DC Comics is 'plotting a black Batman'
DC Comics is reportedly planning to introduce a new saviour of Gotham City in the form of the first black Batman.
Comic book authority Bleeding Cool reports that the rumours are emerging following several comic book shows in the US last weekend.
It says the plans will not see fruition until 2020 or 2021, but a new Batman is on the way, though “not Bruce Wayne, but someone else donning the cowl and cape”.
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In addition, it says it won't be Duke Thomas, the African American character originally introduced in Batman: Zero Year in 2013 and who then came to prominence among an 'army' of Robins in the We Are... Robin storyline, in which a number of Robins trained under Bruce Wayne.
Thomas later became The Signal.
Other black characters associated with Batman include the Batwing, who first appeared in DC Comics in 2011, the alias of David Zavimbe, a Congolese police officer who latterly became known as the 'Batman of Africa'.
Zavimbe was later replaced in the role of Batwing by Luke Fox, the son of Batman cohort Lucius Fox, played by Morgan Freeman in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy.
In addition, there is Black Lightning, who appears alongside Batman in the Batman and the Outsiders comic book series. Whether any of these will become the official Batman remains to be seen, however.
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However, the move represents further diversity in the world of comic books, just as has been seen in comic book movies.
Miles Morales became a Latino Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and Marvel famously cast Nick Fury with a black actor, Samuel L Jackson, in the Avengers movies.
Meanwhile, Sam Wilson, aka Falcon, played by Anthony Mackie, was handed the mantle of Captain America by Steve Rogers at the end of Avengers: Endgame.
The next Batman on screen will be white, however, with Robert Pattinson getting measured up for the cowl for Matt Reeves’ The Batman, due in 2021.
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