Would you mind black actors portraying superheroes who are normally white?

[TastySurvivor]

im sorry how does making spider man black force them to change everything? When Stan Lee created spider man he didnt introduce him as "an average white teenager" he was just "an average teenager". The skin color doesnt make Spider Man, the actions and powers do.

 

[quantumsoul]

I get upset when they change the characters hair color, never mind race. It doesn't matter what race the character was previously, don't change it.

I just want the characters to look like they do in the source material, though I'm OK with modernizing the look of the costumes.

 

[Prince Regent]

Generally I don't care which colour the skin of a superhero is.

I do think some of the costumes would need to be redesigned. Otherwise you wouldnt see the difference between the black Batman and the Black Batsuit.

EDIT: Gender doesn't mather either, a female Batman might actually be a good idea.

 

[soren7550]

It all depends on the character and how the role is done. If it's a voice over for a video game/animated show then I don't care if he's purple. But for something that you actually see them acting, then it all depends on the character they're portraying.

 

[zHellas]

I was watching Donald Glover on Comedy Central Presents and it reminded me of the campaign for him to audition for the new Spider-Man. I personally don't mind because a character like Peter Parker is the everyman. I can't really think of any heroes that are normally white who absolutely have to be white.

What are your thoughts?

Oh, yeah! Donald Glover kicks ass!

OT:

I'm fine with that, though they should say that it's a different version. Hell, maybe change a few things as well as race, to spice the character up and try out some new ideas to see how well they work.

 

[x434343]

Depends.

If it was Superman, no. He's really a representation of values of White America.

If, say, Batman, or Spiderman, were portrayed by black actors, that could be cool.

Especially Spiderman.

 

[CRAVE CASE 55]

Well, did anyone mind Sam Jackson as Nick Fury?

In the Ultimate marvel universe He is black. and I think Captain America has to be white because of the whole military segregated during the war thing.

DISCLAMER:I am in no way being racist I am just stating that the military was segregated.

 

[TomLikesGuitar]

Ah, see to me Peter Parker is a highly intelligent photographer who works for the daily planet and lives in New York. Skin tone has zero effect on his character, black people can be raised by their aunts and uncles in the suburbs, get bit by spiders and be really really smart just the same as white people.

To me it's all Peter's personality traits (shy, awkward, nerdy) and the way he acts out his fantasy of being a total smart ass when he wears his costume that define him. Any person of any race could be all of those things and the character doesn't change.

Same for Bruce Wayne, why couldn't a wealthy black child watch his parents be killed by Joe Chill before deciding to become a vigilante? To paraphrase the movie, "It's not who we are inside that defines us, it's what we do." Basically, to me, heroes are not defined by race but by personality and the action they take.

Ok, but it really doesn't matter what he is "to you". The character Peter Parker is white. Your vision of the character can be WHATEVER you want. But by the DEFINITION OF CHARACTER, Peter Parker is white.

Same with Bruce Wayne.

See, when you start asking, "Why can't this character be black?", YOU are actually stirring up racism. It's not a racist question in itself, but it brings about conversation of inherent differences between races, and whether or not they affect characterization.

Long story short, with a main character, race matters.

Just to clarify my points...

Bruce Wayne is white.

Peter Parker is white.

If DC comics wants to make an unexplained alternate universe where this is not true, they have every right to. However, it's going to make more people angry than it will satisfy snobbish "revolutionaries" who want to change things to make them PC in an attempt to repair years of bigotry and hate which has been slowly dying by itself, and only resurfacing when someone adds fuel to the fire...

Like I said, I don't see the point.

 

[Treeinthewoods]

Ah, see to me Peter Parker is a highly intelligent photographer who works for the daily planet and lives in New York. Skin tone has zero effect on his character, black people can be raised by their aunts and uncles in the suburbs, get bit by spiders and be really really smart just the same as white people.

To me it's all Peter's personality traits (shy, awkward, nerdy) and the way he acts out his fantasy of being a total smart ass when he wears his costume that define him. Any person of any race could be all of those things and the character doesn't change.

Same for Bruce Wayne, why couldn't a wealthy black child watch his parents be killed by Joe Chill before deciding to become a vigilante? To paraphrase the movie, "It's not who we are inside that defines us, it's what we do." Basically, to me, heroes are not defined by race but by personality and the action they take.

Ok, but it really doesn't matter what he is "to you". The character Peter Parker is white. Your vision of the character can be WHATEVER you want. But by the DEFINITION OF CHARACTER, Peter Parker is white.

Same with Bruce Wayne.

See, when you start asking, "Why can't this character be black?", YOU are actually stirring up racism. It's not a racist question in itself, but it brings about conversation of inherent differences between races, and whether or not they affect characterization.

Long story short, with a main character, race matters.

Just to clarify my points...

Bruce Wayne is white.

Peter Parker is white.

If DC comics wants to make an unexplained alternate universe where this is not true, they have every right to. However, it's going to make more people angry than it will satisfy snobbish "revolutionaries" who want to change things to make them PC in an attempt to repair years of bigotry and hate which has been slowly dying by itself, and only resurfacing when someone adds fuel to the fire...

Like I said, I don't see the point.

I just don't get how people can view skin color as some kind of defining trait, it has no impact on personality or behaviors. Go color Batman black in all your comics and read them, there is no difference at all.

And as for bringing up questions about inherent differences between races, to put it bluntly there are none. There are differences amongst all people regardless of race but skin color has no affect on that.

When movies and TV can say that they have cast a black actor as Batman or a white actor as Hal Jordan, my hope is that people literally don't care as long as the performance is good.

It doesn't need to be an alternate universe, it just doesn't really matter one way or the other. If you feel that Batman must be white to remain true to character I'd have to ask you what the difference is between a white man and a black mans character. Unless YOU are a racist you'd have to admit there is none.

It's not about forcing black actors into leading roles, it's about rewarding excellent actors regardless of skin color. When we hit that point, racism may finally be a thing of the past. As long as you believe that skin color is a defining trait it continues to exist.

If you truly love these characters (my love for Squirrel Girl is eternal) wouldn't you want them portrayed by the most talented actors available?

Also, "by definition of character he's white?" What does white have to do with character?

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well it's not a problem of skin color but rather familiarity, if a hero is portrayed in comics one way and then in the movies completely differently then it messes up the overall feel of it.

I guess it wouldn't matter in most cases because the heroes do some conversion or go with a costume, as long as the hero doesn't change.

And for Spider Man anyone other then Tobey would be an improvement, I just hate his whiney ass, your a f*ing super mutant spider man, how about you be less of a sissy.

 

[RandallJohn]

I don't like it, just for authenticity. The whole point of casting, for me, is to place an actor who can adequately convey the source material in look, as well as in action. I think the issue is that there aren't enough black characters in the first pace (or, at the very least, no diverse characters. I see a lot of burly tough guys or lovable streetwise rogues.)

 

[HK_01]

If the canon is that they're white, they have to be white. If the canon is that they're black, the actor should be black; if Asian the actor should be Asian, etc. Maybe that's just me, but I wouldn't want to see a black hobbit running around Middle Earth because that would make no sense. I'd also be annoyed if some great Chinese swordsman were portrayed by a white guy, that would make just as little sense.

 

[Pyode]

-snip-

You are right to an extent. Skin pigmentation alone has nothing to do with characterization but culture does and culture is often related to race. You change someones race you often have to change their cultural background and when you change that, you change the character.

This doesn't apply to all characters of course. I think Batman is a good example of a character that could be a different race and not really change at all (except perhaps the fact that he comes from old money, his family would have had to become wealthy in the past one or two generations).

 

[Siyano_v1legacy]

I think it hard to see Spiderman has a black man, maybe because it was portayed has a white guy and does really belong to that race.
Some Character really belong to certain race become of their background history, Storm, Jubilee, Luke Cage. I would not mind about the actor being whatever race he if does a great job for some character that doesnot really matter much for being white/black/asian or hispanic. I think it add to the difficulty of the acting portraying a white character for a normally black guy and vice versa (or any other race combinaison).
Just my thought

 

[Srdjan]

Well if superhero is white in the comic he must be white on screen, period.

 

[R4ptur3]

No i wouldn't mind, but the fact is they were created as white, and to be honest, It really shouldn't matter, they should just stay as they were created.

 

[emeraldrafael]

As long as that superhero's race isn't apart of his actual character, I'm all for finding the best actor instead of finding the best look alike. But some characters, like black panther, need to be a certain race, it would be weird to have a white African king and would probably racist.

^
Agree with this.

But then again, I'm not big with canon and its kinda cool to see different races come together under the same character.

 

[Flac00]

I was watching Donald Glover on Comedy Central Presents and it reminded me of the campaign for him to audition for the new Spider-Man. I personally don't mind because a character like Peter Parker is the everyman. I can't really think of any heroes that are normally white who absolutely have to be white.

What are your thoughts?

As long as the character's personality is the same, I don't care if he is a munchkin