It’s Black History Month once again, and in celebration of the month, I thought it’d be a great time to continue our saga of Great Minority Movie Heroes. With diversity becoming more prominent in modern pop culture, we’re witnessing an influx of people of color leading epic sagas, and fighting evil. I, for one, am enjoying it. Here are five more Great Minority Movie Heroes you can root for.
Sheriff Bart – Blazing Saddles
Sheriff Bart doesn’t originally start out as the sheriff, he’s handed the title as a means of becoming another in a long line of sheriffs meant to take the fall for the town of Rock Ridge. Sheriff Bart, though, is so much cleverer than the citizens of Rock Ridge think, and he ends up evading most threats and attempts at his life. That’s all thanks to his quick wits, fast thinking, and clever plots to stay one step of Hedley Lamarr and his gang of cronies. And of course, the help from ex-gunslinger Jim doesn’t hurt a bit.
El Diablo – Suicide Squad
Originally a felon and villain, El Diablo manages to find his inner-superhero when joining the Suicide Squad. Initially a pyrokinetic baddie of the DC Universe, he manages to become a self sacrificing hero as he and his teammates group to take down the villainous Enchantress. El Diablo is a powerful and empathetic anti-hero who is one of the few individuals in the Suicide Squad who seems to have a moral code. He’s also one of the few shining elements of what is an otherwise painfully terrible movie.
Fool – The People Under the Stairs
Poindexter “Fool” Williams is the hero of Wes Craven’s underrated “The People Under The Stairs.” He is an impoverished resident of the LA ghetto and he and his family are in the process of getting evicted by evil landlords, the Robesons. When he and his uncle Leroy decide to break in to the Robeson’s mansion to steal from them, Leroy is murdered by them, but Fool is saved by Roach. Roach is one of the people living within the walls of the Robeson’s house, and as Fool evades their attacks, in the climax he not only helps his own people, but he becomes the unwitting savior of hundred of hostages.
Stacker Pentecost – Pacific Rim
Stacker is a Marshal in the Pan Pacific Defense Corps and oversaw operations in the Hong Kong Shatterdome until his death in 2025 when he was taken by cancer. When we meet him in Guillermo Del Toro’s “Pacific Rim,” he’s a noble hero who operates his own high tech Jaeger, which is used as a means of defending Earth against the dreaded Kaiju entering our dimensions. Pentecost is a wise and noble hero who sacrifices a lot of himself to help planet Earth, and he becomes a shining examples of heroism among his fellow Jaeger operators, and students at the Jaeger Academy.
Xu Shang Chi – Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
“The Master of Martial Arts” in the comics, Shang Chi is a skilled martial artist who was trained at a young age to be an assassin by his father Wenwu. Shang-Chi left the Ten Rings organization for a normal life in San Francisco, and changed his name to “Shaun”. Trained in many martial arts, Shang Chi has to search for his father Wenwu, who is scheming to find a mythical village known for ancient beasts, and hopes to use the ten rings in hopes of reviving his long dead wife. This sets off a war where Shang Chi and his comrades (including his long lost sister). He’s a charismatic and noble hero who must come to terms with his past, and take down literal demons, if he hopes to see the future.