Race-bent Clark Kent/Kal-El
Existing black Superman (Calvin Ellis, Val Zod etc.)
Completely original character
Okay, so the word "race-bent"... Does anyone want anything "bent". I kind of feel like the term is leading. It just makes me think more than ever we need a Black Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent.
With how diverse America has become, any alien that looks human can blend in. This would be especially true in Metropolis, which if it's anything like New York it means it's extremely diverse. Zod's line in Man of Steel ("He will look like you, but he is not one of you") would be applicable to a Superman of any race.
If they are going for it, I say make him a black Kal-El, raised as a black Clark Kent.
Go big or go home.
I don't know if doing this will solve the problems of Superman, my feelings is that the issues of Superman across comics and books is down to aesthetic issues about a character -- has too many powers and no agreed power-level, is kinda old-fashioned, should be be Clark or is he Kal, and so on -- rather than the cultural baggage of Superman being white.
If the film-makers have Superman as black but they still have Luthor or Zod as main bad guys after 6-7 movies banging the same beat, if they don't take the gauntlet and introduce the fantastic and outlandish enemies of Superman -- Bizarro, Brainiac, Mxyzsptlk -- and so on, then in my view it would be a cosmetic fix of Superman's problems in live-action recently.
At the same time, everyone's assuming that TNC is gonna automatically advocate for an African-American Superman when anyone familiar with his comics criticism and interviews knows that's not always his default take on this issue. That's not a given. Most likely he or his agent made a pitch, or he talked up Superman at some party, and it caught traction. But we don't know what it will entail or not.
I hope it is Superman portrayed by an actor of color. While they could keep the farm and all of that, I think it would be interesting to do it as a small town similarly impacted by globalization and the pursuit of so-called cheap labor in order to bloat profits for "investots". Either way I am excited to see a modern take on a good guy who learns the value of hard work, the pursuit of truth, and stewardship.
I think it is kind of a misnomer to call it Black Superman. It's Superman, which is mythical, an idea. With aliens as immigrants. Having the human Kents be persons of color who are older and were around for the 50s and 60s gives him just as strong a foundation as the usual trappings.
Last edited by Stanlos; 03-01-2021 at 03:43 PM.
Superman as he is built is very much modeled after American white Jews. As long he keeps the parts of himself that are “odd” or “different” hidden, he can live in mainstream society without problem. That’s not the case for black Americans.
That’s the term for “taking a character of one race and changing them into another”. You have literally been in here asking for that so yes it applies. No I don’t think that, Black Panther has shown that you don’t need to be an A-List in the comics to be an A-List on the screen, there’s plenty of other characters who exist who can represent. I doubt you’d be so happy about the idea of taking one of your favorite black characters and making them Asian for example.
Last edited by Vordan; 03-01-2021 at 03:56 PM.
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Nah this is happening because WB wants to tap into the culture war going on and profit off it. They look at BP making a billion and go “I want that”. But how to get it? They’ve let their black OCs languish, they’re too scared to mess with Batman since he’s the only guaranteed moneymaker, so they look at Superman. They don’t know what to do with him and never have, so they keep chasing trends. Gritty and realism was popular with Nolan so they tried to do that with Superman and Snyder. Right now diversity is more popular so they’re going to try that with Superman, chasing a trend again.
I’ve always supported characters like Vixen or Mr. Terrific or what have you getting more exposure and respect, because the alternative is racebending. If the OC non-white characters are treated poorly, or ignored, then the only real alternative is racebending the popular white characters for representation. There are no cool OC Polynesian characters at DC so DCEU Arthur exists. That’s on DC, they could’ve done the work to build up characters like John Stewart or Vixen or whoever but they didn’t.
Last edited by Vordan; 03-01-2021 at 04:05 PM.
For when my rants on the forums just aren’t enough: https://thevindicativevordan.tumblr.com/
For when my rants on the forums just aren’t enough: https://thevindicativevordan.tumblr.com/