Superman to be cast with a black actor.

For all topics regarding speculative fiction of every stripe. Otherwise known as the Geek Cave.
Captain Crimson
Captain
Posts: 1541
Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2020 10:37 pm

Re: Superman to be cast with a black actor.

Post by Captain Crimson »

Mr. Coates also, as I'd said, insisted the 9/11 first responders weren't human and could have shattered his body. Whatever you think of the systematic reforms we are in need of, that's just fringe insanity. Throwing shade on volunteers and workers rushing hard to save lives and the keep the situation from exploding into pure chaos.

Have we really fallen this far in just 20 years? Like, seriously.
User avatar
Beastro
Captain
Posts: 1150
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2017 8:14 am

Re: Superman to be cast with a black actor.

Post by Beastro »

Captain Crimson wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 5:06 am Something I want to observe. There's also a world of difference between "racist" and just a typical fanboy who doesn't like changes or retcons. Don't have to be racist to feel that way.
For me the racism swings both ways.

There was no issue with doing something like making Felix Lieter a black character. If you make one black, especially if the actor best for the role is black, then what's the issue. One on end is what the OP described, but there's also deliberately changing a character out of provocatory intention. Behind that intent is so often a mind obsessed wit race as much as conventional racists.

It's in the same vein as some uni kids in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne who, upon seeing a musical band of toy monkeys in a store window, complained to the store owner demanding they take them down because they were mocking black people.... because in their racism obsessed mindset a band of monkeys could only be an allusion to black people and not just toys animals on display.
User avatar
TulipQulqu
Officer
Posts: 56
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 9:19 pm
Location: New Jersey

Re: Superman to be cast with a black actor.

Post by TulipQulqu »

Captain Crimson wrote: Sun Feb 28, 2021 3:30 am Mr. Coates also, as I'd said, insisted the 9/11 first responders weren't human and could have shattered his body. Whatever you think of the systematic reforms we are in need of, that's just fringe insanity. Throwing shade on volunteers and workers rushing hard to save lives and the keep the situation from exploding into pure chaos.

Have we really fallen this far in just 20 years? Like, seriously.
This overall critical NYTimes piece https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/opin ... white.html seems to indicate that the passage that has been taken that way was meant to reflect a failure in the thinking of Coates at a prior time. It was not meant to be an approval of hating people who tried to save others on 9/11.
User avatar
McAvoy
Captain
Posts: 3926
Joined: Thu Oct 24, 2019 3:55 am
Location: East Windsor, NJ

Re: Superman to be cast with a black actor.

Post by McAvoy »

Rocketboy1313 wrote: Fri Feb 26, 2021 11:33 pm No joke, there is really only 1 character I can't see being cast as a non-white actor, I wrote a thing about it.
https://rocketboy1313.blogspot.com/2016 ... ntity.html

That being said, I wish they would start colorblind casting characters like Superman, those that have already appeared multiple times in their traditional white incarnation.

Apparently Will Smith was seriously considered for the role 20 years ago, but the racist reaction to him being in "Wild Wild West" convinced him not to take the part, which is a damn shame because the easy going charisma of Smith who is also good at selling the, "I am a man apart and lonely" angle would have made for a good presentation of the character.
Well Will Smith did do a Superman movie. Called Hancock. Alcoholic Superman though. So there is that.
I got nothing to say here.
Thebestoftherest
Captain
Posts: 3753
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2019 2:22 pm

Re: Superman to be cast with a black actor.

Post by Thebestoftherest »

McAvoy wrote: Mon Mar 01, 2021 2:55 am
Rocketboy1313 wrote: Fri Feb 26, 2021 11:33 pm No joke, there is really only 1 character I can't see being cast as a non-white actor, I wrote a thing about it.
https://rocketboy1313.blogspot.com/2016 ... ntity.html

That being said, I wish they would start colorblind casting characters like Superman, those that have already appeared multiple times in their traditional white incarnation.

Apparently Will Smith was seriously considered for the role 20 years ago, but the racist reaction to him being in "Wild Wild West" convinced him not to take the part, which is a damn shame because the easy going charisma of Smith who is also good at selling the, "I am a man apart and lonely" angle would have made for a good presentation of the character.
Well Will Smith did do a Superman movie. Called Hancock. Alcoholic Superman though. So there is that.
I like Will Smith but is getting a forty year old to play batman a good call? Ps he have too much slime muscle needs to bulk up.
User avatar
McAvoy
Captain
Posts: 3926
Joined: Thu Oct 24, 2019 3:55 am
Location: East Windsor, NJ

Re: Superman to be cast with a black actor.

Post by McAvoy »

Thebestoftherest wrote: Mon Mar 01, 2021 3:13 am
McAvoy wrote: Mon Mar 01, 2021 2:55 am
Rocketboy1313 wrote: Fri Feb 26, 2021 11:33 pm No joke, there is really only 1 character I can't see being cast as a non-white actor, I wrote a thing about it.
https://rocketboy1313.blogspot.com/2016 ... ntity.html

That being said, I wish they would start colorblind casting characters like Superman, those that have already appeared multiple times in their traditional white incarnation.

Apparently Will Smith was seriously considered for the role 20 years ago, but the racist reaction to him being in "Wild Wild West" convinced him not to take the part, which is a damn shame because the easy going charisma of Smith who is also good at selling the, "I am a man apart and lonely" angle would have made for a good presentation of the character.
Well Will Smith did do a Superman movie. Called Hancock. Alcoholic Superman though. So there is that.
I like Will Smith but is getting a forty year old to play batman a good call? Ps he have too much slime muscle needs to bulk up.
Will Smith looked fine in Hancock so he could have played Superman. Best part is that he could have been a goofy Clark Kent too. Only problem is that he has kept a short haircut for the past twenty years. He won't be able to comb his hair differently between Clark Kent and Superman.

Michael Jordan on the other hand, is 33-34. I think he could play a serious Superman. But his version of Clark Kent woukd have be different than what we havd seen before.

Now... With that all said, DC did or still has a black Superman from an alternate universe. Maybe that's the Superman this one will be.
I got nothing to say here.
Thebestoftherest
Captain
Posts: 3753
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2019 2:22 pm

Re: Superman to be cast with a black actor.

Post by Thebestoftherest »

McAvoy wrote: Mon Mar 01, 2021 3:24 am
Thebestoftherest wrote: Mon Mar 01, 2021 3:13 am
McAvoy wrote: Mon Mar 01, 2021 2:55 am
Rocketboy1313 wrote: Fri Feb 26, 2021 11:33 pm No joke, there is really only 1 character I can't see being cast as a non-white actor, I wrote a thing about it.
https://rocketboy1313.blogspot.com/2016 ... ntity.html

That being said, I wish they would start colorblind casting characters like Superman, those that have already appeared multiple times in their traditional white incarnation.

Apparently Will Smith was seriously considered for the role 20 years ago, but the racist reaction to him being in "Wild Wild West" convinced him not to take the part, which is a damn shame because the easy going charisma of Smith who is also good at selling the, "I am a man apart and lonely" angle would have made for a good presentation of the character.
Well Will Smith did do a Superman movie. Called Hancock. Alcoholic Superman though. So there is that.
I like Will Smith but is getting a forty year old to play batman a good call? Ps he have too much slime muscle needs to bulk up.
Will Smith looked fine in Hancock so he could have played Superman. Best part is that he could have been a goofy Clark Kent too. Only problem is that he has kept a short haircut for the past twenty years. He won't be able to comb his hair differently between Clark Kent and Superman.

Michael Jordan on the other hand, is 33-34. I think he could play a serious Superman. But his version of Clark Kent woukd have be different than what we havd seen before.

Now... With that all said, DC did or still has a black Superman from an alternate universe. Maybe that's the Superman this one will be.
That was over a decade ago, plus if they do this it won't be a one off.
User avatar
McAvoy
Captain
Posts: 3926
Joined: Thu Oct 24, 2019 3:55 am
Location: East Windsor, NJ

Re: Superman to be cast with a black actor.

Post by McAvoy »

Dude I am not saying Will Smith should be Superman now. I am just saying at the time, he was considered, Will Smith could have been him.
I got nothing to say here.
User avatar
Nealithi
Captain
Posts: 1444
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2018 11:41 pm
Location: New Jersey

Re: Superman to be cast with a black actor.

Post by Nealithi »

Oddly I have trouble seeing Will Smith as Superman. He is fun to watch in vehicles made for him. But I am not sure he has the je ne sais quoi to pull off Superman. Christopher Reeve in just one scene pulled off both Clark Kent and Superman just by taking off his glasses and standing straighter. Then fumbling them back on to be Clark again. Mr. Smith can do serious and he can do goofy. But he seems like the same person when he does them.
Now Idris Elba I think has the ability to pull the dynamic off. But the man is my age. Could he pull off being thirty?
Michael Jordan I have sadly only seen him in Black Panther and I liked how he did the role. Including some adlibbing he did that made the final cut. With what I have seen he could do a Bruce Wayne/Batman. Can he be cheery enough to be the big blue boyscout?
User avatar
BridgeConsoleMasher
Overlord
Posts: 11638
Joined: Tue Aug 28, 2018 6:18 am

Re: Superman to be cast with a black actor.

Post by BridgeConsoleMasher »

I think John David Washington could do it.
..What mirror universe?
Post Reply