Disney to Reboot "The Rocketeer" With Black Female Lead

[Pandarifically Delusional]

I don't feel the need to do to interject any misinterpreted comments that could be deemed "bigoted" or anything of the sort. I have no vested interested in this film; instead, I will dig out my hardcover of Dave Stevens' 'Rocketeer' comics and read that instead.

[Rasmane]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooo!

[butterflykyss]

I really could care less about a studio changing the race of a fictional character from white to another race especially when Hollywood has a long history of changing the race of historical characters/people from black to white. God's of Egypt, Cleopatra, etc.

[Colossus1980]

After all the superhero movies, I just wonder if the audience would even care about The Rocketeer. The first barely made it's budget back. Can't see this movie being a hit of any kind, regardless of who's playing the leading character.

[AndrewBatman82]

sound like Disney really wants to express their political correctness

[bretmaverick2]

I'm okay with this since it's a sequel to the original.

I just hope it stays with the spirit and tone of what Dave wrote and drew.

And I'm hooping this gets an omnibus type volume released of all Dave's original Rocketeer work. And a new blu Ray release of the original movie!!

[Legaldrugdealer]

So even more implausible than a superhero with a jetpack?

Ok you got me there,can't really argue that, lol

[tkitna]

Could care less about the movie or who plays the lead, but I wonder why they do stuff like this. Especially in the time period that it takes place in. Is it for sheer shock value? Its as if they almost want to cause a reaction.

[Steve068]

Could care less about the movie or who plays the lead, but I wonder why they do stuff like this. Especially in the time period that it takes place in. Is it for sheer shock value? Its as if they almost want to cause a reaction.

The original might have become a cult favorite but by every metric studios use it was a failure. I'm shocked they want anything at all to do with the concept but can understand wanting to change as much as they can about the original colossal failure. They want a money maker more than a creatively pure product...

[kalorama]

So if Cliff disappeared "while fighting the Nazis" that would mean he disappeared sometime before the end of the war in 1945. So if this movie takes place 6 years later, that would put it in 1951, latest. Historically, the beginning of the Cold War is set around 1947 but in most people's minds, culturally, the late 50s/early 60s is thought of as the major escalation period. I think that would make a better backdrop. Plus, it would give more separation between Cliff's tenure and the new pilots, that could leave open the possibility of further exploration of Cliff's time as Rocketeeer.

[localman]

It might be a little more implausible, but that's where good writing will be needed. If the movie honestly addresses the issues OF THE TIMES and FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE PEOPLE AT THE TIME instead of trying to modernize the point of view, then I'm all for it. I really hate it when modern morals and societal conventions are used to condemn people from a different era who are simply living in the context of their society at the time.

One of the things I really liked about Agent Carter was that it (mostly) addressed the issue that Miss Carter would have a lot of trouble being accepted as a legitimate agent -- and it looked at the issue from the perspective of the post-war 1940's without being condemning.

If this movie can have a black female lead who overcomes the societal limitations of the time without painting everyone as a racist bigot, then I'm all for it. If anything, it make her MORE heroic.

As a comparison for the WRONG way to do it, look at the remake of Wild Wild West with Will Smith.

[Shawn Hopkins]

Sounds like an interesting idea. If it deals semi-realistically, as realistically as possible with a character that flies in a jetpack, with the historical setting it could even be really good. If she's old enough by the time the film hits production Quvenzhané Wallis might be a good choice for the lead.

[gwangung]

I'll admit my knee-jerk reaction was "oh COME on." But a bit of Googling turned up this, so why the hell not? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Coleman

Yeah, those true stories of POC pioneers are fascinating and damn dramatic.

Fusing them with some pulp heroes is sorta fitting; they're both larger than life characters accentuating the best in. It's not the usual blend, so it's a fresher take.

[Coin Biter]

I remember the original movie fondly as an underrated film, with a decent villainous performance from Dalton and nice performances from Campbell and Connolly. There have been many worse films which were greater financial successes, but the fact that it wasn't a great financial or critical success does give Disney a bit of latitude with the sequel. No doubt there will be a bit of controversy, but nothing too overwrought I suspect.

[Ohnooze]

Well I personally don't care what color or gender the lead is. I thought we wanted equality and such, so why is this news? Why are we making an issue out of what color and gender the lead is going to be when we are not supposed to see color or gender differences? The more I think about it, this whole article is racist.....