Jet

Birthname: Celia Windward... Jet is Jamaican and has the ability to fly, create blasts of heat and force, and generate electromagnetic pulse, move and manipulate metal with magnetic fields, fire blasts of electricity, and see in other frequencies of the spectrum besides visible light such as ultraviolet and infrared. She first appeared in DC Millenium #2 in 1988.

Monica & Maya (Heroes)

Surprisingly, I've never gotten into Heroes. I watched the pilot episode and missed the next few and never tried to catch up - Regardless, I'll try to sum these characters up as best I can. Monica, played by Dana Davis (top 3 photos), is from New Orleans, works at a fast food restaurant, is the cousin of a character named Micah, and has adoptive muscle memory - which basically means that after she sees something once, in person or otherwise, her mind records it and she acquires that skill, either temporarily or permanently. This power applies to martial arts, hand-to-hand combat, playing the piano, cooking, etc.

Here's a clip of Monica beating the BREAKS off of a would-be robber:



Maya, played by Dania Ramirez, is from the Dominican Republic and has (or had?) the ability to emit poison and cry black tears (if you can't tell, I'm kind of lost in these character descriptions because they're pretty complex, so I don't know if the black tears ARE the poison or...). She tries to make her way with her twin to America to meet a doctor who can help her with her abilities and ends up killing some people on the way - but she's not evil.

Lightning

I profiled a character named THUNDER aka Arissa Pierce in one of my earlier volumes of Black Female Superheroes, not realizing that in the DC COMICS Universe, she had a younger sister named Lightning aka Jennifer Pierce (fitting, no? Thunder and Lightning?) Their father is Black Lightning. She doesn't yet have the ability to control her powers and often shocks people and shorts out any electrical appliance she touches. She can also shoot lightning bolts out of her palms.

Callisto

Callisto is also played by actress Dania Ramirez, so she's tied with Halle for how many superheroines she's portrayed; the two appeared in X-Men: The Last Stand together. I should also mention that I have a personal affinity for all things X-Men related. I was OBSESSED with the cartoon as a kid of the 90s and I still watch it on Toon Disney, even though they're BOGUS for only showing it at midnight and 1:30am - probably because they know all the people who love the show are adults now lol. But I've seriously digressed. On to Callisto: She has superhuman senses, heightened strength, speed and agility, accelerated healing abilities, and can sense mutants' powers and their magnitude - an ability she uses to locate other mutants. At some point, she got tentacled arms. She wasn't written as a Black character, but I'll take them where I can get them lol. In the cartoon, she was the leader of an underground group of deformed mutants called the Morlocks - she wanted to capture Cyclops to reproduce with her and rule by her side.

Here's a clip of Storm and Callisto fighting:

Uhura

I have never ever EVER seen an episode of Star Trek, but I still love Uhura. The original Uhura was played by Nichelle Nichols and in the upcoming Star Trek Movie, a younger Uhura will be played by Zoe Saldana. The audience got to see Uhura go from a Lieutenant all the way to a captain through the course of the show. Nichols wanted to leave after her first season, but was persuaded by Martin Luther King Jr himself to stay on. Mae Jemison, the first African American woman to fly in space, sited Uhura as an influence on her choice of profession.




Trivia - Mae Jemison actually appeared on the show in a cameo.

The Yellow Ranger

Who DIDN'T love the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers???? It was definitely one of my favorite shows growing up, along with Wishbone (the dog that reenacted classic literature) and the X-Men Cartoon. Naturally, the Yellow and Pink Rangers were my favorite. The Yellow Ranger's real name was Aisha Campbell. She turned into the Sabertooth Tiger-bot when they morphed and when they became the Ninja Rangers, she was a Bear. Gotta love the Yellow Ranger!

Valerie Brown

From the pictures above, you can tell that Valerie Brown probably wasn't exactly a SUPERHERO.... but she was a pretty awesome cartoon and comic strip character from Josie and the Pussycats. She performed backup in the band, played many instruments, and wrote most of the songs. She was also the one to get the girls out of most of their jams as she was a genius (a la Velma from Scooby Doo). Rosario Dawson played Valerie in the Josie and the Pussycats live action movie in 2001.

Numbuh 5




Numbuh 5, aka Abagail Lincoln, appears on the cartoon Codename: Kids Next Door and is voiced by Cree Summer (does she do the voice of ALL young, black, female cartoon characters???? lol). She's French and Black, speaks in 3rd person, is second in command in the Kids Next Door, has a weakness for candy, sweets, and ice cream, and has an evil older sister - whose name happens to be Cree.

Diana

Diana The Acrobat appeared in the carton version of the board game Dungeons & Dragons. She's 14 years old, is outspoken and confident, and has a magical javelin that she uses to pole vault her way out of sticky situations. Her father was an astronomer and her brother a trained pilot.