People. Black people were just so absent in Science Fiction, and its a blind spot. Black panther was a massive moment in our culture. They thought it was going to make 700 million. But it actually made 1. 3 billion. So, it had a business impact. It had a community impact. It opened up doors. It showed that these kinds of stories, looking at black speculative fiction, looking at black looking at horror was also highly profitable. Scifi is really a conversation about our humanity and mans relationship to technology and exploring other worlds. Its really exciting to know that more blackcentric Science Fiction is making its way onto the Television Screens finally. Black people have always loved Science Fiction and have always loved fantasy. We just didnt know it. When you think of how broad that landscape is, to not include every single individual that is participating in the world, then its a lie. We have millions and millions of stories that need to be told. And us getting our due is lit
television s first black superhero. didn t know it. assumed that there must have been another one. just, you know, one i hadn t heard about. you can go on destroying each other, or you can learn to live together. mantis was a pilot that celebrated black seen yus. celebrated black genius. they simply felt it was time for a black superhero. at the time i read the script, i thought, oh, this is a first. we ve never seen this before. we ve never seen a black superhero. and what also blew me around was he was also surrounded by black people. i heard it was being picked up, i thought, oh, magnificent. we ll be picking up where this story left off. and i heard that sam ham and sam reammy were not going to be moving forward with it. sam reammy is a very
afro-futurism is from a lens of somebody of african decent. in the 1990s, the lead-in show was man tis, which carl is the first black superstar on television. it was really groundbreaking to have a black superhero on television. and for many people, this was one of their first examples of afro-futurism in science fiction television. you have been stung by a mantis. he stars as this man who s been shot by the police somebody helps me. he s paralyzed but builds an exoskeleton that gives him the ability to walk. and with that ability comes for him the responsibility of fighting violence. i m carl lumley, and i was
of them. and i think it s great for television. i think what happened very quickly was the writers in the watchmen room were sort of like, this is not about teaching you. we are going to vigorously defend this material and make sure you don t do something harmful. we generated this incredible television experience that was only authentic because i see the creative power, because i listened and learned. well, these shows are resonating with so many people because they explore the human experience. as we re thinking about technology, as we re reconciling with history, we see ourselves in these stories and these characters, and we re chaeeerin them on. so, while black characters of science fiction were being celebrated, another genre is coming about, and it s whorror. we re kind of getting to a place through black horror and
i don t think we notice when we re watching what it means that this is a door that has never been opened, being opened. i m going to take his queens, his knights, his rooks. i m knocking all his pieces off the board. it was 22 years between mantis and luke cage. when luke cage came to television in 2016, mike culter got the opportunity to play the first black marvel superhero on television. you ve got a black man who can t be shot, a bullet can t pierce his skin. that s a premise, y all. i like like cage hero for hire because, let s be real. i m not doing all that for free. when we were looking at the