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I was talking with a Chinese friend about the Doctor Strange movie and he brought up that he was disappointed that the Ancient One wasn't Asian because there aren't any Asian superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Upon further reflection, he couldn't think of a single Asian suphero in comics, certainly not one who had ever had their own solo series.

Are there any? The criteria is that they should be:

  • Definitely superheroes (and not villains), or anti-heroes at best
  • Are the protagonists (so Wong wouldn't count because he's a side character)
  • Have had their own solo series released in 2016 or earlier
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    Why did you ask this question is you already knew the answer and instantly posted it?
    – Jack B Nimble
    Nov 28, 2016 at 19:41
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    @JackBNimble It's a self-answered question, which are encouraged for this site. It seems better to write it as a question instead of "I know the answer, see below". I also thought it might be nice to show the process that led up to me doing the research.
    – Thunderforge
    Nov 28, 2016 at 19:44
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    comicvine.gamespot.com/profile/captain_solaris/lists/…
    – Valorum
    Nov 28, 2016 at 19:46
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    @JackBNimble Why should we not want to immediately post a self-answer if there is a checkbox when you ask a question to add your own answer? I also thought that this was a question that others would have (I listened to a podcast lately where the same thing came up).
    – Thunderforge
    Nov 28, 2016 at 19:50
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    @Himarm They could have easily disabled the self-answer checkbox on this site if they were so inclined. Scifi SE's help page explicitly says to use it.
    – Thunderforge
    Nov 28, 2016 at 19:52

1 Answer 1

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As of this writing, there have only been a handful of Asian superheroes who have had their own series. The first was in 1973 and then there was a big gap until the 21st century, with most being written in the last few yars.

Amadeus Cho (Totally Awesome Hulk) — Korean-American

Winner of the "young genius" contest who used nanites to remove the Hulk from Bruce Banner and place it in his own body,

Totally Awesome Hulk #1

Solo series since 2016

Cindy Moon (Silk) — Asian (probably Korean)-American

Bit by the same radioactive spider that gave Peter Parker his super powers, making her have the same powers as Spider-Man.

Silk #1

Solo series in 2015

Daken (Dark Wolverine) — Half-Japanese

The son of Wolverine and his Japanese wife, who has much the same powers.

Daken: Dark Wolverine #1

Solo series 2010-2012

Jubilee (X-Men member) — Chinese-American

A mutant with the ability to create energy plasmoids from her hands (and as of 2010, she's lost her mutant powers and is now a vampire. Comics are weird).

Jubilee #1

Solo series 2004-2005

Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel) — Pakistani-American

A Muslim girl and an Inhuman with the ability to stretch her body.

Ms. Marvel #1 Variant

Solo series since 2014

Shang-Shi (Master of Kung fu) — Chinese

A martial-artist and the Son of Fu Manchu.

Master of Kung Fu #17

Solo series 1974-1983

Addendum

Of the other Asian Marvel characters, if they are not a supervillain, they tend to be a member of the X-Men.

The closest we have got to a headlining Asian superhero in the Marvel movies is Yukio, who teams up with Logan in The Wolverine and has the power to forsee death. It's not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it is part of the X-Men universe.

Yukio in The Wolverine

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  • "The first was in 2004" ahem en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Kung_Fu_(comics)
    – Patrick Wynne
    Nov 28, 2016 at 20:00
  • @PatrickWynne Oh wow, that's embarrassing that I missed that! None of the lists I saw mentioned that one, and I think when I read the title, I just assumed that it was one of the series that Marvel published that wasn't in superhero continuity (like the Romance Tales comics). I'll fix that now!
    – Thunderforge
    Nov 28, 2016 at 20:02
  • Are any of these actually Asians, or are they all Americans of Asian descent?
    – DCShannon
    Nov 30, 2016 at 1:46
  • @DCShannon Aside from Shang-Shi (Chinese) and Daken (Half-Japanese), I think that they are all first generation Americans born in the US to parents who emigrated from their respective countries. I don't recall seeing Amadeus Cho's parents though, but there is an issue where he explicitly labels himself Korean-American. Yukio in the Wolverine movie is definitely Japanese-born though.
    – Thunderforge
    Nov 30, 2016 at 16:40

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