Hollywood's First Major Black Superhero Movie Was, Unfortunately, A '90s Flop

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Superhero movies pretty much ruled Hollywood for the better part of two decades. 2000's "X-Men" was Marvel's most important box office hit ever, as it proved that comic book movies could truly reach the widest possible audience beyond the occasional "Batman" movie. But years before that, Robert Townsend tried to get ahead of the curve with Hollywood's first Major motion picture about a Black superhero, 1993's "The Meteor Man."

Written, directed, produced by, and starring Townsend in the lead role, "The Meteor Man" was nothing shy of ambitious by 1993 standards. Unfortunately, it was a box office flop in its day, despite those ambitions. Though not the first-ever Black superhero movie of any kind, as "Abar, the First Black Superman" was released in 1997, Townsend's movie was made by MGM and given a major marketing push. Townsend's debut film, "Hollywood Shuffle," had staying power, but he couldn't recapture that magic in his take on a Black hero standing up to gangs.

The movie centers on Jefferson Reed (Townsend), who lives in an urban area plagued by a tough gang. A meteor hits Jefferson, granting him numerous superpowers. Jefferson awkwardly sets out to become a crime-fighting hero. Though he manages to improve his community, he soon finds that his powers have limits.

"When I started to create Meteor Man, I was looking to say, 'Hey, I want to be the first African-American superhero on screen,' and I really took it serious, even though it's fun, to say what are his superpowers and who are the villains," Townsend said in a 2018 interview with Syfy Wire. "I wanted to have fun with it and walk that line of being silly, but also have some real messages in the film.

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"The Meteor Man" was released in theaters on August 6, 1993. It's important to remember that, for one, this was an original creation and not a known character from the pages of Marvel or DC Comics. Beyond that, superhero movies were rarely successful at the time, with "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" becoming an unexpected box office sensation in 1990. That was more of an exception that proved the rule in Hollywood's eyes.

None of that helped this movie's case. To make matters worse, it went up directly against director Andrew Davis' "The Fugitive," one of the best films of the 1990s, on its opening weekend. There was no context. "The Fugitive" made almost $38 million domestically on opening weekend, while "The Meteor Man" made just $3.9 million, barely cracking the top ten. It was a situation where bigger, better movies got in the way.

Case in point, Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park," which changed movies forever, was in the midst of what would become a $1 billion run on that same weekend. "Free Willy," "In the Line of Fire," "The Firm," "Robin Hood: Men in Tights," and "Sleepless in Seattle" were all also in the top ten that weekend. Even eventually '90s kid Halloween cult classic "Hocus Pocus," which was also a flop in its day, was in the number 10 spot.

Townsend's attempt to bring a Black superhero to the masses never recovered, finishing its run with just $8 million against a $30 million budget. There were absolutely bigger flops out there, but this didn't do anything to help convince studios to invest further in these sorts of cinematic endeavors.

MGM

Robert Townsend assembled an absolutely incredible cast that included comedian Eddie Griffin, the voice of Darth Vader himself, James Earl Jones, R&B legend Luther Vandross, and Naughty By Nature, among many others. That didn't move the needle. It certainly didn't help that critics of the day weren't on board with "The Meteor Man," which holds a lousy 27% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It was a swing and a miss.

In 1998, Marvel's "Blade" became a modest box office hit (and one of the most important movies ever made), paving the way for the superhero boom to come. It would still be years before Marvel, DC, or any other studios focused significant attention on Black superheroes, despite these movies earning hundreds of millions (in some cases, billions) of dollars globally.

2018's "Black Panther," which was once among the 10 highest-grossing movies of all time, went on to make more than $1.3 billion worldwide. Director Ryan Coogler broke down a lot of barriers with that one, but it was a full 25 years after Townsend tried to bring Black superheroes to the front of the cultural conversation. Townsend later revisited the concept of Black superheroes when he directed "Up, Up, and Away," Disney's earlier attempt to build a superhero universe long before Marvel came along. It was released in 2000 and aired on Disney Channel. 

"When I look at 'Black Lightning' and 'Luke Cage,' they're like my cinematic sons," Townsend said in that same Syfy Wire interview. "They've taken on cleaning up the Hood, like what Meteor Man was doing trying to unite the gangs and get the community together."

You can grab "The Meteor Man" on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon.