Heimdall was cast!

[DoubleM]

I think Elba will be great and Heimdall is not very well known anyway, so it will be fine. I personally have no problem with it.


I wonder if everyone calling people "racist" over complaining that Heimdall is black would have a problem if Bishop, Luke Cage, or Black Panther were cast as white? I would like those guys to be black personally. That doesn't make me racist.


I'm in the "if they are not that well known then its not that big of a deal" camp. You can change the race of minor characters with little break in the suspension of disbelief but its harder to do with major ones and should generally be avoided IMO. Its not about race either, its about adhering to the source material. It would annoy me if Wasp was a man.

It would also annoy me if Thor was a 5'5 guy with black hair or Captain America had a french accent.

It doesn't make me prejudice, racist, sexist or anything else. Just a geek

Two Thumbs up my Brother

 

[TikkiEXX]

well i think it mainly depends on the complaints. if youre a comics purist and youre miffed because they changed his skin color thats completely understandable. but the people saying its a PR move or that its political correct casting are kind of sketchy to be honest. and the straight up racists can go jump off a bridge. and i agree about Bishop. but it would make absolutely no sense to cast Luke Cage or Tchala as a white guy and theres not a chance in hell of it ever happening. BP is African, and Cages whole stick is that hes a black dude from the inner city trying help his people out. their race is integral to their character pretty much. its not the most important thing about them but it has a lot to do with their motivations and the reason they do what they do.

 

[Timstuff]

Whenever they change the race of a character who is traditionally identified people are going to throw a stink about it. Look at what a huge fit some people threw over white people being in The Last Airbender, and now those same people are defending the way Heimdall was cast while the people who defended The Last Airbender's casting are angry that they cast a black guy as a Norse god. So in other words, everyone's a racist hypocrite who needs to shut up. Bastards.

 

[terry78]

Basically, it's only ok if it's your people not being changed.

 

[Wolvieboy17]

For the most part I don't think it's racism, I think it's just nitpicky fanboyism.

I for one don't mind differences from the comic book. The more differences there are between the Movies and the comics the easier it is to enjoy them as seperate entities. As long as all the characters FEEL right, then they could all be 9 ft tall and blue for all I care... Hell, it worked for Jimmy Cameron.

 

[JAK®]

In my opinion comic book movies should strive to be as accurate to the source as possible, without sacrificing the quality of the movie. Is Heimdall's race that big of a deal? Not for me, but I'm not a big Thor fan. It's a dramatic change to the look of a character, and I can understand how that could upset a fan.

The thing is, this is a change that could easily have been avoided. What is it about the part that it had to be played by Idris Elba? Elba is a good actor, but to me that just makes me wish his acting talents could have been used by a more popular, black character, like Black Panther. We need more black superheroes, after all.

That said, my enjoyment of the movie won't be ruined by him and the movie is better than most when it comes to faithfulness to the original comics.

 

[Vartha]

I'm sure they Chose Idris for a good reason. I don't recall who else was in the running for the the Heimdall part but something made them choose who they chose.

 

[WildcatNC]

I'm sure they Chose Idris for a good reason. I don't recall who else was in the running for the the Heimdall part but something made them choose who they chose.

He's a badass lookin dude in the trailer. I can see why they thought he looked good for the role.


I DO actually think they favored a more cosmopolitan Asgard as well. Looks like it works fine to me.

 

[BigThor]

He's a badass lookin dude in the trailer. I can see why they thought he looked good for the role.


I DO actually think they favored a more cosmopolitan Asgard as well. Looks like it works fine to me.

Yeah Heimdall was one of the highlights of the trailer, Agard looked amazing as well

 

[Flint Marko]

I think Elba will be great and Heimdall is not very well known anyway, so it will be fine. I personally have no problem with it.


I wonder if everyone calling people "racist" over complaining that Heimdall is black would have a problem if Bishop, Luke Cage, or Black Panther were cast as white? I would like those guys to be black personally. That doesn't make me racist.


I'm in the "if they are not that well known then its not that big of a deal" camp. You can change the race of minor characters with little break in the suspension of disbelief but its harder to do with major ones and should generally be avoided IMO. Its not about race either, its about adhering to the source material. It would annoy me if Wasp was a man.

It would also annoy me if Thor was a 5'5 guy with black hair or Captain America had a french accent.

It doesn't make me prejudice, racist, sexist or anything else. Just a geek

Major thumbs up to you sir.
I was gonna personally address this particular post:

To all you "non-racists" who care about Heimdall being black, let me ask you this: What difference does it make? Other than what color his skin is, does it make any difference at all to the character? If the answer to this is "the only difference is in fact what color his skin is" and you are still against it, I'm sorry, but yes, you are a racist. Not to the point of the neo-nazi's who started the boycott, but it's still there.

It reminds me of when MCD was cast as Kingpin, and people were literally calling for boycotts of it, thinking they were going to turn him into a "gangsta" and have him wearing gold chains and listening to rap music and other such nonsense, when in fact the only difference was...guess what...the color of his skin.

Unless race is important to the character, it does not matter. The Black Panther should be a black guy because he's an African prince, and it's a pretty important element of the character, just like Red skull should be a white guy because he's a nazi and it's an important element of the character. With Kingpin, and now Heimdall, race is not important at all. MCD was the best choice for Kingpin, due to his massive size, and I bet Elba was probably cast because he was the best choice for the role. If you can't move past the fact that he's a different color, you need to take a long, hard look at yourself and your beliefs, because something is wrong with you on a fundamental level.

and all the different ways it's pure 100% wrong, but I feel that wildcat pretty much said all there is to say t:
That all being said: Hiemdall does indeed look pretty BA, and I can't wait to see him in the film.

 

[Vartha]

Well if you really look at these what these racists are mad at, I haven't heard to many complain that Thor is a Blond, when the myths that half of them are quoting from say Thor's a REDHEAD.
We had ONE Troll early on griping that this wasn't Thor and we told him he was right, it's NOT the mythical Thor, nor was the one in the actual comic technically.

What would be really cool is Marvel actually doing a series of Classics Illustrated like books of the Actual Norse myths like the Ages of Thunder adaptations. Heimdall had a pretty cool story himself with ALL his MOTHERs.

 

[Brian Braddock]

That's because when it really comes down to it, no one really likes gingers.

(I kid, obviously)

 

[Gamma Burst]

That's because when it really comes down to it, no one really likes gingers.

(I kid, obviously)

It`s true. Gingers are evil!

 

[WildcatNC]

It`s true. Gingers are evil!

God I love, ginger women. Many of my ex's are.



YES they are evil t:

 

[Vartha]

That's because when it really comes down to it, no one really likes gingers.

(I kid, obviously)

heh I LOVE readheaded ladies! hehe

 

[Joker]

Bishop or Luke Cage being white would be fine, race isn't a major part of their character. Black Panther on the other hand is an African King from an isolationist nation, and would have to be black. It's the same reason Red Skull or Hate Monger would need to be a white guy. It effects the character. Heimdall being black does not. You are using a fallacy to argue your perspective, which is inherently flawed.

 

[Wylie Times]

Bishop or Luke Cage being white would be fine, race isn't a major part of their character. Black Panther on the other hand is an African King from an isolationist nation, and would have to be black. It's the same reason Red Skull or Hate Monger would need to be a white guy. It effects the character. Heimdall being black does not. You are using a fallacy to argue your perspective, which is inherently flawed.

Even Black Panther wouldn't HAVE to be white. In the comic Black Panther has an adopted brother who is white. Turning Black Panther white would make the character less special though in the sense that it'd probably end up just being another Ka-Zar, Tarzan, or any other white character that ends up in Africa and saves the native people.

 

[JAK®]

Bishop or Luke Cage being white would be fine, race isn't a major part of their character. Black Panther on the other hand is an African King from an isolationist nation, and would have to be black. It's the same reason Red Skull or Hate Monger would need to be a white guy. It effects the character. Heimdall being black does not. You are using a fallacy to argue your perspective, which is inherently flawed.

If race change does not affect a character, why change the race?

 

[Wolvieboy17]

Not true about Luke Cage either, race was quite important to him.

Look, changing the race of a character IS a big deal, I don't care what anyone says, because it's a significant change of the character. Whether you make a character black, white, gay or straight, male or female, if it's a change to the original source material, it shouldn't be done lightly. Thats not to say it can't work splendidly, just that it should be done without careful consideration. Thats my opinion regarding changing a main character.


In the case of Heimdall, however, they haven't changed his race. He's Asgardian. He always was, and guess what, he still is. The only difference is the colour of his skin. Does that somehow affect the portrayal of an otherworldly fictional race of gods? And lets not kid ourselves, they are VERY loosely based on Norse mythology but they are Marvel creations through and through.

Regardless, this whole lark is nonsense. This isn't an argument about race, or 'being faithful to the comic'. This is news that we have known for a long time. News of a minor tweak to a minor supporting character. If you've known about it this long and you still haven't gotten over it, then the problem doesn't lie with the movie but with you.

 

[Wylie Times]

Not true about Luke Cage either, race was quite important to him.

Nothing about Luke Cage's origin says the character HAS to be black.

 

[piccolo]

If being 5 feet tall and a woman wouldn't affect the essence of the character, why not do that. Put a rabbit tail on her and make her a practicing Hindu for good measure. Since they aren't gods but aliens, they should be free to hold whatever faith they please. It is just a movie.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Thor's actually acknowledged the existence of some greater God that makes him and his fellow gods look like nothing in the comics, thanks to pretty much all of his writers' being Judeo-Christian. Kind of awkward.

 

[Wolvieboy17]

Nothing about Luke Cage's origin says the character HAS to be black.

Really? You don't think being one of the only prominent black superheroes who lives in Harlem trying to break down gang culture and create a healthy community needs to be black? It doesn't lend any extra depth to his situation, or what he represents when you compare him with other superheroes?

 

[BigThor]

Not true about Luke Cage either, race was quite important to him.

Look, changing the race of a character IS a big deal, I don't care what anyone says, because it's a significant change of the character. Whether you make a character black, white, gay or straight, male or female, if it's a change to the original source material, it shouldn't be done lightly. Thats not to say it can't work splendidly, just that it should be done without careful consideration. Thats my opinion regarding changing a main character.


In the case of Heimdall, however, they haven't changed his race. He's Asgardian. He always was, and guess what, he still is. The only difference is the colour of his skin. Does that somehow affect the portrayal of an otherworldly fictional race of gods? And lets not kid ourselves, they are VERY loosely based on Norse mythology but they are Marvel creations through and through.

Regardless, this whole lark is nonsense. This isn't an argument about race, or 'being faithful to the comic'. This is news that we have known for a long time. News of a minor tweak to a minor supporting character. If you've known about it this long and you still haven't gotten over it, then the problem doesn't lie with the movie but with you.

Man, if only more people could think like this

 

[WildcatNC]

Not true about Luke Cage either, race was quite important to him.

Look, changing the race of a character IS a big deal, I don't care what anyone says, because it's a significant change of the character. Whether you make a character black, white, gay or straight, male or female, if it's a change to the original source material, it shouldn't be done lightly. Thats not to say it can't work splendidly, just that it should be done without careful consideration. Thats my opinion regarding changing a main character.


In the case of Heimdall, however, they haven't changed his race. He's Asgardian. He always was, and guess what, he still is. The only difference is the colour of his skin. Does that somehow affect the portrayal of an otherworldly fictional race of gods? And lets not kid ourselves, they are VERY loosely based on Norse mythology but they are Marvel creations through and through.

Regardless, this whole lark is nonsense. This isn't an argument about race, or 'being faithful to the comic'. This is news that we have known for a long time. News of a minor tweak to a minor supporting character. If you've known about it this long and you still haven't gotten over it, then the problem doesn't lie with the movie but with you.

I generally agree with you. I don't understand people being upset with Heimdall personally and I agree its not a big deal. I was just annoyed at people calling everyone who didn't like it racists.

I'm more laid back personally but I have a geek friend or two who get tore up over ANY little change in some characters from the comic. Its just how some geeks are. Doesn't mean they are racist.