History Main / AfroAsskicker

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The other thing that was happening in the '60s and '70s was the rise of the MartialArtsMovie. Hong Kong martial arts films were enormously popular with black American audiences, who could often relate to the underdog protagonists in their struggles against [[TheManIsKeepingUsDown corrupt and oppressive authorities]], and who - unlike most white American audiences at the time - were already quite used to seeing characters of a different race on the screen, so it wasn't long before American studios started combining kung fu with blaxploitation; ''Film/CleopatraJones'' is generally considered the first film to bridge the two genres, and the title character is very much an example of this trope. Therefore, the Afro Asskicker is frequently - though by no means always - skilled in Eastern-style martial arts.

Closely related to the SoulBrotha, an incredibly cool Black person who often wears an afro as part of their appeal, but the emphasis is more on their general coolness than their fighting ability. A JiveTurkey may have some overlap if they happen to be a afro-wearing fighter who happens to talk in a stereotypically outdated "street" manner, [[DiscreditedTrope but is considered insensitive at best to harshly racist at worst]] due to straight examples tending to come off as [[UncleTomfoolery mockingly depicting Black people speaking AAVE as buffoonish and/or inarticulate]].

* Chiba of ''Manga/{{BECK|1999}}'', whose 'fro and musical style were directly influenced from [[Music/RageAgainstTheMachine Zac De La Rocha]]. Doesn't hurt that he knows martial arts.
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Love Aikawa ([[spoiler: an ex-captain Shinigami]] in the side of good) and Privaron Espada Gantebaine Mosqueda (for the Arrancar), though since they are technically projections of dead people the usual draw backs of long hair don't really apply.

* Spike from ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' and his green, fluffy [[AmbiguouslyJewish (and fitting?)]] Jewfro. It does not hinder him in the slightest while hunting bounties.
** The early episode "Stray Dog Strut" has a villain named Abdul Hakim, who is a pretty overt expy for Creator/KareemAbdulJabbar, specifically as he appears in ''Film/GameOfDeath''. As such, Abdul has an impressive afro and hand-to-hand combat skills to match.
** The later episode "Mushroom Samba" is an homage to old blaxploitation movies, and is chock-full of such characters, including expies of Film/{{Shaft}} and Film/{{Coffy}}.
* Subverted with Aizawa from ''Manga/DeathNote'', who has CharacterDevelopment and [[TookALevelInBadass takes some levels in badass]]... when he ''[[ImportantHaircut cuts his afro short.]]''
* Subverted in ''Franchise/DragonBall'': Anyone with an afro will be at least a overhyped fighter, if not a FakeUltimateHero (See: [[Manga/DragonBall Pamphut, Chapa King]] and [[Anime/DragonBallZ Mr. Satan]]). They're ''all'' BadassNormal though, just not on the level of our CharlesAtlasSuperpower-sporting heroes.
* Nabeshin in ''Anime/ExcelSaga'' is a ParodySue AuthorAvatar of director Shinichi Watanabe. As such, he sports Watanabe's real-life afro and frequently drops in to battle minor villains or mentor the heroes. Eventually, he teaches [[spoiler:Pedro and his son, Sandora]] to be "afro warriors."

* ''Anime/{{Megalo Box}}'': "Gearless" Joe sports a black afro in the first season. He's also a Megaloboxer who decides to fight in Megalonia, a Megaloboxing tournament, [[BadassNormal without using Gear.]]

** There's Brook, a [[DemBones skeleton]]. Even after his death his afro remained due to having [[ItRunsOnNonsensoleum "Deep roots"]]. His hair is actually a plot point as, being a skeleton, he will be no longer recognisable to the [[ItMakesSenseInContext whale he met 50 years ago]] except for his afro; due to him being an skeleton, it won't grow back if damaged. He does anything he can to protect his afro. Luckily for him he has all the strength of a living body with all the weight he's lost from being reduced to bones and hair, which is to say he's [[ItRunsOnNonsensoleum really strong]].
** [[AdiposeRex Wapol's]] magistrate Kuromarimo not only had an afro, but fights ''with'' afros! They get stuck to the opponent via static electricity, whereupon his partner Chess can set them on fire.
** Then in the Davy Back Fight, when Luffy had a boxing match, it was decided he should wear an afro wig, since [[MagicFeather that would make him stronger]]. [[spoiler:It was PlayedForLaughs [[FunnyAfro at first]], but it ultimately worked.]]

%%* Gluk Jones from ''[[Literature/CaptainUnderpants The Adventures of Ook and Gluk, Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future]]''.
* Comicbook/BlackLightning had one [[https://theundefeated.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/black_lightning_cover_1xx.jpg back in the seventies]], while fighting the 100 single-handedly. Although it was actually a wig, as part of his secret identity; as schoolteacher Jefferson Pierce, he kept his hair short.
* ComicBook/{{Blade}} used to wear a fro back in the 70s in all his vampire killing glory.
* Mother's Milk in ''Comicbook/TheBoys'', due to his immense strength, his willingness to use it, and how many opponents he takes down.

* [[ComicBook/DaughtersOfTheDragon Misty Knight]], [[ComicBook/CaptainMarvelMarvelComics Monica Rambeau]], and ComicBook/LukeCage from the Franchise/MarvelUniverse. Whereas Monica has updated her hairstyle each decade, Misty's afro is so iconic (she was Marvel's answer to the Blaxploitation craze), she has kept it up to the present day. Cage, meanwhile, has simply shaved his head and regards his Afro days as something of an OldShame (though more because of [[IWasQuiteAFashionVictim outfit]] he wore with it than the Afro itself).
* ''ComicBook/RedRobin'': In the Ünternet Tam Fox decides to wear her hair in an afro and the imagination based powers of the place mean she's a far more effective fighter against than normal. Even in the real world she has Kickboxing and Krav Maga training but she prefers to stay an ActionSurvivor rather than endanger herself needlessly where the consequences are more lasting, and she usually keeps her hair relaxed.
* Franchise/WonderWoman villain Cyborgirl keeps her hair in an afro, and as a villain who goes up against the likes of Wondy and the ComicBook/TeenTitans she's a bona fide asskicker.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanSoulOfTheDragon'': Fitting for the [[TheSeventies 70's]] setting, Ben Turner / Bronze Tiger has an afro and an expert martial artist. As said so by himself, always eager to whoop someone's ass.

* Foxxy Cleopatra (a parody of Cleopatra Jones and Film/FoxyBrown) in ''Film/AustinPowersInGoldmember''. This leads to a CompressedHair gag when she and Austin have to scuba dive to reach Dr. Evil's submarine. After removing her swim cap she shakes her head to get her afro to pop back up. None of this applies however to [[Film/LiveAndLetDie Rosie Carver]], the FauxActionGirl whose role she's been inserted into.

* The title character of ''Film/BlackDynamite'', a spoof on {{Blaxploitation}} movies. That said, he's technically on the side of the law, so if one complies this trope will not come into play.
* As mentioned above, ''Film/CleopatraJones'' was the first martial arts movie specifically made for black American audiences, and the title character - together with her SpearCounterpart, Creator/JimKelly in ''Film/EnterTheDragon'' (see below) - is the TropeCodifier for the kung fu version of this trope. They made a sequel called ''[[CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold]]'', in which she goes to Hong Kong.
* ''Film/{{Coffy}}'', the precursor to ''Film/FoxyBrown.'' Attempt to grab her hair will just get you cut, as she stores razor blades in it just for that, and it never manages to get caught on anything.

* Film/{{Dolemite}}, for laughs yes but an ass kicker none the less. He's basically invincible in hand to hand combat.
* ''Film/EnterTheDragon'' has Williams (played by Jim Kelly), who is the first male incarnation of this trope in a martial arts context (''Film/CleopatraJones'' was released a month earlier), and an enormously influential character for future incarnations of this trope. Black Belt Jones (see above) can be considered essentially an expy of Williams.
* Film/FoxyBrown (the character of the film, not the rapper) was not as much of an example as Coffy, as she actually did get roughed up a lot more often, but in the end she does win and does so with her fro intact.
* Creator/SamuelLJackson's character in ''Film/PulpFiction'', has a Jheri curl rather than a true afro but is still a badass. Apparently they tried dozens of afro wigs and couldn't find anything they liked. They tried the Jheri curl last, almost as a joke, and decided it was perfect.
%%** Film/JackieBrown is another Tarantino subversion, given that the movie is Tarantino's blaxploitation homage.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J62utiPwxj4 ''Savage'']], the baddes dude with the biggest gun, and the biggest Afro.

* ''Film/WonderWomen''. The TokenMinority henchwoman, who also engages in clumsy SheFu.

%%* The most iconic Caucasian example of this trope could very well be the [[http://bandbent.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/tombaker_76.jpg Fourth Doctor]] on ''Series/DoctorWho''. (Also, about forty years after Creator/TomBaker's debut as the Fourth Doctor, Danny Pink's IdenticalGrandson [[http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140914220451/tardis/images/e/eb/Doctor-Who-S08Ep04-Listen-Orson-Pink%282%29.JPG Orson]] made an appearance with a pretty cool greying 'fro.)

* Afro Thunder is among the selectable fighters ''VideoGame/Ready2RumbleBoxing'' and ''Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2''
* Big Wallop, a fighter in Atari's ''Ready 2 Rumble Revolution''.
* Mr. Jones of ''VideoGame/PowerInstinct Matrimelee'' and ''VideoGame/RageOfTheDragons''.
* Tiger Jackson from ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' can keep his Afro intact while playing capoeira and is no less capable than the "main" capoeira player Eddy.
%%* ''VideoGame/MagicRampage'': The Dude.
* Shinobu Jacobs from ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' has a white afro, contrasting with her black skin, and is a skilled asassin.
%%* John Torque, Houston and the Flying All-Star Trio in ''VideoGame/Vigilante8''
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': The Demoman can enter firefights with a Music/JimiHendrix-style afro if the player so chooses.

* ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' has Bouffalant, a buffalo Pokémon with Afro hair. It has Head Charge, an Afro-based SignatureMove which is very strong and accurate but does recoil damage to it.
** The Japanese version makes it even more obvious that Head Charge is an afro-based attack: it's actually called "Afro Break!"
** ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' has Flint of the Elite Four, who has a very cool looking red afro and is a rival to region's strongest gym leader.
** Miror B. from ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'' has a gigantic afro modeled after a Pokéball. He's also a Cipher Admin in the first game while he's a wandering thief in [[VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness the sequel]] who captures the Pokémon you fail to snag.

* Andrei Ulmeyda, ''VideoGame/{{killer7}}'''s BadassNormal, wears an afro. [[spoiler: Later becomes his weak point after turning into an Heaven Smile and killing all members of the military in the area with his acidic blood. And he has the chance to OneHitKill you.]]
* Saturno, one of the more balanced competitors from ''Capoeira Fighter''.
* Kid Quick and Title Defense Disco Kid, boxers from the ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' series.
* Todd, the butler of the Schrodinger family in ''VideoGame/WildArms3'' has an afro. Unlike most examples of the trope, it is to your advantage to attack his hair; by setting it [[PlayingWithFire on fire]], it will deal him DamageOverTime.
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', a Female Avatar [[VagueAge with the Second/Younger Build]] can be given an afro as one of her potential hairstyles. If the afro's her chosen 'style, the player will have a tiny, fluffy-haired girl [[BadassAdorable laying absolute devastation on the battlefield]].

* Kodan, one of the four main characters in ''VideoGame/FernzGate'', sports a giant afro and is the best melee fighter in the game.
%%* ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors 4'': Koshosho.

* One of the more accessible (which is to say, lowest cost) cosmetics available to your crew of battle-hardened Dwarves in ''VideoGame/DeepRockGalactic'' is a modest Hendrix-style afro. A slightly larger afro is available for more credits, and if you're willing to splurge, you can slaughter hordes of bugs while wearing a ''gigantic afro the size of your torso''.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Subverted by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEtIoGQxqQs Afro Ninja]], a popular viral video where the man attempts to show his asskicking skills [[EpicFail and fails miserably]]. Double subverted when you figure out this guy is a total badass, missed the stunt only because of jet lag, and after resting up, ''got the job''. And in the movie based on the viral video, he certainly ''does'' kick some ass.

* Huey Freeman and Bushido Brown from the ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks''. That said, Huey tends to end up losing by attrition against any accomplished adult martial artist, he nonetheless managed to outperform an sports team in a [[SeriousBusiness comically violent]] game of kick ball. A Team that has members of ''Black Water Mercenary Company'' on it. And Busido Brown, he's one of those accomplished adult martial artists, who can take on entire armed gangs with nothing but a sword and even shrugs off being electrocuted by Freeman.

* [[spoiler: Donna]] from ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'' as the superhero Hot Cocoa Bang Bang. Despite only having played the role in a movie, she actually has the moves.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls2016'' has Green Wing, [[OldSuperhero an aged, retired superhero]] that sports an afro. She was competent enough in her youth to impress an initially doubting Buttercup, the current age's most notorious bruiser.
* Garnet from ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse''. An alien RockMonster with an inexplicable Afro and the most powerful member of the main cast.

* Chiba of ''Manga/{{BECK}}'', whose 'fro and musical style were directly influenced from [[Music/RageAgainstTheMachine Zac De La Rocha]]. Doesn't hurt that he knows martial arts.

* ''ComicBook/RedRobin'': In the Ünternet Tam Fox decides to wear her hair in an afro and the imagination based powers of the place mean she's a far more effective fighter against than normal. Even in the real world she has Kickboxing and Krav Maga training but she prefers to stay an ActionSurvivor rather than endanger herself needlessly where the consequences are more lasting, and she usually keeps her hair relaxed.

* Film/FoxyBrown (the character of the film, not the rapper) was not as much of an example as Coffy, as she [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome actually did get roughed up a lot more often]], but in the end she does win and does so with her fro intact.

* Congo Elandon, Ernie Ladd, Raúl Castillo, Jean Kirkland, Wrestling/AndreTheGiant, [[Wrestling/{{GLOW}} Big Bad Mama, Mountain Fiji]], Mohammed Yone, Wrestling/CarlitoColon, Louis Lyndon, Wrestling/DarrenYoung, The Human Tornado, Orlando Jordan, D-Ray 3000, The Wrestling/JunkyardDog, Wrestling/JayLethal, [[Wrestling/XavierWoods Consequences Creed]], Kyoko Kimura, [[Wrestling/FightingOperaHUSTLE HUSTLE Kamen Green]], Marti Belle, Sugar Dunkerton, Wrestling/{{Meng}}, Grizzled Youth, Sabian, Abe Jackson, Rhett Giddins and Wrestling/TheWildSamoans were known for having these while they wrestled. Wrestling/AliciaFox occasionally wrestled with an afro as well.

* ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' has Bouffalant, a buffalo Pokémon with Afro hair. It has Head Charge, an Afro-based SignatureMove which is very strong and accurate but does recoil damage to it.

** Miror B. from ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'' has a gigantic afro modeled after a Pokéball. He's also a Cipher Admin in the first game while he's a wandering thief in [[VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness the sequel]] who captures the Pokémon you fail to snag.

* Foxxy Cleopatra (a parody of Cleopatra Jones and Film/FoxyBrown) in ''Film/AustinPowersInGoldmember''. That said, her Afro does inexplicably compress when she's forced to go diving into the villains' lair, though it just as mysteriously returns when it's time to do battle on dry land. None of this applies however to [[Film/LiveAndLetDie Rosie Carver]], the FauxActionGirl whose role she's been inserted into.

* {{Wrestling/Naomi}} has adopted an afro as of her January 2020 return to the ring.

The other thing that was happening in the '60s and '70s was the rise of the MartialArtsMovie. Hong Kong martial arts films were enormously popular with black American audiences, who could often relate to the underdog protagonists in their struggles against [[TheManIsKeepingUsDown corrupt and oprressive authorities]], and who - unlike most white American audiences at the time - were already quite used to seeing characters of a different race on the screen, so it wasn't long before American studios started combining kung fu with blaxploitation; ''Film/CleopatraJones'' is generally considered the first film to bridge the two genres, and the title character is very much an example of this trope. Therefore, the Afro Asskicker is frequently - though by no means always - skilled in martial arts.

%%* Garterbelt, from ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt''. [[LetsGetDangerous Sometimes.]]

%%* Cosmo Yuki from ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon''.

%%* Mother's Milk in ''Comicbook/TheBoys''.

%%* K.O. Joe from ''WesternAnimation/ChopSockyChooks''

* Garnet from ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse''. An alien RockMonster with an inexplicable Afro and the most powerful member of the main cast.
* Afro-Man from ''Afro-Man and the Protectors of the Book of Knowledge'', though he's more like a [[BadButt "butt" kicker]], he is nonetheless the most competent superhero in a world full of them and responsible for thwarting things like {{alien invasion}}s.

** There's [[spoiler:former]] Fleet Admiral Sengoku, though you rarely see it as he wears a hat. He leads the AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Marines [[spoiler:and later shows that he ate a Devil Fruit that gave him the ability to turn into a giant golden Buddha-like moving statue, afro and all]].

* As mentioned above, ''Film/CleopatraJones'' was the first martial arts movie specifically made for black American audiences, and the title character - together with Creator/JimKelly in ''Film/EnterTheDragon'' (see below) - is the TropeCofidier for the kung fu version of this trope. They made a sequel called ''[[CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold]]'', in which she goes to Hong Kong.

The other thing that was happening in the '60s and '70s was the rise of the MartialArtsMovie. Hong Kong martial arts films were enormously popular with black American audiences, who could often relate to the underdog protagonists in their struggles against [[TheMan corrupt authorities]], and - unlike most white American audiences at the time - were already quite used to seeing characters of a different race on the screen, so it wasn't long before American studios started combining kung fu with blaxploitation - ''Film/CleopatraJones'' is generally considered the first film to bridge the two genres, and the title character is very much an example of this trope. Therefore, the Afro Asskicker is frequently - though by no means always - skilled in martial arts.

While hairstyles involving afro-textured hair have existed in some form for centuries amongst people in Africa proper and the African diaspora elsewhere, the afro proper as popularly understood has its origins in the United States during the late 1960s and early 1970s with the rise of the Black Power movement in general and the "Black is beautiful" movement in particular, serving as a direct rejection of Eurocentric beauty standards regarding hair. Prior to this, many Black Americans in the United States would chemically straighten their curly afro-textured hair due to it being seen as "dirty" or "unkempt" by white Americans in its natural state.

* Cleopatra Jones herself was also this, specializing in "Kung Fu" and vehicular combat. Jones was not in the sequel ''[[CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold]]'' however.

* Williams in ''Film/EnterTheDragon'' (played by Jim Kelly) is, if not the UrExample for films, then and TropeCodifier for martial arts movies.

* Foxxy Cleopatra (a parody of Cleopatra Jones and Film/FoxyBrown) in ''Film/AustinPowersInGoldmember''. That said, her Afro does inexplicably compress when she's forced to go diving into the villains' lair, though it just as mysteriously returns when it's time to do battle on dry land. None of this applies however to [[Film/LiveAndLetDie Rosie Carver]], the FauxActionGirl whose role she's been inserted into.
* Speaking of such, Cleopatra Jones herself was also this, specializing in "Kung Fu" and vehicular combat. Jones was not in the sequel ''[[CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold]]'' however.
* Creator/SamuelLJackson's character in ''Film/PulpFiction'', has a Jheri curl rather than a true afro but is still a badass. Apparently they tried dozens of afro wigs and couldn't find anything they liked. They tried the Jheri curl last, almost as a joke, and decided it was perfect.
%%** Film/JackieBrown is another Tarantino subversion, given that the movie is Tarantino's blaxploitation homage.

%%* The most iconic Caucasian example of this trope could very well be the [[http://bandbent.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/tombaker_76.jpg Fourth Doctor]] on ''Series/DoctorWho''. (Also, about forty years after Creator/TomBaker's debut as the Fourth Doctor, Danny Pink's IdenticalGrandson [[http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140914220451/tardis/images/e/eb/Doctor-Who-S08Ep04-Listen-Orson-Pink%282%29.JPG Orson]] made an appearance with a pretty cool greying 'fro.)
* ''Series/MotherlandFortSalem'': Anacostia's already quite a skilled fighter, and put her hair in a large afro while going to the Camarilla meeting along with Scylla. They then rescue a witch girl whom the Camarilla plan to ritually murder.

* The Lady of Rage rocked ruff 'n' stuff with her [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vZApT1566E Afro Puffs]]
* Music/JimiHendrix had a huge part in popularizing the afro. He was also a genuine asskicker, having had much shorter hair a few years earlier as a paratrooper.

* The title character of ''Manga/BoboboboBobobo''. To the point that his afro will sometimes be part of his attack.

%%* Cosmo Yuki from ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon''.
* Subverted in ''Franchise/DragonBall'': Anyone with an afro will be at least a overhyped fighter, if not a FakeUltimateHero (See: [[Manga/DragonBall Pamphut, Chapa King]] and [[Anime/DragonBallZ Mr. Satan]]). They're ''all'' BadassNormal though, just not on the level of our CharlesAtlasSuperpower-sporting heroes.

* Spike from ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' and his green, fluffy [[AmbiguouslyJewish (and fitting?)]] Jewfro. It does not hinder him in the slightest while hunting bounties.
%%* Shino and his father Shibi from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' both have afros, but it [[TheStoic would not quite be accurate]] to call either of them a SoulBrotha.
%%** A slightly straighter example would be Darui, who's actually black, but he's too laid-back and [[ApologizesALot apologetic]] to be considered a SoulBrotha either.
%%* Garterbelt, from ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt''. [[LetsGetDangerous Sometimes.]]
* Special mention must go to Chiba of ''Manga/{{BECK}}'', whose 'fro and musical style were directly influenced from [[Music/RageAgainstTheMachine Zac De La Rocha]]. Doesn't hurt that he knows martial arts.
* Subverted with Aizawa from ''Manga/DeathNote'', who has CharacterDevelopment and [[TookALevelInBadass takes some levels in badass]]... when he ''[[ImportantHaircut cuts his afro short.]]''
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Love Aikawa ([[spoiler: an ex-captain Shinigami]] in the side of good) and Privaron Espada Gantebaine Mosqueda (for the Arrancar), though since they are technically projections of dead people the usual draw backs of long hair don't really apply.
* ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'': Shimaru Saito, a high-ranked member of the shinsengumi and a very competent fighter, sports an afro.
* ''Anime/{{Megalo Box}}'': "Gearless" Joe sports a black afro in the first season. He's also a Megaloboxer who decides to fight in Megalonia, a Megaloboxing tournament, [[BadassNormal without using Gear.]]
* ''Manga/InoHeadGargoyle'': After Saejima [[ImportantHaircut shaves his head]], he wears an afro wig.

%%* Mother's Milk in ''Comicbook/TheBoys''.
* [[ComicBook/DaughtersOfTheDragon Misty Knight]], [[ComicBook/CaptainMarvelMarvelComics Monica Rambeau]], and ComicBook/LukeCage from the Franchise/MarvelUniverse. Whereas Monica has updated her hairstyle each decade, Misty's afro is so iconic (she was Marvel's answer to the Blaxploitation craze), she has kept it up to the present day. Cage, meanwhile, has simply shaved his head and regards his Afro days as something of an OldShame (though more because of [[IWasQuiteAFashionVictim outfit]] he wore with it than the Afro itself).

* Comicbook/BlackLightning had one [[https://theundefeated.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/black_lightning_cover_1xx.jpg back in the seventies]], while fighting the 100 single-handedly. Although it was actually a wig, as part of his secret identity; as schoolteacher Jefferson Pierce, he kept his hair short.
%%* Jones from ''ComicBook/{{XIII}}''

%%* Shinobu Jacobs from ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes''. Her afro is white, contrasting with her black skin.

* Shinobu Jacobs from ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes''. Her afro is white, contrasting with her black skin. A case of DarkSkinnedBlond (well, kind of).

* Congo Elandon, Ernie Ladd, Raúl Castillo, Jean Kirkland, Wrestling/AndreTheGiant, [[Wrestling/{{GLOW}} Big Bad Mama, Mountain Fiji]], Mohammed Yone, Wrestling/CarlitoColon, Louis Lyndon, Wrestling/DarrenYoung, The Human Tornado, Orlando Jordan, D-Ray 3000, The Wrestling/JunkyardDog, Wrestling/JayLethal, [[Wrestling/XavierWoods Consequences Creed]], Kyoko Kimura, [[Wrestling/FightingOperaHUSTLE HUSTLE Kamen Green]], Marti Belle, Wrestling/SugarDunkerton, Wrestling/{{Meng}}, Grizzled Youth, Sabian, Abe Jackson, Rhett Giddins and Wrestling/TheWildSamoans were known for having these while they wrestled. Wrestling/AliciaFox occasionally wrestled with an afro as well.

* Wrestling/WillowNightingale's [[HammyHerald intro]] includes the words, "She's got big hair and [[WhenSheSmiles an even bigger smile.]]" And yes, she keeps both during matches.