Poll: What Do You Think About "Color Blind" Casting in Comic Book Adaptations?

[Crimson Knight]

I kind of agree. It would be atrocious if they cast a white guy as Black Panther. But casting a black guy as Jimmy Olsen, or the Wests, or the Human Torch isn't as big a deal.

Agree, to a degree, with first two examples, as Jimmy can be brunette, as often, white, as often, or have someone of a complexion of average Indian playing.

But Johnny Storm? Never. Same for T'Challa, far as I'm concerned.

[Crimson Knight]

I'm fine with colorblind casting, and I think that the character should look like their comic book counter part.

Case in point, Michael Clark Duncan looked like the Kingpin, but was black.

I agree to a degree there. I mean, cast Jimmy as Jimmy. But, like, all built, hardly any hair, or none? Have the character super confident, and all?

No, that's making it less and less sense for the character, for using them, and taking away their identity, seemingly, mostly.

But yes, Duncans' Kingpin looked like a Kingpin, if not as round, and exuded the Fisk-ness that makes him him, so that's grand.

Not sure if Foxx did with his Dillon, but still a good interpretation, and well done, to me, in transformation, origin fits, and the sheer power...WOW. Why do we deed the Six again?

[Crimson Knight]

I would prefer you use the minority characters who you already have.

If you want Supergirl to have a black lover-you have enough black guys in limbo that you can toss in this series to use.

Lets start getting exposure to those guys instead of being lazy and ticking off a fanbase (Wally West).

Or create a new one and see if he or she takes off like Harley Quinn did.

Or, John Diggle, from Arrow, to comics.

I'd like to add Chloe Sullivan, but after Flashpoint, not sure she now exists outside Smallville comics.

Hoping Fish Mooney makes the transition. With Coulson, not sure if he's taken off, or is that popular, that he moved, rather than synergy, but, it happened.

[Crimson Knight]

Let me agree with you. I'm not in favor of Stunt casting. But if the actor/actress pulls off the character off flawlessly its kind of hard to berate the choice.

How do we know the other actors will be able to pull off Sue, Reed or the Thing?

If the actor Playing Johnny was Black but looked like this..would the choice be more accepted?



What about the Rock ( who is black) Playing the Thing?




Because if they are..it isnt really about being racially different from the source material.

I'd go with Ben Grimm for the top fellow, Wentworth Miller, I believe. Good ol' Captain Cold.

With the Rock, ah. I'm happy with him as Black Adam. Would suggest Colossus, but maybe a good Russian fella out there, and Rockslide could have a lot more prominence if he were him.

[Crimson Knight]

I don't think anyone stated that.
I don't see why you would jump to that conclusion.
My point was if they removed the family dynamic.

And, the specific dynamic that Sue and Johnny tend to have, especially as birth siblings.

Not sure when Johnny can't be black, Sue white, still brother and sister, without adoption. Can that not happen, physically?

[Black Manta]

And, the specific dynamic that Sue and Johnny tend to have, especially as birth siblings.

Not sure when Johnny can't be black, Sue white, still brother and sister, without adoption. Can that not happen, physically?

I think so, but it's very rare. Especially since Sue is blond, it that pretty much makes it genetically impossible for Johnny to be black and have the same biological parents.
What I hate about this issue is that it feels like we're pandering unnecessarily. Would anyone have been offended if the Asgardian gods were all white? They have to be the whitest people ever. It doesn't make sense to have Hogan Asian and Heimdell black. And it's usually such minor characters that get tokened in. What would happen if Supes, Bats or Wonder Woman were black? What about Hal Jordan? He's the one comic readers associate with GL, but he gets over shadowed by John Stewart (who is an awesome character). I feel like these changes are insulting to minorities.

[Darth Phoenix]

Tom Hanks as Black Panther is the first thing I think of.

[ExcelsiorPrime]

Tom Hanks as Black Panther is the first thing I think of.

Long as Jean grey is played by Nikki Minaj & Rogue is played by Gina Rodriguez

[Kieran_Frost]

Long as Jean grey is played by Nikki Minaj & Rogue is played by Gina Rodriguez

That's not fair... Dark Pheonix at-least picked a great actor Jean Grey can be Viola Davis and Rogue by Carmen Maura. Much fairing comparison.

[PeterWhitney]

For those of you who are asking why not cast a white actor as a black character. I want you to take a black hero and list their attributes and what makes them who they are. IE: Storm African Goddess. And then do it with a white hero. You do not describe Spider-Man and Human Torch as a white man because that is not key to what makes them who they are.

[Jumpoff AKA JohnnyBlazed]

Tom Hanks as Black Panther is the first thing I think of.

I 'd gladly take Tom Hanks as Black Panther , but you gotta have Micheal Jai White as batman (dude got hands so I could see him as batman)

[Optimus]

The question is flawed. When a minority is chosen to play a white character, it isn't color blindness, it's the opposite. They are making these choices because comics are too white and don't accurately reflect society. I agree that these changes should be made, the only one that upsets me is Johnny storm because he and his sister are different races which means they are only half siblings now. That I don't like. They should have either made Sue black also or made Reed black and left use and Johnny white. Why can't the leader and smartest member be black?

[missingmarch]

I am oh so super shocked by the racist results of this poll.

[bert]

I am oh so super shocked by the racist results of this poll.

Actually. . it's not that far off between "no issue" and "keep the same as in the comic"

only 4 or so points.

[batfan08]

This is a complicated issue, and there are a lot of nuances to it, but, honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about it. In the case of Lawrence Fishburne as Perry White, for example, I was kind of indifferent about it, but, upon seeing Man of Steel, I thought he was one of the highlights of the film, and I really do think that he was cast based on the quality of his performance. However, I think the question of whether or not "color blind" casting is okay depends on just how color blind it actually is.

In all of the instances of race changing I've seen, thus far, the choices have been almost exclusively African American. The aforementioned nuances come into play in that we really don't know what's going through the casting directors' minds when they make their decisions, but, hypothetically speaking, if they're casting these roles in a manner in which they're trying to force diversity, frankly, I think it can be seen as pandering. Particularly when there are still other minorities even more underrepresented than African Americans.

There's a part of me that believes that the races of these characters are just a symptom of the times in which they were created, but, at the same time, it's hard to ignore that their races become defining characteristics as time goes on. When every image of Superman over the past 75 years is that of a dark haired, Caucasian male, it's hard to argue that the character isn't a dark haired, Caucasian male, and, even if you play against type and cast an African American Superman, when you throw up a timeline of the character, it's clear who the outlier is within the public consciousness, no matter how color blind you claim to be.

What is "color blind" casting, though? Let me present a scenario: two actors have the same qualifications for the role of an iconic white character, except that one actor is white, and, for all intents and purposes, he looks just like the character always has. So, the question now becomes "which fanbase do I want to please more?" The section of purists who want everything to be exactly the same will be thrilled, if you cast the white actor, but the section of progressive, forward thinking fans will praise you if you cast the Black actor, since there is a dearth of Black characters in the medium.

Therein lies the conundrum, but I believe the latter is a bit of a slippery slope. If you're casting based on race, even if it is seemingly progressive, you open doors for "why not cast a different minority," "isn't not casting the white guy because he's not black also racism," and so on, and so forth. I think DC is really showing the kind of diversity we need right now, actually. Rather than changing popular characters to make them more diverse, they're shining a spotlight on already diverse characters in order to make them more popular.