Something that we failed to pick up on but has been resonating for a few weeks….legendary soul singer/songwriter, Smokey Robinson had some pretty strong thoughts about opting to be Black versus African-American as it pertains to an ethnic identity:
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Something that we failed to pick up on but has been resonating for a few weeks....legendary soul singer/songwriter, Smokey Robinson had some pretty strong thoughts about opting to be Black versus African-American as it pertains to an ethnic identity:
One thing that Dburt is doing (finally) is investing in cryptocurrency, courtesy of Roundlyx. We would implore our followers to investigate, discern and then explore by using our referral code: afro-87A4BF
Call us LIVE at 508-645-0100. AFTER CLICKING ON THE HIGHLIGHTED LINK, GO DIRECTLY TO AFRONERD RADIO!!!
X Deaths of Wolverine has come to an end, and Moira McTaggart’s future is now cemented in vengeance and villainy. Good for us readers, bad for Moira, and it’s really grimy how it all went down. Charles, Erik, and Moira are Krakoa’s 3 Legendary Sannin turned Illuminati. They pulled the strings behind the scenes like Kankurō and created a paradise.
It was that fateful park bench meeting of Charles and Moira that set mutants on this path to an island nation in the Pacific. It was Moira’s ability to resurrect herself in a restarted timeline over and over that allowed Charles to overcome 70 years of failed dreams. It was their partnership with Magneto that allowed former X-Men ops to live in peace and harmony on Krakoa. And it was ultimately, the trio’s decision to deny the resurrection of all precogs that led to the unfortunate turn to the dark side for terminator Sith Moira.
But let’s backtrack real quick for those who are unfamiliar with this tale or need a quick refresher. Everything was going so well. Moira was chilling in her little “no place bubble” where psychics could not detect her and ordinary mutants couldn’t reach her. Charles and Magneto were the only ones in the know, leaving the master of magnetism and the godfather of the X-Men to create a nation of mutants devoid of human hate and persecution.
It was All Good Just a Week Ago
And then Mystique had an epiphany. These motherfuckers have suspiciously avoided adding the love of my life to the resurrection queues.
These motherfuckers have sent me on missions that were nigh impossible with the stipulation that I must succeed in order to have my wife brought back. These motherfuckers are screwing me over, and I shall not have it! Mystique finally took action into her own hands and finessed the shit out of everyone involved in the running of this society and decision making process of bringing certain mutants back to life. She used her shapeshifting abilities to bring Destiny back and once she was in the mix, all bets were off.
Mo Precogs, No Problems
While it was clearly a group decision to leave precogs off the rez queue, Moira became the scapegoat. Mystique came for that woman with every ounce of pain and suffering chakra she was storing up. This was becoming the forbidden love story that neither Charles, Erik, or Moira could handle and it all came to a head when Mystique played her trump card and dealt the final blow to the woman who, up until that point, dedicated her whole life to helping mutants win the simultaneous wars being waged against them by man, machine, and more.
Moira was the fucking messiah, and I don’t say that shit lightly. She has literally died and come back to life like 9-10 times (depending on what timeline theory you believe in), doing her darndest to help Charles realize this ideal he covets so. I mean, if I’m keepin it a hunnit, mutants should be saying Merry Moira Day to each other on December 25th each year, and that’s on Apocalypse da gawd.
Buttttt instead, Mystique snitched to Emma Frost about Charles and Magneto’s dirty little secret. She snatched up the power neutralizer yopper that Forge built and faded Moira’s gifts of resurrection, then hunted her down like a man-eating tiger B.
Vengeance Makes a Vile Villain
In the end, X Deaths/Lives of Wolverine proved a few things. The most glaring for me, is that Marvel will never cease to capitalize on the birth of a good X-Men villain. Mystique and Destiny’s passion filled, hell bent revenge mission pushed Moira to charter a new path to immortality, and in doing so, she became the murderous machine woman she’d been trying so desperately to avoid becoming. It also proved once again that Wolverine is the best there is at what he does, but we don’t got time to get into all that.
While looking like a techno-organic cyborg, Moira is born from her 1st life’s, Moira Kinross’, grave. The X-Men now have arguably their biggest threat to deal with (on top of Nimrod, Orchis, Homines Verendi, etc). Kudos to Jonathan Hickman for mapping out this 3-year heel turn. He really utilized a dusty character that could’ve remained muddled in obscurity and transformed her into the mutant savior nobody knew we needed to help explain 7 decades of X-lore. She has now become mutants most dangerous new foe and reset the timeline to a fixed storyline moving forward.
Superman is one of the most iconic comic book characters of all time and the world’s best-known superhero. Ever since he appeared in 1938’s Action Comics #1, the Man of Steel successfully fought crime and villainy, without any permanent injury thanks to his godlike abilities. However, that changed in 1966’s Superman #188, when the superhero was killed for the first time in comics. We say “the first time” because he died, or was presumed dead, more than a dozen times throughout his comic book run.
His deaths usually served as a turning point in the comics, allowing creatives at DC to create parallel timelines, reboots, crossovers, etc. For example, one of his most iconic killed-in-action moments happened in 1992’s The Death of Superman comic crossover story, in which the superhero perished at the hands of Doomsday. This was later adapted in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which set the stage for 2017’s Justice League. But what Batman v. Superman failed to adapt from the comics was the birth of Steel.
Steel, also known as John Henry Irons, a genius weapons expert in hiding who was saved by Superman, actually tried to reach the Man in Blue as Doomsday smashed his way into Metropolis. But, unfortunately, he was trapped under a collapsing building and couldn’t reach the Man of Steel before it was too late. A few weeks later, in light of Superman’s death, Irons forged a high-tech suit of armor, flight boots and completed its look with an S-emblem and a cape. Later, when Superman resurrected, he accepted Steel as an ally.
But we’re here to ask: What exactly would happen if these allies clashed against each other and exchanged blows? Would Irons’ technology win over Superman’s brute force? Or would Superman dominate the fight, as we’ve seen in Superman & Lois Season 1 Episode 12 when the Man of Steel proved to be a bite that Steel couldn’t easily swallow? To answer that question properly, we’d have to dig a little further into comic book history and compare today’s contestants.
We all know Kal-El’s powers and abilities, as our yellow sun affected his Kryptonian physiology, granting him powers like heat vision, super-hearing, flight, invulnerability, superhuman strength, etc. Steel’s exoskeleton armor was specifically designed to emulate Superman’s capabilities, including superhuman strength and superhuman durability. So, suppose he was ever to face Superman mano-a-mano. In that case, Steel could be potentially curtailed by the physical limitation of his armor since Superman has been shown to tear through steel and various other metals and alloys.
With that said, John Henry Irons sustained extensive skeletal and neural damage during 2105’s Convergence event, which left him paralyzed. Wanting to prevent the world’s end, Irons convinced Professor Hamilton to gene-splice him with his armor, after which he was forever transformed into a new and quite literal Man of Steel. His entire physiology was surgically modified with alien techno-organics, which repaired his damaged tissue and fused the armor’s technical capabilities with Irons’ living flesh, significantly improving his capabilities.
Being transformed into a literal living weapon also gave Irons energy-absorption, which allows him to manipulate various forms of energy, and force field projections. The former would effectively render Superman’s physical attacks and heat vision useless, as such attacks would only allow Steel to accumulate Superman’s energy and use it against him. On the other hand, the latter might provide ample protection from the Kryptonian, but one must use all assets in a fight and manipulate their opponent’s weaknesses.
And that’s where Steel surpasses Superman since he doesn’t suffer from the same weakness inherent to all Kryptonians — vulnerability to Kryptonite. Superman is vulnerable to Kryptonite and magic, and while it’s certain that Steel won’t cast any spells, he’s likely to exploit his opponent’s weaknesses in a fight. The superhero posing as Clark Kent has been previously harmed and even fatally injured by blades and projectile weapons made of Kryptonite. This is something Irons, a weapon specialist, might use to his advantage over the Kryptonian.
Unfortunately, there’s no clear-cut or DC Cannon winner in this fight. Superman’s physical prowess might be unquantifiable compared to Steel’s, but Irons is now empowered by alien nano techno-organics, which could potentially put him on par with the Kryptonian. Steel isn’t vulnerable to Kryptonite, which has effects that weaken and impair Kryptonians, and prolonged exposure to its effects could very well induce death. And we’re not discussing the death-like state known as the Kryptonian coma.
However, if trapped between a Thanagarian War Mace and the Lasso of Truth, if we had to choose the winner, our vote would go to Kal-El. Bruce Wayne’s Batman once said Superman’s biggest weakness wasn’t Kryptonite but the fact that he’s a good person. So he’d might hold back, which could cost him the fight. But if he ever got into a “all-out fight mode” and was completely uninhibited, Steel would be lucky to find himself not dropped right in the middle of the sun.
Unlike Superman, Steel never got an adequate cinematic release or even an appearance or cameo in one of the Justice League movies. His only cinematic appearance happened in a feature film from 1997, named Steel — a box office flop that was loosely an adaptation of the comic book character. The film didn’t even mention Superman, one of Irons’ greatest influences. Well, we hope to see him in some of the future DC releases, especially now that Superman has resurrected and the world anticipates another Justice League/Superman film.
In this week’s episode of the Black Girl Nerds podcast, we’re serving you an extra dose of our show! We unpack the highlights and lowlights of the 2022 Oscars ceremony this past week. This is an episode you do not want to miss!
Host: Ryanne and Jamie Music by: Sammus Edited by: Jamie Broadnax