Black Thor Actor Talks About Racist Comic Book Fans

[Tiamat666]

Casting a black guy as a Norse god is retarded. 99% of Vikings probably didn't even know that black skinned people even exist.
That's like making a film about Shaka Zulu and having a blonde, american guy play the role.

This has nothing to do with racism by the way. I'm all for Obama'2012!

 

[Luciella]

Casting a black guy as a Norse god is retarded. 99% of Vikings probably didn't even know that black skinned people even exist.
That's like making a film about Shaka Zulu and having a blonde, american guy play the role.

This has nothing to do with racism by the way. I'm all for Obama'2012!

I agree 100% with u.
Also, if they were going to go "all races in" why didnt they casted a latinamerican as one of Thor god-friends or as Loki, and an Indian as Odin?
Idk, if they had a "must put a color guy in the formula" they could easyly make the old guy doctor a guy of color; it would have made a lot more sense, than having a black viking god.

I liked his performance, but it was odd, as well as the asian guy colorfuly put in the movie by one of the Shiled agents as "Jakie Chan" lol.

Or now the odd trend to put gays everywhere.

 

[rsvp42]

I thought he looked cool in the trailer. Why would people care? It's a movie adaptation of a comic about magic space viking gods. But because real life Nordic people were all white there's a problem?

Whatever. People have no whimsy anymore.

 

[lSHaDoW-FoXl]

I feel dirty. When I first started reading this article I was actually sitting right on the fence of this issue. I mean, back during the time of polytheism I seriously doubt there was a single black man that lived in the norse. And no, I'm not racist. If there was a white man in Egypt during this time I'd probably be bitching about the same thing. If the character wasn't a norse god I really wouldn't care what colour he was. Heck, I usually don't even care if you change someones colour completely due to casting.

But I'm afraid I have troubles imagining anyone in the norse even having a tan. I mean, these are the pastiest guys in the world. But all the same I guess I don't exactly care because this IS a god we're talking about, why wouldn't he be black? Maybe he just got tired of being a lame white man and decided it was time to be cool just for once in his life. Then again, why in gods name don't we have a transvestite god? That would be pretty interesting.

But enough with my own opinion. It's for me to prosecute some morons.

This 'liberal agenda' bull shit has seriously got to stop. Guys, you're not being intelligent when you make these great conspiracy theories. If anything you're just making your selves sound paranoid and delusional. I mean, you're with Fox News and Drudge report, probably the greatest two propaganda-bullshit-spewing sites of our time.

'Filthy culture of judaism'

I wonder what these morons are smoking. What does a black guy playing a norse god have ANYTHING to deal with Judaism?

 

[OtherSideofSky]

You know, if they were actually trying to portray a real culture or society, I would get upset at them for casting people of the wrong ethnicity (for instance, it really annoys me when they have a movie set in Japan and cast all Chinese people), but in this case I think all that really matters is that he looks awesome, and he does. Besides even the most basic knowledge of how colors work would tell you that a white guy would never look as good in that outfit (it's a matter of how well the skin tone offsets all that gold).

 

[OtherSideofSky]

sorry, double post. Thought the site ate it the first time, but I was apparently mistaken.

 

[Nieroshai]

Here are some issues:
1. Even though they ARE aliens, the general assumption would be that the Marvel Norse would have made note of a black god.
2. Stop changing comics characters. Nick Fury works purely because it made him more awesome, but in other places it's dreadfully unnecessary.
3. If there was a comic about African deities and the movie retconned a few of them to be white, you bet your ass there would be outrage AND lawsuits.

 

[Jabberwock King]

I will say that I have some minor objections, but let it be known that I would not identify with either of the primary whiners, I am whining in a different category quietly.

Because of my ignorance of Marvel's version of Norse mythology up to this point outside of comic scans that I noticed on Google image searches that I wasn't looking for (and because I played Ensemble Studio's Age of Mythology), it did strike me as odd that this decision was made. I've gathered that he's actually an alien, and that his acting kicked ass, so I have no complaints over that.

Actually, me bothering to complain at all is a bit silly seeing as how everyone else has already said anything that I wanted to say. Anyway, all of this is done and only another marvel universe re-boot will change it. My bet is on it happening in 8 years.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

After seeing the movie I can honestly say he was the best thing in it. And the whole idea like brought up in the original post is that the Norse Gods were aliens from another dimension who came to earth and were worshipped by the Norse. The Norse didn't make them up so they could be any colour they want.

It honestly disgusts me that this is even as major an issue as it is. Loki also has black hair rather than Giger as in mythology, where's the people up in arms over this?

 

[Z3RO180]

ive just read the article i thinck that is a piss poor reason to hate on some one.As a comic fan of the thor comics hemidall is one of the characters that i really like and i really dount care what race or what skin coulour the acter has that plays him as long as he does a good job and not mess it up.But to hate an acter or any one based on the skin couler is just a stupied and pointless thing.Come on pepole it the 21st century grow up and stop hateing on peple soly for the skin coulour.

 

[Mantonio]

At least it's not as bad as the casting for Avatar: the Last Airbender. Observe:

Personally, I am still sort of against this casting role. Partially because I'm not sure if I know what his past work is, so at first glance I get a cynical feeling that he's thrown in as a token actor. But also because (despite what some of you may say) race IS part of a characters profile, their description. If you're going to change that you should treat it just as seriously as changing any other part of them.

It would be like (I don't know) making Captain America black. Sure it could work, but at the end of the day the character Steve Rogers is not black.

But on the other hand, he's not a major character as far as I'm aware, so him being in it is not as objectionable as my Captain America example. When it gets right down to it though, I shall save my judgement for when I see the movie. If he turns out to be a good actor, then everything will be fine.

Oh, and to all of you who are branding anyone who says anything on the issue a racist? I whole heartedly tell you to shove it.

 

[Ledan]

So I haven't seen the movie yet, and I still intend to as soon as possible. I'm Swedish and viking mythology is part of my background and I'm heavily into it. Seriously, we had children's books with the tales of Asgard .
Like I said, I haven't seen the movie yet. The actor is probably great for the role, and I would be sad that he is sorta non-cannon IF it weren't for marvel already haven taken quite a large deviation from real viking mythology.
If this were a movie about real viking mythology: I would be angered that the actor playing Heimdall was black. Just like I would be angered to have Osiris or Zeus replaced. Or like I AM pissed that Aang and Kitara were changed. Then again, if it were a real Viking mythology movie, I would be angered if the entire cast didn't have Scandinavian accents.....
never gonna happen in hollywood.

 

[frostgiant]

he did infact have a beard many times, there was a time when he was cursed and couldn't remove his helmet and he had a beard, in the ultimate universe he always has a beard.

 

[frostgiant]

It's a shame on both fronts, I agree on how terrible the Avatar movie turned out with those changes.

 

[Clonekiller]

Yeah, he's awesome. It really bums me out how comics have become deeply entrenched in politics. You have issues that attack one group or support one political figure, (sometimes but not always hidden behind a new name) and you end up with controversy. Is there any real surprise that this kind of thing is happening in a world where comics are trying to become politically relevant? Seems awful strange to me, not to mention sad.

 

[ReiverCorrupter]

Given the context of them being aliens there isn't much of a problem with one of them being black. However, let's be realistic, it probably does have some overtones of social commentary. Why would it be alright for people to complain about white actors playing traditionally non-white historical/mythological figures while it's okay for the reverse to happen? Two wrongs don't make a right. A better answer would be to develop movies based upon mythological figures from other cultures than to try to make one culture's mythology multicultural. That's just absurd.

But like I said, within the comic/film's context it makes sense.

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.

I like Norse mythology, and I have to say, I am far more upset with other things than the black Heimdall. The point at which I laugh hysterically whilst viewing the previews is when Odin (Anthony Hopkins) makes Thor swear to uphold the peace...

WHAT. THE. FUCK!?!?!?!

It's one thing to take some liberties with characters and minor facts, but this simply isn't Norse mythology even in its most basic spirit. Norse mythology revolves around war. The universe begins in war and it ends in war. Not only that, but war is essentially the meaning of existence. It is not just a sad fact of reality, but something glorious. One only gains entrance to Valhalla by dying in battle. Cowards go to hell. Death in battle was the goal, and most Norsemen feared what they called a 'straw death' (i.e. the peaceful death that everyone seems to value in modern society). Old men would often go out into the roads with their swords and chain themselves to some of their treasure so that passers by would attack and hopefully kill them.

To suggest that the goal of the Aesir is to uphold peace flies in the face of everything that is central to Norse mythology. It's one thing to criticize their value system, but to misappropriate it in this way is just blatantly disrespectful and a sign of callous arrogance and assumed cultural superiority, if not simply a sign of downright willful ignorance.

 

[FangShadow]

This is a tough issue for me to make a call on.

On the one hand, I believe source material is important. A black thor, while cool, would seem strange to general audiences.

However, I don't mind so much if liberties are taken with characters whose presence in the story isn't as large. (I haven't seen the movie yet. I will see it this weekend(american).

I also don't want someone cast just because of their skin color just to fill a quota. That's shallow and I would rather someone have good acting ability to make a character believeable than look completelty correct.

...I don't know...I guess I need to see the movie before I can make a judgement call.

 

[Jabberwock King]

I will say that I have some minor objections, but let it be known that I would not identify with either of the primary whiners, I am whining in a different category quietly.

Because of my ignorance of Marvel's version of Norse mythology up to this point outside of comic scans that I noticed on Google image searches that I wasn't looking for (and because I played Ensemble Studio's Age of Mythology), it did strike me as odd that this decision was made. I've gathered that he's actually an alien, and that his acting kicked ass, so I have no complaints over that.

Actually, me bothering to complain at all is a bit silly seeing as how everyone else has already said anything that I wanted to say. Anyway, all of this is done and only another marvel universe re-boot will change it. My bet is on it happening in 8 years.

Oh, I just remembered another movie concerning the Nordic pantheon.

The Son of The Mask
Compared to the butchery of this movie, a black viking god is just a paper cut in terms of accuracy (aside from the alien thing). While you only saw 2 of the gods, Loki and Odin, their relation to each other was completely skewed for the sake of a badly acted father/son relationship.

 

[azriel2422]

He is a great actor, I have only heard great things about his performance in this movie. I have been a huge fan of his since Rock N Rolla and basically anything I have seen him in...I just think its sad how people can't even see the movie before they fly off the handle.