I love Donald Glover’s contributions to the entertainment world. Everything he has had a part in so far— his writing on 30 Rock, his current role in Community, his hiphop alias ‘Childish Gambino’, his fledgling stand-up career, and his ongoing work with his comedy troupe Derrick Comedy and their recently released-on-dvd film ‘Mystery Team’— all of it has been fresh and funny and has provided me with hours upon hours of entertainment. I find his diversity and his accomplishments very impressive.

In that sense, I think it would be extremely intriguing to throw ethnicity out the door in the case of an iconically caucasian character. Sure, they’ve done it with a much lesser-known character in the case of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury (based on the Ultimate Universe’s Nick Fury as we all surely know), but Spider-man is one of the top 3 most popular superheroes of all time. So it would be quite a change to the perception of Spider-man.

It reminds me of the time when Hollywood was working out the next James Bond before Daniel Craig got the the role, and it was suggested that James Bond should be black, and lordy, did the racially-charged gauntlet get thrown down on that day.

My only comment I have when it comes to matters such as these is how important a role does the character’s ethnicity play in their upbringing? In the case of James Bond, he is/was deeply routed as a Cold War-era spy from England. He’s always been a white British guy because I don’t believe there were too many black British spies from that era. In the case of Nick Fury (originally a Sgt. Rock-esque character and then a James Bond-esque character), he’s not nearly as iconic as either and is constantly evolving, and his attitude in any of the realities isn’t dependent on his ethnic identity.

I would not mind at all seeing a black Spider-Man. Especially if he was played by someone as well-suited to deliver hilarious one-liners like Donald Glover. If he gets the part I will see that movie in a second. It would be great.

I’m also a firm believer in racial identities being important. I place blame on the market and the consumers, or the companies, or whoever, for not long-ago creating, great, iconic characters of a myriad of races. Characters like Jon Stewart or the Falcon or the Black Panther are all really awesome yet are paid little mind, and I see the desire to change the ethnicity of James Bond as a missed opportunity to create an even more bad-ass non-white character to show Bond how to get it done right. Or Hal Jordan. Or whoever.

I’m talking about two different things here, basically. On one hand, I don’t care about whoever plays what, because if they’re talented then they’ll do a good job and I don’t care about race that much. On the other hand, I do care about the preserving any aspects to characters who come from specific backgrounds that have benefited or been a detriment to their experiences, and race definitely plays a part in it. But all in all, there’s room for everything and everybody, including an extremely talented black performer playing Spider-Man.

NO!!

Peter Parker’s white NOT black.

This is right up there with people wanting Beyonce’ to play Wonder Woman and Will Smith for Superman.

Either make a movie that’s as close to the source material as possible, or don’t do it at all.

Not everything has to be a moment in black history.

Will Smith was being spoken about for Captain America not Superman. I agree that Spiderman is not Black, neither is Wonder Woman or Captain America. Like nickrp said if they did it I’d expect to see a White Black Panther, Blade and Luke Cage. I’m ignoring the Kingpin being made Black in Daredevil only because it was a bad movie to begin with and my complaint on Ben Affleck as Daredevil was bigger than the second rate villain.

JimP you’re observations while being accurate are not in the same league, by character recognition I mean.
The Prince of Persia and The Last Airbender are pretty much unknowns when compared to the age and longevity of all the characters listed here by others in both the White and Black character columns. Everyone knows Spiderman is White and so is Captain America and Wonder Woman. Everyone knows Black Panther, Storm and Luke Cage are Black. They’ve also been around from the 40′s to the70′s as a staring point in their creation. PoP and LAB are close to being unknowns in this comparison and no one but a few cared who played them.

Donald Glover is hilarious, and has plenty of charisma, two of the most important things for anyone portraying Spider-Man. Here’s the thing about Spider-Man; it doesn’t matter what color his skin is. That’s the beauty of the character. It could be anyone under that mask, and it should be open for consideration based on the actor’s skills. I’ll agree that it would be jarring to see Superman, Batman, or Captain America played by a black man, but honestly, if it was Spider-Man, that visual disconnect would not exist.

Tell me which part of this story only works if Spider-Man is white:

A young boy is taken in by his aging aunt and uncle after his parents’ death, and grows up under their moral guidance in a middle class home in Queens, NY. He excels at science, but does not fare well socially. One day, while attending a scientific demonstration, the most unlikely of circumstances lead to the youth gaining great power, which gives him an outlet to finally express himself, and gain some of the confidence he so lacks. Unfortunately, it also makes him selfish, and he learns this lesson the hard way when his own hubris leads to the death of his beloved uncle. The youth spends the rest of his life trying to live up to the ideals his uncle inspired in him, and never let his own interests come before the greater good.

It’s not like Black Panther, where the character pretty much has to be black for his history to make sense. To me, the most important factor is charisma as an actor. He’s definitely better than any of the bland, dead-eyed Twilight understudies that are up for the role now.

Also, I don’t think that it should be a “black history moment,” if by some stretch he does get the role. It should simply be a case of a good actor getting a role he’s able to play convincingly. It’s not about making a white character black on screen, it’s about make an interesting character interesting on screen.

To Lou P: Guess you missed the whole double-standard thing, huh

and to George C:

http://www.geneyang.com/blog/index.php

Many of us HAVE read M. Night Shyamalan’s weak and lame explanation of why none of the leads are non-White (something that you haven’t mentioned, curiously enough) Might want to read the above link on Airbender. Yeah…all the ‘extras’ are ethnically diverse…OK…I’m sure that’s good enough for your PC checklist..

I like Donald Glover, I do. He’s funny as hell. But as far as seeing him playing Spidey? Uh, no thank you. That’s what “What Ifs” and “Elseworld” are for.

As far as movies go, I want the studios to stay as close to the material source as possible. I don’t want an african-american Spidey, or a latino Superman, a chinese Batman or even a white Black Lightning.

Which brings an interesting question, would you guys be okay with, maybe have Brad Pitt play “Black Lightning”? Or Ryan Gosling play “WarMachine”? Or maybe Ed Norton play “Black Panther”?

Why? Because being black is more important than being white?

Ok, take Black Panther out of it. How about a whit Blade, Luke Cage, War Machine, or John Stewert GL? Is there anything in their stories that say they have to be black? No, but I wouldn’t care to see the movies if they were white.

After seeing Glover in Mystery Team, I could totally buy him as Peter Parker! He can do nerdy for Peter and has the comedic timing to be Spidey. There’s not a lot of people out there who can do both.

Do you know why Beyonce as WW and Will Smith as Superman would be a bad idea? Because they’d be bad in those roles. Glover fits.

And if you’ve got a real problem with it, have a bald guy in the theater tell you it’s a What If… story.

Glover is black, Spider-Man’s not. There would be an uproar of epic proportions if a white actor was cast as the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Double standards suck.

For some reason this reminds me of the “Final Crisis” issue in which Grant Morrison made a version of Superman who was black AND President of the United States in honor of Obama. IIRC, the president’s wife was Wonder Woman too. Perhaps it was because it was done as an alternate version, but people either didn’t seem to mind it or perhaps they even thought it was a great idea. I suppose in the end, what matters is how it’s done, when it’s done, and how it’s marketed. Lots of things have been done in films that could be taken as a slap in the face to comics fans. Once upon a time, the campy old Batman TV show was a prime example. Making Superman a deadbeat stalker dad in “Superman Returns” was another. Compared to those examples (which still have their fan base – and I adore Julie Newmar & Yvonne Craig as much as anyone), a well done “race change” wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Sounds a bit like the Halle Berry/Catwoman argument a few years ago. Outside the Eartha Kitt stint on the 60s TV show, Catwoman/Selina Kyle had for the most part been portrayed as white. Those in favor of the source material condemned the casting. The producers kept Berry as Catwoman but got rid of Selina Kyle, giving Catwoman a new civilian identity. If Mr. Glover is a good enough to portray Spiderman, by all means do so, but his civilian ID must be something OTHER than Peter Parker. They can give him the same background history that everyone knows and just change his name, hell you can call him Donald Glover if you want, but there is no need, if you are going to change the character’s skin change, to keep the character’s name.

@JimP

Just as an FYI, it’s actually part of the story in Prince of Persia, the game and (assuming, as I haven’t seen it, but it’s based on the game of course) movie, that he’s white. He’s an orphan of Caucasian parents.

nickrp, be careful what you wish for!

Luke Cage is a great example of a character with a ‘black’ racial identity, having been born out of the post-civil-rights, black power movement of the 70′s. He experienced the racial inequality and injustice that were the signs of the times, and his anti-authoritative attitude and the humongous chip on his bulletproof shoulder remains to this day.

Now, if people were to adapt Luke Cage into a film and set it in the present day, COULD they tell that story about a white person? Sure they could. They would have to tweak it more than what might be appropriate though.

I have an idea. Let’s see a kid from a middle-to-lower-class income bracket, is raised by his uncle and aunt, is picked on at school, gets bitten by a radioactive spider while on a field trip, and gets super-powers, uses them selfishly, and learns a lesson about his powers at the cost of the death of a family member.

It’s a very broad template. Ethnicity plays no part, really. Spider-man appealed to children of all ethnicities in the 1960′s for just that reason. That’s why appeals to everyone today as well. Anyone could BE Spider-man, no matter what culture their family comes from.

My comment about it being not “as serious as you’re making it out to be” was about what’s happening right now with Donald Glover starting a Twitter campaign. He’s just throwing it out there. It would be a fantastic upset if he landed the part, or it could be just be something extremely fun to entertain, which is EXACTLY what he’s doing.

I half-blame the sites that are picking up the non-news with headlines that are questions along the lines of ‘Donald Glover is Spider-Man???’ for riling everyone up. Some people will comment without even reading the story. The headline should read ‘Donald Glover Thinks It Could Be Cool If He Was Cast As Spider-Man!!!’, but that’s not as engaging, I guess.

What I can’t stress enough though is that anything outside the source material is an adaptation. Peter Parker will always be a white guy in the comics. Luke Cage will always be a black guy. Nick Fury will always be a black guy and a white guy. But in adapting a story, people can become motivated by switching stuff up like ethnicity. Is it always a good idea? Definitely not. Has it worked before? Yes it has.

I still stand by my previous statement that strong characters of all ethnicities need to be established and promoted and revered so there’s no need for ridiculous arguments like those that are raging whenever switching a character’s race is even hinted at.

Bottom line- Hollywood wastes millions of dollars every year making terrible decisions as they harvest comic book properties. Donald Glover is an extremely fun guy to watch and listen to. Casting him a Spider-Man isn’t a perverse nightmare. It’s actually a REALLY fun idea to entertain.

I agree with Brian Real, some characters are beyond ethnic factors. I`ve always thought Denzel Washington could have played a great Superman for example.

I would see the hell out of this movie if Donald Glover was Spider-Man.

Sooooo I’m just saying stick to the source material.

Because regardless of whether or not it matters that Spider-man is white or black it will be turned into a matter of race and it will be considered a “Black History moment”, because traditionally Spider-man is known as a white character and this would be a break from the 48 years of Peter Parker being white.

Also the argument of Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury keeps getting thrown up. Well that came from Ultimate Comics, which was essentially a complete retelling of the Marvel Universe, and they could do whatever they wanted to do. And Samuel Jackson Nick Fury is different than White Nick Fury in the comics, there are similarities but they are essentially different people, but the movies still stuck to a source material. And Will Smith could’ve been Captain America, because there was a Black Captain America, given it couldn’t be Steve Rogers though, it would be disrespectful to the excellent and fantastic story that was Truth: Red, White & Black.

And then there is the argument of Race not affecting the character, which is making the claim that people of different ethnicities aren’t faced with different social challenges, which is false. It would change the social background of the character. Some of the claims that are being made here suggest that there are no Social implications of Ethnicity existing today, there are still problems that people have to face because of the ignorance of our society and acting like there aren’t any doesn’t help.

Also Luke Cage should never ever be played by a white guy, I love Luke Cage and I would be throughly pissed off if a white guy played his role in a movie, because Luke Cage is a Badass.

?WAT?, I agree with what you’re saying, but I disagree in this case.

Clark Kent is from Kansas, which, um, trying to be PC and it’s not working, is a rather white state. Race may not be a major part of the story, but changing the ethnicity there could be more significant than it initially seems.

Back to Parker, though, it’s a non-issue. NYC is a mixed community with cultures regularly interacting. While for many characters there would be the issue of either a.) associating him with black culture and changing the character or b.) ignoring cultural implications that are tied to race and removing an element of realism, Parker would sidestep this. Peter Parker is a nerd, and being a dork often overrides racial identification.

Now, black Aunt May, that I don’t know about.

For some reason, I misread the headline. Initially thinking it was CRISPIN Glover at first and that he’s way too old. Then I read the article…

Hm, maybe Crispin Glover wouldn’t be a bad choice after all.

obviously white people have a problem with a black dude playing a white superhero. What? and Karl, you are obviously racist, because it took you 4 paragraphs to explain why this is a bad idea.And we are talking about a hero who’s face is covered as well. you can compare it to other superheroes because Luke Cage,Black Panther, these heroes’ history is black you cant deny that. you guys are such bigots

Karl didn’t say it was a bad idea; in fact, he specifically said that it would probably be a very entertaining film. The rest of his posts have been discussing the merits and flaws of the “race change” for different characters, and why a black Spider-Man is different than a white Black Panther.

JimP, what is the problem of The Last Airbender been white?? I watch the cartoon (long time ago), and I don’t remember anyone saying that he is an specific and he looks quite white in the cartoon to me.
I think if you are going to complaint it should be about all the other character, to me they did get their races mix up.

oh really. Come on now. Let’s stop this ridiculousness.

Let’s throw the black/white thing out the window for a second, shall we?

It all comes down to a simple matter of interpretation; Spider-Man is a white man from New York. This is, and always has been, the character. No matter how you interpret or adapt the character from the page to the screen, that is one of the facts that, i’m sorry, HAS to remain. Otherwise you don’t have an adaptation, you have a re-interpretation. It would be like casting Nicolas Cage as Superman… And I think we can all be glad that film was never made.

Sure, there are many great young black actors who could play a Superhero character – Firestorm, Static Shock, Cyborg, Black Lightning, Luke Cage, Black Panther, to name but a few – and I imagine most if not all of the characters could be in a successful project. However, I don’t see the need to dramatically re-imagine an existing white character to be played by a black actor.

Admittedly, many of the actors suggested to play Peter Parker have, thus far, been far from stellar. That’s not due to a lack of talent, but a lack of original thinking on the part of the casting directors and internet speculators. Let’s face it, if they really want the movie for summer 2012, they need to get a bloody move on!

all in all I would say that there is so much room for a black actor to play a black superhero character with verve and talent, and no lack of attention or publicity, that a character as classic and iconic as Peter Parker/Spider-Man can comfortable remain as close to the source material as possible.

- Mathew

Ummmmm this should not happen…If anything have him play Rocket Racer or the Prowler….I am a black male and even though I want more blockbusters with black actors in the lead roles this is not the way to go about it. Have him voice him in an animated feature but not this. Lets stick to the integrity of the characters.

How about we have a reboot of Shaft with Bruce Willis in the lead role?

To say a person should not be hired to play a part that they are in fact PERFECT for because of the color of their skin is..oh what’s the word…RACIST. Have you seen any of his derrick comedy stuff? He could rock a nerdy science loser role out of the park. I would LOVE to see that movie.

Malcolm X should be played by Michael Cera.

Most of the arguments being used on this site to say that the CHARACTER of Spider-Man is intrinsically white are akin to the same arguments that were used to say the President of the United States should always be a white male. This is true if you watch the documentary called “The Right Americans Wronged”. It not surprising as a black male in US to listen to racist try to justify why the couldn’t vote for Barack Obama others than he was not the right color. So the fact that you have fan-boy purists trying to hide behind story authenticity as the basis for denying a black male to play is so funny.

I think Karl has made some of the most important argument, Peter Parker a teenager from Queens, NY in the 1962 has some life changing issues that catapults him to superhero status. Nothing intrinsically white in Queens, NY…right. So if you write a story well it can be accepted…obviously by the number of his fans who can see him pulling the wise cracking web-slinger off on the big screen. If you don’t know Marlon Wayans was supposed to play Robin in the Batman Returns movie but Joel Schumacher

Storm and Black Panther (and of course Mandela) are off the table because their individual lives and mythology is built in African lore and living conditions. Additionally, the Last Airbender is of Asian descent pure and simply. The character clearly draws from Chinese Tibetan/Shaolin monks, and other characters come draw from Northern Inuit peoples and jungles of like Cambodia. The problem for some to see this is the confusion that that the manga art style brings with regard to ethnicity.

Between the two majors they have had only three/four characters of African descent with true iconic status: Storm, Blade, John Stewart, Luke Cage (when you at his creation is stereotypical), and Black Panther. So this fact could be an issue itself. Even with the collapse of McDuffy’s Milestone Universe into the overall DC universe we have instead of giving Icon and Static (once considered the “Black Spider-Man”) there own titles Static is put on the Teen Titans team (booo).

So if there we

Despite some of the psuedo white robed and white hooded rhetoric coming out of some of the mouths here…I as a Black male would not be 2 fond of Spidey’s ethnicity being changed. Not because he’s “supposed” 2 be white, but because I would like 2 see the franchise continue.
Ultimately this is not about black or white, it’s about green and arguably greed. I believe that u’re being naive if u think this guy has even 1/2 of a percentage point of being cast in the reboot.
As 4 other characters: Supeman technically is not white, Hell, technically he’s not human. Wonder Woman depending on which origin u’re going with is born or made of clay. In either case a person of color could play those roles, but it won’t happen. Not because being white is so stamped into their historical DNA, but the hollywood powers that be know the colr of the target audience they’re going after, and they’re not going 2 risk alienating that audience by being progressive.

Jesus. Christ. Anyone bitching about the skin color of an actor playing Spider-Man… Any of you… Any of you using this as a soap box to complain about some racial double standard… Any of you guys… Yes. You are, in fact, a little bit racist. I get that you’re not sheet wearing, hate mongering bigots, but you’re a little racist. And if you don’t get why, you’re honestly not too bright. You might even be really swell, nice people, but Jesus. Really, seriously, making Peter Parker black is a harsh deviation from source material? You really feel that if this were allowed, it’s some ultra-PC move with an agenda behind it to crucify the poor downtrodden white male? I get that me taking it to this level of personal criticism is possibly cause for banning or something, but I’m absolutely stunned at some of the flatly offensive nonsense some of you are trying to argue. If you’re a white male in this country- I am, by the way -and you feel that you’re part of some disenfranchised minority, there’s something seriously wrong with you. And, by the way, you’re not disenfranchised for being a white male.

For myself I am something of a character purist. A given character portrayed in movies or on TV should look (more or less) the way that character is commonly depicted, end of story. Peter Parker and Clark Kent should be played by white actors not from any racial issue but simply because that is how the characters are depicted. For the same reasons Luke Cage and Storm should be played by black actors/actresses and Lady Shiva and the Mandarin should be played by asians: it is simply a part of who the characters are and have been since their creation.

I would be cool with it, nothing about Peter Parker would be fundamentally different if he were black.

For some characters it would work, for some it wouldn’t. If you’re doing Captain America, making him black would be a much bigger change because of the racism a black man in the armed forces would face during that time.

How about Isaiah Bradley portrayed by Weird Al Yankovic?

ok. I read all these postings, and this is going to be an honest detailing of whats gone on. you have the PC public thinking anyone can play Spider-man. No they can’t. lower class environments in colored environments is different. Peter Parker wasn’t middle class, that’s never been shown in anyway in the comics. that is plain and simple. a poor white neighborhood is a different environment than a poor black neighborhood. that is honest and truth. not saying one is better than the other, I am saying they are different. I have lived in both and know this first hand. 2ndly Peter Parker, when first introduced was supposed to be the next Reed Richards, not an everyman. Geniuses aren’t an everyman. Marvel in the last 15-20 years have turned him into that.
You also have the non PCers on here stating how Spiderman has to be white, though flawed in some spots with their arguments, have it right. Spider Man is a white man. If you change his skin color in a movie, this is Hollywood thinking here, not logical thinking, you would change everything about the character, not just his skin color. The Cosby Show and whatever the Steve Erkel show was called, are rare exceptions to Hollywood rules on people of color. Race for the most part, has always played a spot in ethnic, and yes ethnic has been attached to any color of skin that is not caucasian. You tell someone the word Ethnic, they think everything but white. its wrong but its true. same goes for the word Ghetto. There are white Ghettos but people hear the word, they think Black plain and simple.lastly, you have the if he can do the role color shouldn’t matter, most roles that”s true, but characters that have been shown as one ethnic, I hate to use the word color but can’t think of an easier way to say it, color, should be portrayed as said color. Anyone watch the Honeymooners with Cederic The Entertainer. That speaks for it’s self.
And as for doing a black Super Man, it was done and quite well with the movie Hancock. A much better movie than Super Man returns will ever be. Re-interpitation’s can and have been done sucessfuly, and will always be re done. but more re interpitaions have been badly done than good. case in point Cederic’s Honeymooners.

Changing a persons skin color and ethnic background, I found proper term after all, changes the whole playing field. A black Peter Parker’s world is way different than a white Peter Parker’s.

hhhmmmm in the movies there was really no mention of Storm’s, Blade’s, or Jim Rhodes’ black heritage…I wonder how many white pepole hey called in to try out for those roles?

This has nothing to do with “You just don’t want a black man to” anything. When they do a casting call they should have a picture of character with a synopsis of their personality. I don’t care how good of an actor they are or how great their build I don’t want a white guy playing Luke Cage, or Bishop, or Blade. At the same time you don’t cast a large black man to play Bruce Banner. I don’t want a blonde headed brown-eyed guy to play Superman (unless they dye his hair and give him contacts of course).

Want to know who else I really don’t want to see play Spider-Man?
Any male who looks over 27
Any bodybuilders white or black
a woman
any one over 6 foot or under 5 foot 4 (Peter is 5 foot 9)
any heavy set male
any guy who is to “pretty boy”

Damn that’s age,weight,build,sex,and height discrimination…man I’m a bad person.

Penis.

Oh and for the record Persians are not considered white. They are Middle Eastern. And especially since 9-11 people do NOT consider Iranians as white people. Especially when people say a person is “terrorist descent” meaning Iraqi or Iranian it doesn’t mean Irish or Russian or English, or French or Italian.

well i think this is pretty funny. but i’m sure as someone already said if goku, ang, and the rest of the heroes in the airbender movie can be cast as something cause race isn’t a big deal. why couldn’t that guy be spidey. oh wait. i figured this would turn into a big deal the moment a beloved american charater was even joked about being another race.

wow.

don’t worry guys he won’t be cast as spidey neither will any other caucasian hero. but ang, goku, kyo kusanagi, and probably any other anime/japanese game turned into an american movie will be played by a white kid. and no matter how much anyone complains. it will happen.

“Orlando Says:

May 31st, 2010 at 8:29 pm
@Bruce

You are correct about Hollywood thinking which was not part of the original argument. Which fact in my opinion proves that the knee jerk reaction to a black Spider-Man is in fact racist in nature”

No, it’s “in almost 50 years of comic, movie,cartoon,and live action TV Peter Parker/Spider-Man has been white” in nature.

Look at it this way if just TODAY someone came up with the idea of Spider-man for a comic/movie and they made him a black teen, then that’s what Peter Parker would be a black teen. IF five years ago they JUST made a Spider-man comic and he was a black teen and today they said they were making a Spider-man movie but was thinking of casting a white teen I think all of us (yes, me too) would be saying “Hey Peter Parker is black not white, why change it?” We wouldn’t be saying “Well I think the right white guy could do it” because in the comics Peter would be black.

Sorry, but it’s fact Peter Parker is white. You can call people racist for saying that but then you can go look it up and 50 YEARS of history backs it up. Everyone on here who doesn’t think it’s a good idea to get a black actor to play him would also be against a white guy playing the Black Panther. There would be no “Well they could change the story”, ” if the white guy is a good actor why not”, or ” well he’s covered head to toe so he could be any color”. There’s almost 50 years of history that says the Black Panther is black, it’s a fact.

How about a Superman of Japanese descent? Don’t like the idea? Too late. Just ask Dean Cain (birth father Roger Tanaka).

I can’t say I wouldn’t watch it if they cast a black or even asian actor. However I think that, being hollywood where everything must be PC, they would focus too much on the character’s race. They would likely beat the audience over the head with some kind of message or social commentary and the film would be ruined.

If they want to have a good, black superhero on film they should take one of the established characters or create a quality character and make it instead of Blankman where the black hero was mostly a joke.

Done properly, meaning they don’t have the character constantly proclaiming how “black” they are or belittling them, there are many great character that would make great films. They just need to look towards Blade, instead of Blankman, to see how to do it.
Steel, Falcon, Vixen, Spawn, Black Panther, Deathlok, Black Lightning, Static, Bronze Tiger, Crimson AvengerIII(?), Cyborg, Firestorm, Mr. Miracle, Green Lantern(John Stewart), Luke Cage, Shadowhawk, Amazing Man, Prowler, or even the Blue Marvel. I’m sure there are more that I’ve I can’t remember or never heard of, but if done right there are some good black characters to make into movies. If Hollywood takes them seriously and doesn’t try to make them into some kind of caricature. So why change an already iconic character instead of taking a character and making them an icon?

I have no issue with Glover playing Spider-Man. Isn’t he 27 though? I thought the new Spider-Man films were supposed to focus on him being in high school.

Also for you people making comments about Storm and how the heritage affects the character. In what way in the X-men movies of recent years did it matter that Storm was black? None, Zero, Zilch, NADA. It was done because she is a BLACK CHARACTER in the COMIC BOOKS WHICH IS THE ORIGINAL SOURCE MATERIAL.

Oh and couldn’t stories be rewritten for all the other Black comicbook characters so that a white person could play them? This is the movies they do have that ability to do whatever they want like you claim.

Oh but wait that wouldn’t be faithful to the comics and would be a racist thing to do.

The fact of the matter is if Mr Glover were to play the role of Spider-man it would get played up for the race stuff and whether or not he would do a good job would be overlooked because he would be replacing a established character.

It’s one thing to recast the Kingpin as african american (if you’d never read the comics then you probably never heard of him), but to try that with Spidey is a whole other dilemma.

Peter Parker is a well known character to a large percentage of the population, thanks to all the different media he’s been shown in. So to drastically recast him as african amaerican would certainly confuse the public.

I just don’t think America is ready for this type of creative casting.

BTW .. on the Dean Cain = Japanese post.. it doesn’t matter what racial background you have as long as you ‘LOOK THE PART’!!!!

The idea is to keep true to the character..

example of getting it wrong… Smallville.. Superman doesn’t fly and runs around in a cowboy duster with a black t shirt with an “S” in silver??? Geez.. give me Dean Cain’s supe’s any day!

Nope.

I will just say this…

Instead of talking about changing an established characters race/ethnicity, how about we support more racially diverse super hero comics and advocate for them to get their shot at the big screen and getting them some more well-deserved exposure? I think that would do a lot more for creatng a more racially and ethnically diverse superhero community and expanding the appeal/reach of comics in general.

For me, the idea of casting a black Peter Parker depends on whether you’re trying to stay as close to the comics as possible or do an “ultimate-style” reboot. If the former, then no, cast a white guy; if the latter, then yes, cast anyone of any race who might be able to pull off the wisecracks.

Having said that, I’m not the biggest fan of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, I think he does a great Nick Fury-esque character, but he’s not quite Fury to me. My problem is that I’m 46 years old and ever since I started thinking about who should play comic book characters in the movies, I’ve thought Robert Conrad would be the perfect Nick Fury. Samuel L. Jackson is a better actor than Robert Conrad, but it’s hard to get past 30-odd years of visualizing someone very different in the role.

I’m actually more concerned about Heimdall than any of the other characters: This is a character that’s been specifically depicted and defined as white for over a thousand years. Casting any Norse god as non-white is like casting T’Challa as white. It’s no longer the same character.

I will burn this world to the ground if they cast a black dude as Spider-Man. And yes… I am racist, just like everyone else on the planet. Anyone trying to justify Spidey being black needs a slap in the mouth.

Honestly anyone comparing this situation to have a character like the Black Panther, Luke Cage or even Martin Luther King being played by a white guy is really over simplifying this.

MLK, Black Panther and Cage are all pretty strongly defined by being black. It’s not like Spider-man is defined by his race like the others are, they’re important because of their colour.

That being said, I do agree that Spider-man should be played by a caucasian man, not because of any kind of double standard but simply because it’s accurate to the comic book and despite how good the actor may be there isn’t really a strong enough reason to change it.

Its funny… there are people on here when discussing gay characters that have said “I’m not interested in their love lives, only in the character and the action” so in the same vain..why would color matter? In fact… the more you think about it…then yes, it shouldn’t matter if Peter Parker is played by a white person or a black person, as long as the characterization is kept in the same vain. Should Nick Fury be white? Or JUST because he is portrayed in the Ultimates as black then its acceptable. Must race first appear in a comic book to be acceptable in a movie?

George M (and a few others) had thorough and insightful breakdowns of this issue, which addressed the whole black character/white character discussion evenhandedly. And yet the same silly, mildly insulting comments persist afterward. As they do almost every time a black actor is brought up as a potential lead in a comic movie where the character has previously been portrayed as a white person. Why are people so darn upset over it? Silly internet.

Though I would like to see a discussion on how people seem to toil under the assumption that comic book movies with black main characters would get made often or somehow do gangbusters at the box office when the only reason anyone made Hancock or toyed with the idea of a black Catwoman was because they featured the biggest actors of color in Hollywood…

Beyond that there are very few comic characters of color with their own titles seems to indicate a lack of interest in them. Whether that be because they’re of color, less established or just less beloved people shouldn’t pretend that a Black Panther movie staring Donald Glover would do half as well as a Spider-Man movie staring the same dude. And I’m pretty sure he could sell being Peter Parker… But it was probably just a joke anyway.

I like adaptions to be faithful. Have Spidey be the race he is in the comic and have Luke Cage be the race he is. I was offended when they made Spawn’s friend white in the bad movie they did. It seemed like they wanted to not alienate white moviegoers.

I wouldn’t have a problem with a black Spider-Man if he’s not Peter Parker. I got not problem with there being two people with spider powers.

This is all about iconography, folks. The reason you can’t change Superman or Batman to black is because it is very clear from nearly all the most famous images of them that these are white characters. Nothing in your mind will allow you to be comfortable with anything else. Same thing with the abused example of Luke Cage. Spider-man on the other hand? There are a handful of iconographic Spidey images that even use Parker’s face, so it’s much easier to swap that out, and since he doesn’t have the story mandated need to be a particular race (Black Panther for instance, is an African king), there really isn’t anything wrong with it.

Sure this would work. Then while they’re at it they could cast Steve Carell as the Black Panther and Adam Sandler as the Falcon. That should earn Marvel Studios worldwide respect and acclaim.

If you think Peter Parker HAS to be played by a white actor then the characters skin color is a defining characteristic of the character. If you described Peter Parker to a non-comic reader would the color of his skin be the first thing you say, second, third? How far down the list do you go. Did the fact that they gave him organic webshooters in the first trilogy destroy the essensce of the character? How about the fact that he met gwen stacey after mary jane? or that the sandman killed uncle ben? The color of his skin is not an essential part of Peter Parker nor is it essential to batman or superman or any of the other iconic characters. They were created white because of the culture would not embrace a hero of other races. Black Panther, The Falcon and other black character were created to fill the racial void of superheroes; being black is essential to their character. If seeing a black superman or black batman makes you “uncomfortable” I suggest you take a look in the mirror to find out what prejudices youre holding onto.

“Storm and Black Panther (and of course Mandela) are off the table because their individual lives and mythology is built in African lore and living conditions”

But white heroes are totally interchangeable with other races because their history, heritage, and living conditions have negligible impact on their character?

Now, one could argue that a someone with black skin could have grown up under similar circumstances as white Peter Parker, but (and I say this as someone living outside of America) I’ve never heard of a black American who believed that their skin colour didn’t in some influence the course of their lives.

p.s
quote of the day:

“His hashtag got to the point where it was trending #2 in Chicago and #3 in NYC- no small feat.”

Black Dude as Spidey … I could live with that since his main charateristic was that he was from the NYC.

A Black Kingpin was ok, MCD has the “gravity” to play the part.
A Black Nick Fury … if you don’t like it, blame Ultimate Marvel, not the Movie guys.
A Part Asian Superman, already done and nobody noticed.

But a WHITE Luke Cage would be Sooooooooooo Wrong. Luke Cage is a Brother … always was, always will be.

Why not just get Owen Wilson to play “The Brown Hornet”?

Hell no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then Clive Owen can play Shaft, right?

LOL “he has the look…of a Peter Parker…” which Peter Parker exactly? ‘Cause every Peter Parker I’ve seen is white…lol.

“The fact that more people are accepting of Donald Glover as Spider-Man than those british actors they are looking at now says alot. It says that there are people out there willing to be open minded and colorblind”
It comes across as people trying to prove how open-minded and color blind they are rather than actually being so. If race really didn’t matter, this whole idea would have been shot down fast for not being true to the character’s fifty year history.

@James

Okay, since you mention that a lot of people as racist, who are against the idea of Spider-Man being anything other than white, then consider me an racist.

I am what another poster had mentioned, a purist to the Spider-Man comics that I have been reading since the 70′s so yes, I can’t see any other ethnic person playing “Peter Parker” other than someone who is an anglo.

His name is Peter Parker…clearly of an irish decent. While I’m sure they exist, I haven’t met too many black people with Irish backgrounds unless they were of mixed lineage. And I remember having a conversation with another person that suggested that Peter Parker be asian…Korean even.

Well….no. And as a fellow asian gal, I still say no. I mean seriously, would they change his last name to “Park” instead of Parker?

If he was spanish, would his last name be changed to Parque? No…because there is no one other than Peter “Parker” unless you count his clone “Ben Reilly” or even the current Scarlet Spider, Joe Wade. See this is how much of a geeky purist I am.

What the hell is wrong keeping it close to it’s original conception? Peter Parker was definitely science geek but a good looking one at that…according to Stan Lee. And in High School he was even a photographer who dated Betty Brant who is as white as they come. Even his small personality quirks reeked of “anglo” and that’s what made him endearing.

So yes, then if being a purist comic book lover makes me a racist, so be it.

As for the Indian Spider-Man issue, I actually have that issue but the movie is not being adapted to that so let’s leave that idea alone. Sheesh, this is as bad as Raimi choosing organic shooters for Peter instead of the mechanical device that he invented.

–Little Asian Gal

Also I agree with Little Asian Gal

If being a purist comic book reader makes me Racist, then so be it.

“TedRx Says:
But a WHITE Luke Cage would be Sooooooooooo Wrong. Luke Cage is a Brother … always was, always will be.”

So the fact Spiderman has been white in the comics for fifty years does not deserve the same treatment of source material as Luke Cage, and yes Hollywood could rewrite it so that Luke Cage was white, example:

Young male accused of being drug dealer volunteers for experiment and then gains powers and becomes Hero for Hire and returns to his neighborhood to help clean it up.

Now lets apply some arguments for black spidey to this.

New York is a melding pot of cultures. Racial background does not necessarily affect story of individual, and before you say something about drug trade or something there are white people involved in drug trade and I’m fairly certain that if an good individual from a hard knock neighborhood got powers he would try to help regardless of race.

Now I would never want to see a white Luke Cage, I love Luke Cage, LOVE HIM, I’ve loved him ever since Bendis brought him to the forefront of Marvel comics. A white Luke Cage would butcher the characters source material and the purity of the comics, Samuel Jackson does not do this because He is Nick Fury in Ultimates, so everyone trying to use the BLACK NICK FURY IS A’OKY-DAY SO BLACK SPIDEYMAN WOULD BE FINE EVEN THOUGH IT HAS NEVER HAPPENED IN THE COMICS need to be silent because Peter Parker according to the comics is White.

Also once more this actor is to old to play spiderman, they need a teenager.

Okay, so if it’s racist if we want Spider-man to remain white, simply because that is the way he has always been portrayed, would it be sexist if were did not want him to be a woman?

Is he intrinsically male, as well?

Could he be played by a Girl?

I guarantee a lot of you overly PC apologists would have a double standard in this case, if you were completely honest with us.

@Nick Marino:

Yes PP is a very adaptable character. If he could be changed to have an Indian heritage to suit an Indian audience why can’t he be a black dude too??

@?WAT?
You’re right, I completely forgot about his mixed heritage, but the Timestorm version completely negated the heritage the original series used. For example, instead of getting his suit because of the Day of the Dead (which is mostly a Latino holiday) he made it with on a computer. I’m not saying this couldn’t have been done in 2099, but Miguel O’Hara was a lot better when his story was as it originally was.

I agree with everyone. I think they should be sure to cast a Kryptonian as the next Superman. I mean, what is up with those guys. I’ll bet they want too much money.

Did no one read my comment about Spock and Ahura and sticking to the original source material?

Well here it is again.

“One more thing, a good example of original source material that involves race.

There was no reason that a Black guy could’t have been Spock in the New Star Trek and there was no reason a White Girl couldn’t have been Ahura, THE REASON THEY HAD THE ACTORS THEY CHOSE WAS BECAUSE THEY WERE STICKING TO ORIGINAL SOURCE MATERIAL.”

And if anyone counters with an argument that Star Trek is classic and blah blah blah, Spider-man has been around longer.

Source Material People.

@Juicer
Have you ever been to the South? Sounds to me like you’re just repeating stereotypes that a good deal of the country buys into. As a southerner I am really offended by these ideas. We have as much tolerance here as the rest of the country, if not MORE. Take a look at this
http://theelectoralmap.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/07-01-black-population-in-the-south2.jpg
Apparently, the south is such a horrid place for black people that most of them live here.

Look, my sister has dated several black people and you know what? Who cares? She’s got a mixed son that we love every bit as much as my other nieces and nephews. Interracial relationships happen all the time here in the south and generally they’re not that big of a deal.

Our women wear shoes here by the way (in case anyone was wondering). They also have careers and ambitions and do more than cook and clean. In fact, my wife makes more money than I do right now. So give me a break.

I’m Black and i say he should remain American. Why make him Black? What is that about?? I’m not much for conspiracy theories and stuff, but i’m starting to wonder here, man. Is this to send a message to the so called radical muslim that we are united over here regardless of race? GTFOH!

They made the last aibender cast all white and pissed in the face of asians. Thats the truth!!

He would make a great Static though.

At the end of the day, as long as the movie doesn’t have those annoying web-shooters, I’ll be ok. Nothing in comics is more annoying than running out of web fluid. Loved the fact that the recent series of movies made that natural and I was upset when the comics sent him back to the dark ages that are web-shooters!

@Juicer
Sounds to me like you just want something to be mad at….boy.

Why not try it? The people who don’t like this can still watch Tobey’s Spider Man movies. I would understand if this was Spider Man’s First movie but it’s the fourth and its a reboot. So its not a big deal. I think he would be way better than the other actors they have in the running.

The name says it all. Leave Peter Parker alone. I’m a Black guy who’s also a comics fan and would like to see some authenticity/integrity maintained in the characters I grew up with. I don’t believe in squeezing Black people into roles they don’t need to be in when the issue is that there are excellent Black characters in the world of comics who would make great movies as well–but are being overlooked by Hollywood. One of whom is a similarly-wisecracking, young (teen)hero out of the DC universe, who has already had his own successful Sat. morning cartoon…named Static Shock. Perfect fit.

I disagree with the assumptions that white = valueless and any other race could be superimposed over the established race of a given character, just so long as that character is white, which is somehow interpreted as being devoid of identity. Some people are really trying too hard to prove their open-mindedness here.

Important post I enjoyed it. Someone else once said: Get you facts first, and then you can distort ‘em as much as you please.

Dang i thought your blog was killer, gave me a car load of information, i never knew, thanks blogger.

little bit funny, so he would be black spider.

this is the second time i go through your blog, good post as always! thanks, Resan

I’ve come back to this blog over and over again, so great info and very entertaining.

Super, I like Donald Glover.