I think I've posted about this topic somewhere on this site before, but it could have been elsewhere. I'll try to be as brief as possible.
My general preference is that filmmakers remain true to the source material when casting actors for a film. There are exceptions, but that is usually my preference. That's also my preference in the source material itself.
I'm African-American, so I will speak specifically to the practice of altering characters to appeal to someone like me. Personally, I don't want a Black Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spiderman, Captain America or Iron Man on screen or in the comics. I want filmmakers, comic book publishers and animators to make me care about Black characters that already exist, and I want them to continue to create new Black characters. Help me to become even more invested in Black Lightning, Vixen, Monica Rambeau, Falcon, Bumblebee and Static. Make me care more about Cloak, Icon, Luke Cage, Blue Marvel, Mal Duncan, Falcon, Misty Knight, etc.
I'm not saying Michael B. Jordan wouldn't be good as Johnny Storm. He's a talented actor...I'm sure he'd be great. I'm not saying that Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington, Michael Clarke Duncan and Laurence Fishburne didn't do well as Nick Fury, Alicia Masters, Kingpin and Perry White. Again, tremendous actors...of course they were awesome. I'm just saying that even though the end results of these decisions generally work out very well, I'd still prefer to see these characters portrayed as they were originally intended by their creators.
My desire is not "hey, we need to diversify the Avengers in future films, so let's cast a Black woman as Wasp!" My desire is for Marvel Comics and animation to make someone like Monica Rambeau so undeniably awesome that the directors/writers of future MCU films think to themselves "what an amazing character...how could we not include her?"
I think this is a beautiful idea, but honestly, it seems idealistic. What in the world could anyone do in the next three years to put Monica Rambeau on the level of Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and Captain America, where she is equally demanded and necessary in the Avengers? That's not rhetorical, that's a serious question.
With Ms. Marvel, they gave her two solo series, one of which is exceptionally good, a gorgeous prominent arc in the Earth's Mightiest Heroes cartoon and continue to feature her as a leader with tons of great relationships in the MarvelU, GOTG soon to be included. And do you know what happened? Few people buy the exceptional DeConnick run and Whedon says "we don't need another puncher, I'd rather have Tigra." Ms. Marvel, despite great efforts and writing and prominence isn't even as necessary to the Avengers as Hawkeye, much less Ant-Man. The fact is, that white males characters are the core, they are the ones tied to the center of the story. There's no more room at the center of the story. You either leave non white males on the unnecessary edges of the story, or you switch out some white males for some non white males.
This extends to the hearts and minds of the audience. No one can make you care about anything. If you already care about ten awesome superheroes, why would you care about another one anyway? I love Black Panther and Storm and War Machine. What can anyone do to make me care about Night Thrasher as much? Nothing. Same goes for if I love Iron Man, Thor and Captain America and someone wants to make me care about Black Panther.
Well,if there's a positive for the Michael Douglas casting,maybe it'll put an end to the "If you don't want Michael B Jordan as Human Torch you must be racist" thing.Here we have a famous (white) Oscar winner getting the heat from purists because of being miscast.It's not a race OR age thing.It's wanting to see the character translated from the page to the screen as closely as possible.
That addresses racist intent, but not racist actions. If I decide I'm going to get rid of all the poor neighborhoods in my city, I'm going to end up hurting a lot of black people, because years before, someone with racist intent made them end up there... or maybe they didn't have racist intent, maybe they were just trying to keep the status quo and someone before them made sure that black people were in a position that these were the only homes available for blacks.
If all we address is racist intent, we can literally commit genocide and say 'well, they were just in the wrong place in the wrong time, I'm just trying to keep the peace.' This was the reasoning behind the indifference to racism in the 50s. Even today, our ancestors robbed the poor of education and we then say 'well, if they just knew better, they wouldn't have these problems.'
We don't have to intend to perpetuate racism to do so. We just have to ignore racism in history.
In this case, the fact is that the largely white male cast of superherodom and the centrality of the white male superhero figures is a result, directly or indirectly of racism. Are we going to perpetuate that racism under the banner of status quo and just say 'well, this is the way it just happens to be' even though it's not a coincidence at all? Or are we actually going to write stories for the current generation where the idea of 'separate but equal' becomes more and more ridiculous in our together but unequal world?
Why do you guys think there haven't been any non-Caucasian or non-male superhero movies in so long?
They have options with John Stewart, Cyborg, Black Panther, Luke Cage, War Machine, Ultimate Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, Ms Marvel. Yet none of these (except Rhodes) has been introduced as even a supporting character let alone leading a movie.
War Machine is in prime position to lead a movie, yet nothing.
People would say "instead of changing the race of an existing character just introduce characters that are already that race"
But the studios aren't, they've all been selecting only white males as the leads, why?
Because those are the safest bets, same reason you don't see many original properties but a lot of sequels, remakes and twists on other popular stories. This is the same reason they're working on a World of Warcraft movie and, not, I dunno, a The Secret World movie. Safer bets lead to more box office. Why make a movie that will get a 500M return when you can make a different movie of the same quality that will get a Billion dollar return?
And War Machine was not in a prime position, he's still a sub-Iron man.
There was honestly more ongoing solo minority comics in the 90's than there is now which is slightly odd.
Not all of them lasted more than a couple of years but Blade, War Machine, Steel, Black Panther, Luke Cage, Bishop all had solo comics.
Mister Terrific and Static Shock didn't last long. Miles Morles (Ultimate Spider Man) is going ok and War Machine is getting another shot at an ongoing under the Iron Patriot name.
It is strange that more original black solo hero books don't do better. I wonder why that is?
You also saw more cool black movies back in the 80s and 90s. Things have been going backwards on that front. I have no idea why that is. There doesn't seem to be any explicit cause.
What I'd like to see.
I'd like to see film studios respond to fan requests for minority/women solo heroes, as well as take advantage of the dearth of them in the market to make a big splash and earn lots of goodwill as pioneers and whatnot. Or as hangers on to get another minority hero since Competitor is doing so well with that.
Marvel Studios - Black Panther
This is their next/last big one. This is the stealth master martial arts epic. This is the MCU's Batman. He is scary, he's thematic, he's epic, he's fighting lots of people, and not just with punches and kicks, but in a new gadget laden martial arts style that takes advantage of Vibranium's unique properties making for some truly epic truly interesting martial sequences with S'yan, some mercenaries, M'Baka on two occasions, the Dora Milaje, traitorous Wakandans and of course Ulysses S. Klaw himself.
Marvel Studios - Dr. Strange
I know they want Johnny Depp. I don't want him, or Helena Bonham Carter in the MCU, personally. Get Antonio Banderas. Keep all else the same.
Marvel Studios - Inhumans
This would be MS's supernatural thriller, centering squarely on Crystal as the lead, with a royal court made up of varied races of actors. I would strongly consider making that core family: Blackbolt, Medusa, Maximus and Crystal to be Asian. Regardless, the royal court would be quite diverse. It'd be based on Inhumanity but would probably lean more towards True Blood than Game of Thrones.
Marvel Studios - SPECTRUM
This is my personal dream. I asked earlier what someone would do... what I would do is make a Monica Rambeau cartoon to the tune of My Little Pony Friendship is magic, (except here, Science is Magic) and make her a standout character in the Mighty Avengers comic. I'd also release a AAA video game for her. I'd make her the "new Coulson" for the MCU and have her played by someone awesome, like Kerry Washington, with her Olivia Pope-sized popularity rush. Then, after a few years of this, they'd ask me for a movie. The supporting cast and villains and high expectations for cool power usage would all be established by then. I'd make sure her power/macguffin was crucial to the plot of the next Avengers movie (ie, she's the power source for Kang's time machine or something). I would not rush this process. But that's just me.
Marvel Studios - Black Widow
I would make Black Widow the third movie of the year for the first time, like the second-and-a-half movie with a more modest 80M budget and a hard spy theme, with her disguise, subterfuge, sabotage and wordplay abilities unparalleled as she took on some defunct Russian supersoldiers to prevent them from retaking the world. Moral quandries. Perhaps even consider making it rated R.
Sony - Prowler
I actually made a thread for this. Let Prowler be the 'that guy' of the Spidey Universe. The guy that is sort of the 'real, popular superhero' to contrast with Spider-Man. This would be a lower budget film though.
WB/DC - Wonder Woman
Thor meets Resident Evil. Cast a truly talented actress in it, take the look as it comes, and rock the modern fantasy out of that. Don't make the Percy Jackson mistake and make it fun,
WB/DC - Zatanna
I know WB mentioned some low end movies. Zatanna would be utterly ideal for that. Also, they could switch it up and do another companion series to Arrow and Flash, with Zatanna a young lady having some very Charmed-like adventures with a Buffy social life.
WB/DC - Green Lantern
Hire the Rock as John Stewart. Pit him against Yellow Lantern Mongul in space. Star Trek (not Star Wars) meets X-Men. Extra points for Freida Pinto as Katma Tui.
Fox - X-Men Origins: Storm
I know the last origins tanked, but man, I think Storm has the second most interesting backstory of all the X-Men. It's so varied, it reads more like a biopic than a superhero comic. That'd be a great film to see for me. I'm sure Fox will continue to feature diversities in their Wolverine-centered supporting casts.
Columbia - Hancock 2
I've heard whispers of it. Let's see some more. Give me Hancock's "Lex Luthor" some kind of superhero-hunter with unlimited resources. I'm sure Charlize would return, and we could actually delve into the mythology a bit.
Now if these studios would just follow these simple instructions, they could significantly influence society's conversation and perception of race in just 5 years. Get on it, fellas.
