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The New Apartheid Of DC Comics? by Ryan Mullenix

To mark the recent death of the character Ryan Choi, the more recent version of The Atom, and following up on Chris Sims essay on the Racial Politics of Regressive Storytelling, Ryan Mullenix charts the fate of other non-white characters in the DC Universe, in a Women In Refridgerators-style list.

Could this be seen as an emerging theme of unfortunate consequences?

Legacy Characters

1. Amazing Man II (William Everett III) African-American. Killed by Mist (Caucasian).

2. Atom (Ryan Choi) From Hong Kong. Choi was severely beaten and murdered by Deathstroke (Caucasian) and his band of Titans. The mantle he inherited from Atom II Ray Palmer (Caucasian) has now been passed back.

3. Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) Half-White, Half-Asiatic. Cassandra is still alive but has been replaced by blonde hair, blue-eyed Stephanie Brown (Caucasian).

4. Black Adam (Teth-Adam). Inheritor of the power of Shazam. Former member of the Justice Society of America turned genocidal madman. The wizard Shazam (possible Canaanite) has turned Tenth-Adam into a statue.

5. Cheetah III (Sebastian Ballesteros) Argentine. Killed by Cheetah II, Barbara Ann Minerva (Caucasian).

6. Dr. Midnight (Dr. Beth Chapel) African-American. She took up the mantle of the original Dr. Mid-Nite (Caucasian). Slain by Eclipso. The legacy of Dr. Mid-Nite has now been passed on to Dr. Pieter Cross (Caucasian).

7. Eclipso (Alex Montez) Latino. Commits suicide to stop the original Eclipso from taking over his body. The Eclipso entity goes on to possess Jean Loring (Caucasian) and back to original host Bruce Gordon (Caucasian).

8. Firestorm (Jason Rusch) African-American. When the original Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond, Caucasian) was killed, his powers were passed to Jason Rusch. During Blackest Night, Black Lantern Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond) forcefully merges with Jason Rusch. Now Ronnie Raymond is alive and permanently merged with Jason Rusch creating a new, white Firestorm.

9. Green Arrow (Conner Hawke) Mother is half-black, half-Korean. Father is white. When his father, the Green Arrow Oliver Queen (Caucasian) came back to life, Oliver decides that both he and his son can share the Green Arrow title. However, Conner gets turned comatose by Dr. Sivana. Conner comes back to life and abandons the Green Arrow identity. Now Oliver Queen is the only Green Arrow.

10. Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) Half-Irish, Half-Latino. Once Green Lantern Hal Jordan (Caucasian) came back from the dead, Rayner loses his place spot as the Green Lantern of Earth and his membership in the Justice League of America.

11. Guardian (Jake Jordan) African-American. Jake Jordan was given the title Guardian by the newspaper Manhattan Guardian which purchased the rights from Project Cadmus. He is replaced by clone of the original Guardian Jim Harper (Caucasian).

12. Hawkgirl (Kendra Saunders) Latino. Kendra gets killed by Black Lantern Sue Dibney. Then gets brought back to life as the Golden Age Hawkgirl Shiera Hall (Caucasian).

13. Hawkman (Katar Hol, post-Zero Hour) Half-Cherokee, Half-Thanagarian. Banished to limbo. Katar Hol becomes reconstructed as the Golden Age Hawkman Carter Hall (Caucasian).

14. Hero (Hero Cruz) Latino/African heritage) Keeper of an H-Dial previously used by Robbie Reed (Caucasian), Chris King (Caucasian) and Vicky Grant (Caucasian). The only H-Dial currently in use is the one belonging to Robert Reed.

15. Isis (Adrianna Tomaz) Egyptian. Instilled with the powers of the goddess Isis, Tomaz tried to use her abilities to reform Black Adam and become a superhero. After being fatally wounded by the Horseman of Apokolips, she tells Black Adam that his violent ways were for the best. She gets resurrected and sexually assaulted by Felix Faust. The wizard Shazam (possible Canaanite) has turned Isis into a statue.

16. Jai West (Half White, Half Korean) Son of the Flash (Wally West, Caucasian). Jai gained super strength powers thanks to his connection to the Speed Force he shared with his fraternal twin sister Iris. However, their connection to the Speed Force was altered by Reverse-Flash (Caucasian). Only Iris West (the more Caucasian looking twin) gets to use the Speed Force. Iris becomes the super speedster Impulse while Jai currently sits around playing video games.

17. Osiris (Amon Tomaz) Egyptian. Shares the powers of Black Adam (Egyptian). Osiris sought to be a superhero, even going as far as joining the Teen Titans. But after accidentally killing the Persuader (Caucasian) to save his sister's (Isis, Egyptian) life, he became shunted by society. He was later killed by the Horsemen of Apokolips Sobek. Osiris came back to life at the end of Blackest Night and joined Deathstroke (Caucasian) and his Titans in killing the Atom Ryan Choi (from Hong Kong).

18. Son of Vulcan (Miguel Devante) Latino. When the original Son of Vulcan (Johnny Mann, Caucasian) died, he passed his mantle onto Devante. Miguel joined Titans East only be attacked and left comatose by Trigon.

19. Tarantula (Catalina Flores) Latino. Flores adopted the Tarantula identity to honor the Golden Age hero Tarantula (Jonathan Law, Caucasian). She sacrifices herself to in a battle against a small army of super villains over a Neron created "Get Out of Hell Free" card.

20. Tempest (Joshua Clay) African American. Killed by the Chief (Dr. Niles Caulder). His name gets taken up by Garth, the first Aqualad (from an offshoot race from Atlantis).

21. Wildcat (Hector Ramirez) Latino. Former boxing protégé of Ted Grant (Caucasian), the original Wildcat. Killed by Killer Croc in an underground fight club. The mantle was reverted back to the original Wildcat Ted Grant.

22. Wildcat (Yolanda Montez) Latino. Fought crime as the second Wildcat. Slain by the original Eclipso. The mantle was reverted back to the original Wildcat Ted Grant (Caucasian).

Other DC Characters Of Note:

1. Arak, the Wind-Walker. Native American. Killed by Penny Dreadful (Caucasian) for betraying Prometheus (Caucasian).

2. Bialya. Middle Eastern country. Black Adam (Egyptian) killed about two million of its men, women and children because the government housed the Horseman of Apokolips. As Black Adam went to attack the creators of the Horsemen on Oolong Island, he just flies right by the blonde-haired, blue-eyed scientist Veronica Cale (Caucasian).

3. Bushido (Ryuko Orsono) Japanese. Killed by Superboy Prime (Caucasian).

4. Bushmaster (Bernal Rojas) Venezuelan. Killed by Fain Y'onia.

5. Celsuis (Arani Desai Caulder) Indian. Went insane. Killed during Invasion.

6. Dr. Mist (Nommo) African. Killed by Mordu.

7. Freedom Beast (Dominic Mndawe) African. Killed by Prometheus (Caucasian).

8. Gloss (Xiang Po) Chinese. Killed by Prometheus (Caucasian).

9. Impala (M'Bulaze) African. Killed by Fain Y'onia.

10. Jet (Celia Windward) Jamaican. Contracted H.I.V. fighting a character named Hemo-Goblin. Apparently she died but now is now brought back to life.*

11. Lian Harper. Half-White, Half-Asiatic. Killed by Prometheus (Caucasian).

12. Orpheus (Gavin King) African-American. Killed by Black Mask.

13. Pantha (Rosabelle Mendez) Latino. Killed by Superboy Prime (Caucasian).

14. Ron Troupe. African American. In the Post-Crisis DCU he married Lois Lane's sister Lucy (Caucasian) and had a baby boy Samuel. In the Post-Infinite Crisis DCU, Lucy Lane has become the villainous Superwoman and there is no mention of her relationship to Ron or if their child still exits.

15. Saganowahna "Super-Chief" (John Standing Bear) Native American. Killed by Mr. Mind (Venusian worm).

16. Thunder (Gan Williams) Half-White, Half-Vietnamese. Killed by Lex Luthor (Caucasian).

17. Thunderlord (Liang Xih-k'ai) Taiwanese. Killed by Fain Y'onia.

18. Trevor Barnes. African-American. Love interest of Wonder Woman during the Phil Jimenez run of the series. After Jimenez left to do other projects, Barnes was killed off in the following story arc. Thomas Tresser aka Nemesis (Caucasian) became Wonder Woman's next main blonde-hair, blue eyed love interest.

19. Lighting (Tavis Williams) Half-White, Half-Vietnamese. Killed by Lex Luthor (Caucasian).

20. Vibe (Paco Ramone) Latino. Strangled to death by one of Professor Ivo's robots (Caucasian).

*Along with Shadowhawk and Chapel from Image Comics, Jet makes another character of African descent who had H.I.V., died, and then came back to life seemingly disease free.

UPDATE: Rich Johnston shares a few thoughts on the following day's Runaround.

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