As Bond is British, I have nothing against Bond being any of the cultural subgroups there, including Chinese or Indian. We've already had Scottish and English, why not something else? Such would be far less important than writing a proper story, mind you. CR = good, QoS = boring.

For folks citing Bond's womanizing as one of his immutable traits, had you not noticed how drastically that part of his personality got toned down after AIDS became a worldwide epidemic? The producers felt that it was inappropriate and irresponsible for Bond to be shagging everyone that would stay still long enough in the new social climate. So the character changed, despite his ladykilling ways being part of Fleming's original vision.

Is there anything wrong with Bond staying white? No, of course not. That is, after all, the way the character was originally written. But I think what matters most is that the actor embodies the spirit of the character, Bond's particular world view and attitude, and I see no reason that a man of any particular color couldn't pull that off.

I wouldn't like a black James Bond. James Bond is (as has been said before) a white English gentleman. I wouldn't mind a black 007 though, since that is just a codename but the character James Bond should stay white.

Susan Arendt:
For folks citing Bond's womanizing as one of his immutable traits, had you not noticed how drastically that part of his personality got toned down after AIDS became a worldwide epidemic? The producers felt that it was inappropriate and irresponsible for Bond to be shagging everyone that would stay still long enough in the new social climate. So the character changed, despite his ladykilling ways being part of Fleming's original vision.

Is there anything wrong with Bond staying white? No, of course not. That is, after all, the way the character was originally written. But I think what matters most is that the actor embodies the spirit of the character, Bond's particular world view and attitude, and I see no reason that a man of any particular color couldn't pull that off.

Agreed, but there is also no justifiable reason to change his skin color. All it would achieve is confuse people. The charming part of Bond is his slight political un-correctness.
I would find it quite ironic if Bond was to become black, as I would see it as a questionable attempt at political correctness.
Much like how Georges Lucas re-edited one of the original Star Wars so that Han Solo doesn't shoot first the bounty hunter under the table.

I have no problem whatsoever with a cultured, classy, womanising black hero spy.

But it's not Bond.

It seems the only argument we have for a black Bond is 'well we could do it, so we should, anyone who doesn't agree is omg racist!'.

I had no problem with XXX going from Vin Diesel to Ice Cube between the first movie and the sequel, but that didn't have a huge series of books and about 20 movies behind it.

I was admittedly even a little sceptical about Daniel Craig taking over, and no, not just because he was blonde.

But the point is, a character can change, even gender or race, Bond is a legend, not just a character to be messed with on a whim.

Xaryn Mar:
I wouldn't like a black James Bond. James Bond is (as has been said before) a white English gentleman. I wouldn't mind a black 007 though, since that is just a codename but the character James Bond should stay white.

Thats actually a very reasonable compromise. A black 007, but not James Bond.

Feel free to have a black movie character as popular, suave and awesome as James Bond.

But James Bond is British, white and played best by Sean Connery (Which is Ironic due to the british thing). He always has been.

Seriously this isn't going to make Bond better, this is just going to attack creativity. "Why make new and totally different films when we can just change the ethnicity of the main character and call it the same thing but propagate it as something new entirely".

So basically I agree with the OP.

--Edit--

Reading some other replies, James Bond is not his actual name. It is also part of his cover, along with the code name 007.

That being said, a black double-o would be cool, but if you throw them into a Bond movie, they're going to be taking second place beside the main star and if you make them their own movie it's going to look like a cheesy attempt at being politically correct at best, and highly racist because the developers thought it would be funny to throw in some fried chicken at worst.

But James Bond is British, white and played best by Sean Connery (Which is Ironic due to the british thing). He always has been.

Pierce Brosnan is Irish, Ireland notably not being part of Great Britain. Scotland however is part of Great Britain, so I'm not quite sure how it's ironic that Sean Connery was supposedly the best Bond.

Supernovajake:
No, because it would be an obvious attempt to make everything stupidly politically correct.

Affirmative action.

That's like asking if there should be a white Shaft character. It's all about context and culture, pop culture that is.

Susan Arendt:
For folks citing Bond's womanizing as one of his immutable traits, had you not noticed how drastically that part of his personality got toned down after AIDS became a worldwide epidemic? The producers felt that it was inappropriate and irresponsible for Bond to be shagging everyone that would stay still long enough in the new social climate. So the character changed, despite his ladykilling ways being part of Fleming's original vision.

Many of Bond's original class signifiers have faded over the years, too.

For example, Bond used to drive sports cars associated with British upper-class ostentation; now he drives product-placement cars that are considered high-priced but not inaccessible to the middle class.

-- Alex

It would be a great idea, but the Bond series has gone on too long for it to star someone of a different race. But if they did one of his kids,(which he has hundreds of) they could star as Bond's illegitimate orphaned child

Amnestic:

But James Bond is British, white and played best by Sean Connery (Which is Ironic due to the british thing). He always has been.

Pierce Brosnan is Irish, Ireland notably not being part of Great Britain. Scotland however is part of Great Britain, so I'm not quite sure how it's ironic that Sean Connery was supposedly the best Bond.

GO SEAN CONNERY!!!!

I don't care too much about loyalty to an original source. I mean take comic book film adaptions, if you kept too close to the storylines Dr.Oct would attempt to marry Aunt May at one point in Spiderman. You can have liberties with a franchise, just not too many.

As for a black bond, it doesn't matter - You would cast the best actor for the role. Hopefully the ppl behind Bond wouldn't be influenced by publicity stunts like having a female or black bond just for its own sake. Mind you since even both sides of US election went for the whole 'look we're the first!' thing, I wouldn't be surprised if it happened.

Saying it, Daniel Craig isn't giving up anytime soon so where is the debate? Dr.Who's position is up for grabs though and one of the front runners is black...but that show sucks so I see why you stuck with Bond. That and the whole regeneration thing allows you to avoid pigeon holing...

I don't really think there's much reason to keep doing Bond, to be honest. The original flavor of the franchise feels dated (or, in some cases, downright backward) in modern times. Which is probably why that all slowly got bleached out until we got a generic action movie series plus British accents and girls with stupid names.

-- Alex

well obviously the character of "James bond" is a white guy , so to change the character to another race would be foolish. its not a racist thing its just silly to magically change his race. but there could be a 007 agent that's another race he just wouldn't be "James bond" . they did it with the green lantern the original green lantern was white, but he got his powers from a ring , so eventually the powers transferred to a new character who was a black guy . the new character was still the green lantern though

so yes you could have a black 007 it just wouldn't be the agent "James Bond"

its irrelevant though cause agent 47 would rape them all

AuntyEthel:

freakyHippo:
I think we are years away from seeing a black bond. In this country we don't have any other black people in top spying positions. Until we have a black Man from U.N.C.L.E or a black Saint i don't think we'll ever see a black bond.

Err... there is a black saint. He's called Moses the black.

Not this type of saint

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_the_Black

this type of saint

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saint_(TV_series)

Well, since they already changed to colour of his hair, why not his skin? As long as he remains Brittish and keeps his main characteristics I don't really care. They shouldn't make the next Bond black just for the sake of political correctness though. But if the actor who is most fit for the role of 007 happens to be black, no problem.

Meangunns:
There was an article about this on a news site and I wanted to know what other people thought about this? I say no. I have no problem with a character that is like bond being black but I don't think the race, religion, or any other major characteristic should be changed for established characters. If you change things like this they become a different character anyway so why not just create a new character. What do you think?

Why the hell not? Tho personally i think that Bond series need to end. They might have had a few gems, but in my opinion, most of them, well, suck.

I'd prefer more Shaft movies than a Black Bond.

Please, for love of all things creative, stop messing with the source materials. It never ends well. Can I ask if there should be a white Black Panther? How about a latino Luke Cage? Let's turn Rhodes in Iron Man in to a Japanese guy too while we are at it. Just stop messing with the source materials. It is BULLSHIT.

This poll needs a "who freakin' cares?" option. Since I think the franchise abandoned the pretense that all the Bonds are the same guy, if you can find me a sexy black guy who wants to be James Bond, I'm all for it.

ESPECIALLY if he takes his shirt off.

No.

Its not a racial thing, but that would put up making Bond Asian, South American, or Indian.

The man is white, that was the way it was when that character was created and I think it should just stay that way.

Otherwise it wouldn't be James Bond, but another savy agent.

I don't know if any of you are familiar with the character Johnson from British sitcom Peep Show, but he should definitely be Bond.

UsefulPlayer 1:
No.

Its not a racial thing, but that would put up making Bond Asian, South American, or Indian.

The man is white, that was the way it was when that character was created and I think it should just stay that way.

Otherwise it wouldn't be James Bond, but another savy agent.

++++++++++++++++++++

If they were to, the guy who played the Operative in Serenity, he was also in Children of Men whose name I unfortunately can't spell, would be the best choice

Susan Arendt:
Personally, I think it would be fine, so long as he stays male and British. Those are the only two aspects of the character I believe to be sacrosanct.

I'm with you on the British thing, but I'd pay to see a great lady-Bond. Jane Bond or something.

And bring back the incessant shagging! You can use protection, and it's not like people arent' still doing it anyway.

A black guy would not be Bond anymore. Bond is British white man. Why not just have a movie with an black buy as a Bond like character? Or a black guy in a role similar to the Bourne Trilogy? I would be down for that.

I could accept a black bond, but why stop there, why not make him female, and blind, with only one leg. Now that would be interesting to see how they film that one ;)

If Bond becomes black, does that mean Shaft becomes white? I certainly hope not we should keep Bond white and if they want to create a black super spy call him something else or hell he could even be a friend of Bond but by no means should there be a black Bond.

No, simply because there is no reason for Bond to go through such a drastic change of character. Bond was written as a white British spy; changing him to a black British spy serves no purpose whatsoever other than to shut up the Politically Correct Gestapo, something that I hate in the first place. Bond has been white for all these decades, there is no reason why that should be changed just to shut up a small minority of people crying that not making every established character in pop culture black is racial bigotry.

Look at it this way. If we make a black Bond, then why can't we make Bond a Native American spy for the CIA? Hell, why don't we turn James Bond into a promiscuous woman named Jenny Bond? Hell, why don't we turn it on its head and make Bond a Russian spy for the KGB during the Cold War? See what I'm getting at here? If you let one major change like that, then that opens up the possibility of changing the character so much in later iterations that they hardly resemble the original source material. People need to just leave major things like this the way they are without fearing the idiots who claim that every time a character isn't black then that means everyone is racist.

There is absolutely no reason why we suddenly need to make James Bond black after all this time. It will do nothing but piss off long time fans with such a drastic change.

Rankao:
Only is he has a British accent and isn't a obvious American Stereo type. Then I don't see a problem with it. God I will kill the director who puts an American Stereotypical black man into a Bond film.

nilcypher:

KSarty:

J-Man:

nilcypher:

Pyronoid:
Short answer, no.

Long answer, no, because it would completely contradict the last oh so many films. James Bond suddenly transformed into a black guy.

As opposed to M suddenly transformed into a woman, which is clearly fine.

So true.

Not quite. M is a code name, James Bond is the actual character.

Whose to say that James Bond isn't a code name too?

Actually thats quite true, They would likely completely reissue him a identity upon joining upper ranks M16.

I always thought his codename would be '007'.

Anyway, I don't believe there should be a black bond - it's like having an American Doctor Who.

RichardLee:
I could accept a black bond, but why stop there, why not make him female, and blind, with only one leg. Now that would be interesting to see how they film that one ;)

I already did that joke ;/