I just recently read that the celebrated actor Denzel Washington is selecting his final few films to star in before he retires, and Black Panther 3 was on the menu for him to play another villain, possibly named Achebe, like the famous African writer, Chinua Achebe of Things Fall Apart fame. That’s 40+ years of this “Money Earning Mt. Vernon” brother named Denzel Hayes Washington Jr., showing off his skills as the #1 Alpha male on the planet.

Yes, I said it, and I’m not taking it back.

Ever since I first watched this brother in A Soldier’s Story—which far too many people claim to have never seen—Mr. Washington has played characters with a lot of personal Moxy and heavy lifting. And these characters have typically been described as scene stealers, when Denzel was not cast in the lead role. Which was the case in A Soldier’s Story that starred the late Adolf Caesar (RIP) as a bitter, racially charged Black sergeant in the US Army, who Denzel’s fiery young Private First Class Peterson character elected himself to deal with.

Now, I’m not going to tell you the rest of this classic movie if you’ve never seen it. I’ll just let you know that Denzel was Denzel from his first moments on camera. As Philadelphia’s superstar comedian Kevin Hart loves to say, “I’m just being myself in a movie.” 

Well, that’s Denzel, too, a true Alpha if I’ve ever seen one. It ain’t just camera skills and acting. This brother is really that DUDE. And we’ve never seen him play anything different, outside of that cheeky Christmas fantasy film, The Preacher’s Wife, where he played an angel sent down to help an overworked and stressed-out preacher to pull his church and marriage back together.

Despite the film winning awards and selling a bunch of records for the late Whitney Houston’s (RIP) gospel soundtrack, the “Dudley” angel character that Denzel played was definitely not some of his best work. But… you can try something different, right? And he did. So, we can give him credit for that, trying, and then revert back to his regular work as an Alpha male, where he is far more natural.

In case you need an old definition of the term, with the current concept of the male Alpha coming under attack from the “neutral gender” police, who would rather do away with it, what used to be categorized as an “Alpha” was a man who consistently showed and performed the elements of confidence, purpose, resilience, composure and leadership that was ultimately effective in establishing successful results.

At first glance, none of those characteristics or behaviors would be considered negative. But when you add in the phrase or concept of a “dominant man who takes charge,” and who often displays “physical aggression,” like a wolf, a bear, or a lion, well, now we’ve gone overboard and stepped into the domain of “toxic masculinity” that the current generation of women complain about.

Denzel Washington has shown dominant, physical and aggressive behavior in at least 60% of his starring roles, much like the two Italian Alphas of Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino from The Godfather fame and dozens of other violent, masculine movies that they’ve both starred in and won awards and consistent accolades for, including the sadistic classics of Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Scarface, Carlito’s Way, Goodfellas, and Heat that they starred in together.

Other Alpha stars who come to mind in the movie business of my lifetime from the 1970s on, include Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Mark Wahlberg, Jason Statham, Brad Pitt, The Rock, Christian Bale, and Vin Diesel, just to name a few. The reality is, when it comes to making films with strong characters who stay with us for much longer than the two hours that we spend in the theaters or at home watching TV, the majority of memorable heroes and villains of the movie world will be Alphas. They simply impact our minds, bodies and spirits more than the less dominant characters. Plain and simple.

In fact, is it just me, or did actresses Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hamilton and Zoe Saldana stand out more by transforming into “Alpha women” in the worldwide franchises of Alien, Terminator and Avatar, all envisioned by the same Alpha male writer, director and producer, James Cameron. But it’s not just me. Those three franchises with “Alpha women” characters became HUGE and are still going. While I’m at it, let me give a strong nod to Gal Gaddot, the Israeli star who has now played Wonder Woman in least five DC Comic movies. And she KILLS IT every single time!

In contrast, I don’t believe many of us would categorize Steven Spielberg in the same Alpha vibe with his E.T., The Color Purple, Jurassic Park, and Indiana Jones movies. I would view Steven Spielberg as more of a curious “what if” creator who values humanity, family and cultural sensitivity. Who could ever argue against the obvious human purpose of Schindler’s List and Saying Private Ryan, both of which he won Academy Awards for directing?

Likewise, the career of celebrated actor Tom Hanks, who also won two Academy Awards, like Denzel and DeNiro, typically plays the opposite of an Alpha as he did in his famous Forest Gump, Philadelphia and Cast Away films—which I personally loved, featuring a co-lead volleyball character named Wilson. Tom and Denzel even starred together in the Philadelphia movie where, ironically, Denzel’s Alpha male character was leery of even shaking Tom’s AIDS-inflicted character’s hand.

Yeah, that happened in the movie. And it was a very critical scene for everyone watching to sympathize and be educated on the AIDS / HIV epidemic of the late 1980s and early 1990s. With the epidemic of AIDS, we all had to sympathize with the vulnerabilities and fears of real life. And both actors did a hell of job in bringing the issue to the screen with blunt honesty and authenticity. You can’t sugarcoat dying.

But we’re talking about Denzel Washington now and his 40+ years of Alpha Blackness. Yeah, Blackness. I said exactly that. Whether he likes talking about it or not, Denzel has a Black voice, a Black swag, a Black dress code, a Black disposition, a Black wife, Black kids, and a Black spirit about his work and his purpose. And I don’t care how much he wants to argue otherwise. As a born and raised Black man from West Philadelphia myself, I know exactly what Black manhood looks like, and Denzel Washington is it!

However… I have never categorized Black men as somehow being less than, just because we have Black skin. I always rejected the skin tone nonsense as BULLSHIT, and a product of White supremacy. So, when I say that I’m one of the strongest Black writers alive, I mean Black or White. Because I refuse to jump out of my skin and say, “I happen to be Black,” when I was born Black for a reason. And that reason allows me to look at the world differently and harder, based of who I was born to, raised by, where, when and how I responded to all of it. Just like Denzel.

His personal life experiences helped to create his drive and intensity, and those experiences include his Blackness. So, when I watch Denzel dominate both Black and White co-stars on screen, which he has been doing now for 40+ years and counting, I know exactly what he’s thinking. “Ain’t no MF out-acting me on this set today! And I mean NOBODY!” And then he goes out and does it, becoming an enraged “John Shaft” whether he likes it or not. John Shaft was and still is the coolest private investigator ever created, Black or White. And that’s my point. You don’t have to be White or colorless to be the best. Just be the BEST! That’s what Denzel has been and has now proven.

I must admit, I miss Denzel already, even before he retires with another legendary character in the upcoming Black Panther 3 movie. But since Denzel is still conflicted by the use of the word Black as a quantifying American adjective for all that we do as a people, I decided to call him “The King Alpha,” like a cobra, instead of Kobe Bryant’s Black Mamba character (RIP).

But do we think of Kobe Bryant as less than because he was a Black man? Do we view Michael Jordan that way? Do we think of any White men in history, who could out speak Martin Luther King Jr. or Malcolm X, who Denzel played in a movie? Can we even imagine a White jazz musician who could carry Miles Davis’ horn, wear his fancy jackets, curse like five sailors, or turn their backs to the audience and still be paid for it? And with all of our historical American talk about White rock bands, how come we still have thousands of pictures of Jimi Hendrix and his guitar, where I can’t even name one white man? In fact, Carlos Santana comes to mind with his guitar before any White man does. And he’s Mexican.

Maybe it’s just me and my “call it like it is” vision and honesty, or my Pro-Black Philadelphianess, but I’ve seen Denzel go toe-to-toe with Gene Hackman in Crimson Tide, demolish everybody in Glory, including Morgan Freeman, and rock and roll with three major White women co-stars with Meg Ryan, Angelina Jolie and Julia Roberts in Courage Under Fire, The Bone Collector and The Pelican Brief, respectively. Then he became a one-man wrecking crew with Man on Fire and the Equalizer franchise.

And Training Day…? Come on, man! How more Alpha can you get than that, and a BLACK Alpha, too, while obliterating Ethan Hawke in the passenger seat. Denzel even compared himself to King Kong in that movie. Would any White man do that?

I also loved Denzel in all four Spike Lee joints, Mo’ Better Blues, Malcom X, He Got Game, and Inside Man. Then you had Denzel’s face-offs with the White Australian Alpha, Russell Crowe, of Gladiator, LA Confidential, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man and 3:10 to Yuma fame. They first faced off in a sci-fi computer yarn called Virtuosity in the mid-1990s. I forgot how that one even ended, but the second film they shared screen time with was much better, and became another American classic called American Gangster. Surely you all remember that one. If not, you need to go watch Denzel at his highest, where he mastered his energy to play a nuanced gangster with more cerebral acting than physicality. And Russell Crowe was the man to arrest him and get him to talk.

Last but not least was Gladiator 2, with Denzel minus Russell Crowe, who made the first film famous. Without Russell Crowe to hold the screen time against Denzel in Gladiator 2, the sequel film fell flat on its face. I can’t remember anyone in the movie except for Denzel and his dramatic death. Who even killed him in that final scene? That’s how lopsided the acting was.

And this man’s aura doesn’t disappear on the screen, it remains with him wherever he goes. You know, “Denzel was here” in a plain white t-shirt, while everyone else was dressed up. But no one is gonna complain about it because he gets down like that and you would rather have him there than not. He’s Denzel all of the time. In every interview he says exactly what he wants to say, with no political correctness. And he gets away with it while the women swoon, “Ohhh, Denzel.”

No other man can get away with the outward swagger and sex appeal that he gets away with, and he’s still married to Pauletta who has never left him, while asking for half of his money. Nope. Ain’t happening. Pauletta knows she that has an Alpha man, who is all the way into her and their purpose as a strong family, and he’s not leaving, despite the many distractions that are definitely still out here.

That’s why ALL of the young actors come to him for their professional, manly and Black advice. We all feel his absolute authority, whether you’re into movies and acting or not. To the point where even the feminist leave home alone, as if they’re waiting for him to fade away so they can choose an easier target to call an arrogant, misogynist, womanizer (smile). That’s what a lot of Alpha’s are called these days, particularly when they get up in age and can no longer dazzle the women with their looks. But Denzel has remained steady and strong, while finally beginning to show his age in his seventies now.

As I look around in this second Donald Trump era, I don’t see or hear too many others who are coming up with the fiery confidence of Denzel. He’s going to be one of kind. And sure, I like Michael B. Jordan, too. He’s off to a great start in his career. But let’s see if he can even get married in this new world that has become harder and harder for a man to just… “be a man.” Especially us Black ones. We seem to go from one community and world challenge to another.

All I can think about now is the mantra from my favorite rap group, ironically called Public Enemy, as they kicked off their second studio album, It Takes a Nation of Million to Hold Us Back, with “Too black, too strong…”

That’s Denzel Washington… “The King Alpha.” And I’m not taking it back.

~ Omar Tyree is a New York Times bestselling author who has published more than 30 books and counting and won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Work of Fiction in 2001. He graduated from Howard University, cum laude, with a degree in Print Journalism from the School of Communications in 1991.