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

[TomLikesGuitar]

Would you mind if batman was a woman?

Would you mind if captain america was middle eastern?

Of course you would. Comic book hero's have backstories and personæ and physical attributes that define who they are.

No. I really wouldn't. I mean, I thought it was pretty badass when The Question went from this....

(Picture of Vic Sage in the Question suit)

To this.

(Picture of Renee Montoya in the Question suit)

Would you mind if captain america was middle eastern?

Isn't the only requirement for Captain America the fact that he's American? What does it matter what they change his ethnicity to, he's still the same character. Even during World War II there were people of other races born in America, so as far as I can tell they could cast any muscular person to play the role as long as they were tall and acting extremely noble with a round shield.

Bat"MAN" literally can't be a woman and Batwoman already exists.

Also, there are no "requirements" for any super hero per se, but Steve Rogers (Captain America's secret identity) is a white male. That is a physical trait of the character. To change that, you have to change the character... or at least alter the story slightly.

The Question transition worked because it was written into the comics as part of the plot. It's not like they're saying, "Here's Vic Sage... except now he's a woman." No... she has a name and was the Question's partner until he died. Besides, the Question is all about the suit and being bad-ass. He doesn't have a superpower or anything. So Batman could do this as well, but it would kind of HAVE to be another male for obvious reason.

On the other hand, Peter Parker is a white male from Queens who got bitten by a radioactive spider and became Spiderman. That is what defines Spiderman. It is not the suit. So you could technically say that some black kid also got bitten by a radioactive spider, but this kid would not be Peter Parker. He would be some entirely new kid... Because, you know, Peter Parker is white... and you just don't do that with one of the MAIN CHARACTERS of any literary piece being translated to film.

I really just don't see the point.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Luke... I am your African American father!

 

[Justank]

I think characters should be portrayed as closely as possible to the original character, skin color included. The whole hobbit thing was retarded, all they had to do to not have a huge stink thrown about it was waste more of the woman's time by allowing her to audition and then just turn her down later, which is what is normally done. Would that have really been better? I mean did anyone complain that all the hobbits in the LotR movies were white? Blade would not be the same as a white guy, Superman would not be the same as a black guy etc. It's not racist. Using the Pulp Fiction example, if you just changed the script and scenes to fit a white Jules, you would be changing the movie. The movie as a whole would end up very different, and it's not worth it.

When I was transitioning from middle school to high school I opted to go to a school in the district right next to mine so I could take a language only offered there, and the transfer was declined. A friend of mine had a white father and an Asian mother, and initially put down that he was Caucasian for the transfer. He was declined so he re-applied listing himself as Asian. Accepted immediately. I was turned down for a job recently despite solid entry test scores and meeting every requirement necessary, since then I have received e-mails for recruitment sessions for African-Americans, Pacific Islanders, Latinos, women of all ethnicities, and even LGBT. None of this bothers me, I get that affirmative action is a necessary bandage in some cases. When it comes to things like portraying an existing character in a movie though, bringing race issues into at all is retarded. The character is whatever race they are, get over it.

 

[tyciol]

People portraying a character should look something like them. Jackson as Fury is fine due to the incorporation of Ultimate concepts.

I didn't particularly like the choice of Kingpin, it was more saved by his great acting ability and since he's so endeared via stuff like the Green Mile, though in that sense it made Kingpin far too much of a sympathetic character. Then again, I was already sympathizing with him with how they showed the flashbacks in Amazing Spider-Man cartoon where his father leaves him hanging on a ladder and stuff.

Only so much deviation should be allowed though. If we don't care about a character's look, then why stop at skin colour? Why don't we have a woman play Spider-Man?

Ethnicity is as much a part of a character as gender, as height, they factor into the complex traits that make them what we are. There are plenty of excellent characters in comics who are female, who are dark-skinned, or even who are homosexual. We don't need to change people to become minorities as some kind of politically correct spiel. If you want that, you can push characters who are that ethnicity to begin with.

The simple fact of the matter is that guys like Batman, Spider-Man, Super-Man, they're caucasian and they did not have to deal with racism. They face challenges of their own, and those are the aspects that identify them.

Luke Cage aka Powerman is great. War Machine is great. Steel is great. Jubilee and Storm and Black Panther. These are characters who had to deal with racism challenges, and it's a better adaptation for all characters if this is recognized.

Blade would not be the same as a white guy.

lol wut

[http://marvelanimated.wikia.com/wiki/Blade]

 

[moretimethansense]

For those saying that will smith would work as Captain America
No he fucking wouldn't Cap is supposed to be Good ol' American as apple pie types, made in the 1040s back when blacks wenen't allowed in certain restaraunts and were in segregated platoons in the military a black man simply would not have been considered for the role in universe.

Having said that,
Will smith could play the Cap in that he has the talent and I can sorta see it working but you'd have to change everything about the Cap's backstory to make it work otherwise it would just be an obvious case of politicaly correct history.

Captain America would be really easy to switch I think. Just have him be an unsuspecting early test subject of the serum who was told it was vitamins or something.

But the point is that there is already a black Captain America from WW2, Isaiah Bradley. There's no point butchering Steve Rogers character when they could make an adaption of that character instead.

And yeah they gave him and his fellow soldiers the flawed super soldier serum without consent and he was the only one who survived.

Pretty much my point if you want a black equivalent of a superhero make one or see if their is one already rather than changing an established character.

If Tom Cruise can play a samurai then a black man can be spiderman.

The title of that film is a misnomer he was an american officer that was taught to use a sword he was never a samurai,
Samurai is a class and title you are born or (rarely) adopted into you can't just pick up a sword put on the armour and say "look at me I'm a samurai!" that's not how it works.
Same applies to superheroes and their backstories don't change what doesn't need to be changed you want a black spider-man?
Then make a new fucking charecter you're gonna change a lot of stuff about him anyways.

 

[Verp]

I don't think I'd mind, but I'd be very suspicious about a change like that in the same way that I'm always suspicious about a white person replacing a non-white character. I'd immediately wonder if there's some sort of unpleasant ulterior motive behind it and thinking about that would possibly take my focus away from the main point. The movie would have to be very well done as to not leave any lingering doubts about what the makers of the movie had in mind.

 

[4173]

For those saying that will smith would work as Captain America
No he fucking wouldn't Cap is supposed to be Good ol' American as apple pie types, made in the 1040s back when blacks wenen't allowed in certain restaraunts and were in segregated platoons in the military a black man simply would not have been considered for the role in universe.

Having said that,
Will smith could play the Cap in that he has the talent and I can sorta see it working but you'd have to change everything about the Cap's backstory to make it work otherwise it would just be an obvious case of politicaly correct history.

Captain America would be really easy to switch I think. Just have him be an unsuspecting early test subject of the serum who was told it was vitamins or something.

But the point is that there is already a black Captain America from WW2, Isaiah Bradley. There's no point butchering Steve Rogers character when they could make an adaption of that character instead.

And yeah they gave him and his fellow soldiers the flawed super soldier serum without consent and he was the only one who survived.

I agree when you question the wisdom of changing Rogers' established character. I was disagreeing with those who suggested it would be hard to do.

 

[WolfThomas]

If Tom Cruise can play a samurai then a black man can be spiderman.

The title of that film is a misnomer he was an american officer that was taught to use a sword he was never a samurai,
Samurai is a class and title you are born or (rarely) adopted into you can't just pick up a sword put on the armour and say "look at me I'm a samurai!" that's not how it works.

It's not really a misnomer, just misleading, as Samurai is both singular and plural. The title is actually meant to be the Last Samurai (plural) refering to the group he fights with, but everyone assumes Tom Cruise is meant to be the last one.

I agree when you question the use of changing Rogers' established character. I was disagreeing with those who suggested it would be hard to do.

Oh yeah it wouldn't be hard, but what would be the point of changing him? It's Rogers who make a potentially overbearing and jingoistic costume/codename into an inspiration. We want the man, not just the suit.

 

[Nexoram]

If they were designed to be like that than no. For example if Hulk was Chinese nobody would laugh because Marvel made him that way. BUT if there was a new hulk 3 movie coming out and he suddenly becomes Chinese, we would all accuse Marvel of trolling.

 

[Grimlock Fett]

how about a white Lando Calrissian? His name would probably change to Dave Calrissian! "I've never heard of the Dave system before!"

 

[starhaven]

it would be a shock but aslong as they played it well i would get over it but for every one of me there are 30,000 people who will hate it before seeing it

 

[moretimethansense]

If Tom Cruise can play a samurai then a black man can be spiderman.

The title of that film is a misnomer he was an american officer that was taught to use a sword he was never a samurai,
Samurai is a class and title you are born or (rarely) adopted into you can't just pick up a sword put on the armour and say "look at me I'm a samurai!" that's not how it works.

It's not really a misnomer, just misleading, as Samurai is both singular and plural. The title is actually meant to be the Last Samurai (plural) refering to the group he fights with, but everyone assumes Tom Cruise is meant to be the last one.

Gah!
How did I not see that, I'm always getting at people for pluralizing words that are already plurals, especially that one!

Now I feel like an idiot

 

[Altorin]

in general, I think making a white character black is just as bad as making a black character white.

There should be more black superheroes, and not just targetted at black audiences. I think modern america can handle black superheroes, even white america.

There are only a few major black superheroes, and almost all of them are attempts at diversity.

I loved Will Smith's Hancock (at least the first half of the movie.. the second half went bat snookin' loopy and was horrible, but the first half was great). A black super hero who's defining characteristic wasn't "Hey, I'm like you, but black!"

MovieBob touched on this in a few of his Game Overthinker episodes.. but Luke Cage was in the Avengers for a while, and it looked ridiculous, because by that point, Luke Cage had ditched the ludicrous "Disco Afro" superhero costume and was just wearing street clothes.. So on the cover of the comic, it was just "The Avengers!!! Featuring: Captain America! The Incredible Hulk! Iron Man! And The Black Guy!"

in that episode he explained how for the longest time, being black was a character trait in and of itself. He also mentioned a young adult book where a kid ponders that quandry by wondering why his black friend needed to wear a costume for halloween - he was black, that was already being something - it would be like a zombie dressing up like a vampire.

But, I think we're past that.. Or we're past it enough as a whole to make movements towards normalizing a "Black isn't a character trait" status quo. It's worth a shot at least, although, I try not to be racist, and I harbor no ill will towards black people, but I have trouble quantifying the same thing. I'll say something like "Take an interesting character who just happens to be black", but that involves creating a character, and in my white suburban swiss cheese brain, every blank slate is white. Making it black is changing it for the same reason Luke Cage exists - to make it black. If I didn't want to do anything to alter its state, it would be white.

It's hard.

Short answer, no. Let's not fuck around with race, and let's just hope that we can have more interesting characters who happen to be black without having "being black" as a character trait so that we can all get past this roadblock.

Blackwashing is just as bad as Whitewashing, even if it seems better.

 

[Grimlock Fett]

Why don't we have a woman play Spider-Man?

Because women dont have "web fluid" ;D Gross no? SPIDERMAN THAT HOE!

 

[ultimateownage]

If it fits, I have no problem in it. But don't just make them black for the sake of 'political correctness'

 

[gbemery]

I wouldn't mind because it might put a new twist on things that are beaten to death, but I say I wouldn't mind as long as it doesn't spark a bunch of, "Oh my god he is such a pioneer for his race." and other such racial comments and movements.

 

[Altorin]

It's not really a misnomer, just misleading, as Samurai is both singular and plural. The title is actually meant to be the Last Samurai (plural) refering to the group he fights with, but everyone assumes Tom Cruise is meant to be the last one.

How is it that I never caught that, even though I knew Samurai was one of THOSE types of words? Wow, eyes, open.

In other news. This book (well, actually, the movie starring Tom Cruise) is VERY misleading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Samurai_%28novel%29

Literally, I spent 20 bucks on that novel because I loved the movie, and bam. It's a completely different story that doesn't even take place in japan.

I was pisssssed. lol

I wouldn't mind because it might put a new twist on things that are beaten to death, but I say I wouldn't mind as long as it doesn't spark a bunch of, "Oh my god he is such a pioneer for his race." and other such racial comments and movements.

I completely disagree that it should even be an option. We (as a culture) get bent out of shape whenever a movie is accused of whitewashing. The movie 21 for instance, was a movie about a group of university students who learn to count cards and take las vegas for hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's based on a true story, but all but 1 of the real students was chinese. The movie, all but 1 of the students is white, and the chinese kid is really just comic relief. The real teacher was chinese, the teacher in the movie is Kevin Spacey.

Shit was flipped.

I see turning white characters into black characters for no good reason to be just the same.

 

[kouriichi]

Depends on the Hero and actor.

Morgan Freeman as Magnito? F*CK YEAH!!!! And Bill Cosby as Professer X!?!?

"You Gots to learn 'bout da powers, and da specials, and da Jello Puddin A-KEW KEW CHEW!"

 

[Sarali]

Yes, I would. I would also mind if an asian superhero was portrayed by a black actor, or a black superhero portrayed by a white actor. I would also mind if a blonde superhero had a raven-haired actor. Why not have a woman play as Mr. Fantastic? It's just not who the character is.

Look, people are different. I'm not black, my almost sister's not white, my cousin's native american, and my exchange student buddy is asian. These are all fantastic attributes, and we should embrace each other's differences, not ignore them altogether. If you're making a new character for a movie, get whoever fits the role, but if the character exists already, like in a novel or a comic book, then get somebody who could potentially be the character portrayed in the source material!

It's like changing famous lines from the source... The creator made it that way for a reason, and it's an insult to the one who made it to change it. You might as well make a Hamlet movie with the line "To exist or not to exist? That's what I'm wondering." or a Forrest Gump remake where he says "Life is like this. See this box full of tastiness? I don't know what's going to be inside when I eat one, and that's life." You just don't unneccessarily change things... I'd be kinda choked, personally, if Hollywood did that to something I made.

P.S. I'd still probably enjoy the movie quite a bit, but I would be annoyed that they did the change for no reason.

 

[AshuraSpeaks]

Depends on the character, and if the story is even close to the continuity of the original.

Much as I hate to say it, many people insist that there is a black culture completely separate from "white culture", which gives us Black History Month, Black Entertainment Television (BET), etc.

I'm with Morgan Freeman, though. Black History is American History, and there's no need for segregation.