meh…Does it really matter who says White’s 4 lines?

Is that so? Guess you missed the part where I said I liked this idea…

My job is to give the news and get opinions from the readers. Care to give yours instead of trying to accuse me of something?

Whoops! I meant UNLIKE PERRY T’Challa IS the most prominent role that story.

OH MY GOD A BLACK GUY IS PLAYING A WHITE GUY!!!

That’s what’s really important here. Not that Superman Returns was actually pretty awesome and this movie is going to suck total ass but they’re banking on a couple hundred million at the box office because the last one was OK but this one is going to be dogshit.

I don’t have a problem with it. It’s really not that much more unconventional than making Perry a Southerner who was busy saying “Great Shades of Elvis!” Or having a Pete Ross of color. And maybe it’s a sign that we are getting away from making everything like the last six films.

More asinine tokenism. Just like Pete Ross on Smallville.

Leave it to Snyder to shake things up, eh?

Anyone else horribly sick of reboots)

Love Fisburne and Langella as good an actor he was he made no impression on me as Perry and the whole crew of Singerman Returns were so boring…I’d take anything right now!

So what? Larry Fishburne is cast as Perry White in the new Superman film? Get over it!!!! Im black myself and if they feel he is the best man for the job, then so be it. Its not as if hes a rubbish actor as hes practically been acting since he was a child. This is like Idris Elba playing a norse god in Thor, I was like initially are you sure? Should they be looking for a white actor? Im a huge Idris supporter, I didn’t want Thor to fail and critics looking for possible reasons for that such as his casting as well as the guy who played Hogun as one of the many excuses for failing. Thankfully this wasn’t the case, Thor is a massive success and I think the casting paid off.
We are now in a society where race shouldn’t matter so long as you can do the job to the best of your ability thats all that matters. We’re now seeing alot of diverse casting emerging nowadays regardless of whether or not the role was written with the character being a specific race in mind. Im sure Fishburne’s casting will pay off so please give him a chance.

Ask The Hulk, the only color that matters is green!!!

I think it was a fair enough question given the way some sections of society reacted to the news that the new Ultimate Spidey wasn’t white. Some were just upset that it wasn’t Peter Parker, but a lot were a lot less civil about it.
So to ask the same general demographic (comic buyers) how they would feel, or just general opinions, about a black man in an iconic (albeit more supporting) role such as Perry White is perfectly reasonable.
It’s not sensationalist and it’s not promoting a racial agenda, it’s just saying…”Hey, have you heard they are going with Larry Fishburne? What do you reckon?”

Personally, I think it’s a little surprising. We’ve all grown up with a middle-aged, grey haired, fairly gruff kind of white man as the Perry White archetype.
On the other hand, the same could be said for Nick Fury being black in Ultimate and Samuel L. Jackson in the movies.
You stick a decent actor in the role, with a decent script, and it would be hoped that it will play out well regardless. I think Laurence Fishburne has sufficient acting chops to do just that.
I’m looking forward to it.

And besides, look at many of the other cast members. Who would have pegged Costner and Lane as Jonathan and Martha Kent? They are not the typical comicbook image of the Kents either.

Darn…I wish I could edit this. LAWRENCE…Fishburne. Sorry, Mr.F.

Love It!!!

I’ve been thinking that this needed to happen for years. I even remember bringing this up on the old Newsarama talksite. While I still believe some ethnicities are entrenched into a character’s psychology and upbringing in the public consicousness (i.e. Peter Parker’s nerdiness is inherent to being a white suburban kid), I don’t believe that holds true with supporting characters. In fact, I firmly believe diversity actually adds depth to those characterizations as in this case with Lawrence Fishburne as Perry White.

As long as the story & action is better than Superman: Returns, I could care less if Perry White was played by a dog named Krypto.

Sometime before the end of the month, we’ll probably get the news that Zack Snyder has moved on in a mutual decision with the studio.

I think he’s a good actor which is the most important part and for modern diverse audiences this injects a freshness to it imo. Superman has always seemed a little too white bread and conservative. I get he is raised in a certain way but the fact he can encounter people of color in the big city in one version? Yes. I can believe that.Let’s hope we see Steel at some point and some more culturally and racially diverse people from the DCU playing a role in Superman’s and DC’s mythos in comics and live media in the future.

@Kevin

You bring up a very valid point. The only way Marvel was able to toss diversity into their Ultimate Spiderman/Ultimate universe was to kill Peter Parker. DC already got in major trouble with the fans by killing minor (B and C range)characters to replace them with minority characters for legacies giving off an appearance of tokenism. Marvel’s change falls under the same auspice.

Wait wait wait

Fishburne IS STILL ALIVE?!?!?!

I thought he died years ago
and you know
has just been going through the motions since then

I appreciate the diversity of casting an enormously fat person. The time has come for Obese Perry. It’s 2011 for god’s sake! The enormously obese should be represented on film! Fat and Lethargic Perry is just what this staid franchise needs to shake it up!

Perry White is such a minor supporting character, especially in the films, it doesn’t matter who plays him. Heck, make his character a woman. Or dead. It doesn’t impact the movie one iota.

Eliminate Perry and give the position to Lois – make her Clark’s boss – now that would change things a bit.

Even in the comics, any character development is forgotten or erased with each creative team. Remember when he beat lung cancer and adopted a black son? Neither does anyone else. It’s like he reboots each time he shouts “KENT!”

Laurence as Perry, no big deal. Laurence as Superman would have been headlines. We do remember who played Kingpin in Daredevil right?

Laurence Fishburne is a good actor. Got nothing against him. What i have against this whole entire concept is the politically correct propoganda, which is going on. As with the “RE-BOOT!!!”, this shows a great deal of a lack of imagination on the part of DC Comics! The role of Perry White has traditionally been of a “white/caucasian” person. For more than 80 years, this is how it has been. If you want Fishburne to be the editor, White could always retire, pass the mantle too or some such. It’s called evolving the story line, evolving the character.
You want something new and improved, fine, bring someone new and improved into the story line. This is a slap in the face to the more than 80 years of history behind this character, to those that have portrayed this character and most especially, to the fans of this series.

I don’t care if Lawrence plays Perry or if there is a multi racial Spiderman. I just think it’s sad that we can’t be more creative and come up with viable original ethnic heroes for today rather then killing off white characters to replace them with non white ones but with the same identity. No originality going on. Just the same schlok in a new wrapping.

I actually think this will be just fine. Fishburne is first and foremost an excellent actor. He’s black, but so what? Perry White’s character is a supporting one, but even if Perry has tons of screen time it wouldn’t matter. DC has never defined Perry White as “the caucasian editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet,” so I think we’ll be fine.

As for reboots, I’m super excited for this movie. I don’t know if it will be good, but it can’t be worse than Superman Returns (when I read the post that someone wrote saying Superman Returns was awesome, I had to stop and wipe the throwup off of my keyboard). SReturns was horrendously written, it treated the characters and the Supes mythology like crap, and had no action. There’s really no forgiving someone who makes a Superman movie and doesn’t have arguably the strongest superhero ever fight anyone other than falling planes, kryptonite, and a land scheme (again). But now we have Zod and a ton of A-List actors with chops. It’s gonna be good, guys. Just you wait.

@Virgil Cole:
I don’t think that’s true. Here’s why – most black superheroes use their racial identity to help inform and develop the character. Black Panther, Luke Cage, etc. The same is not the case of the majority of white superheroes. Iron Man isn’t really furthered as a character by his Caucasian-ness. Now, there are some black characters that could be easily switched over to white characters, such as Steel or Bronze Tiger. But no one will do it because there are already too few minority superheroes. Sad fact? Sure. But it’s true.

They are not making Superman black. It’s Perry White. The character won’t be destroyed. Get over it. (Besides, the last white Perry White was Frank Langella and he was awful.)

I do not like the fact that Laurence Fishburne will play Perry White because he is black. I have nothing against Mr. Fishburne as an actor or because of his skin color, I just want the characters in my favorite movies to remain as true to form as possible. Perry White has always been white. There are many other Superman characters who are black who could have been added into the film if producers decided the movie was “too white”. Ron Troupe and John Herny Irons are two black characters in the Superman universe fans love.

When I go to see a movie, especially a movie featuring a character I love, I want to see what I am use to seeing. I don’t want to be hit with a change and asked to accept it. If I found out tomorrow that my grandmother was suddenly black, I would have a problem with this as well. Not because she is black, but because she has always been white in my eyes, and then suddenly changed for no reason at all.

Why make Perry White black? There was no need for the change other than the fact that the producers want to bring in a black audience, which proves that this movie is not for the fans, it’s for the cash. Way to go, Warner Bros! I will stick with Superman Returns, I guess.

Oh, and in the next Green Lantern movie, John Stewart will be played by Jim Carrey, and Black Lightning will be played by Howie Mandel in the Justice League. Accept it, people. These characters were “too black”…

Hey John, why NOT make Perry White black?
He’s not defined by his color, but by his position. It’s a better scandal if Perry White was suddenly a former pimp turned producer of Fox News.

Come on, folks. ONE black actor in the film playing a small role that is usually white, and suddenly the studio is in it for the money? Well, newsflash: movie studios are ALWAYS in it for the money. It’s a business, and that’s what they do. But that doesn’t mean the film is suddenly ruined.

Perry White being black upsets you more than The Kents being WAY younger than they usually are, or Zod being the first villain this rebooted Supes will face, or any of the more substantive changes? (I’m actually fine with all of those as well).

What if they announced that instead of Perry White, it was Bibbo who was black, or Pete Ross? Oh yeah, Smallville already made Pete Ross black and it was FINE.

Why waste the energy being upset about it? Just wait and see.

No problem here, as long as he still plays him as a hard-nosed, gruff EIC. Didn’t bother me at all that Pete Ross was a black kid on Smallville. But every time a white character from a comic becomes a black character in a movie, I wonder the same thing: we’re all supposed to give the PC line of “no biggie” when a sixty year old character is changed to a minority, but the day a prominent black character is played by a white actor, we’ll see how tolerant we are of all the negative reactions by the loud-mouthed Reverends and what-nots when they start their whining. Hypocrisy will rule.

re: Ray’s comment HUH? If that is what you got out of the pics of teh Kent farm, you need therapy for your own meth addiction.

My first thought was “OK Cool.” My second thought was “who cares about Perry White?” He is just a one note side character and I really don’t care who plays him. However it think it’s a travesty that J.K. Simmons won’t be playing J. Jonah Jameson in the next Spider-Man movies :O

Really? wow this is just ridiculous.

Everone says “what’s the problem with making a white character black?” OK, there is no problem. I wouldn’t care if the whole freakin’ Superman movie featured black actors, as long as it was not being used as a way to bring in a wider audience, or a larger payday. Face it, the casting of Laurence Fishburne has nothing to do with his talent. There are plenty of talented men who could have played Perry White who happen to be white. This was done to bring in a minority audience, and hince, more funds.

What did the producers think would happen? “Oh, they cast Laurence Fishburne. Great actor, we can’t wait to see him in the movie” ? No, they knew it would be a race debate, which would lead to more fan interest, which would lead to more press, which would in turn ensure that fans line up to see the movie once it is released because of all of the buzz surrounding it. Stunt casting never pulls me in. I want to see a movie that, despite what others think, remains true to what I as a fan love. Superman Returns did this. No, it wasn’t action packed. No, it wasn’t “epic”. It was as true to the Christopher Reeve Superman films as it could be, though, and it reconnected me to my childhood. From the classic title and music sequence at the start, to Superman flying around the world at the end, Superman Returns was a great flashback to the Superman of my past. Sorry, but I wanted “Man of Steel” to be the same. I guess I will consider it an “Elseworlds” movie and wait for better yet again…

Oh, and @Aaron… maybe the general audience doesn’t know who Ron Troupe or Irons are, but, as everyone pointed out, Perry White is not a “major” character, so why does it matter? If you are saying a major character had to be black, then you just prove my point. Thanks.

John, I don’t understand when you say, “I wouldn’t care if the whole freakin’ Superman movie featured black actors, as long as it was not being used as a way to bring in a wider audience, or a larger payday.” What exactly is wrong with wanting to attract a wider audience, or a larger payday? It’s a freakin’ movie, man, that cost millions of dollars to make. Why wouldn’t Zack and co. want to make that and more back? The more successful these types of movies are with EVERYONE (whether white, black, or green people), the more we the fans get to see them.

And in my opinion, Perry White is a major character in Superman’s supporting cast; he gave Clark Kent his job at the Daily Planet. Also I am not saying a major character had to be black. I simply ask what’s wrong with it. In your own words, why does it matter? If you’re saying a major character had to be white, then you just proved MY point. Thanks.

“What exactly is wrong with wanting to attract a wider audience, or a larger payday? It’s a freakin’ movie, man, that cost millions of dollars to make. Why wouldn’t Zack and co. want to make that and more back? The more successful these types of movies are with EVERYONE (whether white, black, or green people), the more we the fans get to see them.”

Uh, huh. So what you are saying is, to change whatever you have to, to change what people know and love, is OK as long as it makes money?

Let’s see, there are a lot of gay rights issues out there now, so how about making Jimmy Olsen gay so he can fight Lois for Superman’s love. Superman’s pal, indeed. A lesbian Lois would bring in a male audience, especially if they pair her up with a sexy Cat Grant or Lana Lang. Hey, that would make tons of money.

Teenagers these days idol athletes and musicians, so Justin Beiber would be a great Jimmy Olsen. That would bring in teenage girls. Maybe have Kobe Bryant or Lebron James help Superman battle the evil Kryptonians in a basketball game. I’m sure NBA fans everywhere would love that. Oh, and forget an epic score. Superman needs a nice beat laid out by Lil Wayne and Lady Gaga to cover all the bases. Oh, and make it 3D, feature a dance sequence a la Glee and throw in several product placements in order to get every dollar possible out of this cash cow.

No, there is nothing wrong with making money…

Oh, and…

“And in my opinion, Perry White is a major character in Superman’s supporting cast; he gave Clark Kent his job at the Daily Planet. Also I am not saying a major character had to be black. I simply ask what’s wrong with it. In your own words, why does it matter? If you’re saying a major character had to be white, then you just proved MY point. Thanks.”

I did not say he had to be white. Siegel and Shuster said he was white in 1940′s Superman #7. Since then, he has been white. To make him black for no reason is just stupid. If race does not matter, then what was the problem with giving the role to a white actor?

John, you’re clearly going overboard. I’m done.

Anyway, good news. I’m sure Fishburne will do justice to the character, regardless of such a trivial thing as the color of his skin.

I’m okay with Fishburne cast as Perry White, as long as all of these star actors have their fair share on the screen without taking away the spotlight from Superman/Clark Kent.

This makes me wonder?: Did DCE decide to change Perry White to an Afro-American across the board? Is Perry White an Afro-American in the DCnU? I can’t recall if DC Comics has released an Superman preview pages with Perry White or not?

I am amazed and disgusted at the racism! It’s easy for white people, who have had 99% of the comic character to relate to, to all of a sudden get so concerned with fidelity to the source material because PERRY WHITE was a caucasian. Yet, no one blinks an eye when many white actors are hired to play non-white roles, or BAD white actors make mockeries of a part. No one out there crying for fidelity then.

White people were the default chatacter ethnicity when all these characters were created. That’s reality. Thank God Warner is stepping up and enacting some diversity. What’s really important is the spirit of the character and the story.

nate h- you’re right they didn’t make Superman black just Perry White but what are your views on Spiderman being made black?

Great choice for the role.
The main thing about casting Perry White is that he’s middle-aged to old and can fit the traditional news paper editor type.

Seriously, if your upset about a minor supporting player getting a race switch you really need to re-evaluate your life.

If the Superman movie becomes that awesome as the whole cast promises, go on!
My first thought about Fisburne as Perry White was very positive, and it gave me the hope for getting one of the best Superman movies.
Donner’s Superman was wonderful, Singer’s version had good ideas, but his Superman had to much of the Asberger syndrom.
•

And another thing, Miles Morales should become also a regular character in Universe 616.
This is important,or he will be to much like the rabbit out of the cylinder.
And if he’s got no spider powers, it would be interesting what he does instead of. Maybe the new photographic biograph of Spiderman?

I wonder if Newsarama had been around back when they rebooted “Fantasy Island” that we’d have problems with a puny Brit replacing that suave Latin Mr. Roarke.

Get a grip, folks. I love Superman. Correction: I loved Superman for thirty years and then the past five, we’ve just been going through the motions for the sake of the collection. Perry White is black? So what? This is the most minor thing to come out of Warner the past three months! GL blew, the new 52 will blow, and quite frankly, no one at DC seems to care about fans anymore.

And really, if Jonah Hex can talk to the dead, a black Perry White is just a non-issue.

(By the way, because race is SUCH an issue on this thread, I’m white (and have been all thirty-eight years of my life) and I’m totally down with Morpheus as Perry. In fact, gimme a film x-over with Perry White and Nick Fury in 1980s Grenada, and I’ll be happy!)

Is it wrong that my problem with his casting has NOTHING to do with race, and ratehr is due to the fact that he’s way to cool to play perry white? Perry White needs to be overblown and cheesy! All energy! Lawrence Fishburne is way too stillwater. Good actor though, so maybe he can pull it off.

Black actors playing White characters?
White actors playing Black characters?

Would ANYONE choose David Hasselhoff over Samuel Jackson in the role of the Nick Fury? Both have played the character, but Samuel Jackson owns the role on screen and anyone who is not a fan of the comic book, probably thinks of Nick Fury today as a Black Man. Just like a good majority of television fans think of Green Lantern as John Stewart and not Hal Jordan…

Alec Baldwin seems more Perry Whitey to me as he ages, so I was hoping they’d cast him. Also Frank Langella is awesome and I’d have liked to see him get another crack at it too. Fishburne doesn’t strike me as the best choice, black or otherwise, but I’ll reserve judgment.

Back before the Lois & Clark TV series debuted there was word that Perry White would be black in that, which should tell you what an obvious and moronic notion it is. It’s a calculated way of suggesting progressiveness and change without actually embracing those things. Cast a black Lois Lane and you might impress me — I’d respect that decision, even if I didn’t agree with it.

Frankly, provided Fishburne stays within himself I have no problem with him as Perry White. the real factor is the rest of the casting and story.

WHATS MORE EMBARRASING IS WHEN YOU HAVE A SO CALL ARTIST ACTING LIKE A 8 YEAR OLD KID. BANNING FOLK WHO DONT GO A LONG WITH HIS IDEALS IS CHILDISH. HIS ART IS NOT THAT GREAT FIRST OF ALL THERES NOTHING WRONG WITH A BLACK PERRY WHITE OR A BLACK SPIDERMAN ONE OF THE MAIN PROBLEMS WITH FOKES LIKE MR BYRNES IS THAT THEY SEE THE WORLD AS A ONE WAY STREET AND NOTHING ELSE THERES NOTHING WRONG WITH MIXING UP THINGS EVER NOW AND THEN YOU WOULD THINK HE WOULD KNOW BETTER BUT SOME FOKES NEVER SEEM TO GET IT

Here’s my take on things. It addresses both Laurence Fishburne’s casting as well as teh new Ultimate Spider-Man.

If they killed Peter Parker off JUST so they could replace him with a character of another ethnicity then that is wrong.

But I read Death of Spider-Man and it was an excellent story that would have been CHEAPENED if they had not followed through. If they wanted to continue telling Spider-Man stories in the Ultimate universe a new character had to step up an take on the mantle. And in that case WHY NOT someone who is different than Peter Parker both in personality and (if they want) ethnicity?

If they had tried after 100+issues to suddenly make PETER of different ethnicity then that would be stupid (unless they had a REALLY sensible in story reason)

Now in a similiar vein Perry White has been an old White dude in the comics for a while. And again if they changed that in the main DC books I would be annoyed. But in a movie that is BASED on the comic? They are going to take liberties so that they can tell the story they want to tell in the way they want to tell it with people they believe to be competent for the roles they need filled. Since the movie is a movie with an original story and not a direct adaption of the comic there is no reason NOT to put the best actor in the roll they can. Make him , Black, white , hispanic, it doesn’t matter. It’s different. It’s new.

In the Ultimate Universe Nick Fury is Black. In the Regular Marvel U he’s STILL an old white guy. In the movie he’s Sam Jackson. In any universe he’s awesome. And as long as we aren’t making changes for no good reason to whats been established thats just fine.

wow

John Byrne is an asshole. If we followed that rule then I think comics casting would be pretty freakin boring in both films and comic for…..well, forever. When these classic characters were created all pop culture characters were white, except for the same black face acts he’s referring to. Movies and comics are folk art. They’re meant to speak directly to the people who consume them. It is a good thing that they change and speak directly to us, rather than remain stuck in their old forms.

“He’s very against both and has been banning people (4 so far) who disagree with him”

What do you expect of a site where the followers are known as Byrnebots? Goose-step or get banned.

And Jill and BMB, the comments you’ve seen elsewhere regarding the new Ultimate Spidey shouldn’t surprise you, because those kinds of comments can be found on many news sites these days to just about ANY and EVERY story.

Whether it’s regarding race, politics, religion, those comments, which are far too frequent and by far too many people, pretty much show that any notion of ‘progress’ is an illusion.

@sniperboy4: Yeah, it’s a typo, but I’d love to see “Nightmare on Elk Street III: Dream Warriors.” Must be the Canadian version of the franchise. “I’m your boyfriend now, Nancy, eh?”

Here’s my take:

Laurence Fishburne whooooo!!!

He’s good, he is always good, and he will be good in this role.

Oh, “John,” I feel sorry for you. Four out of five of your Blog@Newsarama comments are directed at hating me and/or Oracle. I’m sorry you have so much hate in your heart. Some of us love what we love and don’t apologize for it. As a community, geeks seem to produce more hate and vitriol than anything else. It’s a shame you can’t direct your anger into something more positive. But thanks for reading my word, even if you don’t enjoy it.