I think the question we have to ask ourselves is why aren't more blacks, non-whites, or females reading comics? (Let me caveat this by pointing out that comic books IMO are a withering artform and there are many whites/white males who are not reading comics anymore either). Back to my point, there are some blacks who do, I'm one of them, and just about every black male of my generation I know has some familiarity with comic book characters, whether they read comics in the past, watched the cartoons, played the video games, or saw the movies. I reject the idea that there is a general lack of interest on the part of non-whites for comics. But what I think is the issue is that some non-whites don't become diehard comics fans because they don't feel that the companies, with their predominately white male superhero rosters, are making efforts to make them feel included. Some of the black characters that were created in the 60s and beyond usually were a white person's idea of what a black person was, which meant some where stereotypical and demeaning, or they were marginalized characters that weren't really integral to what was happening in the book. Or some were created to highlight a racial or social issue and then put in the background or forgotten altogether (ex. Muhammad X from Superman). Everyone wants to feel like a hero, not just white males, but the comic industry, when it had the chance, didn't do a good job of reaching out into underserved communities, so why should those communities feel any loyalty or affinity for comics when they aren't showing love for those communities?
I think the mainstream companies in particular have come a long way, but I would like to see more promotion of non-white heroes, I want to see them continuing to push boundaries in this direction. Its great that Black Panther for example has a book, but if he's not getting the promotion, the big events, or the marque writers and artists, it amounts to tokenism. Of course this is a more advanced form of tokenism than in the 60s, 70s, and to some extent the 80s when just placing a black person or non-white in a book was big. With the black heroes that the companies have right now, I think they need to continue doing a better job fleshing these characters out, making them more central to whatever books they play a role in, give them better villains, and perhaps sometimes better costumes for some. (Regarding Black Panther, he is getting an event, "DoomWar" which Marvel is poorly promoting and tossed into the mix while "Siege" and "Fall of the Hulks" is going on. Plus, they are putting BP's book on hold while they are doing DW.)
About Will Smith, I think Hermiod is wrong to suggest that he doesn't have a strong following in the black community. Many blacks have been fans and supporters since his Fresh Prince days and I would argue that though they might not be in the majority for box office at his films, that's because they are numerically a minority. Some always like to throw up Smith, but he's an anomaly, for lack of a better term, and not the norm. As if having a handful of black stars is equal to the galaxy of white stars surrounding them. Plus, I am critical of the roles Smith and other major black actors have to take as opposed to white actors. Black heroes are more prone to be the comic relief (Ripcord, GI Joe), less intelligent (Ripcord; in the movie they specifically pointed out that Duke's test scores were higher, why I don't know), sacrificial lamb (John Wraith, Eli, Robert Neville, Tyrese and Charles S. Dutton in Legion), hip or slick fast talkers (Eddie Murphy and Chris Tucker), or eunuchs (Most Denzel, Will Smith, Sam Jackson, and Morgan Freeman roles) as opposed to white heroes in major Hollywood films. Or they exist to serve the needs of the white heroes, helping them achieve their heroe's journey.
Even though the number of black stars-particularly black male stars-has seemingly exploded since even the 80s, it still doesn't scratch the surface of the number of white stars out there, nor does it take into account how Hollywood continues to generate stars-particularly white stars-like Shia LeBouf or Megan Fox-whereas black actors don't get that type of support or push. Why are Derek Luke or Meagan Good not getting the same type of push? There seems to be a new white Hollywood starlet every couple months but not the same with blacks or other non-whites. Doesn't mean that they aren't out there and I'm glad many are resilient and keep coming, but unfortunately we still haven't reached that place where blacks, or others, can be envisioned for any type of role.
About a black Bond, I would prefer that they didn't do that. For one, he's not going to be having a lot of sex because of the discomfort Hollywood seems to have for black male sexuality, and two I would rather they just create a brand new character without all the history or baggage of Bond. I'm not generally in favor of changing the race of a character unless the actor really just embodies the part. I thought Michael Clarke Duncan was a great choice for Kingpin, I just wish the movie had been as good as that casting decision.
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