4) THE BLACK RACER (1971)
Though upstart Marvel Comics debuted The Black Panther in 1966, it was nearly half a decade before DC Comics debuted their first black hero, and as it happened, he and the Panther shared a creator. Before Black Lightning or Vixen, paralyzed veteran Willie Walker was bonded to the New Gods’ avatar of death, becoming DC Comics’ first black superhero, The Black Racer (even though he wears red, gold and blue.) Though the status of the Fourth World characters as superheroes is eminently debatable, Sgt. Walker definitely counts, as a normal human war veteran who is chosen by the source to take on the mantle of great power…
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I’d like to put an honorable mention for Nubia, the black Wonder Woman, who appeared in Wonder Woman comics in the early 1970s.
While Nubia may not be the first black female superhero, she was the first to have a Mego doll made of her:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NmsbnVvWuM
“Gotchya Majyer!”
Mal Duncan (1970), aka Hornblower, aka Guardian, aka Herald, aka Vox, of the Teen Titans deserves an honorable mention.