Earth's Whitey-est Heroes

[artanis_neravar]

From the gender diversity perspective, I think Ms Marvel would make a better addition to the movie than Black Widow. Not only she is more interesting (powerwise), she also has a cool origins story, which can be tied to the overall screenplay of the movie. It would sure give us a better villain than the Chitauri... Besides, Black Widow was seriously underpowered compared to the rest of the team, even Hawkeye.

Both Luke Cage and Black Panther would be good additions, and I think the rights for a movie were in the talks for years now. However, from an ethnic perspective, they should include The Wasp. Not only an Ant Man movie is close to be next in line for Marvel, but Wasp is both woman and Asian, which covers two "niches" in one. They can always retell her origin so she is not a mutant. Alternatively, they can go for the Scott Lang version, instead of Hank Prim.

The Wasp wasn't a mutant, her powers came from Pym Particles and (artificial) genetic alterations

 

[Calbeck]

First, read the article. He doesn't mention shoehorning at all.

He's calling for extra heroes to be added to a plot that had no room for them, ONLY to "diversify the main cast". That's "shoehorning", and I'm hardly the first or only poster to use exactly that term in response. Interestingly enough, without my even having to read any of the responses beforehand.

Honestly most of the heroes he listed are things most of the fans want. Black Panther and Luke Cage are staples of the Avengers roster, as is Spider-Woman.

All those points have already been addressed by others, and no, there's no horde of Avengers fans who wanted to see any of those characters replace those which actually appeared in the film --- largely because those which did appear have been bigger staples of the same roster for much longer.

Second, Nick Fury is his Ultimate counterpart, who is black.

(Wikis it) Point taken. Fact is, I haven't read superhero comics in so long, I never even noticed Marvel did a reboot. The only Nick Fury I ever read about was an Italian with a cigar.

Third, the actor who played Heimdall was cast, not because he's black, but because he is a fantastic actor

So, clearly, you'd have had no issue with a fantastic Asian or Hispanic actor playing the part of Joe "Lightning" Little in "Red Tails", a movie about the Tuskeegee Airmen.

 

[Kanatatsu]

This article is absolute fucking garbage.

I'm sorry, but it's bloody obvious why none of these minor characters were scripted into the Avengers. Because it's a movie designed to make money, and you go with your best characters.

Getting the "Nick Fury is black" thing out of the way at the beginning is clever, Bob, but the fact is that making Nick Fury black was a HUGE nod to diversity (I am aware he is black in the Ultimate universe, but it's still a big deal, since this movie evidently does not take place in that universe).

Also, including the Black Widow was an obvious attempt to plug in a female Avenger (as Black Widow is at best a tangential character in the comics).

This article has absolutely no point and no good argument to make. It's crap filler and the Escapist can and should do better.

 

[rancher of monsters]

This article is absolute fucking garbage.

I'm sorry, but it's bloody obvious why none of these minor characters were scripted into the Avengers. Because it's a movie designed to make money, and you go with your best characters.

Dude, let's be honest, nobody outside of dedicated comic book fans gave a fuck about Hawkeye, Black Widow, and arguably Thor before his movie came out. You could make an argument that kids who saw the latest Avenger's cartoon would recognize them, but you know who else was a major force in that cartoon, the Black Panther. The only people who gave a crap about Hawkeye and the others are the same people who know enough about the marvel universe to give a crap about Luke Cage, Spiderwoman, and the rest of the characters Bob mentioned, most of whom have WAAAAAAAAY more interesting backgrounds than, "I'm with shield and I prefer arrows over guns" (Yes I know he's more complicated than that, but that's all we got in the movie). Putting the legal reasons aside there's really no reason they couldn't have stuck any of their minority characters into the roster in their place.

Also, including the Black Widow was an obvious attempt to plug in a female Avenger (as Black Widow is at best a tangential character in the comics).

Actually the Avengers have always had at least one superheroine on their roster since their beginning. I wouldn't really call Black Widow a diversity move. If anything she's an, "oh my God, we forgot to put some boobs in the movie" move that was treated a bit respectfully. The issue still stands that she looks ridiculous shooting a pistol at aliens when Marvel has heroines who could destroy a city block without breaking a sweat.

 

[Calbeck]

It's not really shoehorning if these people are already part of Avengers lore.

It's shoehorning if you're trying to cram a character into an already-packed movie solely for reasons that have everything to do with pretenses to political-correctness and nothing to do with improving the movie. It is not a given that "diversifying the main cast" would do that. It's not even likely that doing so, with the available options, would so much as break even in the quality department.

Whether or not you want it to happen, there are heroes being added to the roster, with Ant-Man coming up, as well as talks about Dr. Strange.

Given that we're talking about Bob's problem with the "whiteness" of the cast in THIS movie, talking about casting the next one is a bit disingenuous. Either there's a race problem with the existing movie, or there isn't.

Bob and I, weren't calling for these heroes to replace the ones in the film, but to add to them.

For God's sake, WHERE?! There's noplace you could cram them into the film that wouldn't be a mere cameo or swapping out a supporting cast member (and I'm sure no one wants to see Luke Cage be the supporting cast member Loki offs).

Red Tails is a historical drama about a black squadron of WWII pilots. Casting anyone other than African Americans would be an insult to memory of those pilots.

Perhaps you didn't notice, but the flick was filmed in much the same style as 1970's "blaxploitation" films, right down to the "3D"-block-letter title credits and overblown music slapped over the opening scene and dialogue. The script might as well have been following a checklist cobbled together in committee, and I could not believe that it was being directed by the same man who helped Lucas direct "Star Wars", it was so lackluster.

Despite some great acting and CGI that was for the most part exceptional, it WAS an insult to the men who served and died, preying on newfound sentimentality and respect to chunk out as slapdash production for a few quick bucks while the Tuskeegee iron was briefly hot.

But let's get back to the meat of the matter: YOUR argument is that a film about a superteam, which itself is the culmination of about a half-dozen other films establishing the origins of the members OF that superteam, is lacking because all of the members picked for movie treatment came from the Avengers A-list --- and none of them happened to be something other than Caucasian.

It is EXACTLY the same as griping about "Red Tails" having nothing but black pilots in it. You are demanding B-listers replace A-listers as major (not supporting, not cameo) figures, without any idea of how they would actually have been worked in, for no better reason than being offended by a fictional character's skin color.

1) He wasn't black in Norse mythology. Easy answer to this one, it's not really based on Norse mythology.

Actually, the whole point made in the movie "Thor" was that Norse mythology was based ON the Asgardians coming to Earth in the first place.

The movie, "Avengers", also worked very well. It was not made worse by the lack of Luke Cage, Black Panther, or Spider-Woman.

I wouldn't cast a white person into a slavery biopic as a slave.

And I wouldn't cast a comic-book character who's a white man as a black man, OR vice versa. It doesn't become any less racist or offensive when the objective is the same damned thing.

 

[The Bandit]

Isn't the failing of the majority of superhero movies the "let's add more characters!" mentality? And we're having an article discussing how we should add a bunch of characters. Good idea.

 

[DSQ]

All I ask is there be a Luke Cage film one day please. Thank you.

 

[Limos]

For the love of god, don't bring in Spider-woman. Please please please. She is so terrible in every way and has always been terrible. Stop bringing her up, the only reason she was an avenger was because Bendis has a bizarre love for terrible characters.

Luke Cage and Iron Fist in a Heroes for Hire movie? Hells yes.
Black Panther movie? Hell to the fuck yes.

You want a good female hero introduced? She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters. We know Ruffalo is getting a solo hulk movie, gimme some of that She-hulk action. Misty Knight isn't really Avengers tier, but Ms. Marvel is begging to be brought in, or Photon.

 

[Kinokohatake]

i know you did a big picture on her but are we not going to mention Mrs. Marvel at all?

This article is about minorities. Ms. Marvel is blond hair and I think blue eyed. Soooo....

 

[ThunderCavalier]

While I would like for there to be more minority representation in movies, a COMIC BOOK movie isn't exactly the best source, since all of the best comic books were made back in the times where whitey people were the only people expected to be heroes in the first place.

If we wanted to add diversity, then I think the best choices would be the two characters that people keep bringing up in this topic, those being Ms. Marvel and the Wasp (and seriously, just put the Wasp in. Isn't she a founding member?).

As for the ones mentioned... I think the only members we'd ever see in a sequel to the Avengers are Luke Cage and the Black Panther, due to their popularity. What do I mean? I'm not a comic book fan, and the only ones I recognized out of those people there were the ones I mentioned. Sure, a good portion of the Avengers's audience are diehard Marvel and comic book fans, but a good portion are also normal people, Bob, people that don't care for comics.

Like... uh... most people I know that saw the Avengers.

 

[yeah_so_no]

i know you did a big picture on her but are we not going to mention Mrs. Marvel at all?

This article is about minorities. Ms. Marvel is blond hair and I think blue eyed. Soooo....

It has nothing to do with her being blond-haired and blue-eyed and so verboten (and and women=minority, which is why the biggest beneficiaries of Affirmative Action are actually white women. So.) and everything to do with the fact they don't have the movie rights to any character tied to X-Men. Which Ms. Marvel is, thanks to Rogue.

 

[ace_of_something]

It's not 'FORCING' diversity. The heroes he mentioned are all canonically their respective races. Honestly I was a little surprised they didn't make Hawkeye a different race. Either way I think Power Man and Iron Fist should get a Heroes for Hire movie. They should make Iron Fist completely Asian for this as opposed to half or not at all. Though it might be boring to have two more 'we can punch stuff really hard' guys join the team.

I thought it was awesome they have Black Widow. Little kids identify with people 'like them' weather you try to train them or not. My foster daughter wants to be Black Widow for halloween now. She's a superhero for little girls. Nothing wrong with it.
Would it kill us to let one of the existing minority characters join up? Like it or not kids watch superhero movies. I mean Black Panther has been in the avengers FOREVER. What about Falcon?

Also, when is Doctor Strange getting a movie? IT WOULD BE FUCKING AWESOME.

[a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Avengers_members]The Wiki[/a] there's been like 100 avengers. I think we can find some minorities with cool powers without 'shoehorning' anything.

 

[Di-Dorval]

Yea lets add characters based on their race to not be racist!

Ummm.. wait a minute!

 

[Valkyrie1981]

So why should Marvel make a token black guy super hero just to make you feel good? Let the Best Actor or Actress get the part for any future characters... Why should anyone care what color a super hero is? Last time I checked we should be judging people purely off of the content of their Character. The fact that you need diversity for diversity is spitting in the face of the equality that one of the greatest leaders in this world demanded out of all of us, no matter the race.

The argument is insulting...

 

[rbstewart7263]

So why should Marvel make a token black guy super hero just to make you feel good? Let the Best Actor or Actress get the part for any future characters... Why should anyone care what color a super hero is? Last time I checked we should be judging people purely off of the content of their Character. The fact that you need diversity for diversity is spitting in the face of the equality that one of the greatest leaders in this world demanded out of all of us, no matter the race.

The argument is insulting...

.



Thank you.