Is The Hand an offensive stereotype?

[electr1cgoblin]

Wong and the Ancient One. I really hope thise rumors about Morgan Freeman being the mentor aren't true.

Well, technically in the service of diversity, I think the Ancient One should be played by a Norwegian woman.

[Tofali]

All I'm gonna say is Wong better be asian in the Dr. Strange movie. Or I will be pissed. Preferably they will actually get a Chinese actor.

I hope Marvel tweaks the man servant thing and calling the Doctor "Master" I wouldn't even mind him being a little Alfred Pennyworth-esque.

[Diamond]

I think you can offset it a bit if you do like some of the more recent retellings have done and have it so he doesn't actually like Strange at first and is kind of snarky and rude to him for comedic affect. That's easier to swallow than basically making him Adult Short Round.

People would think that's racist too. The narrow-minded and grumpy Asian whom the white dude has to impress and/or save.

[Holt]

People would think that's racist too. The narrow-minded and grumpy Asian whom the white dude has to impress and/or save.

Is it? It's cliche yeah, but not likely to be construed as offensive as the manservant who is at his beck and call and calls him "Master."

[t hedge coke]

I think you can offset it a bit if you do like some of the more recent retellings have done and have it so he doesn't actually like Strange at first and is kind of snarky and rude to him for comedic affect. That's easier to swallow than basically making him Adult Short Round.

Wong's been pretty snarky most of his existence in comics. And not always Strange's biggest fan.

The problem runs right to the creation of Wong, of Short Round, of Kato, of Wing, etc. The Chinese servant-friend. They're all very Gunga Din, and that's their strength and what's annoying about them and that continued character type. At least, Gunga Din is clearly the equal or superior to his white "superiors," where, most often, even if Stephen Strange is horribly in the wrong and absurdly condescending, they'll make up and Wong's back to doing the laundry and waiting on him hand and foot.

Heck, Alfred, as a white manservant, is only really saved by Frank Miller repositioning him as basically father to Bruce Wayne. And, you don't even have the very explicit racial divide there, so it was strictly an issue of classist expectations that aren't really in fashion these days.

[Mutant God]

Nah, the Hand isn't offensive.

There are Asian heroes like Shang-Chi. The Chinese mafia is a very real thing, I don't see why the Hand would be offensive.

The way I see the Hand is just ninjas involve with organize crime, the Kingpin is/was a leader of them, or you could say they are an asian Illuminati.

On the Strange/Wong issue, it wasn't that big of deal for the Green Hornet movie for Kato so I think Wong could be a servant or he could just be a student to Strange.

[Post Monster]

Of course, now you have to deal with the issue of a Chinese man playing the role of man servant to the Mighty Whitey.

Pak has a great take on how to do Wong without it being racist offensive. Also emphasizing that he's the servant of the Supreme Sorcerer, not Strange would be good; and they need to make it clear this is an Asian convention, not a European convention, so it's not a lowly position at all. Frankly I'd make him terrible at being a "servant" and run him as the badass bodyguard who is using "servant" as his secret identity due to everyone assuming it's a hired help kind of servant. Then let him loose to run a street level team. Sort of tongue in cheek mockery of everyone getting it wrong.

But seriously, the bromance for these two is strong with these two and would be very popular.

[Silvermoth]

If you really want to find out how they feel about it, you could always

(wait for it)


talk to the Hand!

Haha, this guy wins the thread

[JamJams]

As an Asian guy I say, please don't take them away from us! I mean they keep taking away roles for Asians because they're supposedly stereotypical or racist but then they don't give us any roles to replace them.

Mandarin can't be Chinese(!), that'd be racist! Okay so can we have an Asian hero in Avengers then? No. The tech guy can't be Asian that'd be racist, the Kung Fu guy can't be Asian that'd be stereotypical! So can the the Asian guy be the bad ass? No. Can he be the suave ladies man? No? So that means no Asian bad guys + no Asian good guys = No Asian guys at all.

Umm the Wolverine was nothing but Japanese people + Hugh Jackman
The Hand was in the Elektra movie (no one remembers this cause no one watched it but not only were they there they were probably the best part of the movie) and all the members but Typhoid were Asian actors, iirc.
Donnie Yen was one of the Bloodpack in Blade 2
Kenneth Choi played a Howling Commando in Captain America: the First Avenger
Kelly Hu was Lady Deathstrike in X2
Meiling Melançon played Psylocke X-Men the Last Stand
Fan Bingbing was Blink in Days of Future past

[t hedge coke]

The Hand was in the Elektra movie (no one remembers this cause no one watched it but not only were they there they were probably the best part of the movie) and all the members but Typhoid were Asian actors, iirc.

Was there even one Asian actor in that movie who had dialogue? I remember superfluous white guy. Plot-motivating little white girl. Elektra. Stick. And a bunch of generic stabby goons.

[Agent Z]

Umm the Wolverine was nothing but Japanese people + Hugh Jackman
The Hand was in the Elektra movie (no one remembers this cause no one watched it but not only were they there they were probably the best part of the movie) and all the members but Typhoid were Asian actors, iirc.
Donnie Yen was one of the Bloodpack in Blade 2
Kenneth Choi played a Howling Commando in Captain America: the First Avenger
Kelly Hu was Lady Deathstrike in X2
Meiling Melançon played Psylocke X-Men the Last Stand
Fan Bingbing was Blink in Days of Future past

Stone and Tatoo weren't Asian.

[Agent Z]

Was there even one Asian actor in that movie who had dialogue? I remember superfluous white guy. Plot-motivating little white girl. Elektra. Stick. And a bunch of generic stabby goons.

Will Yun Lee was the leader of the group that went after Elektra.

[megaharrison]

Everything is an offensive stereotype if you're hyper-sensitive enough.

Ninjas are cool. Leave them alone.

[AHall88]

Everything is an offensive stereotype if you're hyper-sensitive enough.

Ninjas are cool. Leave them alone.

What he said.

Considering the day and age we live in though, we're damn near to a point where everyone is hyper-sensitive to just about everything.

[Mr.Majestic]

Umm the Wolverine was nothing but Japanese people + Hugh Jackman
The Hand was in the Elektra movie (no one remembers this cause no one watched it but not only were they there they were probably the best part of the movie) and all the members but Typhoid were Asian actors, iirc.
Donnie Yen was one of the Bloodpack in Blade 2
Kenneth Choi played a Howling Commando in Captain America: the First Avenger
Kelly Hu was Lady Deathstrike in X2
Meiling Melançon played Psylocke X-Men the Last Stand
Fan Bingbing was Blink in Days of Future past

There are East Asian chicks all over the place playing the femmes fatales and romancing the Caucasian leads but the men are hard to find. Yes Will Yun Lee had a speaking part in The Wolverine but didn't the chick he like go for Logan? Wasn't Snowman a mute in Blade 2 and get killed offscreen? Didn't the awesome Kenneth Choi get only like maybe 2 lines throughout Captain America?

The original answer was simply about the Hand as the OP asked but yes Asian guys get the short shrift in both the MU and CMU.