Damola Fadayomi author

I really enjoyed watching the film “Black Panther”. The heroes were interesting to watch, but what caught my attention was the villain Killmonger. Here’s a villain who had a complex backstory and you could kind of empathise for him despite the despicable methods he uses to get his way. This got me thinking about why are there so few black supervillains or villains who are well rounded, complex and capable as opposed to the one-dimensional stereotype that runs rampant in the written and visual media and the comics world. When I speak about stereotypes, I’m talking about the vicious but the bumbling idiots that are often presented as antagonists – for example, the gangsters in Death Wish and Robocop. There had been many villains whose backstory had set aflame imaginations and are viewed through a sympathetic lens. There is Magneto, whose vision for mutant supremacy is explained by the horrors he suffered during the concentration camp. Then, there is Thanos, the outsider who rose ...