The Forgotten Black Superhero Movie That Paved the Way for Black Panther
Before 2018’s Black Panther became a culturally significant event in the history of film as the first superhero movie with a predominantly Black cast directed by a Black director, the fans of the superhero genre actually had several different adaptations of popular Black superheroes from the comic books. For many, the list begins with Wesley Snipes’ 1998 Blade, followed by Luke Cage and Black Lightning, but for real cinematographic connoisseurs, that list begins with Robert Townsend’s The Meteor Man from 1993.
The Meteor Man starring Robert Townsend is a forgotten black superhero movie that is impossible to stream today.
Robert Townsend’s The Meteor Man is an American superhero sci-fi comedy wholly written, directed, and co-produced by Robert Townsend, who actually portrayed the eponymous hero, with support roles from other African American greats, such as Marla Gibbs, Robert Guillaume, Eddie Griffin, and James Earl Jones.
The movie, now hailed by many as the first Black superhero movie, played well in the established genre, using the sci-fi adventures of its protagonist to depict some of the real-life issues plaguing the African-American community in the contemporary US.
The movie is about Jefferson Reed (played by Townsend), a mild-mannered schoolteacher and a typical underdog who gains superhero powers after coming into contact with a meteor that crashed in his neighborhood.
The Meteor Man paved the way, but it wasn’t until Wesley Snipes Blade that a black superhero movie became a box office hit.
However, where this film breaks away from the typical superhero genre is with its villains, who actually aren’t superpowered masterminds obsessed with chaos, destruction, and world domination. Instead, they’re involved in drug dealing, gang violence, and other societal problems that plague our protagonist’s community.
The whole movie basically revolves around the moral choices of an ordinary individual granted the powers to illicit drastic change, with the Meteor Man having to decide just how far he’s willing to push and which lines he’s willing to cross in his fight against the ever-increasing gang violence. Learning to live with life-changing powers and moral dilemmas aren’t unusual in the superhero genre; in fact, they’re quite common, which only goes to show that the core of the superhero genre hasn’t actually changed throughout the decades.
So, what makes The Meteor Man so significant as the first Black superhero movie? Well, Townsend actually made the movie more relatable, especially to African American audience. It all stemmed from a family pastime when he asked his nephew, who was 5 or 6 at the time, which superhero he’d like to be for Halloween. Much to his surprise, the nephew stated that he couldn’t dress up as any contemporary superhero because they were all white.
So, Townsend did the only reasonable thing he could: he became the first Black superhero African-American children could call their own. However, things went a bit further than that. Townsend also made the setting and the villains more relatable not only to African Americans but to all people, as the setting depicted real-life problems plaguing society as a whole.
Instead of fighting interstellar battles against insurmountable powers, Towsend’s Black superhero fought the fights in the inner city, protecting the communities that are often forgotten by those in power.
Unfortunately, the message didn’t go through all the way, at least not initially, and the first Black superhero movie was a massive flop at the time. Robert Townsend’s The Meteor Man didn’t fare well at the box office, as it only earned a mere $8 million against a $20 million budget. However, it was successful beyond measure on small screens, as it had all the right ingredients for a superhero movie, including a calm and gentle protagonist, boastful villains, a superhero origin story, and a relatable cast of African American actors.
The Meteor Man was a box office flop, only earning $8 million, but became a hit on television and VHS sales.
The Meteor Man was a Black Superhero movie that allowed Black children and teens to actually see their parents, relatives, friends, and above everything else, themselves as individuals capable of bringing about change to their immediate surroundings.
What was initially perceived as a comedic pastime by adults, and a Black superhero movie by kids, actually carried a more important social message—one of empowerment when one individual decides to stand up and fight for what’s right.
And while the first Black superhero movie wasn’t a massive box office success, its legacy stands as a quiet monument to Black cinematography, and we call all agree that Robert Townsend’s The Meteor Man had to fly so that the Black Panther could purr.
