Remember waking up on Saturday mornings and going to the kitchen for a cold and crunchy bowl of cereal to accompany your weekend cartoons? The 90s and early 2000s gave us plenty of Black characters to watch like Static Shock, Storm, and Vince LaSalle.
While representation always hits close to home, there’s something special about a character that isn’t skin folk but feels like kinfolk. These are some of our favorite black-coded cartoon characters from recent times and the past.
Mauler Twins (Invincible)
The Mauler Twins aren’t actual twins, but a duo of ever-changing clones created by the original mad scientist Mauler. One of Invincible’s only recurring villains, the Maulers constantly argue which one is the “Real” Mauler. Even so, they generally work well together and act more like brothers than clones.
Since the Maulers are clones of a mad scientist, they act as such. They’re voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson and Run The Jewels is used as their theme music emphasizing their Black mannerisms and humor.
Jazz (The Transformers Series)
No matter which Transformer was your favorite growing up, you can’t deny that Jazz wasn’t the coolest of them all. As the calm, cool, and collected Special Ops leader, Jazz’s natural improv instinct makes him the best fit as right-hand man to Optimus Prime.
Jazz is one of the only Transformers that speaks in Black Vernacular English. He loves music, as his name implies, and can even be seen with his Aghartan electro-bass when off-duty.
Piccolo (Dragon Ball Series)
Here’s a fun social experiment: state to any Dragon Ball fan that “Piccolo is Black,” and they’ll either say, “Of course,” or “No doubt.”
Piccolo has long been revered as the Dragon Ball series’ main Black character. Since the Namekian became an ally to Goku in Dragon Ball Z, he’s been one of the Son family’s most loyal friends and extended family members. He’s trained Gohan, Goten, Trunks, and Pan in his time knowing Goku and Vegeta. He’s so involved in their lives that he’s sort of their Black uncle.
Darwin (The Amazing World of Gumball)
Darwin Watterson is an all-time Black-coded character. The adopted fish of the Watterson household is a Black child through and through. His demeanor, mannerisms, and attitude all come through very clearly when dealing with Gumball’s shenanigans.
Darwin was supposed to be the family pet but turned into a brother to Gumball and Anais. Cartoon Network has even verified that Darwin is canonically Black through their social media posts for holidays like Kwanzaa and Black History Month.
The Turtles (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Series)
Some may think that it’s crazy to call the Turtles Black-coded cartoon characters, but they are indeed four Black teenagers. Most iterations of the TMNT franchise don’t give off the feeling of the Turtles being Black-coded, but there are a few that do.
For instance, the 90s live-action movies show us a lighthearted version of the Turtles with hip-hop as their backing music and more Blackness in their mannerisms than normal due to the human aspect. In the newest animated film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, the Turtles are portrayed as closely as possible to Black Gen Z teens growing up in New York.
Not to mention, the Turtles have been canonically given Black-coded and just outright Black disguises. One specific example of this is when the Turtles were given holographic disguises and each of them was given one that replicated a Black teenager (pictured above on the right).
Main Image Credit: Instagram/@artbank5
