Robert Townsend Deserve's His Flowers Now

 Today is the 30th anniversary of one of my favorite movies The Five Heartbeats. Watching the movie which is a beloved amongst the Black culture, I thought about just how much Robert Townsend has given the culture that is often acknowledged but really overlooked. With The Five Heartbeats Townsend was a star in the film, in addition to producing, writing, and directing the film. That's alot of hats to wear for a movie that is about as close to perfection as they come.

Looking over his filmography his first major break in Hollywood was Hollywood Shuffle. Another film he starred in, produced, wrote and directed. The movie is a satire on the Hollywood industry and it's treatment of Black actors when it comes to finding the "right" role, very relevant today as it was in the 80's when the film was made.

In 1993 before Blade, before Black Panther, hell a year before Blankman. He gave us the first Black superhero on the big screen I remember Meteor Man. A film that at the time had a who's who of Black actors and actresses in it (Marla Gibbs, James Earl Jones, Bill Cosby, Luther Vandross, Robert Guillaume, Don Cheadle) and the list goes on and on. This film employed alot of Black people and likely inspired the next generation.

Those three films are probably Robert's most well known contributions to Hollywood, but it doesnt stop there. He directed Eddie Murphy's RAW standup movie, he wasn't credited but I'm inclined to believe him and Keenan Ivory Wayans helped write some of the jokes for the film. He directed B.A.P.S, starring Halle Berry and Natalie Desselle. Carmen:An Hip Hopera, Holiday Heart, Playin' For Love, Living For Love: The Natalie Cole Story, and The Little Richard movie are some of the additional films he's directed.

On the TV side, he created and starred in one of the WB's first sitcoms in the Cosby inspired Parent'Hood which ran for five seasons. He had his own variety comedy special on HBO called Robert Towsend and His Partners in Crime. Directed episodes of Love Is, Black Lighting, Last O.G., Soul Food and American Soul along with other TV series.

For some reason when the conversation about legendary or most influential Black filmmakers comes up. Robert Townsend is almost never bought up, not sure if thats just because he's never came across as a guy who really cares for the spotlight. In any case he has provided the culture with so much, and it's time we start giving him his flowers now. 

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X-Men In The MCU..Should Be A TV Series

Back in 2018 when Disney bought 20th Century Fox Studios, fans couldn't wait for the X-Men to be apart of the MCU. It looks like that time is here, as it was recently announced Marvel has started developing an X-Men series called "The Mutants". We don't know much about it other than it'll be a movie.

Personally I think introducing the X-Men into the MCU would be better served as a Disney Plus series. Right now Disney plus and MCU are coming off the hit WandaVision series, with Falcon and The Winter Soldier debuting next week. This summer the Loki series will be released this summer, and a dozen or so series are already in development. Disney and MCU also seem to be spending blockbuster quality budgets on the series. 

Besides that we have had two X-Men film series within the past twentie years, with both falling off the rails with the third film. Both films also have retreated the same stories, and for the most part relied on the same characters through both films.

A TV series could do a few things. If a decision is made to rehash Magneto's and Charles Xaviers story it could be completed in 2-3 episodes, before diving deep into the battle of the respective mutant idealogies. Fan favorite stories that were adapted to film like Age of  Apocalypse, Dark Phoenix and Days of Future Past could be fleshed out through a entire season, giving them proper time to develop and be executed. The same could be said for other popular stories like House of M, God Loves, Man Kills, and E for Extinction could be adapted as well. 10-12 episodes to allow these stories to play out with promises of more,  Disney Plus would never have to worry about losing subscribers.

Another thing a series could do is give other mutants like Gambit, Sunfire, Bishop, Banshee, and many more screentime. Possibly rotating the majority of the roster out each season, keeping a holdover or two for continuity. On the villain side, Bella Donna, Callisto, Exodus, and Mister Sinister could get their time to shine. 

Marvel has been highly successful with the MCU, and there's no doubt in my mind they have a grand plan on how the concept of mutants will work in that world. Just my two cents, give us a good TV show before moving to movies. 

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