Favorite Black animated characters?

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vlemich

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In light of Martin Luther King Day earlier this week (and February bringing Black History Month), I was planning on writing a series of blog posts about popular/noteworthy Black* cartoon characters. While I thought of various ones I like, I thought I'd ask here: who're your favorite Black animated characters?

(* I used "Black" instead of "African-American", as some of the characters I had in mind aren't American---for instance, Black Panther from Marvel Comics fame is African, while Wyatt in "6Teen" and Leshawna from "Total Drama" are Canadian).

To add a few of mine:
Valerie Brown (Josie & the Pussycats): American TV's first recurring Black female cartoon character, Valerie's highly intelligent (she can understand the evil scientist-du-jour's instructions) and, of course, can sing!

Static (Milestone Comics/"Static Shock"): While I liked reading about Icon in the original Milestone run, I did enjoy watching Static on TV (including the meetings with Batman, the "Soul Power" episode, etc.).

Fat Albert: A childhood favorite (and maybe the longest-running TV show with a black cartoon character?), Fat Albert at the time was fun, if highly limited animated (as "Animaniacs" amusingly made fun of).

Any others?
 
I've got a couple:

Roadblock (original G.i.Joe) - loved how he spoke in rhymes. He truly got a chance to shine in the original animated G.I.Joe:The Movie.

John Stewart/Green Lantern (Justice League) - While he probably wouldn't win a fan favorite Green Lantern award, the creators of Justice League did a really nice job using John Stewart as the league's G.L.
 
Of all african-american cartoon characters, in my opinion and all due respect to all others, Fat Albert and his friends clearly top them all. Let's add a several honorable mentions:

Dee Dee Sykes from Captain Caveman

Philo Quartz from later episodes of The Flintstones(1979 on)

Black Vulcan and Cyborg from The Superfriends

Winston Zeddmore from The Real Ghostbusters

The Globetrotters, various animated incarnations

James Rhodes from Iron Man

Turbo from Rambo

That only continues, but I just can't name all of them at once.
 
May I suggest Buckwheat from Hanna-Barbera's version of The Little Rascals. Among other things, he built complex machines, such as a voice-activated robot, from found materials.
 
Being black (and a comic fan) I'm interested in this subject. My personal faves are...

Storm (X-Men Evolution version);
Claudia Grant (Robotech);
Gigantic Man & Microwoman (one of the few married superheros);
Black Panther (the two Avengers movies)
 
My personal faves:

Black Panther (Avengers: EMH)
Diana, the Acrobat (Dungeons and Dragons cartoon)
Storm (X-Men Evolution) & (X-Men TAS)
Yoruichi Shihouin (Bleach)
Claudia Grant (Robotech)
Afro (Afro Samurai)
Caska (Berserk)
Michiko (Michiko to Hatchin)
Huey (The Boondocks)
Zodak (He-Man and the Masters of the Universe 2002)
Vixen (Justice League Unlimited)
Stalker (G.I.Joe:A Real American Hero)
:)
 
John Stewart (Justice League) - I'd never heard of him before and was upset they weren't using Hal Jordan, but I very quickly warmed up to him and he became one of my favorite characters.

Winston Zeddemore (The Real Ghostbusters) - Often overlooked probably because he joined the team later on and wasn't a scientist, but just as important as the other three, IMO.

Al Simmons (Spawn) - The guy went to Hell and back and agreed to lead Hell's army just for the chance to see his wife one last time. That's love.

Stalker (G.I. Joe) - Although never really a main player beyond the Mass Device mini-series, he was a tough guy who I found much more believable as a soldier than goofy rhyming Roadblock. (No offense, ABrown. :D )
 
Stalker was cool. Pretty much all the Joes were more enjoyable during the first two mini-series(es). Even Doc was pretty cool during Mass and Revenge Of Cobra, you could add him to the list as well.
 
If you mean the characters from Filmation's Tarzan and the Super 7 (CBS, 1978), I think they were Superstretch and Microwoman, a.k.a. Chris and Christy Cross.
 
Heh, I'm in that same EXACT boat... ANYWAY

John Stewart (Justice League/Unlimited): I think his occupation was different in comics, but making him a military man was a stroke of genius. Although his presence seemed like forced diversity at first, he really came to be his own character rather than the token black as time passed on.

Roderick Kingsley (Spectacular Spider-Man): Yes it is sad that a character who only appeared in one episode of a cancelled show is one of my favorite black characters in animation, and add that to the fact that he's actually white in comics, but you kinda get a feel for him. The small moments we did have with him showed cleverness (outwitting crimelord represntatives). It's not often that you would see a black villain for a white hero in a superhero show. Also, by villain I mean an actual bad person, not just raised in poor living conditions.

Storm (any incarnation): I've actually enjoyed Storm in almost all animated adaptions...even the hammy 90's storm who overacted every word she spoke. Too bad Wolverine and the X-Men didn't give her much face time
 
Baldwin "Bulletproof" Vess from C.O.P.S. I was never a big fan of the show but Bulletproof's design and personality just said "Badass" to me. And black characters in leadership roles were kinda rare in cartoons back then if I remember right.

Also Elisa Maza (Half black, half Native-American) from Gargoyles, another cool black cop.

Cyborg from Teen Titans
 
I'm black and my top favorite black animated characters, if villains counts too besides the heroes:

Lt. Uhura(Star Trek:The Animated Series/The Simpsons/Family Guy/Futurama/Robot Chicken) - The best/hottest sci-fi black chick character character ever which her roles in Futurama/Robot Chicken were hilarious.

Countdown(Double Dragon) - He was such a cool black supervillain from that awesome fighting game series with a nice design, but the poor guy along with his friends were such punching bags of the series.

Glasses(Gargoyles) - Cool black villain henchman of Tony's with a nice evil personality, but funny when he got grabbed by the head by Broadway, hahahahaha.

Tessa and Vanessa/Ms. Stark/Mr. Clapper(Pepper Ann) - They were great/funny black characters, but Tessa and Vanessa were pretty hot along with their silly gossiping chemistries voiced by Cree Summer.Mr. Clapper voiced by James Avery was great as well.

Mr. Death(Mad Jack the Pirate) - Funny when the writers turned him into a black guy lawyer instead of a cloaked skeleton, hahahaha.

Miranda(As Told By Ginger) - Courtney's popular friend who's a great hot black villainess who's Ginger's worst arch enemy.

The Samurai(Samurai Jack) - He was a funny/annoying black samurai bully for Samurai Jack which his lines and defeat were hilarious thanks to David Alan Grier:anime:.

Bootes Belinda(Loonatics:Unleashed) - Awesome black mannequin singer supervillain voiced by the famous Bootsie Collins!!!!!

Devon(D.J.) and Mrs. Joseph/LeShawna/Chef/LeShawna's friend(Total Drama Island/Action/World Tour)- Cool tall/gentle black guy who's funny/cowardly and has bad luck with the cute animals, the poor guy and his sweet mother rocks.Awesome/sassy hot black girl who's a great girlfriend for Harold while kicking Heather/Duncan's butt which is satisfying.Chris's psycho ex-military sadistic partner whose chemistries with Chris are funny.LeShawna's hot friend was interesting, I hope to see more of her.

Dr. Facilier(The Princess and the Frog) - Awesome/funny evil black voodoo magician/fortune teller villain voiced by Keith David!!!!

Lenny(Fanboy and Chum Chum) - The poor black junior manager of the Frosty Mart was such a punching bag for Fanboy and Chum Chum's dorky/crazy antics, I always feel sorry for him.

Yoruichi/Kaname Tousen/Yammy/Halibel/Zommari/Gantenbainne/Szayel's black Fraccion/Mila-Rose(Bleach) - They were awesome powerful black characters while Yoruichi/Halibel/Mila-Rose are the most hottest anime black chicks ever created:anime::D, but Kaname Tousen's death from the monster Sousuke Aizen was sad though.

Villetta/Black King/Black King's black mobster henchman/Dorothea(Code Geass:Lelouch of the Rebellion) - They were pretty cool black villains which Villetta is hot and her character development/relationship with Ougi was sweet, Black King is the first black mafia boss that I've seen, and poor Dorothea, that hot black chick of Suzaku's Knights of the Round had one episode appearance and a sad death.

Satajito/Nejula(Birdy the Mighty Decode) - Awesome new black characters who's a power-hungry/megalomanical/sadistic corporate scumbag and a really sexy heartless/uncaring black goddess.

Bozu and Sue/Sho/Zato/Gato and Zato's black Naked Mummy wizard henchman/Brain(Fairy Tail) - They were cool powerful black wizard villains from that awesome comedy/adventure series.
 
The wha...? Claire Brewster wasn't black. :confused:



You're right about Tessa and Vanessa James, but Milo Kamalani, while awesome and funny, was not African-American; he was Hawaiian.
 
John Stewart/Green Lantern from Justice League & JLU. He got the most character development and of anyone in those two shows, and IMO had the second best powers (superspeed FTW).

I even enjoyed his romantic story arc with Hawkgirl & Vixen, I have to admire how he didn't want fate to determine his choices.

Oh, and Huey from The Boondocks. Something about a 10-year old being the smartest person on the show and not being able to complete his missions due to not being able to get a ride is awesome and humorous.
 
Yes, I'm Black as well (if you're wondering :-p )...

Looks like John Stewart is the most popular choice (already was planning on including him in my list, but not surprised at the response).

I'll also throw in...

Jackie (Cyberchase): The most melodramatic of the Cybersquad, but has her strengths.

Dr. Hibbert (The Simpsons): he had his moments in the show's run, plus not many other African-American characters on The Simpsons to choose from (Carl? Janey? Lou? :-p )... or on Fox's "Animation Domination" from what I can tell (aside from "The Cleveland Show" which I guess I have to include on a "prominent Black characters" list by default---the first primetime animated sitcom on broadcast TV with a Black character as the star, yes?---despite disliking its parent series "Family Guy").
 
I'll also like to mention Tombstone from The Spectacular Spider-Man. Awesome villain. Awesome design. Awesome voice, etc.

Also, the new Aqualad from Young Justice has grown on me.
 
He probably would be mentioned if Cleveland's character on "The Cleveland Show" was a little bit more likable than his role on Family Guy. He's pretty much an unlikable jerk. I liked Cleveland back on Family Guy. He was a more nice character.

As for other black characters, I also say Huey Freeman from The Boondocks. There's something about him being the straight man to everyone's problem on the show that I like. That and he does have a good grasp on the world around him. He's going sane in a crazy world.
 
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