Black Thor Actor Talks About Racist Comic Book Fans

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
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Black Thor Actor Talks About Racist Comic Book Fans

Magic and monsters are fine, but a black guy playing a Norse god? That's taking things too far.

Idris Elba, who plays Heimdall in Marvel's Thor movie, has spoken about the backlash caused by the casting of a black actor as a Norse god. Elba's casting has infuriated a number of groups who feel it is insulting to have a person of color playing a figure often referred to as the "Whitest of the Gods."

Elba indicated that complaints about his casting came in two types: There were the purist comic books fans who were upset about the changes made to the canon - Heimdall [http://marvel.com/universe/Heimdall] is depicted as white in the comics - and then there were others whose complaints were solely motivated by race. He was reluctant to speak about it too much though, as he didn't want to fuel the issue. Ultimately, he said, if people didn't like the casting decisions, they should just stay at home and not see the movie.

Sadly, the fan backlash against Elba's casting is not a new phenomenon - Penny Arcade tackled it in a comic [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/12/20/] late last year - and it isn't the first time that Elba has talked about it. Just over a year ago, he said that Thor had so many fantastical elements that he was amazed that anyone would pay attention to the color of his skin. He acknowledged that he didn't really look like the traditional image of a Scandinavian, but said that in future there would be more diversity in Hollywood casting. "I was cast in Thor and I'm cast as a Nordic god," he said. "If you know anything about the Nords, they don't look like me but there you go. I think that's a sign of the times for the future. I think we will see multi-level casting. I think we will see that, and I think that's good."

Unfortunately, that's not an opinion shared by his detractors. Some [http://boycott-thor.com/] of the Elba's staunchest - although ostensibly not racially motivated - opponents accuse Marvel of left-wing social engineering, noting that it attacked the Tea Party movement in a recent issue of Captain America, and that Stan Lee is known to support left-wing politicians. Other [http://www.stormfront.org/forum/t703651/] complainants, who are more directly racist, talk about the "filthy culture of judaism [sic]" and how Elba's casting is an attack on "White Culture." While the latter accusation is both disgusting and ridiculous, the former - that the left wing is using the media, and especially Hollywood, as a vehicle for propaganda - is not new. It was also leveled at DC Comics following the news [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/109659-Superman-Quits-America-Fox-News-Readers-Take-the-News-Badly] that Superman was going to renounce his US citizenship.

Although Elba doesn't look like a typical viking, it's not as if he's playing a historical figure, and it's hardly the only liberty that Marvel has taken with the Norse pantheon. As insults go, saying that the Norse gods were actually aliens with some really advanced technology - which is actually true in the Marvel canon - would seem to be much worse than casting a black actor as Heimdall, but strangely, no one seems to be bothered about that fact. All joking aside though, race in the media is a delicate and difficult subject, whether you're talking about the accusations of "whitewashing [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/91423-Avatar-Protest-Shut-Down-By-Viacom-Copyright-Claim]" in The Last Airbender movie - which is the casting of white actors as characters of color - or the accusations of racism [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/89242-Resident-Evil-5-Coverage-Reignites-Racism-Debate] in Resident Evil 5. It's an issue that people need to keep talking about though, because like any serious issue, it's not going to go away if we just ignore it.

Source: Hero Complex [http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/05/02/thor-star-idris-elba-on-fan-racism-and-ghost-rider-sequel-but-not-prometheus/]










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thenumberthirteen

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Dec 19, 2007
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I just saw the film yesterday, and I'm glad he was cast in the role. He was epic! I would have gladly watched an entire film about him without a single mention of Thor.
 

vaderaider

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Nov 2, 2009
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I saw Thor a couple of days ago And he was pretty much the only character who I liked.
 

Professor M

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Jul 31, 2009
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thenumberthirteen said:
I just saw the film yesterday, and I'm glad he was cast in the role. He was epic! I would have gladly watched an entire film about him without a single mention of Thor.
This, a thousand times this. Me and my friends all agreed he was the most badass character
 

Prof.Beany

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Apr 22, 2011
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Its the black Hobbit fiasco all over again.
Fans just get very attached to the source material.
 

John the Gamer

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May 2, 2010
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He did an excellent job, and I'm glad they used him for it. It probably only made the movie more epic.

I can't wait for Captain America and the other avenger movies now...

I do wonder when Moviebob'll do Thor, this week, next week? Who nows.
 

Trogdor1138

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May 28, 2010
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These complainers have nothing else to do in their lives I see. I can't believe things like this are such an issue. Who the fuck cares?

Also, he was really good in the movie too, which is probably the reason he was cast maybe? That he was good and suited the role? Fans don't seem to give a shit though and they complain that it isn't perfect (apparently the source material is though, that's a laugh).

Oh, the movie is also excellent, for anybody who hasn't seen it yet I suggest you do.
 

brunothepig

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May 18, 2009
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thenumberthirteen said:
I just saw the film yesterday, and I'm glad he was cast in the role. He was epic! I would have gladly watched an entire film about him without a single mention of Thor.
AsthmaticPsycho said:
thenumberthirteen said:
I just saw the film yesterday, and I'm glad he was cast in the role. He was epic! I would have gladly watched an entire film about him without a single mention of Thor.
This, a thousand times this. Me and my friends all agreed he was the most badass character
Me too! He was so awesome...
Now, I do think that main characters should be cast as close as possible to the source, Thor being black would have been kinda weird. But other characters, especially one as minor as this guy (he really doesn't do much, disappointingly). And he did a great job being a badass.
 

Asuka Soryu

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Jun 11, 2010
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It does seem dumb(especialy if your complaining just because of race) but I can kinda understand, I'd find it a bit off if I saw a white, Yami Malik Ishtar or Killer Bee if they ever made a live version movie of Yu-Gi-Oh!/Naruto.
 

evilstonermonkey

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Oct 26, 2009
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Aside from Thor and Odin (Sir Anthony Hopkins, FUCK YEAH), Heimdall was the only Asgardian I liked. Thors friends were 1 dimensional and Loki was annoying. He did an excellent job of turning a relatively minor role into a memorable badass. Although, the golden eyes made me keep expecting him to turn lycan and go hunt Kate Beckinsale. I wish him the best and hope he comes back if they make Thor 2, or give him a cameo in the Avengers movie as he helps Thor return to Earth or something, even if for no other reason than to see a bunch of aryans chew the walls.
 

Akihiko

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Aug 21, 2008
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I've never read the Thor comics, so I can't really compare it to that, but having seen the film the other day, I thought he played the role very well, and definitely one of the better characters despite being a smaller role.
 

Hamster at Dawn

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Mar 19, 2008
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I'm pretty sure that Nick Fury was originally white. I know that he was black in comics before the movies but he was definitely white first. It's not exactly a new thing, is all I'm saying. Also, Elba was awesome in Thor and I wouldn't change him just to fit in a little bit better with the traditional canon. Things don't always have to change for the worse.
 

Scarim Coral

Jumped the ship
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Oct 29, 2010
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I think he perform excellently as Heimdall in the film. I don't get the whole issue seeing how in Daredevil the Kingpin was played by Michael Clarke Duncan (well ok added with the whole Norse God stuff) but serious while I can get how certain stuff should be accurate to the comics but with casting actors to which characters should not be a problem.
 

The Hairminator

How about no?
Mar 17, 2009
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I haven't seen the movies, so maybe I should keep my mouth shut on the matter- but here goes my Swedish 5 kronor.

This is a Marvel creation and obviously has very little to do with original norse paganism. I understand if fans are mad because of a canon breach- but the people trying to defend the source material just come off as silly to me. The characters obviously do not even strive to be accurate portraits of the original gods.
 

HerbertTheHamster

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Apr 6, 2009
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Let's cast a black jew as hitler in the next WWII movie, ok?

I understand the complaining about canon, but the plot of the movie is pretty different from the comics.
 

TehKnifeh

Custard Connoisseur
Dec 26, 2008
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It does seem strange how fickle people can get with this. Know granted I could be wrong, but I didnt see any threads years ago about how casting Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury in build up to the Avengers. In fact I cant say I have heard a word how casting a black guy as the one-eyed leader of SHIELD was a bad idea just because in the comics he is white.
 

Dana22

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Sep 10, 2008
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bahumat42 said:
Dana22 said:
Wasn't Heimdall black in SOME of the comics ?
nope
not even ultimate
BUT since this whole plotline is MASSIVELY different to the comics anyway its fine. Future super advanced people get to be multicultural xD
Not even in Thor: The Mighty Avenger no.6 ?