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

[Killerbee911]

. What I hate more is when they change the race of everyone else but the main character. (CW Flash and the new Holland Spiderman) I think that is more insulting because it suggests that something essential would be lost if the color of the main character changed. White Panther would be different than Black Panther, it's not the same thing but Superman is just Superman. That can be anybody in my book.

I never look at changing the cast as "insulting" the real world just doesn't look like the cast of these books especially big city population centers people casting don't really have a choice the cast will stick out either way. I don't think that they think something would be loss if the main character was changed, it is just the easiest route to avoid fan backlash while making a modern change is leaving the main character as is in the books while changing the cast. In reading through this topic I honestly don't think changing Superman race would have the biggest impact possible the people who are against would just be able to go that is not my Superman. In hearing people talking the biggest impact would probably be changing Lois Lane to a Black character then some Superman fans having to deal with a character they see themselves in navigate through sticky issue of race. Just imagine a comic cover/movie poster of a White Superman and Black Lois Lane kissing it is something that shouldn't cause a big deal today but we all know it would cause a meltdown on interwebs. It is probably more impactful to have character in his iconic form deal with issues of race from a personal level in this case.

. Plus, wasn't Superman supposed to be a swarthy rebuke to the Aryan Superman of the Nazi party?

Didn't Superman concept start off as evil scientist ? He may have become rebuke I don't think he was designed to be that initially.

[The_Lurk]

Its more an more interesting to follow that guy. Its like hes reading and answering to this thread:




Instead of fooling around with established characters those lazy cheapskates should do an Icon movie. From what I heard hes Superman level like powerful. On top of that I know next to nothing. I would love to watch a movie about him and learn about the character nearly as much as I'd love to see Cavil in a Man of Steel 2.



Be we all know its far easier in marketing to piggyback on an established character even if that property gets burned in the short term gain process. And no, the guys behind that give a **** about social justice; they care about their own wallets and their own egos. Thats it.

[stargazer01]

The people who opposed a change to Superman's race/gender/sexuality/political preference/whatever would be accused of being sexist/racist/homophobe/whatever. That is not true. We simply don't want Superman's history to be disrespected and his legacy to be tarnished by what reeks of a political agenda. Changing a fundamental aspect of Superman would not be a reference to Superman's long history or an attempt to further develop the character; it would be just be a publicity stunt, plain and simple.

This. Changing Superman's race would also change his whole story. He is a white man who loves the whole human race without distinction. And he's male and he loves Lois Lane who is an intrepid reporter, etc. It aint broken. Superman is too iconic as he is.

[DochaDocha]

One of the arguments I see for racebending is that if the character's race is a part of the story, then the race should remain the same. In the case of a character like Barry Allen or Hal Jordan, I find their race is not entirely important, and while I wouldn't advocate for racebending, at least I feel the impact would be less. Superman's race isn't entirely important, but if the creation-of-Jewish-immigrants aspect is important to you, then perhaps changing his race has some negative consequences. When you double it with the fact that he's so strongly tied to rural Kansas, too... I guess that doesn't necessarily preclude him from being something other than white, but then the story seems somewhat less authentic, kind of like how Friends took place in one of the largest AND most diverse cities in the world, and yet everyone on the show was white.

[TaliaJoy]

One of the arguments I see for racebending is that if the character's race is a part of the story, then the race should remain the same. In the case of a character like Barry Allen or Hal Jordan, I find their race is not entirely important, and while I wouldn't advocate for racebending, at least I feel the impact would be less. Superman's race isn't entirely important, but if the creation-of-Jewish-immigrants aspect is important to you, then perhaps changing his race has some negative consequences. When you double it with the fact that he's so strongly tied to rural Kansas, too... I guess that doesn't necessarily preclude him from being something other than white, but then the story seems somewhat less authentic, kind of like how Friends took place in one of the largest AND most diverse cities in the world, and yet everyone on the show was white.

Hmmm. Yeah, I see what you mean. While it still might be interesting to see him with a different race in an AU, movie, or some other media, I can definitely see why Superman remaining white makes sense and isn't unimportant to the character.

[Ascended]

In that regard I think it's on a semi-similar level as Bruce. Batman is supposed to be old money; the Waynes helped build Gotham City and the city is supposed to be at least two centuries old (as of the latest continuity I'm aware of, anyway). The originals Waynes pretty much had to be white because of that "old money" thing and the timeframe in which they helped build Gotham.

None of which means that, all these years later, Bruce himself has to be white. But if part of the mythos is about pushing the idea of this old money trust fund kid becoming a vigilante, him being anything other than white does dampen the idea of "old money" since, at least in the States, we usually equate old money status with white. Bruce could be something else (and Batman looks amazing as a black man, Ive seen some cosplay that makes me wish for the change!) but it doesn't fit as easily into his mythos. In another hundred years I'd like to think the common image of what "old money" looks like will have changed, but today? Old money is usually white.

Diana, by contrast, should never have been "white" in the first place and likely should've been some mix of Greek and Middle Eastern, with maybe a few other things tossed in, if we look at where the Amazons were supposed to have come from.

[Ascended]

Its more an more interesting to follow that guy. Its like hes reading and answering to this thread:

6:39 mark: "It's almost like if you just make the damn thing interesting, people will support it."

I dunno who this guy is, but I love him already.

[Celgress]

6:39 mark: "It's almost like if you just make the damn thing interesting, people will support it."

I dunno who this guy is, but I love him already.

His Youtube name is YoungRippa59. While I don't agree with all of his political views (he does occasional videoes about politics) I think he offers great insights regarding the Comic Book Industry, especially from the pov of a POC who is also a longtime fan.

https://www.youtube.com/user/youngrippa59

[Johnny Thunders!]

I don’t care what that guy says. Why exactly must Superman, Kal El, Clark Kent be white? All I’m hearing is, “it’s always been that way and it changes the character. The only reason it would be done is agenda driven.” Was it agenda driven to make him white in the first place? What was the agenda?

[HeroVladimir93]

I don’t care what that guy says. Why exactly must Superman, Kal El, Clark Kent be white? All I’m hearing is, “it’s always been that way and it changes the character. The only reason it would be done is agenda driven.” Was it agenda driven to make him white in the first place? What was the agenda?

The agenda was to create a good character, plain and simple. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster only wanted to create a good character. That's what they accomplished with Superman. Why change what isn't broken? What is the logic behind that action?

[Johnny Thunders!]

Could you listen to 100 Superman comics being read to you, without ever seeing the pictures, never knowing the character, and imagine him non-white? Is it possible to ask these questions without an agenda?

[HeroVladimir93]

Could you listen to 100 Superman comics being read to you, without ever seeing the pictures, never knowing the character, and imagine him non-white? Is it possible to ask these questions without an agenda?

Yes, because Superman has always been characterized as a white male, a straight white male that lives way above a poverty line. That's how people know him as and how people like him best.

[Johnny Thunders!]

I don’t think it matters. Ned Leeds Asian, Zendaya multiracial, Wally West black, they can all be virtually the same. Kal and Parker too in my book.

[Jon Clark]

Could you listen to 100 Superman comics being read to you, without ever seeing the pictures, never knowing the character, and imagine him non-white? Is it possible to ask these questions without an agenda?

Goes back to my question of whether the dialogue and attitude are part of depicting the race. Could a single voice actor of undetermined ethnicity do a successful Superman cartoon that works regardless of whether the artists draw Superman as any ethnicity? For example, putting aside your recognizing their specific voices, could you hand Shemar Moore, Jimmy Smits, and Daniel Kim the same Superman cartoon script and produce a cartoon that works equally for any of the three regardless of if he is voicing a Superman of his ethnicity or the ethnicity of the other two?

[greatmetropolitan]

Superman wouldn't care, if you could ask him. Neither do I.