History Main / AfroAsskicker

* 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.