He dreamed of creating his own African superhero universe - now it's finally paying off David Betancourt, The Washington Post Jan. 27, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail Roye Okupe dreamed of creating an African superhero universe. He discovered superheroes from "Transformers" and "X-Men" cartoons while growing up in Lagos, Nigeria. He arrived in the United States in 2002 at the age of 17, the same year Sam Raimi's first "Spider-Man" movie broke records at the box office and made superheroes a mainstay in theaters. By the time he graduated from George Washington University with a degree in computer science (while also studying animation at the Art Institute of Washington), Okupe was shopping around an 8-minute animated trailer for an African superhero. Years before "Black Panther" would go on to make a billion dollars at the box office, Okupe received little interest from the TV world. One producer told him his ideas might work if he changed the race of his heroes.