Roberto Da Costa is a mutant with the ability to harness the sun's power, which grants him superhuman strength, speed, and durability. Born in Brazil, Roberto comes from a wealthy family and has been described as brash and quick tempered. Initially a member of the New Mutants, Roberto has since developed a long history with various teams affiliated with both the X-Men and the Avengers.
With the New Mutants, he was always drawn as black (at least, that's how I saw him) although it could be fair to have him identified as an especially darker shade of olive-skin? His character reminds me of Monet in some ways -- some artists draw them darker skinned, other artists hardly at all. I see him in the way I was first introduced to him which would be black due to the heavy African presence in Brazil due to the country's history.
Probably why the most beautiful people in the world come from that country. :)
He is Afro-Brazillian to be specific. But his mom seems to be caucasian brazillian. So maybe he is mixed.
I agree. He seems to have African ancestry. So, I guess he could be labeled "Black".
nvr knew he n i had a lot in common... But i guess he's not just black i mean im almost exactly like him by ethnicity where im from and though by category im referred to as simply one race from my dad's side accurately im not, so the best term would be something like Afro-Caucasian-Brazilian (???) or Afro-Portuguese Brazilian instead of just black...
@jonny_anonymous... oh yeah, just like how in the United States u refer to African Americans as Blacks, the Australians refer to the Aboriginees as Blacks ... so yea theyr called Blacks in Australia...
@jonny_anonymous: yeah, the aboriginees of africa have been referred to as Blacks since the Europeans settled, they call them Black in Australia just like how African Americans are referred to as Blacks in the US..
He is Afro-Brazilian, which means he is of African descent. Brazil was one of the largest countries using African slaves and were one of the last nations to abolish slavery. Sunspot is black.... too bad he is white washed in the new Xmen movie.
@commando44: Yeah kind of like how Blink is supposed to be from the Bahamas but in the movie, she will be portrayed by a Japanese actor. I have no problem with but I thought Blink would be Caribbean or black. And at least Sunspot is played by a mexican actor. ISo he is not all the way white-washed but he can still pull of that Brazilian look.
@ultimatekey: I don't mind when they change the ethnicity of a character but sometimes the change does not make sense. I just read about the Fantastic Four reboot and there is a black Johnny Storm..... I'm not an FF fan but I would have like to see the characters stay true to comics. Director Fury as a black guy was OK because they introduced it in comics. Having a black Johnny and a White Sue is just too much of a distraction. Hollywood. (Shaking my head)
Well, he looks like the average latin man, dark skin, Brown black hair, and Brown eyes. in comics , sometimes is difficult to notice the differences among the ethinicties due to the colurs the penciles uso for painting and staff like that. for instance , in some comic books catwoman looks afro-american, zatanna looks asian, even vixen has looked caucasian. So i don't think he's black, but he does have dark or tanned skin.
@hyperman: His father is black. sunspot is not tanned racist. Dark skinned Latinos are black no matter how hard people try to change it, facts are facts
@mrkareemruiz: i am not racist, i just describe. My reality, i live in chile, in south america. We are not white people at all, and we are not black either, we have brown skin, daltonic moron
As @mrkareemruiz said we Latinos, we are not Black, White or Native Americans, what we are is a hybrid of all 3, and some Asian, we are a mixed culture. The terms Afro started as a movement in the USA that has been taken back by some people who have return home and some gravitate to it, but in general we do not say you are Afro-Brazilian, you are white Brazilian, we say you are Brazilian. Similar to Chile and my country the DR, we do not distinguish by color we just all the same, Chileans are Chilean, and Dominicans are just that Dominicans. Unfortunately Marvel has always drawn Latinos as Blacks and give them Black characteristics. Example the new Power Man is Dominican (not sure if from the Dominican Republic or Dominica, but with Alvarez I will say DR), he does not act or behave in any sense, form or manner as a Latino or a Dominican from the DR. So when I first saw the character to me he was a Luke Cage clone, a black man who started with an attitude. When I found out he was Latino there was nothing to identify him as Latino so I cannot relate to the character. At least Sunspot spoke Spanish (which is also wrong he should speak Portuguese or Brazilian when saying something under his breath or to himself but he can also know Spanish, but it would not be his default language).
I think what most people are overlooking is, how he was used in the comics, in the early days. Not only did he look like a black guy, he was also targeted by a racist that hated black people. That sort of settles which race he should be seen as.
Sure he has Euro- Brazilian heritage as well, but it's just like Half black/half white people in the States. It all depends on which race they choose to identify as, and which race they resemble the most. Some just say that they're mixed and leave it at that.
But Marvel went out of their way, to present him as being a victim of racial prejudice, because he was black. So there you go.
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