Would you care if Superman was portrayed by a person of color?

[Soubhagya]

I said I was not advocating for a casting. I don't want nor prefer race changed Clark and Lois. I like them as they are. I can relate to Clark without him being my race or whatever.I don't look for skin colour when I like something.They can make someone else take the title superman like val zod or make special case superman is not an alien Clark Kent.
I was just asking what does he mean by Asian. It is not a race. It is a continent where different races live. People there can be brown, black, yellow or white.

I am sorry. I understood your comment earlier. I was just giving a shout out to Krrish. It was a bad idea to do it in between a conversation.

And you understand this quite correctly. Asian is a very broad term. Here is another 'superhero' from India, Robot. And this was a bigger hit.



No one identifies oneself as Asian. That would be almost like saying i am a Terran or from Earth.

[kjn]

Was it Yang & Pak who had an interview a while back about how the theme of “passing” is built into the dna of the character from Siegel & Schusters original concept of the character? In that sense a racially ambiguous Clark may actually be closer to the core concept of the character than a purely cacuasian approach.

As for the rest of the characters, there’s nothing about Lois, Perry, Jimmy, or Luthor that limits their representation. Lois was Asian in American Alien I think.

No idea on the source, but I've read some interesting analysis of the early Superman, and looking at is a fantasy of assimilation in mainstream US culture, from a Jewish perspective. So it's an observation that has been around for a while. Clark Kent is not so much "white" as he is white-passing and appears perfectly assimilated. But the character is aware all the time that they are different, even if the people around them aren't.

Come to think of it, I think that adds a whole another layer to Clark Kent, and the idea that the Clark Kent persona is the real one.

So racebending Superman is one thing, that's rather simple. Racebending the combination of Clark Kent and Superman another thing entirely.

[Osiris-Rex]

Like it says. If Superman was portrayed in film or TV as a black, Hispanic, or even Asian actor, would you like it, dislike it, or even care?

I was fine with Dean Cain playing Superman. His face didn't look like the classic Superman but he still played a fun version of Superman.

[Vordan]

I disagree with the reasoning behind this idea you've presented. It makes the kind of really gross and unflattering assumption Clark is only only able to believe these abstracts if they all benefit him directly systemically because he's white. That just isn't true of the character. He was created with the explicit idea fighting for people who couldn't fight for themselves, and that 100000% extended systemic and social issues.

He ripped down dilapidated housing to force a city to build more suitable ones for their less fortunate people. He terrorized businessmen government officials who made life a living hell for poor people. He threw wife beaters out of windows. Superman believes truth, justice, and the American way not as they are, but as they could and should be. I don't think this is even remotely a reason to say a person of color can't be Superman.

That said, I do think there is something to be said about Superman being about unselfish and responsible use of power, privilege, and position. Lets be real: he's all of those things, but the difference between him and others in realistic equivalent is that he's not dick. He's actually just a considerate person who dosen't think to himself "how can I get ahead" but rather "what are all the ways I can help everyone who's not as cosmically lucky as I am?" There's commentary there that I feel like most film executives are super uncomfortable will allowing to be tackled especially now. So, he's recast as somehow greatly marginalized for sympathy points all while being a white, able-bodied, heterosexual, handsome dude......with the powers of a god. I think they're uncomfortable because he'd make them and their like look like the goblins they are.

But *shrugs* that's just me thinking out loud.

Once he did those things but they scrubbed that side of him away, first with Post-Crisis and then with Rebirth. I 100% agree with you that Supes like Cap fights for an America as it should be, not necessarily as it is. Maybe it’s my own cynicism talking but I’m not sure if a PoC would even buy into the idea of an America that could ever stand for those things. Like I said I would definitely welcome a story about a non-white Clark who has the exact same situation as “our” Clark, and how he would respond to growing up in Smallville and what kind of Superman he would be. The closest to that I can think of is Blue Marvel over in the MCU.

For the moment though I’m perfectly happy with Supes as he is, and don’t feel a need to change his race or what not.

[Superlad93]

I 100% agree with you that Supes like Cap fights for an America as it should be, not necessarily as it is. Maybe it’s my own cynicism talking but I’m not sure if a PoC would even buy into the idea of an America that could ever stand for those things.

Then that's all there is to it. Doesn't matter that some versions of the character don't do those specific things anymore. Fight for America not as it is, but as it could be isn't a white guy only thing.

You're speaking of people of color like we're a different species, and it's kind of weirding me out. Dude, with all due respect, I genuinely don't know if you register, this, but as a person of color who continues to lives in America I literally have to believe in the America that can be rather than the one we have. I deal with the one I have, warts and all because it's the future I'm interested in, and even the present isn't enduing cartoonish ostracization like you've outlined growing up in Smallville would just have to be if Clark were a person of color.

So yeah, man, I dunno what you're getting at.

[LordUltimus]

Once he did those things but they scrubbed that side of him away, first with Post-Crisis and then with Rebirth. I 100% agree with you that Supes like Cap fights for an America as it should be, not necessarily as it is. Maybe it’s my own cynicism talking but I’m not sure if a PoC would even buy into the idea of an America that could ever stand for those things.

You haven't met my mother.

[manofsteel1979]

It largely depends on the actor in question and the execution. On principle I don't have a problem with a person of color portraying Superman, but if it's predicated on a premise of " hey let's go out of our way to make Kal-El black/Asian/Muslim etc" you are already on the wrong path in my opinion because you are already couching the whole thing as a novelty. I would just open up the casting to any male actor of a certain build between the ages of 21-45 and go from there. May the best actor win really. If that actor happens to be black, or some other non Caucasian race, then great. As long as they look good in the costume, and embodies the qualities of Superman, then he should get the part.

Now, personally while I am open to Kal-El to be recast, there are already alternate Supermen within Canon to do this with. Frankly I would love for us to get a decent live action STEEL movie eventually.

[Cmbmool]

If it’s done respectfully and makes sense to the overall character, then yes I would care. I mean just look at Dwayne McDuffie’s Icon character and how similar it was to Superman’s origin.

[Vordan]

Then that's all there is to it. Doesn't matter that some versions of the character don't do those specific things anymore. Fight for America not as it is, but as it could be isn't a white guy only thing.

You're speaking of people of color like we're a different species, and it's kind of weirding me out. Dude, with all due respect, I genuinely don't know if you register, this, but as a person of color who continues to lives in America I literally have to believe in the America that can be rather than the one we have. I deal with the one I have, warts and all because it's the future I'm interested in, and even the present isn't enduing cartoonish ostracization like you've outlined growing up in Smallville would just have to be if Clark were a person of color.

So yeah, man, I dunno what you're getting at.

You make some good points and I acknowledge that I shouldn’t act like I know how every PoC acts or thinks, I apologize.

You haven't met my mother.

True, I realize that there are obviously people out there that differ from my own interactions since I’ve obviously not met every PoC out there and shouldn’t act like I have.

[13th Superman]

Wow. When I saw this thread I was afraid of what it may lead to but man am I proud of everyone here! Living up to the man's ideal is a never-ending battle!

[Ascended]

Wow. When I saw this thread I was afraid of what it may lead to but man am I proud of everyone here! Living up to the man's ideal is a never-ending battle!

Sh*t man, you know we never argue or fight over stuff here.

[Robanker]

Sh*t man, you know we never argue or fight over stuff here.

Now this I take offense to. Pistols at dawn, sir!

[Francisco]

It largely depends on the actor in question and the execution. On principle I don't have a problem with a person of color portraying Superman, but if it's predicated on a premise of " hey let's go out of our way to make Kal-El black/Asian/Muslim etc" you are already on the wrong path in my opinion because you are already couching the whole thing as a novelty. I would just open up the casting to any male actor of a certain build between the ages of 21-45 and go from there. May the best actor win really. If that actor happens to be black, or some other non Caucasian race, then great. As long as they look good in the costume, and embodies the qualities of Superman, then he should get the part.

Now, personally while I am open to Kal-El to be recast, there are already alternate Supermen within Canon to do this with. Frankly I would love for us to get a decent live action STEEL movie eventually.

Man... Just imagine Idris Elba as John Henry Irons. Now imagine a cameo by Henry Cavill as Superman. First they need to give us MOS2 and a year later STEEL

[nonsense man]

just make a kryptonian of color why change what is there

[dancj]

Once he did those things but they scrubbed that side of him away, first with Post-Crisis and then with Rebirth.

I was under the impression that they scrubbed that stuff away within about five years of his debut.