Um, has Jonah Hex ever met a black person?

[Johnny Thunders!]

I think you just have to be completely honest as to who Jonah Hex is as a character. There is a temptation to make him be seem more honorable than he probably would be in real life. He is a Bounty Hunter, I don't expect him to be a champion for human life.

It's nice to say he probably fought for the confederacy out of necessity or bad luck or whatever, but it's probably just as realistic to think he wore that costume with full understanding of what it meant. You have to just say to to yourself, how realistic do you want the character to be and what does that really mean.

When I watched Cowboy movies as a kid, the villains would be "Indians." I knew who the heroes were supposed to be and what I looked like and they weren't the same. I am a Jonah Hex fan but I accept that Jonah is probably just as much villain as hero. In the V for Vendetta books, there is a hero called Strom Saxon, Jonah Hex reminds me of that. So does the Minute Men documentary on the Watchmen TV series. I say change the costume, retire the character, or accept that he is kind of a villain.

[NeathBlue]

Hex is perfect as he is, change him to suit what some want him to look like now, totally changes the character.
You can’t, and shouldn’t try, to change history, because it’s a record of human evolution... and the era when Hex is based is an era when there was a confederacy and therefore things like his uniform and confederate flags need to be seen.
You don’t make a WWII movie without seeing the swastika in nazi Germany.

[Vakanai]

Hex is perfect as he is, change him to suit what some want him to look like now, totally changes the character.
You can’t, and shouldn’t try, to change history, because it’s a record of human evolution... and the era when Hex is based is an era when there was a confederacy and therefore things like his uniform and confederate flags need to be seen.
You don’t make a WWII movie without seeing the swastika in nazi Germany.

To be fair, there's no Nazi characters you're supposed to be empathic or sympathetic to.

[Johnny Thunders!]

The closest you get is cheering for Anakin or sympathizing with Kylo Ren.

[Celgress]

Yes, can we get rid of Hex's uniform please? Also as non-American I really am offended by Captain America's and Wonder Woman's costume but I also want to keep reading the comics of Cap and WW. They should just change Cap/WW/JH because I feel so offended. Also the Punisher... a skull on the chest? Sends the wrong message to the kids. No Emos in my enterteinment. Get rid of the skull, Frank

Hahaha, I love this.

[Celgress]

The closest you get is cheering for Anakin or sympathizing with Kylo Ren.

True, but I was the odd guy out among my Star Wars lovin' buddies as I never cheered for Anakin. Even during the Clone Wars movie (before his mass murder spree), I thought Anakin was a whiny entitled douchebag with an anger management problem.

[Frontier]

To be fair, there's no Nazi characters you're supposed to be empathic or sympathetic to.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventures Part 2 had one of the protagonists feel bad for a Nazi who was brutally killed by one of the Pillar Men (and who also had a fiance waiting for him back home).

[Username taken]

If Hex is to remain a hero, he shouldn’t be wearing a confederate outfit anymore. The confederates fought for slavery and white supremacy (it was in their documents and draft constitution, I don’t know why people even argue this) and their ideology as spelt out by themselves is much closer to Nazism than anything logical (this isn’t entirely surprising considering Nazis were inspired by what they saw in the US).

Hex was created at a time when the Confederate Antebellum South was still romanticized in fiction (I believe John Carter was also a confederate solider) and unfortunately, a lot of people like to hold on to American mythology (e.g that slavery wasn’t the backbone of the confederate fight) and not the real ugly history.

The only way Hex works in that confederate suit is if he’s depicted as fiercely opposed to it and deserted or something.

[Vakanai]

Jojo's Bizarre Adventures Part 2 had one of the protagonists feel bad for a Nazi who was brutally killed by one of the Pillar Men (and who also had a fiance waiting for him back home).

To be fair the Japanese do have a weird appreciation for their old allies in WW2...

[NeathBlue]

To be fair, there's no Nazi characters you're supposed to be empathic or sympathetic to.

You’ve never seen Schindler’s List then?

[Riv86672]

I'm in the minority, but i dont think a character has to conform to every single "woke" trend currently making the rounds in order for me to like them.

[Vakanai]

You’ve never seen Schindler’s List then?

Nope. I know it's a classic, but has never interested me.

[Nite-Wing]

I'm in the minority, but i dont think a character has to conform to every single "woke" trend currently making the rounds in order for me to like them.

If DC decided they wanted to retire the character captain nazi it would probably not even be an issue
Jonah Hex is a hero/anti hero dressing him up in the confederate uniform because "it means something to him" probably means that he takes pride in what the confederacy represented and those who died to fight for it.
Of course now in enlightened society we now realize these things we take for granted like blackface, minstrel shows, etc are in bad taste and should not be plastered everywhere.

If someone likes Jonah Hex they should want his character to steer clear of this issue now sweeping society again

[Riv86672]

If DC decided they wanted to retire the character captain nazi it would probably not even be an issue
Jonah Hex is a hero/anti hero dressing him up in the confederate uniform because "it means something to him" probably means that he takes pride in what the confederacy represented and those who died to fight for it.
Of course now in enlightened society we now realize these things we take for granted like blackface, minstrel shows, etc are in bad taste and should not be plastered everywhere.

If someone likes Jonah Hex they should want his character to steer clear of this issue now sweeping society again

I completely disagree.
As bad as blackface is, whitewashing characters?
Much worse, imho.

[Celgress]

I'm in the minority, but i dont think a character has to conform to every single "woke" trend currently making the rounds in order for me to like them.

You're not alone in this. I, for one, agree with you.