So, here are my favorite black characters in the genre. One limitation I gave myself was that I wouldn’t include any superheroes on this list, so no Storm or John Stewart. I actually made a list similar to this years ago, and I wanted to look in other places where there are some cool characters. I might break that rule for a couple, but I’ll only go so far. As usual, it’s a bit of a random list, but I’ll put my favorites up top. You only can guess who’ll be first.
1. Benjamin Sisko from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Just
know that you’re gonna see some Trek love here, so you’ve been warned. Sisko
was the man in charge of Deep Space Nine. Not only was he a commander, captain,
war general, and messiah to the Bajorans, he was also a single father and a
good father at that. You find a lot of good characters in the franchise and
Sisko was that. It helped that Avery Brooks brought so much to that role. If
you’re looking for a character to root for (even when he may be doing some
possibly non-Starfleet things), go with The Sisko.
2. Morpheus from the Matrix franchise – Morpheus (Laurence
Fishburne) was the mentor to Neo in the Matrix movies. His main mission was
clear: find “The One.” Morpheus was pretty much the calm, collected wise man of
the crew. He even could kick some serious butt in the Matrix. Even when his
faith got rocked in Matrix Reloaded, he still believed that Neo could save them
all. Laurence Fishburne is already an accomplished actor, but seeing him be
Morpheus just makes him even more cool.
3. Lando Calrissian from the Star Wars franchise – Yes, I’m
including the dashing swindler with a smile. Lando may have not been an
upstanding character, but he stuck by his friends and fought oppression. What
more is there to like? When Billy Dee Williams comes onto the screen, you know
you’re getting something special. Not only was he a good pilot, he helped lead
the Rebel Alliance in a few battles. Yes, I’m also including the
nostalgia-ridden fest known as The Rise of Skywalker. Donald Glover also did a
good rendition in Solo, and yes, I liked Solo quite a bit.
4. Nyota Uhura from Star Trek – Lt. Uhura was communications
officer for the USS Enterprise on the original Trek series and movies. Uhura
was iconic for being one of the first African Americans on television in a
major role. Even though she was in a minor role, Nichelle Nichols was a pioneer
for us and made Uhura a memorable character. Zoe Saldana also did a pretty good
job in the JJ Abrams reboots as the character, but she can’t make me forget
about the original.
5. Naomi Nagata from The Expanse – Naomi Nagata (Dominque
Tipper) is a “Belter” (born in the Asteroid Belt). She’s part of the small crew
of the Rocinante on The Expanse. Like most of the crew, she has a bit of a past
in that she once was part of OPA, a Belter organization that’s a bit shady.
Heck, just about every organization on the show is shady, so she fits right in.
She’s also a capable engineer and sometimes is the linchpin of the show. I
sometimes forget that she isn’t the leader of the crew since she’s just that
awesome and James Holden just ain’t. I think Amos is cooler than him! Which
reminds me, I need to get caught up with Seasons 4 and 5.
6. Derel Book from Firefly and Serenity – Next up is the
preacher man who knows how to shoot out kneecaps. Shepard Book (Ron Glass) was
the Serenity’s holy man. He’d help out the crew with different things even it
went against his code. Note the “kneecaps” thing. While we didn’t know too much
about his past, you got the idea that he had some ghosts in his closet. We got
an idea of what in a graphic novel I read years ago. Ron Glass did an awesome
job portraying the character, and it sucks he ain’t around anymore.
7. Geordi LaForge from Star Trek: The Next Generation – Next
up is probably one of the better engineers from the Trek franchise. Geordie was
engineer for the USS Enterprise D and E. Levar Burton, who’s already memorable thanks
to Roots and Reading Rainbow, brought a lot to the role. While he didn’t get as
many episodes dedicated to his character like most characters, Geordie was
cool. He was also kinda relatable. He had to wear eyegear to see, he had
trouble with the ladies, and his best friend was a walking computer. As a representative
of “Nerds R Us,” cheers.
8. Michael Burnham from Star Trek: Discovery – Next up is
the Superwoman herself, Michael Burnham. Yeah, I jest about her being the best
of the best, but she’s got to be the best since her parents were scientists, her adopted father was an accomplished diplomat, and her adopted brother was Spock.
Also, it’s cool to see a black woman kick butt and save the day. Burnham served
aboard the USS Shenzou and eventually the USS Discovery on DSC. While I wasn’t
big fan of hers at first (heck, the whole show took a while for me), Burnham
was still good at her job. It also helped that Sonequa Martin-Green did a good
job in developing that character over the course of the show.
9. Colonel David Anderson from the Mass Effect games – I couldn’t
find many video games that fit my criteria, so I went to the Mass Effect
universe. I unfortunately couldn’t use “Black Shepard” here, but his boss and
mentor, David Anderson, definitely fits. He was the original commander of the
Normandy, he was almost the first human Spectre, and he led the charge against
the Reapers on Earth. He was also one of the few higher ups who listened to
Shepard about the Reapers. Anderson was also awesomely voiced by Keith David, a
legendary and recognizable voice actor.
10. Zoe Washburn from Firefly and Serenity – Zoe (Gina
Torres) was Mal Reynold’s second-in-command on the Serenity. She also served
with Mal in the Unification War. She was also the wife of Hoban Washburn, and
how that happened, one can only guess. Zoe was pretty cool at her job and
pretty laid back from what I remember. She would do anything for her crew. If
the show had gone any longer, I bet we would’ve gotten more out of her.
11. Anastasia “Dee” Dualla from Battlestar Galactica – Since
Dee is from another part of the galaxy, I considered not including her, but I
think her cuteness stopped that from happening. Dee (Kandyse McClure) was communications
officer for the Galactica. While she was a bit of a minor character, she was
pretty cool. She gave advice, took no crap off other others, and was kinda hot…
what? It’s true. If there was one character I was sad to see go from the show,
it was her mostly because of her demise.
12. Mace Windu from the Star Wars franchise – Next up is the
Jedi who was so cool he needed his own lightsaber color because blue and green
weren’t cutting it. Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) was a part of the Jedi
Council in the Star Wars prequels. While the Jedi from this era were admittedly
stiff and kinda douches (You know it’s true!!), Mace was still pretty cool. While
Samuel L. Jackson did a nice job bringing him to life, I think both Clone Wars
series did a cool job with him as well. Terrance C. Carson voiced him in the 3D
series. We got to see him really let loose with those powers of his and not be
as douchey.
13. Alexa Woods from Alien Vs. Predator – Even though AVP
wasn’t that good of a movie, it had a cool lady in the lead. Alexa Woods (Sanna
Laathan) was a guide for the expedition team that found an underground pyramid
in the Arctic. What she and her team weren’t ready for was finding a hunting
ground for the Predators. While the movie was far from good, Sanna Laathan did
a good job in being the final survivor of the party. She even got to team up with
a Predator and help take down an Alien Queen.
14. Agent J from Men in Black – Will Smith has a lot to pick
when it comes to sci-fi blockbusters. Independence Day, Hancock, Gemini Man,
“I, Robot”, and I Am Legend are just a few. That being said, him stepping into
that tight suit as Agent Jay gets my vote. James Darrell III was just a basic
NYPD cop who knew there was more to the world. Even though he got more of the slapstick
moments in the Men in Black movies, Jay was always cool.
15. Angela Abar aka Sister Night from Watchmen – Yeah, I
said no superheroes, but Watchmen wasn’t out yet. Besides, you won’t find many
“super” heroes in the Watchmen universe. The series was such a surprise in how
good it was. It’s a sequel that truly worked, and one of the reasons for that
was Regina King. I thought she was great as the former cop-turned vigilante. I
liked how central she was to the whole story in that she was not only the
great-granddaughter of the first vigilante, she was also… wait, that would be
spoiling. Anyway, Regina King kicked some serious butt in that role.
……………………………………………….
I know there are more I could list, but I got to stop this
somewhere. There are plenty black characters out there, and these were just
some of the ones that really came to mind. Here’s hoping we’ll see more out
there in future projects. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need some sleep. Until
then, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.
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