Category Archives: Black Superheroes

Maximum

 maximum

Real Name:  Maxwell Williams

Publisher: DC Comics

Created by: Fabian Nicieza and Doug Braithwaite

1st appearance: Supermen of America vol. 2 #1, (March 2000)

Nationality: American

Team Affiliations: Supermen of America

Legal Status: Unknown

Height: 5’11                     Weight: 190 lbs

Eyes: Brown                       Hair: Black

Relatives: Unnamed Parents

Skills and abilities: Military training in armed and unarmed combat.

Powers: Outfitted by Lex Luther with a device that allows him to maximize his bodies potential for speed, strength, senses etc to superhuman levels. His limitation is that he can only maximize one ability at a time.

Biography

Maxwell Williams was a promising young athlete in high school whose prospects were derailed when he was injured in a car accident. He would have remained a quadriplegic if not for Lex Luthor’s Lexcorp providing experimental treatment which had the side effect of giving him superhuman abilities. With his powers he fought crime in the suicide Slum under the alias of Maximum. [Supermen of America Vol.2 #1, 2000]

He was alter recruited by the Supermen of America where he became possessed by “the unimaginable” endowing him with godlike abilities with which he attempted to ake Metropolis into a Utopia and fought his teammates. His parents later convinced him to relinquish this new power and he remained with the team until the events of Infinite Crisis.

He has not been seen in the new 52.


Michael Collins

Michael Coins/Deathstroke

Michael Collins/Deathstroke

 

 Created by:  Dwayne McDuffie, Gregory Wright,  and Jackson Guice                                                           

1st appearance: Michael Collins version- Deathlok #1 (limited series) 1990

Nationality: American

Universe: Earth-616

Team Affiliations: Freelance Shield Agent; Secret Defenders; Wild Pack

Alias: Robot Vigilante; Doctor Donut

Origin: Deathlok #1 (1990); Deathlok #13 (1991)

Legal Status: unknown

Eyes: Brown (as Collins);  Right- Brown Left- Yellow (as Deathlok)    

Hair: Brown  (as Collins);  Light Brown (as Deathlok); 

Height: 6’1” (as Collins);   7”2”  (as Deathlok); 

Weight: 200lbs (as Collins); 825lbs (as Deathlok)

Relatives: Tracy Collins (wife) Nick Collins (son) Patricia Collins (daughter) Bill Collins (brother) Arlene (sister-in-law)  

Skills and abilities: Ph.D. in prosthetic/neuroscience, Master’s degree in computer science; educated in cybernetics

Powers: Collins’ human brain was transplanted into the Deathlok Cyborg by a group of scientist at Cybertek. The cyborg body grants him superhuman strength, speed, and resistance to injury. He possesses a broad spectrum of auditory and visual powers in his cybernetic left ear and eye. He has limited organic parts which are supported by nanotech assemblers which can repair the organics, and is responsible for adapting Collins’ facial structure to match his human structure. His skeleton is adamantium, while his muscles and cartilage are a flexible steel/adamantium alloy. He can lift up to 150 tons but is prevented from doing so by his computer to prevent injury. He maintains a strength level of 85 tons. Deathlok can also run up to 107 MPH on foot. He possesses a sophisticated A.I. which is capable of making complex strategies and evaluating their outcome. The A.I. also can take over the cyborg if requested and perform operations. The A.I. also has an extensive data base of combat techniques and strategies as well as gives Collins computer-guided combat routines, which make him an excellent hand-to-hand combatant, and gives him proficiency over any kind of weapon. The A.I. also gives him the ability to target and track multiple objects. He has the ability to infiltrate any computer system by direct interface, and project his consciousness onto the Net. He carries a plasma pistol which draws its energy for from his controlled fusion generator, which powers him. The weapon only fires when in contact with the outlets in Deathlok’s hand.  He also possesses a Plasma Grenade Launcher as well as a powerful Plasma Rifle, but due to the “no killing parameter” installed by Collins, he rarely uses these and keeps them stored in his backpack. He once possessed an adamantium/vibranium alloy helmet, but got rid of it when he discovered it could be used to wrest control of the cyborg from him.

Biography:

Michael Collins had a great life. He had a loving family and a high paying and rewarding job working for Cybertek; a division of Roxxon Oil. When he discovered that his work which he thought was going to help people who needed prosthetics, was really going to a secret project for a cybernetic killing machine called the “Deathlok Project” he went to his boss and friend Harlan Ryker. Ryker, who was also in charge of several other clandestine projects with military applications, instead betrayed Michael and killed him. He then had Michael’s brain placed in the Deathlok cyborg to be used as “wetware”- to be the works of Deathlok’s computer. Collins’ consciousness awakened inside the cyborg while on a test mission and witnessed it kill some soldiers. After a while, Michael asserted control of the cyborg and once in control, Collins set up the “no killing parameter and set out to find his old friend Ryker. He finds Ryker, who is about to broker an illegal arms deal, and before turning him in, finds out that his human body still existed and that he could be restored if he also found the doctor that made the transfer of his brain to the Deathlok cyborg. Deathlok sets out on his quest to find his body, while searching; he encounters Misty Knight, and after helping her and other heroes rescue other missing cyborgs, hires her to watch his family. He encounters other heroes as well as villains along the way, and is invited to Wakanda by the Black Panther to investigate a series of computer break-ins into the Wakandan system; King T’Challa also invites Deathlok’s family. While there, Wakanda is attacked by Moses Magnum in an attempt to overthrow the Panther’s regime and take control of the Vibranium mound. Initially Deathlok was not going to get involved, but after seeing a young boy killed, who he thought was his son, he almost single-handedly defeated Magnum’s “Terrordomes”. Ultimately Collins finds his body, and gains the ability to transfer from Human body to Cyborg body.


Jaycen Wise

JaycenPublisher: Brainstorm Multimedia

Created by: URAEUS (Richard G. Tyler II)
1st appearance: Jaycen Wise: Field Guide #0

Nationality: Kushite

Team Affiliations: Medjai Elite Guard

Legal Status: Jaycen is originally a citizen of the ancient Empire of Kush, present day Sudan (Nile Valley, East
Africa), but has adopted countless nations as his home during his extensive lifetime. He maintains access to an unlimited
number of international passports and identifications, affording legal entry into virtually any nation.

Height: 6’                        Weight: 200lbs
Eyes: Brown                    Hair: Black
Relatives: None Known

Skills/Abilities: Jaycen is an avid student and teacher, and seeks to always better himself physically, mentally
and spiritually. He has had the luxury of sitting at the feet of innumerable masters of countless arts down
through the ages. He has had an immortal’s lifetime to perfect his cornucopia skills, and improve upon these
teachings, and is driven by an insatiable hunger for knowledge, adventure and self-mastery.

Powers: Jaycen is a true immortal, and as such cannot be killed by any means. He possesses the gift of unlimited
potential, and has within him the ability to achieve any goal, to accomplish any feat (physical or mental) if he
believes he can do it. Jaycen also possesses the gift of ancestral communion, the ability to contact the spiritual
world and interact with kindred spiritual energies (ancestors). In other words, through deep meditation Jaycen can
access the spiritual realm as a means of conversing with his forbears in attempt to acquire the knowledge and
wisdom of the ancients. He possesses fully developed occipital and parietal regions of the brain, which control
vision, bodily function and memory. Stored deep within his brain are not just his own memories, but the memories
and experiences of his ancestors. He can tap into what can only be described as an inner-net, a vast internal web
consisting of the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of African people throughout the Diaspora.

Biography: Although much of his past is shrouded in mystery, it is believed that Jaycen was elevated to the
level of demi-god and granted the “gift” of immortality in tribute to his outstanding academic achievements in
the university system of Ancient Kush, and his leadership and heroism on the battlefield in the Imperial Army of
Kush (Medjai Elite Guard). He is guided, down through the ages, by the irresistible force of destiny, and the subtle
push of the Ancestors. He is a child of fate resigned to the fact that he is an instrument of powers much higher
than himself.
Jaycen has waged a one-man war with the jinn beginning in the Golden Ages of Antiquity and carrying on down
through the ages. He is the most hated demonslayer in the annals of jinn lore. He is despised above all others and
his name is a curse amongst the jinn. Instead, he is referred to as The Dark Star, in homage to the legendary black
blade Dark Star that he calls upon to do battle with the forces of darkness.


Dusu Valoy

Main Image - Dusu Cover 1

Publisher: Stranger Comics

Created by: Sebastian A. Jones & Christopher Garner

1st appearance:  Dusu: Path of the Ancient #1, 2013

Nationality:  Ujoan Human

Affiliations: Tribe of the Gathering Wind (Quie Yem Vorkanu)

Legal Status: Single

Height:  6’1″               Weight:  185 pounds

Eyes: Brown               Hair: Brown

Relatives: Unknown Birth Parents, Omdar Shem (Adopted Father), Waso Powirre (Adopted Brother)

Skills and Abilities: Dusu is a skilled fighter, though at a basic level, his abilities lag behind those of his brother Waso and the other Galemren.  They have a physical advantage and decades of experience, but even the least of the Tribe of the Gathering Wind is formidable when set against outsiders.  They have taught Dusu well, and as his powers begin to manifest, he will become truly dangerous.

Powers:  Dusu is on the Path of the Ancient.  He is becoming an Ancunarim.  Ancunarim are beings of great power, blessed by Powisienne, the Father of All and sculptor of the world of Asunda.  There is one Ancunarim for each animal species, and Dusu is becoming the avatar of the jaguar.  The full extent of his powers is unknown at this point, but they are growing as he continues down the Path.  Currently, he has the senses of the jaguar and he can take on some of the animal’s physical characteristics and abilities.

Biography:  Dusu is a human who has been raised by Galemren, the wild elves of Asunda.  For a human to be found among the Galemren is not just unusual, it is unheard of.  When the Galemren found him as a young child, his mother was dead, and he clung to her, his face buried in her breast in an attempt to hide, for he was surrounded by the beasts of the jungle.  To the Galemren, this was the way of the wild, and if it was the will of Powisienne that the child sate the hunger of the approaching cat, then they could not interfere.

But as they turned to leave the boy to his fate, something remarkable happened.  The cat did not attack.  The cat began to lick the boy as a mother does to her cubs, cleaning him as his mother no longer could.  The chief of the Galemren knew this to be a sign from Powisienne, and took the boy as his own son.

Now Dusu has become a man, one who has never belonged to the world that adopted him, but neither does he belong to the world he left, for indeed, he is not entirely human either.  He is on the Path to something more.


Equinox

Equinox

Equinox

Real Name: Terrence “Terry” Sorenson

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Created by: Len Wein and Gil Kane

1st appearance: Giant Size Spider-Man #1 (In shadows), Marvel Team Up #23, 1974

Team Affiliations: Vil-Anon

Legal Status: US Citizen with criminal record

Height:  6’           Weight: 200 lbs

Eyes: Brown           Hair: Bald

Relatives: David Sorenson (Father, deceased), Margay Sorenson (Mother), Unidentified Wife (Deceased), Janet Sorenson (Daughter)

Skills and abilities: Unknown

Powers: Equinox has the ability in a state of thermodynamic flux to generate both intense heat and cold simultaneously. Whenever he activates his powers waves of both fire and ice coruscate across his skin, these shifts increase his strength to superhuman levels and also allow him to generate flame and ice constructs.

Biography

Terry was the child of two gifted scientists. His father even had a radical theory on thermodynamics that lead to estrangement and loss of work. As a result he began drinking and abusing his wife. Terry and his mother eventually moved out when he was seventeen but as they departed a fire broke out and Terry rushed to his father aid. In the process his father was killed and he was mutated into a creature in constant thermodynamic flux. His mother spent the next few years attempting to cure him and he began stealing whenever money ran short.

As a criminal he fought Spider-man, Iceman and the Human Torch. The unstable natures of his powers lead to bouts of insanity which were eventually stopped when his mother teamed with Spider-man and others to negate his powers.

Equinox then joined Vil-Anon where he learned to control his powers and gave up a life of crime. He started a family but his wife later died. As a single father he learnt his daughter Janet had inherited his powers and caused a series of fires. He attempted o teach her control but to no avail. The Falcon intervened and managed to defeat him and direct him and his daughter to people who could help her control her powers.

During Civil war he opposed registration and landed in the negative zone prison. After the event he joined the Avengers Initiative as a member of “Freedom Force” Montana’s team. Around this time he was abducted by the Skrulls but rescued after Secret Invasion.


Midnight Tiger

Midnight Tiger (2)

Publisher: Write Height Media

Created by: Ray-Anthony Height

1st appearance:  Midnight Tiger #1

Nationality:  African American

Team Affiliations: Icons

Legal Status: Single

Height: 5’8”              Weight: 160lbs.

Eyes: Brown             Hair:  Black

Relatives: Robert Frank Shaw (father)

Skills and abilities: Practices a freestyle version of Capoiera, but relies heavily on his enhanced abilities to compensate for his current lack of skill.

Powers: Enhanced-strength (2 tons), Speed, Agility, Reflexes, Senses, Balance, Healing and Durability. Retractable cat-like claws on all fingers and toes, gives off a high pheromone scent.

Biography:

Gavin Shaw is a young high school senior living in Apollo Bay, one of the toughest cities in California. Gavin’s greatest desire was to find a way to do what the police has never been capable of doing…Release the strangle hold the gangs and drug dealers have on his home town.
On his way home from tutoring a friend, Gavin stumbles across the hero known as Lionsblood who had been badly injured in an alley. Quickly running to the hero’s aid, Gavin unknowing placed himself in the line of fire of the very supervillian who, moments ago, had injured the hero he was trying to save and in that instant suffered a mortal wound himself.
Surprised that he was even still alive, Gavin awoke the next morning in a hospital bed. The teenager would soon discover that Lionsblood, in an effort to save the boy’s life, had to inject him with the same serum that gave the hero his powers.
Finally having the means to do something and wanting to put his new found abilities to good use, Gavin becomes the crime-fighter known as Midnight Tiger and begins his assault on the gangs and drug dealers of Apollo Bay. Soon, he began to catch the attention of major criminals who he knew he couldn’t take down alone. This prompted him to seek membership into the ICONS Project. A government sanctioned superhero team spearheaded by former superhero turned cop Lt. Grant Goodrich and composed of young, moderately experienced heroes who step in when the local authorities aren’t enough. Though lacking the experience required, Gavin is determined to join the ranks of the newly reinstated ICONS and become one of the greatest heroes ever known.


Thunder

Thunder3

Real Name:  Wayne Russel

Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment

Created by: Alex Ross

1st appearance: Bring the Thunder #1, 2010

Nationality: American

Team Affiliations: US Army

Legal Status: Unknown

Height: 6’2               Weight: 220 lbs

Eyes: Brown             Hair: Black

Relatives: Karen (Wife), Peter (Son), Raymond (son)

Skills and abilities: Military training in armed and unarmed combat.

Powers: Transformed into a being of pure sound on a battlefield he can become partial sounds to create concussive sound waves (said to be sound amplification stronger than dynamite), survive gunshots and even teleport across vast distances, he can see the world as nothing but sound to see through walls and zone in on specific sounds. He can also move at superhuman speeds.

Biography

A soldier stationed in Afghanistan who fires an experimental enemy weapon to save his life during a conflict in which all his friends are killed. After the ordeal he became pure sound and only reformed a year later on his lawn only to discover his house had been sold and his family gone (Bring the Thunder #1, 2010).

He manages to locate his wife who tells him one of his sons has joined a gang to protect the family in his absence after he attacks some gang bangers. When the gang comes looking for him he uses his powers to put an end to them but also makes himself a target (Bring the thunder #2).

Russel tries to get some tests run by a doctor but his lack of vital signs and physical internal organs make this difficult. He almost catches the men trying to kill him before taking on the heads of the gang who he takes out with ease despite them temporarily negating his powers. The US army then tracks him down and recruits him to fight a terrorist with eerily similar powers to his own (Bring the Thunder #3).

Fitted with an experimental suit he was pitted against the super powered terrorist and managed to use all his power to destroy him and in the process bring his own powers down to a controllable level while allowing him to return to a normal flesh and blood body.

He returns home claiming he lost his powers but secretly still battles crime at nights with his remaining abilities (Bring the Thunder #4).


Luke Fox

Luke Fox/Batwing

Luke Fox/Batwing

Alias: Batwing

Publisher: DC Comics

Created by: Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray

1st appearance: Batwing #19, 2013

Nationality: American

Team Affiliations: Batman Inc

Legal Status: Unknown

Height: 210 lbs           Weight: 6’1

Eyes: Brown                        Hair: Black

Relatives: Lucius Fox (Father), Tamara Fox (Sister), Tanya Fox (Mother), Tiff Fox (Sister)

Skills and abilities: Luke is an accomplished mixed martial arts fighter and an MIT graduate.

Powers: None.

Equipment: Luke wears a full body armor covering him from head to toe. The suit is bulletproof, has limited invisibility in low light areas, has a retractable cape for gliding on air currents and has interior skin which monitors vital signs and produces medical repair capabilities eg. If the wearer breaks his arm the suit hardens around the area holding the bone in place and administering a shot of pain killers. The suit also has retractable tranquilizers in the gauntlets that can also be fired like bullets.

Luke has also been given tech based bats called Vapor bats that can release sleeping  gas. Batman has also given him his own batmobile armed with missiles, able to fly and float.

Biography

Born into the prestigious home of the brilliant Lucius Fox who has supplied Batman and the Batfamily with a variety of ground breaking technology from their inception Luke was what you would classify as the black sheep. He has been tournament fighting since age sixteen despite his father’s disapproval and while studying at MIT has had one thing on his mind for the past four years, joining Batman incorporated. Unknown to him he was apparently Batman’s first choice for the Batwing mantle which was granted to David Zavimbe.

After the death of David’s mentor Matu Ba Batman approaches Luke with a new suit and the chance to join Batman incorporated as the Gotham based Batwing. [Batwing #19]


Storm- Queen of Asgard

Goddess of Thunder/All Mother of Asgard

Goddess of Thunder/All Mother of Asgard

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Timeline: Earth 904

Created by: Jim Valentino

1st appearance: What If? (vol.2) #12, April 1990

Alias: Ororo Munroe, Wind rider, Queen of Asgard, Goddess Of The Skies, Queen Ororo, Weather witch, Goddess of Thunder, The Mighty Storm

Team Affiliations: X-men

Legal Status: Queen and all mother of Asgard

Height: 5’11              Weight: 127 lbs

Eyes: Blue                   Hair: White

Relatives: Ashake (ancestor, deceased), Mr. Munroe (paternal grandfather), Harriet Munroe (paternal grandmother), unidentified Kenyan maternal grandmother, David Munroe (father, deceased), N’dare Munroe (mother, deceased), Vivian Munroe (Aunt, deceased), Colonel Shetani (maternal uncle), David Evan Munroe Jr. (Nephew),

Skills and Abilities:  Storm is very proficient in unarmed combat and armed combat

Powers

 As a mortal Storm had the ability to mold the earth’s weather patterns to her will but lost these abilities.

As ruler of Asgard she has access to an unlimited amount of power known as the Odin-Force. The Odin-Force was the power that Odin himself wielded before his death that was then passed to Storm as the new ruler of Asgard. The Odin-Force was comprised of Odin’s power as King of Asgard combined with the powers of his brothers Vili and Ve. These powers under Storm control made her one of the most powerful beings in her timeline.

Equipment

Stormcaster

The Stormcaster

Stormcaster” is an Asgardian enchanted hammer forged by the Eitri at the behest of Loki god of mischief. Granted powers by Loki to mimic those of Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer, Stormcaster is a formidable weapon able to hold its own against Mjolnir though it is not as durable.

Wielding Stormcaster, Storm can summon and control the weather causing rain, wind, thunder and lightning. With it, she has shown the ability to create electrical storms, hurricane winds, tornadoes, tidal waves, blizzards as well as earthquakes.

goddessofthunder6

Freya’s Cloak of golden feathers

She can also stop any of the weather conditions she creates. The abilities of Stormcaster give her control of the weather exceeding those she had as a mutant; she can channel the great energies of the weather into powerful blasts that she can direct through her hammer.

Freya’s Cloak of golden feathers” allows flight and limited shape shifting into that of an eagle with black feathers, blue eyes and a white Mohawk.

Biography

This version of Storm came into being after the X-men were taken to Asgard where she was granted the mighty hammer Stormcaster which gave her powers similar to that of Thor the god of thunder. After their adventures the mutants who remained voted on whether or not they should return to earth on earth 616 Ororo had the deciding vote and decided to go home but on this world she chose to stay.

Broght before all of Asgard during the Amphitheater of the Althing where Asgard gathers to choose a new leader Loki presented Storm as a potential ruler. Confronted by a transformed Thor she was almost killed in battle. A terrible war raged in Asgard as a result as Hela tried to take her soul. Banding together with the Valkyrie and a reformed Thor they vanquished Hela leaving Dani Moonstar as the new queen of hell. For her part in the battle Storm was chosen by Thor to be the ruler of Asgard and this she did with her trusted Vizier Cypher. Her rule was wise and just based on the old laws of the realm.

Loki for his machinations was cast into the future where he went mad ruling over a decimated and empty Asgard.

Notable Alternate Reality Counterparts

storm ororo monroe (16)

Storm (616)

Storm (Earth 616) is a mutant with the ability to perceive and manipulate the forces and elements that govern weather. She’s a mainstay and veteran member of the X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, an accomplished tactical field leader, Headmistress of the Jean Grey School, and the former Queen of Wakanda.

Bloodstorm

Bloodstorm

Bloodstorm (Earth 1298) In this world instead of recovering from being bitten by Dracula Storm died and was reborn as a vampire. She joined Alex Summers super team “The Six” where she fell in love with fellow Vampire Gambit. She maintained her 80′s style Mohawk in this world and was more feral.

Amazon

Amazon

Amazon (Amalgam universe/Earth 9602) In this world combining the DC and Marvel universe Ororo washed up on Themyscria and was trained by the amazons while growing up with Diana princess of the Amazons. When it came time to send an emissary to man’s world she defeated Diana and became Wonder Woman of this world.

StormPheonix

StormPheonix

StormPhoenix (Earth 9590) On this world Storm became host to the Phoenix force after her friends were all killed in a spacecraft. This event ad others caused her to take control of the world to ensure worldwide peace as she ended starvation, war and segregation.


Shift- Clifton Joseph

shift1

Shift- Clifton Joseph

Created by:

First Appearance: Genetix #1, 1993

Nationality: Jamaican

Team Affiliations: Genetix

Legal Status: Jamaican national with no criminal record

Weight: 190 lbs    Height: 5’9

Eyes: Brown            Hair: Black

Known Relatives: Unknown

Skills and abilities: Skilled in the use of firearms

Powers: Has the power of dimensional teleportation and travel. He can store and infinite number of weapons in an inter-dimensional “storage hole” which alleviates the problem of waking around with his weapons.

Biography

Abducted from Jamaica and taken to Mys-Tech after being identified as having natural abilities compatible with the program. Along with other teenagers they were genetically enhanced and mutated into superhuman beings. They have partnered with Wolverine and done battle with Alpha Flight before disappearing into obscurity.


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