Arrow The Barry Allen/The Flash Thread - Part 1

[chelo248]

So... looks like Ernie Hudson is [BLACKOUT]Detective West[/BLACKOUT]

 

[The Guard]

I honestly have never got the attraction to the whole goggles thing. In what way does that make ANYTHING more "realistic"?

He runs fast...goggles keep crap out of his eyes.

 

[Shikamaru]

The speed force prevents crap from getting into his eyes.

 

[Dr. Evil]

So... looks like Ernie Hudson is [BLACKOUT]Detective West[/BLACKOUT]

Spoiler

I saw that on CBM. It says that he's only talking.

 

[Loki882]

Ernie Hudson, I would have never thought of him, but it'd be a great casting choice. He's one of those great actors who's never really gotten the attention/respect that he deserves.

 

[Rorschach2012]

Ernie Hudson, I would have never thought of him, but it'd be a great casting choice. He's one of those great actors who's never really gotten the attention/respect that he deserves.

my exact thoughts. this is great casting

 

[batnkevlar]

I really don't care what race the Wests are. I don't understand if people are complaining about it. I know the source material, and there's nothing about the character of Iris West that makes her have to be white.

 

[Kevin Smith]

He runs fast...goggles keep crap out of his eyes.

His protective aura does that (when he taps into speed mode).

The speed force prevents crap from getting into his eyes.

Yes. ^^

 

[Savage]

I really don't care what race the Wests are. I don't understand if people are complaining about it. I know the source material, and there's nothing about the character of Iris West that makes her have to be white.

Exactly. Wally is my favorite Flash but having him be a brotha is cause for high fives in my book.

 

[Kevin Smith]

I really don't care what race the Wests are. I don't understand if people are complaining about it. I know the source material, and there's nothing about the character of Iris West that makes her have to be white.

Well because Wally West, the greatest speedster after Barry Allen and one of the all time greatest comic book characters is white, Iris is his blood aunt. Oh, and Iris has always been drawn white in the comics. This is how she looks. Black is kind of the polar opposite of that and pretty deliberate.

HOWEVER - as long as they get Barry Allen right, all I really care about seeing is a good show at this point. If the show is good, I am not going to complain much about black psychologist step sister Iris West. I just want to see a good, well written, entertaining and fun show that shows how awesome The Flash and Barry Allen is, so despite what we have heard so far, I am taking it all with a grain of salt and still hoping it will be good.

That being said, I am betting there's no way they'r going to make Wally West black, I really don't think there is any way they are seriously going to make such a major change to him like his race (hey, remember when WB wanted Marlon Wayans to play Robin since he was to be black in the potential third Batman movie helmed by Tim Burton that eventually was scrapped and became Batman Forever? Wouldn't be the first time WB has opted for a black sidekick that's usually portrayed as white in the comics

Spoiler

), I'm betting they don't include him at all on the show and that it's primarily about Barry Allen as Flash (which is how it should be for a looongtime anyway, even if they are going strictly by the comics, so I'm cool with that, and it's an intelligent thing to do). Whoever is Flash should be "THE Flash" for the series and they should build it around that character - The Flash is not the Green Lantern Corps so there is no need to have multiple versions of a singular character. Plus...Wally took over for Barry. In some versions it's kept a secret to the outside world that Barry even died and that there is even someone else or new under the costume as far as the outside world is concerned....with a black dude replacing a white dude...it's pretty obvious something is up, so they may have written themselves into a corner with that one if that is the route they choose to go.

Ernie Hudson, I would have never thought of him, but it'd be a great casting choice. He's one of those great actors who's never really gotten the attention/respect that he deserves.

Good actor any show should be happy to have. Should be interesting to see where this goes.

 

[Savage]

Smallville had Superboy appear and Arrow is prepping Roy Harper so I can't wait to see Wally show up. Granted it'll probably be a lot further down than season 1 (I mean, holy ****, Arrow).

 

[Kevin Smith]

Smallville had Superboy appear and Arrow is prepping Roy Harper so I can't wait to see Wally show up. Granted it'll probably be a lot further down than season 1 (I mean, holy ****, Arrow).

Which is laughable to me because Ollie and Roy seem like they could pass as older brother younger brother by a few years instead of a father/son/mentor/learner thing. Friggin hate that.

Black Wally West is just going to suck. Sorry guys, I gotta say it. Anything other than red haired, green eyed, white Wally just sucks. Any comics fan who says they're in favor of changing Wally's race is really just deluding themselves. You know in your guts you don't like it, just like you know no flying or costume doesn't equal Superman. There are plenty of great multiracial characters out there, no need to change an established white one just for the sake of doing so, especially one that's successful enough to at least be considered a B lister. I am disappointed by this if this is the way they choose to go. The whole race change thing just makes me roll my eyes.

 

[roach]

Which is laughable to me because Ollie and Roy seem like they could pass as older brother younger brother by a few years instead of a father/son/mentor/learner thing. Friggin hate that.

Black Wally West is just going to suck. Sorry guys, I gotta say it. Anything other than red haired, green eyed, white Wally just sucks. Any comics fan who says they're in favor of changing Wally's race is really just deluding themselves. You know in your guts you don't like it, just like you know no flying or costume doesn't equal Superman. There are plenty of great multiracial characters out there, no need to change an established white one just for the sake of doing so, especially one that's successful enough to at least be considered a B lister.

Black Wally West = Superman with no powers???

 

[Kevin Smith]

The whole race change thing just makes me roll my eyes.

 

[Kevin Smith]

Black Wally West = Superman with no powers???

I was referring to Smallville.

 

[Human Torch]

Yeah,I'm gonna be sorely disappointed if this race change thing is actually going to be the case.Looks like it's fer reals though.

If they want a black member of the cast,I'm sure they could create someone new.(Diggle and Julio in the original Flash are great examples) Heck,what's even better would be to get an obscure character like they did with Felicity and make her a co-star.Maybe Barry could date her for a while before he gets with Iris.

 

[Bathead]

It depends on he character for me. I wouldn't care for the idea of Batman or Superman being a black man (Except maybe in an Esleworlds story), but I thoroughly enjoyed Michael Clark Duncan (RIP) as Kingpin in The Daredevil movie, and I wouldn't have a probem with a black Lois Lane or Vicki Vale either.
Chief Ohara should really be Japanese , though.

 

[S. Grundy]

Just about any character, if you changed their race would do nothing to the characters background or what makes that character the character.

Of course their are exceptions, like Captain America, but only because there's Isaiah Bradley, who's story is just as interesting as Cap's. Or Daredevil, what with the whole Irish catholic guilt thing.

If the actor is good and embodies the character, what's the big deal?

 

[Savage]

Which is laughable to me because Ollie and Roy seem like they could pass as older brother younger brother by a few years instead of a father/son/mentor/learner thing. Friggin hate that.

Black Wally West is just going to suck. Sorry guys, I gotta say it. Anything other than red haired, green eyed, white Wally just sucks. Any comics fan who says they're in favor of changing Wally's race is really just deluding themselves. You know in your guts you don't like it, just like you know no flying or costume doesn't equal Superman. There are plenty of great multiracial characters out there, no need to change an established white one just for the sake of doing so, especially one that's successful enough to at least be considered a B lister. I am disappointed by this if this is the way they choose to go. The whole race change thing just makes me roll my eyes.

Can't help but disagree with you there. Like I said before, Wally is my favorite Flash, but as a black man who rarely gets to see black superheroes I'm excited for my favorite Flash being of my ethnicity. It's incredibly biased, I know, but I DO get a little more excited when a good black character shows up and it's something I feel only other people of color underrepresented in the media can understand and I'm sure women too when it comes to gender (it's almost like a tiny voice in your head going "Oh thank god! One of us!"). Honestly something I noticed for the first time when I played MK vs DC and realized the only people of color in the game were on Mortal Kombat's side.

I mean seriously. Look at this ****.

 

[Kevin Smith]

Can't help but disagree with you there. Like I said before, Wally is my favorite Flash, but as a black man who rarely gets to see black superheroes I'm excited for my favorite Flash being of my ethnicity. It's incredibly biased, I know, but I DO get a little more excited when a good black character shows up

Except Wally isn't a black character. He's a white character they (potentially?) turned black.

and it's something I feel only other people of color underrepresented in the media can understand and I'm sure women too when it comes to gender (it's almost like a tiny voice in your head going "Oh thank god! One of us!"). Honestly something I noticed for the first time when I played MK vs DC and realized the only people of color in the game were on Mortal Kombat's side.

I mean seriously. Look at this ****.

LOL I actually totally get what you mean and where you are coming from. But you must also see how it would bother someone that they do this. I don't think there is anything wrong with having either feeling at the end of the day.

 

[Kevin Smith]

I have always been slightly in contempt of the "all white" roster of....whatever big superhero team, and including a John Stewart, etc, never bothered me, really, because it was never at the expense of another character I liked existing, and existing the way he was (re: John Stewart didn't turn into Hal Jordan or negate his existence, they both exist simultaneously, there are 3600 GLs so this is cool, etc, we even get to see them interact with each other and acknowledge this (in the comics I mean, although you could substitute Kyle for Hal if you want to talk about the animated series and my observation would still remain the same)).

That said though, I think it's kind of cool that people of all ethnicities have been able to identify with characters who aren't necessarily their own race for years and feel represented by just about any of those characters, even if most of them are white or whatever, really speaks to how universal they are and how universal all our struggles and personal hang ups and experiences are, really, that a black child and a white child can read a Spider-Man comic and identify with Peter Parker because he has the same experiences they do and not care about what color he is. I've felt that way with a lot of characters and felt that way about Static Shock when I was a kid, even though I look nothing like Virgil Hawkins.

 

[Rorschach2012]

the best thing DC can do is to focus more on preexisting characters that aren't white. Instead of changing ethnicities for the sake of diversity, focus more on already existing minority characters. I'm not a fan of random race changes

 

[Kevin Smith]

the best thing DC can do is to focus more on preexisting characters that aren't white. Instead of changing ethnicities for the sake of diversity, focus more on already existing minority characters. I'm not a fan of random race changes

I agree.

 

[Human Torch]

The tough thing is...Wally's a ginger for crying out loud!It's even a stretch to imagine the character as bi-racial.

 

[Kevin Smith]

^^ Yup. It's like somebody said "let's do the complete opposite!"...not even like they're not even trying, like they made a deliberate effort and TRIED to get the character as wrong as possible.