Black Thor Actor Talks About Racist Comic Book Fans Pages 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 . . . 21 NEXT | |
I just saw the film yesterday, and I'm glad he was cast in the role. He was epic! I would have gladly watched an entire film about him without a single mention of Thor. | |
I saw Thor a couple of days ago And he was pretty much the only character who I liked. | |
This, a thousand times this. Me and my friends all agreed he was the most badass character | |
Its the black Hobbit fiasco all over again. | |
Stringer Bell as a norse god?! What fool would oppose such badassery? | |
He did an excellent job, and I'm glad they used him for it. It probably only made the movie more epic. I can't wait for Captain America and the other avenger movies now... I do wonder when Moviebob'll do Thor, this week, next week? Who nows. | |
These complainers have nothing else to do in their lives I see. I can't believe things like this are such an issue. Who the fuck cares? Also, he was really good in the movie too, which is probably the reason he was cast maybe? That he was good and suited the role? Fans don't seem to give a shit though and they complain that it isn't perfect (apparently the source material is though, that's a laugh). Oh, the movie is also excellent, for anybody who hasn't seen it yet I suggest you do. | |
Me too! He was so awesome... | |
It does seem dumb(especialy if your complaining just because of race) but I can kinda understand, I'd find it a bit off if I saw a white, Yami Malik Ishtar or Killer Bee if they ever made a live version movie of Yu-Gi-Oh!/Naruto. | |
Wasn't Heimdall black in SOME of the comics ? | |
Aside from Thor and Odin (Sir Anthony Hopkins, FUCK YEAH), Heimdall was the only Asgardian I liked. Thors friends were 1 dimensional and Loki was annoying. He did an excellent job of turning a relatively minor role into a memorable badass. Although, the golden eyes made me keep expecting him to turn lycan and go hunt Kate Beckinsale. I wish him the best and hope he comes back if they make Thor 2, or give him a cameo in the Avengers movie as he helps Thor return to Earth or something, even if for no other reason than to see a bunch of aryans chew the walls. | |
I've never read the Thor comics, so I can't really compare it to that, but having seen the film the other day, I thought he played the role very well, and definitely one of the better characters despite being a smaller role. | |
I'm pretty sure that Nick Fury was originally white. I know that he was black in comics before the movies but he was definitely white first. It's not exactly a new thing, is all I'm saying. Also, Elba was awesome in Thor and I wouldn't change him just to fit in a little bit better with the traditional canon. Things don't always have to change for the worse. | |
I think he perform excellently as Heimdall in the film. I don't get the whole issue seeing how in Daredevil the Kingpin was played by Michael Clarke Duncan (well ok added with the whole Norse God stuff) but serious while I can get how certain stuff should be accurate to the comics but with casting actors to which characters should not be a problem. | |
nope | |
I haven't seen the movies, so maybe I should keep my mouth shut on the matter- but here goes my Swedish 5 kronor. This is a Marvel creation and obviously has very little to do with original norse paganism. I understand if fans are mad because of a canon breach- but the people trying to defend the source material just come off as silly to me. The characters obviously do not even strive to be accurate portraits of the original gods. | |
Let's cast a black jew as hitler in the next WWII movie, ok? I understand the complaining about canon, but the plot of the movie is pretty different from the comics. | |
It does seem strange how fickle people can get with this. Know granted I could be wrong, but I didnt see any threads years ago about how casting Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury in build up to the Avengers. In fact I cant say I have heard a word how casting a black guy as the one-eyed leader of SHIELD was a bad idea just because in the comics he is white. | |
Not even in Thor: The Mighty Avenger no.6 ? | |
These people probably complained when they based Nick Fury off of Sam Jackson in the Ultimate universe. Fuck 'em. Just ignore them. | |
I think Fury is only black in the Ultimate 'verse, maybe one or two more. Of course, in the Ultimates he looks exactly like Samuel L. Jackson. I wonder why that might be... | |
I'm Swedish. So it's "my people's" mythology that this is all based on. I offer a big "fuck you" to anyone who complained about the casting, because Mr. Elba was awesome as Heimdall. He's the last of the Asgardians I would ever want to see a recast for. | |
Ultimate Nick Fury was always modeled after Samuel L. Jackson, yeah. | |
As a man from Scandenavia himself, at first I was a little surprised at the choice of a black man for a Norse god, but then I realized that Samuel L Jackson was chosen to play Nick Fury, so if they could change canon there, why not here? | |
possibly i haven't read that far back. But such a specific single issue kinda proves it isn't how the character is in the comics. Regardless i don't much mind as its a different medium, and he kicked ass in it. I CAN SCREAM MYSELF OUT OF BEING FROZEN. WAIT WHAT ITS THE ONE THEY MADE TO BE RELEASED WITH THE FILM. OFC their gonna fudge some stuff so people can get into it easier. Bad you *Waves finger* | |
Speaking as a white-as-snow Swede, I welcome any attempt to bring some variation to our dire culture. | |
Um mainly because the nick fury made for the 2000's was drawn and written based on SLJ | |
I don't really give a shit about a black person acting in a movie, not against it racially at all, but I gotta say, I hate to see source material altered just so they could say "hey, look, our cast has a token black guy!". If they're casting an actor because of his skin color, then that IS the definition of racism, whether he's black or white. | |
If Hollywood is serious about diverse casting, how about they start with accurately portraying certain cultures before they jump straight to casting against type? If we're getting so upset about how something might be seen as offensive, I've just the film for you. Have you ever seen a grown man naked before? | |
(Sigh) I hate those kinds of people. I really do. I wish Thor could come down and smite 'em. Save us a lot of trouble. | |
Why is this a big deal? The Civil Rights movement was 5 decades ago. What, now Marvel and Disney can pat themselves on the back for having not one but TWO black guys in their movie? This doesn't make up for all the other racist crap Hollywood still pulls to this day. '..we need to talk about it...' I've been on videogame websites for years now and it's always that same fucking lame line. Stop talking and do something about it. Besides, I don't think anybody on gaming site should have any say since the KKK has better hiring practices than you guys. | |
I find it often breaks the wall fourth wall to see black/southasian people (playing white characters in series set in medieval Britain/England like Robin Hood or Merlin. It's not that I'm racist, I just don't like blatant Anachronisms. Admittedly, we actually know little about the past so there will always be things that historians will say is incorrect. And even the existence of Merlin or Robin Hood is more fable than history. But I also find it anoying when a setting is changed for bigger audiences like how they might change the setting of live-action Akira from Tokyo to New York and change japanese characters and roles into American ones. If anything, I'm sourcist but I don't always mind it (if I just think of the changes as spin-off/re-imagining and isolate them from the source material) (Like how I see both Batman movie series as distinct takes on the comic source material). With Thor I didn't have any problem because I didn't know the direct source material (I do ofcourse know Heimdahl from the Norse Mythology). I also discovered the asian guy in the Warriors Three wasn't asian at all (in the comics). If anything with Thor I was more annoyed that they didn't go for scandinavian actors for the roles of Thor and Odin (including accents). Hopkins in particular was a bit to posh. But since it was based on a comic I see it as artistic license on artistic license. | |
This is really sad since canon Marvel "Norse Gods" are fucking aliens, and not Scandinavian/Vikings. I use to get mad at casting's when Hollywood would make films out of my favorite books, but I don't now cause these chars aren't real. They don't exist, kinda hard to justify hurt sensibilities when these chars don't freaking exist. | |
Just to add to some coments above, yeah, he's pretty badass in the movie. Both the character and how he plays it are spot-on. | |
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Black Thor Actor Talks About Racist Comic Book Fans
Magic and monsters are fine, but a black guy playing a Norse god? That's taking things too far.
Idris Elba, who plays Heimdall in Marvel's Thor movie, has spoken about the backlash caused by the casting of a black actor as a Norse god. Elba's casting has infuriated a number of groups who feel it is insulting to have a person of color playing a figure often referred to as the "Whitest of the Gods."
Elba indicated that complaints about his casting came in two types: There were the purist comic books fans who were upset about the changes made to the canon - Heimdall is depicted as white in the comics - and then there were others whose complaints were solely motivated by race. He was reluctant to speak about it too much though, as he didn't want to fuel the issue. Ultimately, he said, if people didn't like the casting decisions, they should just stay at home and not see the movie.
Sadly, the fan backlash against Elba's casting is not a new phenomenon - Penny Arcade tackled it in a comic late last year - and it isn't the first time that Elba has talked about it. Just over a year ago, he said that Thor had so many fantastical elements that he was amazed that anyone would pay attention to the color of his skin. He acknowledged that he didn't really look like the traditional image of a Scandinavian, but said that in future there would be more diversity in Hollywood casting. "I was cast in Thor and I'm cast as a Nordic god," he said. "If you know anything about the Nords, they don't look like me but there you go. I think that's a sign of the times for the future. I think we will see multi-level casting. I think we will see that, and I think that's good."
Unfortunately, that's not an opinion shared by his detractors. Some of the Elba's staunchest - although ostensibly not racially motivated - opponents accuse Marvel of left-wing social engineering, noting that it attacked the Tea Party movement in a recent issue of Captain America, and that Stan Lee is known to support left-wing politicians. Other complainants, who are more directly racist, talk about the "filthy culture of judaism [sic]" and how Elba's casting is an attack on "White Culture." While the latter accusation is both disgusting and ridiculous, the former - that the left wing is using the media, and especially Hollywood, as a vehicle for propaganda - is not new. It was also leveled at DC Comics following the news that Superman was going to renounce his US citizenship.
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. All joking aside though, race in the media is a delicate and difficult subject, whether you're talking about the accusations of "whitewashing" in The Last Airbender movie - which is the casting of white actors as characters of color - or the accusations of racism in Resident Evil 5. It's an issue that people need to keep talking about though, because like any serious issue, it's not going to go away if we just ignore it.
Source: Hero Complex
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