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

[Treblaine]

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?

(For a second there I thought you said DANNY Glover, and well skin colour ain't the half of it, he has to be really old now. I mean he was saying he was "too old for this shit" back in the 1980's!)

But is Peter Parker a blank slate that you can really put any young actor in to play?

I don't think so. It is hard to say what is the essence of Peter Parker's character but I know there is one and an actor will have to be able to find that, and if the casting finds a non-white actor is good for the role then go for it.

One thing I realise is almost ANYONE can play Spiderman, I mean with that mask and costume, any young male of average build could fit the role as it's entirely down to the spider DNA thing that he can perform such feats of agility.

It's all down to who Peter Parker is as a character;
-Orphan
-Lives with elderly aunt
-Nerd/geek/not-a-jock
-studious yet not aspiring, goes to university only to end up a photojournalist
-loner, no close friends to confide in
-lacks confidence
-infatuating love interest (MJ)
-low self-esteem
-unapproachable

Can Glover do a character like that? I don't know if he can do the Ernest Loner thing and STILL make him a likeable character to the audience? Has he ever done a role like that? Remember we don't want a "jock with a heart-of-gold" or a "funny happy-go-lucky guy".

I think the role has to be cast for Parker first and THEN Spiderman. Because spiderman is a role within the role, Peter Parker wasn't born as Spiderman, it is a persona he adopts and plays out himself so the less convincing the better.

Could he play Spiderman? Sure. Can he play Peter Parker... I don't know. I haven't seen him do unattractive, aloof and awkward (yet enduring) but maybe that's because he hasn't tried for a role like that.

 

[Infernai]

As long as the actor does a good job and can pull of the character properly then i don't care who they pick.

 

[Lazarus Long]

Captain America could use an ethnification, as sending a blonde-haired blue-eyed superman to fight the nazis seems a bit counterproductive.

See, I always thought that tasted of rich, creamy irony. The Ubermensch socking Hitler in the jaw and all. At the very least, it would be devastating for Jerry's morale.

OT: What matters is the character. Having a black guy play Peter Parker is just fine, as long as he's still Peter. Get writers who know and love the characters, then cast the person who gives the best audition, you know?

 

[Toriver]

I think for certain superheroes, you could do it, but for others, not really, because it would just break with the tradition of the character too much. For example, I could see a black Peter Parker working. Peter's race was never much of a part of who he was as a character. The story and character do not change too much depending on the race of the actor. Nick Fury worked the same way, and there actually were both white and black Green Lanterns, so obviously that would work. And imagining Will Smith as Captain America would be totally badass and would actually make a good statement about America as a multi-cultural society.

But it would be really hard to believe a black Batman, for example. Not necessarily for anything that Batman could do as a superhero, or for emotional motivation to become Batman after the death of his parents, but for being Bruce Wayne. I'm not really saying that imagining a rich black man would be too hard, but to imagine a rich black man in control of a global corporation that wields a tremendous amount of power over the economy of a large city, and to have earned that position through inheritance from his parents, is a bit of a stretch considering history. President Obama, for example, never had that kind of power over a corporation before being elected to the Illinois legislature and beginning his rise to the presidency. I hope I don't sound racist in saying that. I'm all for equal opportunity. But there just aren't enough real-world examples of such a character now to warrant believing a black Bruce Wayne. In that regard, the same can be said for Tony Stark, though that one is a bit more believable given Tony's rising to the top mostly came about through his own ingenuity.

Now, I think the superhero that would REALLY shake things up if he was black would be Superman. Imagine a pod crash-landing in a field in the middle of rural Kansas probably (if you were to set the film in modern times) right in the middle of the civil-rights movement, and an older white couple finding a black baby inside, then deciding to adopt him as their own. That's pushing some headline-making boundaries. And you can bet it would be another awesome portrayal of diversity to have a black man fighting for truth, justice and "the American way". That puts racial equality right into that American way he's fighting for, and you can bet some sections of the American public who need a wake-up call would have a hissy-fit about it. But there's nothing inherently wrong with the idea, and it may actually be a good idea to look at for any Superman movies in the recent future. Why can't a black hero have the same respect as a symbol of good that Superman has? Why wouldn't a black Superman work?

 

[RDubayoo]

It depends. If the actor's good enough he could make the role "his" and people just accept him as being perfect for the role in spite of everything. On a similar tangent, how many folks thought Heath Ledger would make a terrible Joker? I know I did. Then I actually saw the movie and... wow. He is, by far, the best live-action Joker yet (Sorry, Jack), and that's the role he'll truly be remembered for.

And yes, Michael Clark Duncan was a good fit for Kingpin. Some people complained about it, but let's be honest, how many actors do you know that fit the Kingpin's build? I.e., they look fat, but they're actually really heavily muscled and just downright huge. In that regard, Michael Clark Duncan was perfect.

 

[ultrachicken]

I think it would take some getting used to, but as long as they are a good actor, then I would get over it.

 

[WolfThomas]

It depends, while I'm for sticking to the original character as much as possible (hell I hate it even when they change a character's hair colour sometimes) I'm not exactly adverse to it. The way I see it if they pick a character who race is relatively unimportant for and pick an actor because he's better not just because they want publicity or to be politically correct it's fine.

But there are certain characters who need to stay the ethnicity they were portrayed. Luke Cage, Black Panther and the Falcon should all be black as it's an important part of theie history. Just like Captain America should be white (unless you're portraying Isiah Bradley, not Steve Rogers) because at the time the American government wouldn't have used a black man as propaganda, it's not racist now to accurately portray racism then.

But at the same time some superheroes have a black counterpart anyway so it would be better to perhaps use them in addition rather than change the original.

Eg:
Iron Man - War Machine
Hal Jordan - John Stewart
Hank Pym - Bill Foster
Captain America (Steve Rogers) - The Falcon, Battlestar, Patriot and Isaih Bradley.

So my answer is most of the time I want the character as accurate as possible so the same skin colour in the comic be it white, black or green. But ocaisonally I might accept an alteration such as Kingpin or possible Spiderman if the actor can portray the character just as well or better.

Well, did anyone mind Sam Jackson as Nick Fury?

Well I think they were going for the Ultimate look, who the creators admitting basing off Jackson.

And Ultimate Fury is thoroughly more enjoyable than the original to make the translation to film. Original Fury is awesome, but he'd just be some old badass, where as S. Jackson is well himself.

 

[hyzaku]

It has already happened. Sometimes it works, Samuel L. as Nick Fury was just fine. He actually had the badass vibe of the character he was playing. Also, this kind of happened a few years back when those Justice League cartoons (the newer ones) made Hal Jordan, aka the Green Lantern, a black guy for no apparent reason. That irked me to say the least. Up and suddenly changing an established character's appearance that way for no justifiable reason is just stupid. It was a cartoon, there was no reason for him to be black when the character has always been white.

That said, when dealing with live actors, and not animation, so long as the character is portrayed faithfully in personality, style, etc. then why should it matter if his/her skin tone is different?

Now if we start changing say physique, then we can run into issues. People shouldn't really care if say, the Juggernaut is played by a black guy. But if a skinny white guy wants to play that character then that is stretching things a bit too far. You need to have a character look believable even if they look slightly different from the source material.

In short, the only reason to gripe about an actor having the wrong appearance for a role is to stay true to the source material, but sometimes the griping is really just superfluous resistance to anything from the source being different.

 

[Athol]

...Michael Clark Duncan was a good fit for Kingpin. Some people complained about it, but let's be honest, how many actors do you know that fit the Kingpin's build? I.e., they look fat, but they're actually really heavily muscled and just downright huge. In that regard, Michael Clark Duncan was perfect.

But Michael Clark Duncan didnt look fat. I though he looked like he could bench press a bus for fun, so when Kingpin started to throw Daredevil around it wasnt unexpexted.

 

[Choppaduel]

Well, did anyone mind Sam Jackson as Nick Fury?

Wesley Snipes as Batman. Now that would be awesome.

Also, Donald Glover as Spiderman. (ninja'd)

Wane Brady as the Joker.

 

[Something Amyss]

I'm not losing sleep over the skin colour of the actor. It honestly wouldn't be my first choice, but it also wouldn't be very very big on my list of gripes. MCD worked as Kingpin.

 

[MadeinHell]

Well... that is logical. If character is portrayed as being white than he should be played by a white actor. If he's black, than a black actor. If he is asian, than an asian actor.

If the author never got into such detail than a person who fits the gender &/or more detailed things. Whatever the color of skin.

What is the point of this topic again?

 

[Pyode]

Then you write in the character differently. You would edit the script after casting to rectify the race issue, if there is one.

I only think that should happen if we where talking about very minor script changes, like references to the characters home life, but if we are talking about changing the character entirely, I say absolutely not.

I'll stick with the Pulp Fiction example because it's a great example of race being essential to the character.

The character that Sam Jackson played in Pulp Fiction, Jules, was based entirely on the stereotypical "cool black guy" from the 70's. His entire attitude and personality reflect that. If you take those attributes away, not only do you have to change that character, but entire scenes that he is involved in.

The diner scene, for example, (one of my personal favorites) just would not have worked the same if they had cast a white guy for the character.

 

[Hollock]

considering it was for the spider man [HEADING=1]REBOOT[/HEADING] I think it didn't matter. Also, one of the big things about spiderman (so said by Stan "the man"*BLEhhhh* Lee) was that with his costume, you could have anyone inside regardless of skin color. Also, I really like Donald Glover and think he could have done an excellent job as spiderman. It's a shame he didn't get to do it, would have been cool.