Race-bent Clark Kent/Kal-El
Existing black Superman (Calvin Ellis, Val Zod etc.)
Completely original character
For when my rants on the forums just aren’t enough: https://thevindicativevordan.tumblr.com/
This basically, for me at least, a race bent Clark Kent isn't something to be celebrated but rather proof that WB/DC were too lazy or worse see no financial benefit in promoting a pre-existing Black Superman.
Can't speak for anyone else but if it does turn out to be the case of a race bent CK, then i am not watching much less paying for it. I am already displeased they are rebooting Superman and not getting MoS 2, this potential play to target a certain demographic is making me feel even more so.
To some, to others it’s an assault on Western civilization. A black Superman is gonna spark all types of conversations that will take a political dimension and be used as proxies for far right and far left shit slinging. AKA it’ll become a part of the culture war like Star Wars and Black Panther did. Doesn’t mean it can’t rise above the controversy, that’s obviously what WB is banking on.
I want to see Calvin Ellis. Make it happen. Promote it severely. Make merchandise. People will come to this movie.
Existing black Superman character, with an original character a far away dim second, and a racebent Clark so antiethical to my preference that should it happen my Bizarro twin would be wondering where that screaming that sounds like him is coming from.
For the record, my Bizarro twin would not be rooting for a black Superman, because in Bizzaro world Snyder's DCEU was a huge success and MoS 2 and 3 would be things already.
Last edited by Vakanai; 03-01-2021 at 09:04 PM.
Black Wally West (or Wallace West as I believe he's called now) is a textbook example of race-bending gone horribly wrong...to the extent that they needed to un-racebend him and bring back the OG Wally. The only reason Wallace exists as a distinct character now is a) the conceit of how Rebirth continuity was supposed to work (i.e. New 52 serving as the base, with erased people and events being 'restored'), and b) to stave off accusations of racism (because once you race-bend a character, reversing that decision might be seen as whitewashing).
The Flash TV show on the other hand did a much better job with race-bending the West family...again, maybe because they started with race-bending Iris West and not Wally. It was simply a question of casting, not making a political statement. So by the time they cast Wally, it was just natural that he'd be black.
It wasn't a question of race-bending Wally and then being like "Yup! Wally West will now be black forever!", which is literally what one of the writers back then said in an interview!
Exactly.
Frankly it'll be a lot worse than Star Wars and Black Panther.
With those, any reasonable (and non-racist) person could accept those movies (or not) based on their artistic and commercial merits. In fact, I don't even think Black Panther as a film or character ever got much hate. The new Star Wars movie did, and I don't think it was only to do with a political agenda, but a lot of fans genuienly being against the direction in which the sequel trilogy went (especially the JJ Abrams vs. Rian Johnson stuff).
When it comes to race-bending Superman (and by Superman, I mean Clark Kent) though, its not just a question of increasing representation. Its changing the image of one of the pillars of Western, and even global, pop-culture, in tune with a political trend. It will be perceived as erasing the original racial identity of a character and his image in order to make a political point. Agree or disagree with it, the idea of white people being 'erased' as some kind of perceived 'retribution' for their historical actions is the source of a lot of socio-political conflict and commentary in arts and business today, and let's just say that it's something which not just the racists or the far-right, but even a lot of perfectly reasonable people (albeit, not of the progressive left) would be uncomfortable with on some level.
Black Panther sparked a political discussion too, but it was a positive one, and today its legitimately regarded as a cultural moment. And its arguably risen above political commentary to be regarded as a great film in its own right. A Superman film with a race-bent Clark Kent will never rise above the political discource, most of which will be highly negative, if not toxic.
It very much sounds like you're projecting. Your entire "white people fear being erased" thing falls apart because a white Superman has a live-action show on air. And, frankly, most people aren't overly paranoid to that absurd degree. No one should be losing their minds over a black Kryptonian being adapted after over 70 years of a white Clark Kent onscreen.
Last edited by Superboy-Prime; 03-01-2021 at 11:27 PM.
Definitely not Calvin Ellis. Val-Zod would be great though.