Chanigng characters race or sexuality for DC characters

[lemonpeace]

make them all queer and brown I say! queer and brown!

[Vordan]

Movie audiences are different than for the comics, though, so what works for one may not work for the other.

Correct I was referring mainly to the non-comic adaptions since that is where the majority of changing happens anyway. In comics you tend to get legacies.

[Mistah K88]

This is the best post in this thread. And there are a ton of posts in this thread. Most of them are bad.

People who are upset with changing the races, sexualities, or basically anything else about the characters that they know and love have to do with nostalgia, insecurity, and implicit bias. On paper there's no reason that Clark Kent can't be a black or Asian man, and there's even less that Princess Diana can't be a person of color as well, but everyone sort of just has the idea that white and straight and cis have to be the default settings. They don't, for the most part, and when it comes down to it most characters are just assumed to be white in the first place even when that may not explicitly be the case - for instance why is there an issue when it's revealed that a character with 'light' skin is revealed to be Latinx or Asian? I dunno. I'm not gonna go on too long about the point.

TL;DR if you have an issue with your favorite characters having their races or sexual identities being changed you might need to do some self-evaluating.

It's funny as that is an actual thing in Latinx communities (colorism). Someone like Kyle Rayner being revealed as Latino isn't as much as a shock as people would think.

[Harpsikord]

It's funny as that is an actual thing in Latinx communities (colorism). Someone like Kyle Rayner being revealed as Latino isn't as much as a shock as people would think.

It shouldn't be, but a ton of (mostly white) people have an issue with it. There are people now that continue to complain that Kendra Saunders is a Latina woman when she has been since the 2000s and people think it's new because she's drawn with darker skin.

[Jim Kelly]

I don't mind changes to characters race and sexuality. Characters should be evolving to suit the needs and shifts in society and perception.

While I prefer elevating characters who were created poc or not-straight from the start, I know some franchises were never diverse to begin with so changing them for adaptations make sense.

As a rule, I give adaptations a lot of license. Any movie or T.V. show is not required to stick to the original work. Even in comic books, I know that the modern versions of characters are not the originals and they are really just adaptations.

But everything is exploitation in some way. Diversity is exploiting our desire to see representation. But comics also try to exploit our interest in seeing the originals. If a story is presented as showing the original Green Lantern--it had better be. They can't get away with changing the details and still exploit my interest in reading stories about the original characters. They have to pick a lane.

The problem is with the "Golden Age" characters they are clearly hoping to exploit that interest in the originals. So they can't at the same time revamp the character beyond all recognition.

Besides, I think it's better to use those originals as contrast. The Justice Society is the establishment characters--they represent the approved super-heroes. There's plenty of room to tell stories about other characters who never saw the light of day because they didn't fit with the establishment. The Society espoused out-moded views in their stories--let that reality exist, because it was how people thought at the time. But then show these other super-hero groups who were not accepted and tell their stories.

If they do revisionism and make it seem like the J.S.A. was all for inclusion and diversity back in the 1940s that's altering the real history just to make people today feel comfortable about an uncomfortable past.

[Agent Z]

Another example would be Young Justice: Outsiders. Aqualad is seemingly gay or bisexual in the show. There's a brief scene between him and Garth which in a vacuum is fine, but season 1 established there was that love triangle with Tula, and Garth was the rival. So it feels like the change was more about synergy with the comics. This doesn't fundamentally take away from the character in any way, but it does seem to go against the narrative they crafted. It'd be like Wolverine and Cyclops getting together after Jean dies. Like it's not "impossible" but even for Jerry Springer, that'd be a stretch.

Weisman implied that Kaldur wasn't straight in earlier social media post during the show's original run. It's not really against the narrative they crafted. It seems like the comics made the mistake of assuming this meant Kaldur wasn't sexually attracted to women.

[Agent Z]

Hair color and skin color are two very different things though. And I've heard plenty of fan complaints about Grant Gustin and Ezra Miller not being blonde as Barry, but I think people generally don't seem to care as much for that aspect since it doesn't change the character's entire look. You can have Catwoman with long hair, short hair, dark hair or blonde hair and people don't tend to bring it up, but when you make her a black woman that's a different story that people who are used to her classic appearance would naturally bring up. The one major raceswapping I can think of that I've never heard anyone complain about was Dean Cain as Superman. That version seems to have always been embraced across the board and noone brings up the race factor at all.

Cain is white passing and a lot of people don't know he's part-Japanese. Race doesn't get brought up much with him because its hard to tell he isn't fully white.

[Agent Z]

Eartha Kitt did play Catwoman, but she didn't play Selina Kyle. She portrayed a completely different character.

No, I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be Selina and I haven't seen anything to suggest she wasn't.

Also the main protagonist in Catwoman (2004) wasn't Selina Kyle either.

I was referring to the Selina Kyle in the Harley Quinn show.

[Agent Z]

This is the best post in this thread. And there are a ton of posts in this thread. Most of them are bad.

People who are upset with changing the races, sexualities, or basically anything else about the characters that they know and love have to do with nostalgia, insecurity, and implicit bias. On paper there's no reason that Clark Kent can't be a black or Asian man, and there's even less that Princess Diana can't be a person of color as well, but everyone sort of just has the idea that white and straight and cis have to be the default settings. They don't, for the most part, and when it comes down to it most characters are just assumed to be white in the first place even when that may not explicitly be the case - for instance why is there an issue when it's revealed that a character with 'light' skin is revealed to be Latinx or Asian? I dunno. I'm not gonna go on too long about the point.

TL;DR if you have an issue with your favorite characters having their races or sexual identities being changed you might need to do some self-evaluating.

I'd argue that Superman and Wonder Woman being white kind of does play into their characters as being privileged in a way many are not while also being disadvantaged in way some are not.

[Agent Z]

If they do revisionism and make it seem like the J.S.A. was all for inclusion and diversity back in the 1940s that's altering the real history just to make people today feel comfortable about an uncomfortable past.

No it isn't. It's a comic book not a history record. If people want to learn how people in the 1940s thought they can read the old JSA comics or just read a history textbook.

You can't alter history by making the JSA more racially and sexually diverse.

[The Darknight Detective]

No, I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be Selina and I haven't seen anything to suggest she wasn't.

That's always been my view for over fifty years, too, FWIW.

[Johnny]

I believe Catwoman was never referred to by her real name on the 60s show and Julie Newmar was unable to reprise the role because the first time she got injured and the second time due to scheduling issues, so if we're to assume that she was originally playing Selina Kyle, that means both Lee Meriwether and Eartha Kitt must have played Selina Kyle too. But since all subsequent media based on the show tends to use Newmar's portrayal then I assume she's generally considered to be the "real" Selina Kyle in that version.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Cain is white passing and a lot of people don't know he's part-Japanese. Race doesn't get brought up much with him because its hard to tell he isn't fully white.

That, and he's not married to a British royal

[Veni]

Mainstream audiences aren't comic readers. However, they will research the character once a movie is announced and will complain why isn't the character comic accurate. It's not only comic book fans who want characters to be comic accurate, but mainstream audiences as well. My friends (who aren't comic book readers) once asked me why does Aquaman look different in the movie compared to the comics.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Mainstream audiences aren't comic readers. However, they will research the character once a movie is announced and will complain why isn't the character comic accurate. It's not only comic book fans who want characters to be comic accurate, but mainstream audiences as well. My friends once asked me why does Aquaman look different in the movie compared to the comics.

Asking about changes isn't the same as complaining, though. Shazam's movie did fine without any Captain Marvels