Black Superman

wallyj84

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So Warner Bros is in the process of making a Superman movie where a black person will play Superman. The nerd community is of course going crazy over this. Some people seem to like it, but others don't.

As a black nerd I'm kinda conflicted about the whole thing. I don't care about Superman's race, however I do think the reaction to the film and the behind the scenes stories that will inevitably come out about the creation of the film will be some of the most entertaining stuff ever. So I want them to make the movie, even if I'm not interested in the movie itself.

What do you guys think of this movie project?
 
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MickeyLee

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Stoked.

Rumor and fingers crossed: Michael B Jordon is amazing. From Fruitville Station to Black Panther, outside the uniqueness of his melanin, he'd one of the most accomplished actors to take on the role. Seriously looking forward to seeing real depth to the character. As much depth as MCU allows.

Not a shine on Cavill, cuz he cool. Announcing the reboot on his birthday was brutal.

My racist extended family: Superman is from Kansas!! White!!!

Me: umm, Superman is from Krypton.

ETA: while I am mad partial to Jordan, there are so many up and coming young black men who would be amazing in the roll. Hmm might come back with a list of actors not Jordan who would be dope.
 
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EllieP

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I'm going to forward an idea here. A superhero movie I enjoyed was Hancock.

He's portrayed by Will Smith as a down on his luck, unemployed alcoholic super human who never seems to do anything right. His counterpart, Charlize Theron, is a beautiful supermodel wife of a ad exec who is the perfect suburban soccer mom.

Now, switch races and places, and I think that'd be a much more interesting movie than a black Superman.
 
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fireman1294

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I always catch hell on this subject because I’m a purist when it comes to written material that’s taken from a page and put to screen. I believe that the characters should always represent how the creator made them. After all that’s his work and likeness that you are using. If the character was written as a short fat white man then he shouldn’t be played in a movie as a tall muscular Dominican man. When you do that you are basically pissing on the original creators character and doing what you want to do. A great example is James Bond. I believe Sean Connery was the best bond because he was the only one that portrayed the character as Sir Ian Fleming created him. Bond was Welsh not British. That’s why all the British Bonds from George Lazenby to Daniel Craig we’re not true to the character. I’m not saying they did a bad job at all they were just not portraying how the character was created.
 
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deleted848353

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I always catch hell on this subject because I’m a purist when it comes to written material that’s taken from a page and put to screen. I believe that the characters should always represent how the creator made them. After all that’s his work and likeness that you are using. If the character was written as a short fat white man then he shouldn’t be played in a movie as a tall muscular Dominican man. When you do that you are basically pissing on the original creators character and doing what you want to do. A great example is James Bond. I believe Sean Connery was the best bond because he was the only one that portrayed the character as Sir Ian Fleming created him. Bond was Welsh not British. That’s why all the British Bonds from George Lazenby to Daniel Craig we’re not true to the character. I’m not saying they did a bad job at all they were just not portraying how the character was created.
If bond was indeed Welsh then Sean Connery could not have been portraying him as sir Ian Fleming wanted as Sean Connery was from Edinburgh in Scotland so not Welsh but Scottish.

ETA a quick Google and wikipedia states bond is actually British (of Scottish descent) not welsh
 
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deleted1074483

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for a 'fantasy' sci fi were not based on anything remotely 'real' I have no problems at all who plays superman race wise - after all if he's from Krypton who knows what colour they are (obs just 'earth' colours to mix in lol)

for 'reality' stuff, where its based on historical figures then I do think that is different.
 

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Next thing I guess, a mongoloid Uncle Tom and a 55yo transgender Little Eva. As long as one has secured the rights to the play, they may well make a mockery out of it. Why not?
 

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MickeyLee

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Next thing I guess, a mongoloid Uncle Tom and a 55yo transgender Little Eva. As long as one has secured the rights to the play, they may well make a mockery out of it. Why not?

Is this parody?

I am not sure...cuz there are so many layers.
 
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DCMMP3

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for a 'fantasy' sci fi were not based on anything remotely 'real' I have no problems at all who plays superman race wise - after all if he's from Krypton who knows what colour they are (obs just 'earth' colours to mix in lol)

for 'reality' stuff, where its based on historical figures then I do think that is different.

Well, we do know how the creators of the character depicted him in their work: an able bodied white male in his 30's, not E.T. Superman may not be a historical figure, he IS though a specific character, and we have more than enough visual clues as to his external appearance.
 
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Well, we do know how the creators of the character depicted him in their work: an able bodied white male in his 30's, not E.T. Superman may not be a historical figure, he IS though a specific character, and we have more than enough visual clues as to his external appearance.

the trouble with that analysis though is that he first appeared in the 50s i think? In USA and anything other than a white 'superhero' would not have been accepted.

I understand that for some its a why mess with a good formulae, for others it may be they are super fans and just don't want their canon changed, and i'm sure for some it has racial undertones..

I just gave my opinion on it :)
 
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I guess I'm more concerned that the movie is just another Clark Kent retread than anything really new. Same as Robert Pattison's Batman, which I am not at all excited about. I don't see a point to it other than an attempt at a cash grab after ending the Snyder universe.

If it's one of the comic book characters like Val Zod of Earth 2, or Calvin Ellis of Earth 23 that could be interesting. Not every Superman has to be Clark Kent.
 

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I guess I'm more concerned that the movie is just another Clark Kent retread than anything really new. Same as Robert Pattison's Batman, which I am not at all excited about. I don't see a point to it other than an attempt at a cash grab after ending the Snyder universe.

If it's one of the comic book characters like Val Zod of Earth 2, or Calvin Ellis of Earth 23 that could be interesting. Not every Superman has to be Clark Kent.
I believe that he will be based on "Calvin Ellis " of earth 23. But most people will not know this/that. They think that they are re-booting the "Clark Kent " story line.
I hope that they make it.
 

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I believe that he will be based on "Calvin Ellis " of earth 23. But most people will not know this/that. They think that they are re-booting the "Clark Kent " story line.
I hope that they make it.
Now doing something like “The Spider-Verse” would be cool. Or how the TV shows did the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” you had the Tom Welling and the Brandon Routh super men in the same show just a different earth.
 
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the trouble with that analysis though is that he first appeared in the 50s i think? In USA and anything other than a white 'superhero' would not have been accepted.

I understand that for some its a why mess with a good formulae, for others it may be they are super fans and just don't want their canon changed, and i'm sure for some it has racial undertones..

I just gave my opinion on it :)

Indeed, he did appear at an era where heroes were supposed to be white. First stand-alone issue was in 1939.
I wonder though if appropriating a white MIddle Amrrica hero is the way to project diversity, let alone to bring viewers to movie halls again. Novelty value? May be. They would ruin their product however in one swift move. Next stop: Superman Ninja! :)
 
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deleted1074483

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Indeed, he did appear at an era where heroes were supposed to be white. First stand-alone issue was in 1939.
I wonder though if appropriating a white MIddle Amrrica hero is the way to project diversity, let alone to bring viewers to movie halls again. Novelty value? May be. They would ruin their product however in one swift move. Next stop: Superman Ninja! :)


wow that early!!! i didn't know that, thanks

i make no judgment other than in my opinion it wouldn't bother me:)
 
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deleted5199391

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Superman is by far the stupidest and boring super hero ever.
DC has the habit to create insanely strong heroes (Flash can run 10 times faster than light, and this should make him too fast even for thougts).
So the stories aren't coherent.
Superman shouldn't be human, I don't get why people could be worried about his skin colour.
But yeah, poor design so he is litterally like a human.