Heimdall was cast!

[Canis Sapiens]

http://www.superherohype.com/news/thornews.php?id=8851

Oh, oh, this is gonna enrage some people...

Somehow, I guess the posters here are going to quickly forget all about that Hogun-is-or-isn't-asian brouhaha...

 

[Webhead2006]

hmm well i dont know anything of this character so i dont know if its a bad move or not.

 

[Canis Sapiens]

All I know is that he's not going to be Sif's brother in this film... at least, not a biological one.

 

[Webhead2006]

Yea i guess not i was just quickly reading on wiki his bio, i guess he will be changed a bit. As for going with a black guy i guess they wanted to diverse asgard. Though i dont have an issue with that myself. Though really makes me wonder who the heck colm and stellan are going to be now.

 

[Canis Sapiens]

Yeah, I thought Stellan was going to be Heimdall, he would be perfect. If this casting news is right, I guess they're going with a multicultural Asgard. Something like ancient Rome or Greece, places where you could find people from the Middle East, Africa, Asia and all that stuff.

 

[Webhead2006]

yea i dont see how that is really a problem at all, as long as its talked about in the film and works in the film's universe and all that. Sure some old school fans will probably be a little more pissed. Now that we know heimdall casting, what other big/minor thor characters who are likely in the film are left for colm and stellan.

 

[Chewy]

Insert several page argument about race here

 

[Savage]

NICE! Regardless of race THIS is great casting. Very good stuff.

 

[Triad]

I'm not enraged, but a little disappointed. I'm all for multiculturalism, but changing an established character just for the sake of doing it is lame, as far as I'm concerned. That being said, I'm sure that Elba will do fine and the movie will still kickass. I really would have like to see Stellan in the role though...I was almost certain that he would have been.
Trust in Branagh...

 

[TheComicbookKid]

Don't mind if I do.


Oh, why the BLACK MAN got to be protecting the bridge!

 

[Triad]

piccolo is gonna S***!

 

[Savage]

I'm not enraged, but a little disappointed. I'm all for multiculturalism, but changing an established character just for the sake of doing it is lame, as far as I'm concerned. That being said, I'm sure that Elba will do fine and the movie will still kickass. I really would have like to see Stellan in the role though...I was almost certain that he would have been.
Trust in Branagh...

The way I see it Elba must have wowed him with his audition. I'm all about having the best guy for the role, especially if it's a relatively lesser character compared to Thor.

 

[Canis Sapiens]

piccolo is gonna S***!

Exactly what I thought. That's at least one strong reason to love this casting.

 

[Cartoonics]

This isn't the first time that Branagh has disregarded race in casting. Keanu Reeves and Denzel Washington played brothers in "Much Ado About Nothing."

Sure, Heimdall is depicted as white in the comics, but I don't see any reason why the Norse Gods all have to be white--after all, they're gods.

I'm less inclined to see this as a diversity pick and more inclined to see this as a "best actor available for a part where race isn't particularly relevant."

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Elba would've made good War Machine. Not sure about him being Asgardian though.

 

[Webhead2006]

Yea we have no clue why the race was changed. But if this guy did better then "X" white guy i see no reason why he couldnt be the guy. Plus we have no clue how this character is going to be handled in the film. So to we have some context on the character for the film i dont see the need to be mad about the pick.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

If Indian Gods are Indian then Norse Gods should be Norse.

 

[Asgard]

Lol. I guess he's not the whitest of the gods anymore.

Ive never seen this guy's work and I dont really care about casting actors of different races to their comicbook counterparts, so all ill say is I hope he does well.

 

[Chewy]

I guess he's not the whitest of the gods anymore.

 

[Savage]

If Indian Gods are Indian then Norse Gods should be Norse.

Do Indian gods even look humanoid?

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Not all but many.

 

[Asgard]

Maybe Heimdall will be an adopted brother of Sif. Kind of like how he's sometimes referred to as Odin's foster son in Norse mythology.

 

[JackIvyGB]

Caught off guard by this, but not in a negative way! The dude is great and should be a great addition to the film. I anticipate this being a MCD as Kingpin situation. Sure, the character was white in the comics, but the actor portraying them none the less knocks it out of the park.

This is definitely shaping up to be the most solid cast for a Marvel film yet.

 

[Cartoonics]

If Indian Gods are Indian then Norse Gods should be Norse.

I don't see why it has to be the case that the ethnicity of a god will always match the ethnicity of the follower. The followers might ASSUME that the their gods look just like them, but that doesn't make it so. Depictions of Jesus vary in color depending on where you are in the world, but that doesn't mean that Jesus actually is each of these races.

If the producers had decided that all of the Norse Gods should look ethnically like their mortal followers, I guess that would have been fine too. But ethnicity is a human concept that doesn't necessarily have to align for gods, it's fine that the producers set it aside in favor of casting a good actor who happens to be black.

 

[Franklin Richards]

This is bull.


This is like making Alicia black for the sake of it. I can take it when it's Much Ado About Nothing because it's a modern tradition to change the period and have gimmick casting...


but this is an established character who is also a relative of an actress that's already been cast as white. This goes against the old adage of "Keep It Simple Stupid". Just another explanation in a story already full of them.


Bad move. Pandering crap thats angering me over my 2nd favorite Asgardian.