The Women of Wakanda … Forever | Black Writers Week

During the onscreen Black superhero drought, Black women were sprinkled throughout the glossy pages of the various comic book publishers. Switch to television & film and, while a search party wasn’t needed, a good detective with Christie Love’s skills would’ve helped. In the ’70s, we had superhero equivalents in “Coffy” (1973), “Foxy Brown” (1974), and “Cleopatra Jones” (1973)—with Cleo clearly being the “mother” of the undercover supermodel hero Vixen, the first African-American DC heroine. Likewise, these heroines should have been the heralds of superpowered Black women on screen. But then nothing happened. Decades later, Vixen and Bumblebee recur in series from DC Comics, and Tempest shows up in “X-Men: First Class” (2011) long enough to die, so that’s nice.

Twentieth Century Fox, through a licensing deal with Marvel Comics, had the rights to one of the most famous and most popular femme superheroes in the world, and they barely did anything with her. (Unless you count calling her by the wrong name in “X-Men” [2000], undermining her talents throughout the original franchise and leaving her unnamed in a second franchise.) She is Ororo Munroe. You probably call her Storm. If Black men were thirsty for heroes who look like them, Black women were dehydrated and ready for hospitalization. 

Enter General Okoye, Nakia, Queen Ramonda, Ayo, and Princess Shuri. Welcome the Dora Milaje. They are the Black female superheroes of “Black Panther,” and their roar was not only heard but felt. For the first time, we saw more than one Black woman on the team. Each of them swerved away from clichés like an X-Men Blackbird fighter; each distinct and fully realized. We know who they are, what they value, and why they fight. 

General Okoye (Danai Gurira) is a career warrior but also a big sister who wants the best for her nation and for the king she regards as a brother. Lupita Nyong’o gave us a rebel for the cause in Nakia, a woman who returns home only when her nation is ready to come correct. Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) is a matriarch who is as ready with her wisdom as she is to shrug off the crown and to take action. Ayo (Florence Kasumba), also notably in “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” series, is gorgeously cold-blooded, compassionate and quick-witted—whether in a fight or with a clapback. In Letitia Wright’s Princess Shuri, we’re gifted with the ultimate genius scientist and snarky little sister. And finally, in homage to the Warrior Women of Dahomey, we have the rest of the Dora Milaje—the “adored ones”—as the king’s guard, trained warriors who are deadly with their blades and with their tongues. So watch your mouth and protect your neck.