power Man debuted in “Hero for Hire,” as the first African-American super hero with his own series. Following Luke Cage, the horror-themed heroes “Blade” and “Brother Voodoo” debuted in 1973 in “Tomb of Dracula” #10 and “Strange Tales” #169 respectively; and the scientist Bill Foster took on the mantel “Black Goliath” in 1975 in “Power Man” #24. That same year, Marvel introduced its first two black female super-heroes with “Misty Knight” and “Storm” from “The X-Men.” Referenced from: http://marvel.com/news/comics/22049/trace_the_lineage_of_marvels_black_super_heroes#ixzz3V7Uggli7
Before all of them however, there was the introduction of the “Black Panther” in 1966. 
He came to life by way of the Fantastic Four, featured in issue #52 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the nuclear distorted clan met, fought, and inevitably teamed up with him. The Black Panther was the ruler of the technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda, better known there, as the great warrior T’Challa. This past October, the Marvel franchise announced that Chadwick Boseman of “42” and “Get On Up” fame, would be the “Black Panther.” The Black Panther will first appear in “Captain America: Civil War,” which is the third installment for the character, following “Captain America: The First Avenger” and “Captain America: Winter Soldier.” UPDATE 5/ 14/ 15: “Selma” director Ava DuVernay is reportedly in the running to direct the “Black Panther” movie… http://www.afropunk.com/profiles/blogs/feature-marvel-courting-ava-duvernay-for-long-awaited-black UPDATE 7/ 4/ 15: DuVernay ops to not direct ‘Panther’ flick http://www.blackfilm.com/read/2015/07/ava-duvernay-not-directing-marvels-black-panther/ Although Marvel Comics is responsible for introducing the Black Super Hero into the “mainstream,” there’s a whole independent initiative that transpired called “Fantastic Blackness,” that created and published several comic books with black super heroes. https://museumofuncutfunk.com/2012/02/28/fantastic-blackness-the-art-and-politics-of-the-super-hero/
Prior to now, new films based on the comic book heroes of the DC franchise had been talked about, but it didn’t feel like anything was going to happen. Undoubtedly a HUGE determining factor in the movement being taken seriously, was the monumental success and embracement of “Man of Steel,” that starred Henry Cavill. A British actor and an instant heart-throb for American women, the success of a film about the ‘Justice League’, totally depends on a successful “Superman” franchise. Like the new “Batman” series of flicks, brilliantly executed by the writing and direction of Christopher and Jonathan Nolan, the new ‘Superman’ movie had a darker presence than that of the campy versions based on both the characters that we grew up on — Christopher was also a writer on “Man of Steel.” 
The next time we see the ‘Man of Steel’ will be in the follow-up “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice,” where Ben Affleck will assume the role of Bruce Wayne, that was recreated by Christian Bale. ‘Batman V Superman’ will introduce “Aquaman,” that will star Hawaiian hunk Jason Momoa, who caught the eyes of many as the character “Khal Drogo” in the HBO series “Game of Thrones.” The full-length “Aquaman” movie won’t hit the silver screen however, until after the first installment, of the first ‘Justice League’ movie. Jared Leto will be the new “Joker” in future DC Comic movies, and Jesse Eisenberg takes on the role of “Lex Luthor” in the next installment of our hero from Krypton http://www.ew.com/article/2015/03/25/jesse-eisenberg-lex-luthor-batman-v-superman-dawn-justice.
In addition to all the major motion pictures coming up based on these comic book heroes, there are now two TV shows derived from DC and Marvel, that is “Gotham” (that stars Jada Pinkett-Smith) and “Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D.” NETFLIX has even gotten into the game, and have taken on the Marvel characters “Daredevil,” “Jessica Jones,” “Iron Fist” and ‘Luke Cage’, which will kick-off on the website next month with ‘Daredevil’. “Daredevil” stars Charlie Cox in the lead role and Vincent D’Onofrio as “Wilson Fisk” a.k.a. “The Kingpin.” At one point Terry Crews was being talked about being cast as ‘Cage’ in the Netflix series, but Mike Colter will be taking on the role instead, as well as appearing in the mini-series “The Defenders” on Netflix.
The Timelines for DC AND Marvel Comic Flicks (click on photos for full view):
From Variety: “In a reboot of the “Spider-Man” franchise, Sony Pictures Entertainment has announced a new partnership with Marvel Studios that brings the popular superhero into the Marvel universe. A new Spider-Man film will hit theaters on July 28, 2017. Sony has owned the feature rights to comic book character since 1999, when Marvel sold them for $7 million. According to the deal, Sony and Marvel will cast a new Spidey after Andrew Garfield starred in the last two films, “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.” Tobey Maguire played Peter Parker in the previous three installments for Sony. Marvel’s Kevin Feige will produce the rebooted Spider-Man with Amy Pascal, who recently stepped down as co-chairman of Sony, in a new producer deal. She oversaw the four-billion dollar Spider-Man franchise for over 13 years at the studio. Sony will continue to distribute, finance, own and have final creative control of the Spider-Man pics. They’ll work with Marvel, owned by Disney, to weave Spider-Man’s character into Marvel’s upcoming superhero films, which includes the popular franchise ‘The Avengers’.” [end Variety] As a result, “Thor: Ragnarok,” originally scheduled for July 28, 2017, will move back three months to November 3, 2017. “Black Panther,” originally set for for November 3, 2017, moves back eight months to July 6, 2018. “Captain Marvel,” originally set for July 6, 2018, moves back four months to November 2, 2018; and “Inhumans,” which was scheduled for November 2, 2018, will move back eight months to July 12, 2019. Isn’t ‘Captain Marvel’ a DC comics hero? — You might be asking yourself right now, and you’d be right, but Marvel has developed a female ‘Captain Marvel’ in order to incorporate a She-Ro into the growing franchise of films — “SHAZAM”! “Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1,” hits theaters on May 4, 2018; and “Avengers: Infinity War Part 2,” the following summer on May 3, 2019, and are expected to incorporate Spider-Man in both.
One Marvel adaptation that’s been kind of under the radar is “Ant-Man.” It will follow the highly anticipated release of “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” that drops in May, this July and will be followed by the re-boot of the “Fantastic Four” in August. Michael B. Jordan will be the new “Johnny Storm” a.k.a. “The Human Torch,” adding another aspect of diversity, to the Marvel comics legacy. Additional Marvel flicks in the pipeline are “Venom” and “The Sinister Six.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI2J9ixAZdw
Black Comic Books… https://museumofuncutfunk.com/2011/10/04/black-comic-book-collection/
Hell Rider Comic Book… https://museumofuncutfunk.com/2011/10/09/what-a-sexy-comic-book-hell-rider-1-circa-1971/
More on the Marvel Super Hero franchise… https://museumofuncutfunk.com/2013/05/07/comic-book-funk-at-the-movies-the-return-of-robert-downey-jr/
Vintage Black Comic Strip… https://museumofuncutfunk.com/2013/12/15/vintage-black-heroes-neil-knight/
Black Super Hero/ Action Figures… https://museumofuncutfunk.com/2014/04/20/figurines/
More on Black Super Heroes and villains from both Marvel & DC comics… http://www.comicvine.com/profile/younggunna/lists/dcmarvels-most-powerful-black-superheroes-villains/32250/
A classic Superman promotional poster on race relations and the American spirit… https://www.facebook.com/Cheezburger/photos/a.246627515405578.57501.246619938739669/815731051828552/?type=1&theater
UPDATE 6/ 3/ 15: News on new Netflix projects featuring Marvel characters Blade, Punisher and Ghost Rider in lieu of Daredevil success. Daredevil is slated for a second season… http://moviepilot.com/posts/3277384-are-blade-ghost-rider-and-punisher-next-for-netflix?lt_source=external,manual
Marvel to renumber everything with new #1s… http://comicbook.com/2015/06/04/marvel-teases-the-post-secret-wars-all-new-all-different-marvel-/ http://comicbook.com/2015/06/04/marvel-teases-all-new-controversial-hulk-return-of-wolverine/
(click on photos for full view)
for the LOVE of movies adapted from Comic Books
c-dub
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