It has been often seen in several movies and series that people of color (usually people of African heritage) spot a braided hairstyle. Alongside the braided hairstyle, an almost bald look or a one-side cut is also often seen with these characters.
People might call it stereotypical and even borderline racism, but this was the norm during the early 2000s. Well, with the animated series X-Men: Evolution, one character was almost about to suffer the same fate until the executive producers decided to step in and change it to something unique.
X-Men: Evolution Saved Itself From Being Stereotypical
Back in the early 2000s, X-Men: Evolution was a newly animated series based on, well… the X-Men. However, the series had to go above and beyond the walls set by its predecessor X-Men: The Animated Series, and hence, had to include new characters.
At that time, people of color were slowly getting involved on the screens and the world was welcoming the change. One of the characters in X-Men: Evolution was created entirely from scratch to bring diversity to Professor Xavier’s team. Executive producers Rick Ungar and Boyd Kirkland revealed (via Toon Zone News) that the character of Spyke was created just for the animated series and wasn’t in the comic books.
“We just [had] a real tough time coming up with a character of color that existed in the first 10 years of the comic.”
As per the report, Spyke was called Armadillo initially, which was later changed to the present name. Not only was the name changed, but the character also sported cornrows, the braided hairstyle that has been stereotyped with people of color.
“We were originally pushing for kind of these tied down braids, but we didn’t go that way. We went for more of a Dennis Rodman type of cut since he’s into basketball and skateboarding.” explained Steve E. Gordon
The final look for Spyke was decided and the rest, as they say, is history. Of course, as the same time, people are tired of seeing the stereotypical “Killmonger Cut” on people of color in video games, movies, and series as well.
The “Killmonger Cut” Has Been Overused
Fans may remember when Erik Killmonger (played by Michael B. Jordan) made his first appearance in Black Panther back in 2018. Sporting a one-side cut with braided hair falling on his right, fans were in awe of the hairstyle. 6 years later, the people are tired of the hairstyle being stereotyped into every character and want a change.
Annabel Ashalley-Anthony revealed to IGN that people have been stereotyping the hairstyle so much that it seems overused at the moment.
“Black people have some of the most diverse hairstyles in the world, but you’d never know that from gaming. And it’s really frustrating that it feels like developers have substituted this one hairstyle for the other boring hairstyles we wanted a break from in the first place.”
She further continued,
“I couldn’t believe what they’d done to Miles [Morales], especially when his line-up from his own game was so clean.”
She does make a fair point as several iconic characters like Phoenix (from Valorant), and the lead from Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown sport a similar look.
The series that saved itself from stereotyping this element (X-Men: Evolution), received a rating of 7.8/10 on IMDB. With 4 seasons to its name, the 2000 series is available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.
