How many heroes, pulp, superhero, or otherwise feature a white hero learning a skill, finding an artifact, or engaging in practice traditionally part of another culture. If I can take Bruce Wayne or Danny Rand being a master of martial arts, I can handle a Black Superman.
Plus, Dean Cain could pass for white, and visually looked like the traditional image of Superman.
Ditto with Jason Momoa for Aquaman (he looks more like the 90's bearded version of Aquaman, than the 90's Aquaman looks like the orange-shirted Silver Age Aquaman!)
Also, visuals and faithfulness to the source material aside, they weren't trying to make a political point.
Notice how there's hardly any backlash to Zoe Kravitz playing Selina Kyle in Reeves' Batman (none to my knowledge, in fact). Or, for that matter, Jeffrey Wright playing Gordon. Kravitz visually looks like she can pass for the comic-book Selina. Wright doesn't look at all like comic-book Gordon, but even so, its a case of relatively non-controversial color-blind casting and not a front in the culture wars.
If you give Clark the same origin and just change the skin colour, he's still raised in Smallville, Kansas, right? Is he raised by white folks? Is there prejudice in Smallville? What's the theme--is it about white supremacy in small town America? Or is it painting a bucolic portrait of America where racism doesn't exist? How does Clark relate to the African-Americans living in Suicide Slum, if he had a different experience in Smallville?
Then there's what happens when he makes his debut as Superman. Is America ready to come to terms with the fact that the most powerful man on earth is a black man? How will his actions be perceived by authorities, from the President to the mayor and most importantly, down to the cops? When its publicaly revealed that he's an alien, will the prejudice against his skin color bolster any prejudices against his extraterrestrial nature? And if Lex Luthor is white - how does that dynamic play out? Is Luthor motivated by his fear of Superman's power, or by potential racial prejudice?
There are fascinating aspects to unpack here and its definitely a story worth telling. But its not the classic Superman story, or even a variation of it. And as such, its better explored with a different version of Superman.
I think so too, and I think we kind of already know the answer. "How would people react to a Black Superman?" I think kind of like they are reacting now. I said this earlier, I live with a Scottish Ninja being one of my favorite heroes. I think I also love a Canadian Samurai. The Lone Ranger, Zorro, I believe they have origins in people of color. Zorro in particular was based on a native resistance fighter rather than a Spanish landowner. Watchman the HBO series pointed out how Bass Reeves was instrumental to the Lone Ranger and maybe superheroes in general. "What if Superman had always been Black?!?"
stuff like with Dean Cain is an example of how black and white races are social constructs without no scientific basis
a lot of it is based on prejudices and perceptions
I was aware that Cain wasn't full European.
I had been around people that were partly east Asian.
My stepfather had three half Japanese daughters.
When I was a kid, I had a crush on a girl who was of French, Japanese, Hawaiian, Irish, and Italian ancestry. She had a Japanese last name.
I am a Multiracial American that is highly multiethnic
my father was a Louisiana-born African American with some English, Acadian (French in Nova Scotia), and American Indian ancestry
my mother is a Californian of Cape Verdean, Ashkenazi Jewish (from Romania and Latvia) Madeiran, Puerto Rican, Azorean, English, Scottish, German, Irish, Swiss, Welsh, Dutch, and Frisian ancestry
I am related to many Americans in many different ways.
I have always rejected the one drop rule and now reject the social constructs of race.
human beings are far too diverse to pin them down as black, white, yellow, red, brown
The African continent is super-diverse with thousands of ethnic groups.
The African country Nigeria has over 200 ethnic groups.
The Asian country China has over 50 ethnic groups.
I also think people get color, ethnicity, and race mixed up.
"black" people usually don't have skin the color of jet
"white" people usually don't have skin the color of milk
African is not the same as black
European is not the same was white
Asian is definitely not synonymous with any color, but some people equate East Asians with yellow even though there are some East Asians that might have skin colors similar to Europeans
there are Melanesians and native Australians that are dark as some of the darkest Africans, and Africans are genetically closer to Europeans than they are to Melanesians and native Australians
This is stuff that I read about as a teenager in the 1980s
I was curious about race and what makes up a race
I have been interested in Genetic Genealogy since I first tested in 2011
I have accounts at 23andme, Ancestry, FamilyTreeDNA, MyHeritage, GEDmatch.
Last edited by Starrius; 03-02-2021 at 11:24 AM.
I created a thread about Dick Grayson/Nightwing and Koriand'r/Starfire. It is to acknowledge and honor their iconic and popular relationship.
I created a fan page about Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson. This page is for all the Spider-Marriage fans.
I'd say a lot depends on whether you want a story that presents the world as it is or a story that presents the world as you'd like it to be.
I see Superman as an aspirational character. There certainly are a lot of Elseworlds which promote pessimism, but I want a Superman that gives me hope.
Thanks! I get comic fans, I am a comic fan. We like things the way they are, we notice the number of tears on comic covers. For me, I just think, what would the Kents have done, had they opened that Space Crib, and seen a baby darker than they were. To my mind, Jor-El only aims them at the Kents if what the baby looks like doesn't matter. I pretty much can guarantee the new Superman Movie won't feature a Black Clark Kent, but he will be Kal-El of Krypton. That doesn't mean we don't see Val Zod, Smallville Kent or whoever, in fact, it will be the opposite. Ms. Marvel has done it pretty effortlessly and I hope that TV show is good. Also fans probably can name 4 to 5 different Clark Kents from movies and television. The brand will be fine!