Minorities in Comics and Other Media, etc

[MindofShadow]

An *explanation was given in the film* as to why Johnny was black....he was adopted (or was it Alba?). Adoption was involved.

What explanation was given for black Idris Elba being an Asgardian a EUROPEAN WHITE GOD???

Heimdell doesn't leave his post in Asgard because he is the watcher of the rainbow bridge.

No human has ever SEEN him. He never left ot fight in the battles on Midgard .

They just assumed he was white because that is what white people do. They white washed him. Just like Jesus.

Boom.

[Username taken]

Gods of Egypt anybody? Plus like 1,000 other movies. Yeah this stuff is only a problem for them when it's them. But "Don't call me bigot! I'm not racist!" Forced inequality is not a problem only attempts to level the playing field. Cuz it's about "merit".

Exactly.

Gods of Egypt is another recent one. Completely whitewashed with the exception of Chadwick Boseman, RIP. Even Ghost in the Shell featured the main protagonist "transformed" into a white woman.

Why couldn't the producers of New Mutants create new "white" mutants in place of Cecilia Reyes and Roberto DaCosta? .

The guys complaining about Heimdall and the likes should give us a break. We've heard it and seen it all at this point.

[Surf]

Will blacks accept that?

I don't like being referred to as 'the blacks', to me it comes across as a pejorative. That's a familiar reference at best and you ain't familiar. Off the rip, clearly you don't represent me in any actions. Going forward find a more face-to-face like interpersonal term, there are several.


Also, any cornball with this strong of an opinion over such a non-issue then using false equivalence to justify their stance is at best disingenuous.

A lot of things 'does not help us', redlining, qualified immunity, general bigoted ******* behavior in the street. HAWKMAN BEING PLAYED BY A BROTHER IS NOT FUCKING CLOSE... so why don't you relax, with the faux outrage over what's secondarily been a cartoon character.

[Username taken]

- What is the Latino equivalent of Superman or Batman, The same thing for Asian characters the sheer fact that DC and Marvel don't one real impact character to push today tells you how bad they have been at creating and pushing impact minority characters. For Black characters there is at least Storm and Black Panther who are in the convo. Racebending is an impact character issue. We don't have enough impact character because industry revolves around pushing nostalgia until a gun is put their head to be different.

- Characters get racebent because comic fans love their nostalgia and companies are too afraid to experiment with other characters. If Green Lantern jumps to John Stewart or Batman skip everyone and does Signal then fans will cry and complain.The only time you hear those fans asking for minority characters is when characters are talk about race bent. You mention Black Superman all of sudden fans remember Icon and Blue Marvel, You mention Black Batman and see everyone remembering Batwing,Nighthawk or even Black Lighting.The Greatest tool for making traditionalist comic fans forget tradition is the threat of racebending.

If Hawkman was created today do you think that Egyptian based character would be white? If Kang was created today the same thing do think he would be white? Heck if the show Friends was being casted today do you think they would have an all white cast? Does any comic team today launch with with an all white roster? Why would we let tradition stand in the way of progress forward. Movies are going to be diverse because they aren't trying to appeal to limited audience like comic books so they have two choice both of which fan hate

1. Don't use traditional popular white character and use either legacy or newer character aka John Stewart over Hal Jordan or Cyborg over MM
2. Racebend a traditional popular white character to tell the nostalgia based story the fans want to see and prove story.

I don't care about race bending because trust me they will cry anyway, Just go and read a Miles Morales spiderman game post on social media, Spiderman has gazillion games at this point they make one game that focus on Miles and people still complain about it. But you know what would have stop them from complaining about it and ask for Miles, A Black Peter Parker.

Quoted for truth.

The Hawkman example is particularly important because ancient Egyptians were NOT WHITE as he's been depicted in the comics.

I'm not sure how anyone can argue that an ancient Egyptian Hawkman should be depicted as white. That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard.

[Moon Ronin]

I must of missed those mass protests in the nordic countries about Heimdell.

None of MCU asgard fits with the mythology. MCU asgard is an adaptation of comic Asgard which is an adaptation of the myths.

To play devil's advocate (Idris Elba could play George Washington and I'd watch and most likely love it). But in the age of "cultural appropriation" would not taking the Norse Myth and adapting it in a way that took away from its origins be some what construed by some as appropriation of that culture.

When Ghost in the Shell came out with Scarlett Johansson as Major its wasn't the people of Japan that was upset by the casting, over all they were very happy with her yet some Americans were livid. The idea of out rage over casting and cultural appropriation is almost purely American as I'm sure the Nordic people don't mind the different take on Asgard. I suck at playing devil's advocate as I then destroy my own case.

As to Norse history, Mythology, and race, there is Geirmund Heljarskinn or the Black King who has a Nordic king Father and a Mongolian princess mother. He was a dark skinned Viking king with Asian features and most likely the most renowned settler of Iceland. Norse history is hard to come by becasue they really didn't write anything down so much of what we know are from the people that they encountered and interacted with them. "Black" people though they didn't live in Nordic sociality way back then (as far as we know) were not unknow to the the Scandinavian people, as there was trade with the Arab and Islamic people and are most likely the first European people to come in contact with Native American peoples. The Scandinavian people also had small aggressive interactions with Moors in Southern Europe/ North Africa mainly around the south of Spain. As the Japanese history has a black samurai it is quite possible that there was at lest one black Viking of African descent and that people of color made it into Viking mythology it was just never recorded.

[Overhazard]

To play devil's advocate (Idris Elba could play George Washington and I'd watch and most likely love it). But in the age of "cultural appropriation" would not taking the Norse Myth and adapting it in a way that took away from its origins be some what construed by some as appropriation of that culture.

When Ghost in the Shell came out with Scarlett Johansson as Major its wasn't the people of Japan that was upset by the casting, over all they were very happy with her yet some Americans were livid. The idea of out rage over casting and cultural appropriation is almost purely American as I'm sure the Nordic people don't mind the different take on Asgard. I suck at playing devil's advocate as I then destroy my own case.

As to Norse history, Mythology, and race, there is Geirmund Heljarskinn or the Black King who has a Nordic king Father and a Mongolian princess mother. He was a dark skinned Viking king with Asian features and most likely the most renowned settler of Iceland. Norse history is hard to come by becasue they really didn't write anything down so much of what we know are from the people that they encountered and interacted with them. "Black" people though they didn't live in Nordic sociality way back then (as far as we know) were not unknow to the the Scandinavian people, as there was trade with the Arab and Islamic people and are most likely the first European people to come in contact with Native American peoples. The Scandinavian people also had small aggressive interactions with Moors in Southern Europe/ North Africa mainly around the south of Spain. As the Japanese history has a black samurai it is quite possible that there was at lest one black Viking of African descent and that people of color made it into Viking mythology it was just never recorded.

Chadwick Boseman was supposed to play Yasuke too. Even one of King Arthur's knights was black. His name was Feirefiz (fair-a-fizz) he was Percival's half brother. Their father was white, their mother was black. He was strong enough to be Percival's only equal in battle.

[Ragged Maw]

Quoted for truth.

The Hawkman example is particularly important because ancient Egyptians were NOT WHITE as he's been depicted in the comics.

I'm not sure how anyone can argue that an ancient Egyptian Hawkman should be depicted as white. That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard.

Egyptians didn’t have similar complexion to Sub-Saharan Africans either (unless perhaps we’re talking the Nubia-based 25th dynasty).........

[Nate Grey]

Egyptians didn’t have similar complexion to Sub-Saharan Africans either (unless perhaps we’re talking the Nubia-based 25th dynasty).........

...but they didn't look like Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver, either. If they argument is that they wouldn't look like the typical black dude it should also be they wouldn't look like the typical white dude, either. BOTH parties would be excluded, yet, only ONE party is excluded.

[Malvolio]

I'm often reminded of the 2003 reboot of Battlestar Galactica. Fan boys lost their **** over Starbuck being reimagined as a woman, but had no problem with them making Colonel Tigh a white guy, or with them taking a Black male character, Boomer and reimagining her as an Asian woman.

[Moon Ronin]

Egyptians didn’t have similar complexion to Sub-Saharan Africans either (unless perhaps we’re talking the Nubia-based 25th dynasty).........

I remember seeing someone complaining that some white guy was playing King Tutankhamun in Night at the Museum. That white guy was Rami Malek who's parents are Egyptian immigrants.

Nilotic continuity created a widely ranging physical features of the peoples of Egypt. There was no racially homogeneous history of Ancient Egypt as it varied form lower (north) Egypt all the way to Sudan in which various eras in different regions rose to power.

I'm often reminded of the 2003 reboot of Battlestar Galactica. Fan boys lost their **** over Starbuck being reimagined as a woman, but had no problem with them making Colonel Tigh a white guy, or with them taking a Black male character, Boomer and reimagining her as an Asian woman.

There was no real uproar over Edward James Olmos playing Adama.

[CliffHanger2]

Egyptians didn’t have similar complexion to Sub-Saharan Africans either (unless perhaps we’re talking the Nubia-based 25th dynasty).........

Not gonna argue the point but black Egyptians come way before the 25th dynasty dude-please.

[Ragged Maw]

Not gonna argue the point but black Egyptians come way before the 25th dynasty

Wouldnt be surprised if they occurred more often than in, say, Norway, but predominance is another thing entirely (again, barring the 25th)

dude-please.

???

[Username taken]

Egyptians didn’t have similar complexion to Sub-Saharan Africans either (unless perhaps we’re talking the Nubia-based 25th dynasty).........

No one can say definitely what race they were. Ancient Egypt was most likely a multiracial environment not unlike today (people seem to forget that there are black Egyptians).

Considering they are black people all over Africa and have been since..forever, it stands to reason that Katar would have been a darker skinned gentleman or a black man.

But as others pointed out, he sure as heck couldn't look like Joel Edgerton or the guys from Gods of Egypt.

[Ragged Maw]

Nilotic continuity created a widely ranging physical features of the peoples of Egypt. There was no racially homogeneous history of Ancient Egypt as it varied form lower (north) Egypt all the way to Sudan in which various eras in different regions rose to power.

Makes sense. The Ptolemaic Dynasty only supports that further.

But as others pointed out, they sure as heck didn't look Joel Edgerton or the guys from Gods of Egypt.

No argument there.

[Moon Ronin]

Makes sense. The Ptolemaic Dynasty only supports that further.

The Ptolemys them Self were never really Egyptian and stayed more Greek Macedonian. But yes the Greek ruled (after years of oppression under the Persians) starting with Alexander the Great for almost 300 ending with the Romans. Ptolemy Egypt even saw a merging of the "gods" so in that time the movie "Gods of Egypt" is not that far fetched. But again the Ptolemys of the Greco–Roman Period were not Egyptian and are not part of the of the different regions that rose to power over Egypt.