Who is your favorite complex black female antihero?

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That’s a toughie. The only antihero I can think of is ZoĆ« Washburne from Firefly. She was a hero, but also a criminal. I’m not sure how complex she was.

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Martha Washington from ā€œGive Me Libertyā€ immediately came to mind - complex, female, black…and created by two white dudes. But still a great antihero from a prescient and insightful graphic novel.

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Vanessa Williams as Wilhelmina Slater in Ugly Betty. Maybe that’s just a villain?

My all time favorite comic character is Amanda Waller. Her anti-hero credentials are legit. She is almost always an antagonist to the heroes, but she sees her manipulations (and not occasional assassinations) as a necessary evil to protect her country.

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There was Medea Blitz from the American Flagg comic.

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Condoleezza Rice

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Too true!

Does Michonne from the Walking Dead count? Is everyone in that series essentially an anti-hero at this point? I refer to the comic book, not the TV series, which I don’t watch because I’m a Luddite.

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Agent 355 of ā€˜Y: The Last Man’

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Aunty Entity of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.

I guess technically she’s a villain, but she had a moral code about as honorable as anyone else’s in that post-apocalyptic setting. And she did ultimately let Mad Max live, probably because she thought he was a hunk.

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A current favorite of mine is Annalise Keating (played by Viola Davis) in ā€œHow to Get Away with Murderā€.

She was also my first thought, but really, only Jayne can really be considered an anti-hero…the others, despite doing petty crime, are definitely the good guys of the show.

So, um, yeah. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of anyone.

I’d say Pam Grier’s Foxy Brown, not particularly complex but she set the template for the ABW.

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Okay, not particularly complex. Still, though.

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There’s always something else.

Off the top of my head (splat!) that would be the goddess Kali. But some might fuss if they are taking ā€œblackā€ to mean ā€œAfricanā€. Kali is black, her name even meaning ā€œThe Black Oneā€, or ā€œWho Is Blackā€. If we are to consider this Afrocentrically, I’d say the loa Marinette. But I will surely think of others at other times, I don’t usually think about favorites of anything, since it depends upon my mood.

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Troy from Crooklyn. She’s the central character, but her heroic qualities vacillate: she shoplifts, she pees in the hallway, she’s a total brat sometimes.

IRL, I’d say Bahamadia, whom I’ll characterize as an antihero in the sense that it’s more-or-less a given that a rapper is an antihero, particularly a 90s rapper. her complexity is superb:

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I’m going with Lana from Archer.

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I was going to mention Lana Kane from Archer as well. She’s actually a regular hero in most regards, as opposed to an anti-hero. She’s principled, usually rational, and generally the voice of reason…except that she works for a semi-evil spy agency, packs automatic weapons, and kills people time to time. But still, aside from Cyril, she’s the ā€œgoodā€ one!