More Suicide Squad Casting: Will Smith as Captain Boomerang?

[Erttheking]

what is it lately with changing the ethic identity of characters to black guys in superhero movies?

Probably because Hollywood has been changing Black Asian and Hispanic characters to white people for decades now.

if a character is white in the comics he or she should be white in the film. same goes for black, Asian and Hispanic characters.. keep the characters the same race as they originally were.

As ideal as that would be, it's a policy absolutely no one seems to be interested in following.

 

[elvor0]

Also if I was planning this I'd probably want Manchester Black in The Suicide Squad (I believe he was a member as of the time of "Our Worlds At War" with the whole Imperiax thing), largely because they don't seem to have any mentalists in the DC Cinematic Universe yet (none even planned) and he's a decent villain for Superman. To begin with before his writers "lost it" and he became a total psycho obsessed with making Superman kill because of... reasons... he was actually fairly sympathetic and made some excellent points, while being interesting because he wasn't scared of Superman without even needing Kryptonite as his powers were perfectly effective against him.

As much as I'd love to see Manchester make a live action appearance, I dunno if it would work sticking him in the suicide squad straight up. A big part of his characterisation and obsession with Supes obviously comes from "What's so funny about..." and it fight feel a bit strange just chucking him in there without that story being told, he'd feel a bit flat. If they just chucked him straight in there, he might come accross as 2D, or just too villianous, which isn't a word I'd really use to describe him.

Of course, that story is something that would be pretty great as Man of Steel 3, but then we'll have to see how Supes gets characterized himself in Dawn of Justice. Clark hasn't really become Superman yet in the DCMU as far as I'm concerned. There was a super man in Man of Steel, but he wasn't yet Superman, if you catch my drift. And without him being Superman, (Truth, Justice, et all) "What's so funny" might not work quite as well. Plus Superman vs the Elite was a borderline perfect adaption of the source anyway.

 

[ckam]

I don't know. Wouldn't Will Smith want to be a cool leading villain along the likes of Joker or something. Boomerang guy doesn't scream self-centered actor to me.

 

[hermes]

I don't know. Wouldn't Will Smith want to be a cool leading villain along the likes of Joker or something. Boomerang guy doesn't scream self-centered actor to me.

I was coming here to say pretty much the same thing. I doubt Will Smith would be interested in playing a C-list villain in an assemble team movie... and not even the leader.

 

[Abomination]

Apparently it's really difficult to find a racist in Australia.

I hope this is a joke or something, Capt. Boomerang's "established" persona is that of a white, racist, Australian, cockup with a perchance for throwing curved bits of wood around. This "re-imagining" of the character stinks of corporations afraid of having a racist protagonist.

Was that really a major part of his character?
I've read some comics with him and he was just a weird guy who threw boomerangs at Flash.
I guess this is a character-trait that was added later during the 90's or something?

Also a quick google search tells me there are two captain boomerangs?

But yeah, this sounds like a joke.
Although I can see how they'd want to make him black to distance the character from those elements if they're not going for that characterization.

In the Suicide Squad version of Cpt. Boomerang? Yeah. It's what puts him at odds and at the throats of other members of the group. The whole inner-tension thing that could result in homicide is sort of part of the theme for them.

Cpt. Boomerang frequently screws up and often times they wish to just off the guy but, on occasion, he pulls off some stupid bullshit that works beyond expectations, saving the day. Sometimes you need a fella who can curve a shot around a corner with some sorta wacky gadget.

But of all the people for Will Smith to play they decide to go for Cpt. Boomerang? There were so many others in the lineup he would be better suited to. I mean come on, an AFRICAN Australian? I realize in America people of African decent are common but in the Antipodes they're a rarity to the degree of a double-take.

 

[Lieju]

But of all the people for Will Smith to play they decide to go for Cpt. Boomerang? There were so many others in the lineup he would be better suited to. I mean come on, an AFRICAN Australian? I realize in America people of African decent are common but in the Antipodes they're a rarity to the degree of a double-take.

Well, he's half-American, isn't he?
His dad could have easily been black. And him being black does change the character. His obsession with something so stereotypically Australian could tie into people not seeing him as 'really' an Australian?

It's definitely a character where the ethnicity of them matters. But it doesn't make them out of place, it changes the character.

Which makes me think this might not be a hoax. The best way to avoid those kinds of implications and that part of the history if you're not going to handle it would be to make him black.
(Or you could just not put him in the movie.)