The Minority Report! Diversity in the DCU!!

[Marvell2100]

Selfishly, I was hoping that’s he’d be a recasted T’Challa over in the MCU but I’m happy for him to have gotten such a great role! Hawkman is one of my favorite DC heroes and Hodge has got the talent to do him justice.

Bro, that's who I wanted too!

[chief12d]

Bro, that's who I wanted too!

Yea, the pool of dudes that could realistically replace Boseman was already small and with Hodge gone it'll be a bit harder to find someone lol. But he's ended up with another great character and if all goes well, maybe we can finally get a Hawkman or better yet, Hawkworld movie.

[Marvell2100]

Yea, the pool of dudes that could realistically replace Boseman was already small and with Hodge gone it'll be a bit harder to find someone lol. But he's ended up with another great character and if all goes well, maybe we can finally get a Hawkman or better yet, Hawkworld movie.

I hope they build off of him being Hawkman. With him appearing in Black Adam, I'd assume they're going with the Carter Hall origin.

[Samm]

https://www.cbr.com/black-adam-dwayn...n-aldis-hodge/

Nice choice for Hawkman imo!

Good for him but I’m tired of race swaps. He would have made a great John Stewart, an actual Black character. I hate Hollywood’s tendency to race swap instead of using actual POC characters.

[Vordan]

Good for him but I’m tired of race swaps. He would have made a great John Stewart, an actual Black character. I hate Hollywood’s tendency to race swap instead of using actual POC characters.

Pretty sure the first incarnation of Carter Hall was black or Arab. And Hawkman can reincarnate as any race anyway so it doesn’t matter.

[Samm]

Pretty sure the first incarnation of Carter Hall was black or Arab. And Hawkman can reincarnate as any race anyway so it doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t but it’s just annoying to see White characters, who will always be White, get race swapped instead of using or pushing existing POC characters.

[Robotman]

It doesn’t but it’s just annoying to see White characters, who will always be White, get race swapped instead of using or pushing existing POC characters.

Agreed. In the long run it doesn’t help in progressing efforts to make DC more diverse. Hawkman will still be white in the comics, on merchandise, in cartoons, etc. Changing a character’s ethnicity is kind of like a PR move. It makes the company look good on the surface but in reality they’ve gone with an easy (and usually temporary) fix.

I would much prefer an actual POC character, with their own history, get a mainstream push.

With all that said, I’m sure he’ll be a good Hawkman and I’m still really looking forward to the movie.

[Mr HardKnocks]

It doesn’t but it’s just annoying to see White characters, who will always be White, get race swapped instead of using or pushing existing POC characters.

I understand, but a lot of DCs non white characters don’t really have the allure for solo adaptations and given DC/WBs struggle with their cinematic universe as well as their need to capitalize off their most popular characters, it’ll be a few years before we get an authentic film with a non white lead.

[chief12d]

It doesn’t but it’s just annoying to see White characters, who will always be White, get race swapped instead of using or pushing existing POC characters.

Yup, at best we get a Hawkman that's black everywhere but the comics. At worst this is a one-off and he's black in only the movies. Compared to Mister Terrific, whose black in every medium, no matter the context. DC should be pushing to elevate their original characters of color and actually give them substantial roles in outside media, where they historically have thrived anyway.

My fear is that WB is using race-swaps as a crutch to add in diversity instead of seeing the value in original IPs that could potentially see even greater success. Did we really need a black Deadshot? Bronze Tiger was available. With all the radical changes they made to BOP, you're telling me that we couldn't get Vixen, but we got a light-skinned Black Canary? Race-swapping is cool and all, but what's even cooler is taking actual black characters and digging into their lore and making them work.

[chief12d]

I understand, but a lot of DCs non white characters don’t really have the allure for solo adaptations and given DC/WBs struggle with their cinematic universe as well as their need to capitalize off their most popular characters, it’ll be a few years before we get an authentic film with a non white lead.

Between Cyborg, Vixen, Static, and Icon DC has plenty of black characters specifically that could anchor their own franchise on a streaming service or the big screen. And with Milestone back they quite frankly have no excuse not to make these types of projects. It's not like audiences are particularly biased against relative unknown characters. Shazam is one of the biggest heroes at DC and his movie barely made back its money.

Meanwhile hardly anyone (including many Marvel comics fans) knew who Black Panther was prior to 2016 and his movie obliterates Justice League's box office. The market is so democratized at this point that you can throw anyone a project and as long as the cast and creatives are strong it can work. Get an actor/actress and director with the interest and notoriety and people will watch damn near anything. We're in an era where Peacemaker is getting a TV show, I think the market can handle a Vixen show by Ava Duvernay.

[Agent Z]

The DCEU has Cyborg, Darla Dudley, Amanda Waller, Killer Croc and Bloodsport who are black in the comics. On tv, we have Black Lightning series, YJ has featured black characters, Arrow had John Diggle and Mr Terrific and Cyborg is on Doom Patrol. Legends of Tomorrow had Vixen even if it wasn't the one from the comics.

The idea that WB relies only on racebends is easily disproven by actually looking at their content. They've used original poc characters far more than racebends.

[chief12d]

The DCEU has Cyborg, Darla Dudley, Amanda Waller, Killer Croc and Bloodsport who are black in the comics. On tv, we have Black Lightning series, YJ has featured black characters, Arrow had John Diggle and Mr Terrific and Cyborg is on Doom Patrol. Legends of Tomorrow had Vixen even if it wasn't the one from the comics.

The idea that WB relies only on racebends is easily disproven by actually looking at their content. They've used original poc characters far more than racebends.

I should’ve qualified my previous post with “feels like” but the general sentiment remains. I was speaking in terms of the DCEU, where nearly half of their black characters are race bent from the source material, as was stated in another thread. I find that unfortunate when there are still many original black heroes that could be explored. Nothing wrong with race changes and there’s no real perfect ratio, but when close to half of your relevant black characters aren’t even black in the source material I think there’s still work to be done.

[Samm]

DCEU Black Roles
Ray Fisher as Victor Stone/ Cyborg
Viola Davis as Amanda Waller
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Waylon Jones/ Killer Croc
Yahya Abdhul Mateen II as David Hyde/Black Manta
Meagan Good as Darla Dudley
Faithe Herman as Darla Dudley (kid)
Idris Elba as Robert Dubois/Bloodsport

Will Smith as Floyd Lawton/ Deadshot
Jurnee Smollet-Bell as Dinah Lance/ Black Canary
Aldis Hodge as Carter Hall/ Hawkman
Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle/ Catwoman
Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon

6/12 Heroes
6/12 Villains or Anti-Heroes
7/12 Originals
5/12 Race Swaps

DCEU Latino Roles
Jay Hernandez as Chato Santana/ El Diablo
DJ Catrona as Pedro Peña
Jovan Armand as Pedro Peña (kid)
Marta Milans as Rosa Vasquez
Cooper Andrews as Victor Vasquez
Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya
Alice Braga as SolSoria
Juan Diego Botto as Silvio Luna
Joaquin Cosio as Mateo Suarez

Pedro Pascal as Maxwell Lord

6/10 Heroes
4/10 Villains or Anti-Heroes
9/10 Originals
1/10 Race Swaps

DCEU Asian Roles
Karen Fukuhara as Tatsu Yamashiro/ Katana
Orion Lee as Ryan Choi/ Atom
Ross Butler as Eugene Choi
Ian Chen as Eugene Choi (kid)
Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra Cain
Mayling Ng as Mongal

Tao Okamoto as Mercy Graves

5/7 Heroes
2/7 Villains or Anti Heroes
6/7 Originals
1/7 Race Swaps

Other Roles
Dwayne Johnson as Teth Adam/ Black Adam
Jason Mamoa as Arthur Curry/ Aquaman


Biggest characters left to introduce: John Stewart, Black Lightning, Vixen, Mr Terrific, Static, Icon, Rocket, Blue Beetle, Jessica Cruz, Kyle Rayner, Bane, Fire, Dr Light, Dawnstar

[manwhohaseverything]

The DCEU has Cyborg, Darla Dudley, Amanda Waller, Killer Croc and Bloodsport who are black in the comics. On tv, we have Black Lightning series, YJ has featured black characters, Arrow had John Diggle and Mr Terrific and Cyborg is on Doom Patrol. Legends of Tomorrow had Vixen even if it wasn't the one from the comics.

The idea that WB relies only on racebends is easily disproven by actually looking at their content. They've used original poc characters far more than racebends.

Wait killer croc is minority? I thought he was kind of like a crocodile.

[Restingvoice]

Wait killer croc is a minority? I thought he was kind of like a crocodile.

He's a black guy with a skin condition that got worse and worse into full-on mutation, affecting his mental health and intelligence, into thinking he's a human crocodile and becoming a man-eater, but he got a bit better