From White to Black: The Changing Faces of Superheroes.

[Ture]

Is there a developing penchant for making Caucasian (White) characters Afrakan (Black)?

Just to name a few, Eddie Murphy had two franchises with The Nutty Professor and Dr. Doolittle. Denzel Washington did it as The Manchurian Candidate and Will Smith did it with the commercially unsuccessful Wild Wild West. Keeping the trend alive in the Smith family is son Jaden, with his new release The Karate Kid. This of course is not a new occurrence. There was Blackula and The Wiz in the '70s and some others that preceded them.

In the superhero genre Daredevil has Michael Clarke Duncan playing the Kingpin. Samuel L. Jackson plays Nick Fury in Ironman (although he is first converted in the Ultimates comic book) and most recently Idris Elba has been cast to play Heimdall in the upcoming Thor movie.

In comics  such conversions have occurred with Firestorm and the Spectre. Rumor has it that a new Aqualad will be converted. I acknowledge certain adaptations are organic like those of Green Lantern John Stewart or War Machine James Rhodes.

In a strange twist Black Panther has felt the inverse of this phenomenon. The waters were tested in Ultimates 3 and prior to that with Kasper Cole during Priest's run. I am also aware that white characters are being changed to other ethnicities and genders as evident with the Atom and Doctor Light but my intent is stated in the title of this post.

Has this age of heroes  become so destitute that it is now necessary to commandeer  existing identities rather than create new ones. Has ethnicity and cultural integrity been replaced with a generic composite of Caucasian cultures to be accepted as universal?

This all started from a discussion I was having with some associates of mine. The point was being made that an ”Afrakan American” should be cast as the new Spider-Man. Their reasoning being centered around the concept that unlike most “Black” superheroes, Spider-Man was not defined by “race.”

Before I countered, I stated I was never a fan of the “black” substituting for a “white” in regards to superheroes. Spider-man is a white male. Superman is a white male. They were created that way with intent of purpose. There is a reason why Milestone created Static and Icon.

My counter went something like this. 
I am of the opinion that those who do the transposing of Caucasian (White) characters into Afrakan (Black) characters are inflicted with a disease I term the Wiz Complex. Though symptoms vary the disorder is consistent.

The term is derived from the fact that a white man named L. Frank Baum created a fantasy about a white girl named Dorothy and her magical trip to a wonderful place. There she befriended a scarecrow without a brain, a tin man lacking a heart and a lion in need of some courage. She encountered a wicked witch, Munchkins and flying monkeys. She also met a fake wizard who was not only able to show the scarecrow, tin man and  lion that they already possessed what they thought they lacked, he was able to take Dorothy home.

Decades later a remake was made. Here is where the complex takes affect. The remake was colorized. Dorothy was re-imaged as an Afrakan, the scarecrow was made of garbage, the tin man was carnival hustler made of a hodgepodge of cans and the cowardly lion was not only mangy but effeminate in high heels. All possessing the same flaws as the originals. The wicked witch was obese and perched on a throne that resembled a toilet. The Munchkins were graffiti. The flying monkey smelled horribly and were made to look like some throw back caricature. The Wiz (slang for wizard) was incapable of offering any insight to Dorothy's companions and powerless to take Dorothy home.

The Wiz Complex takes a Caucasian (white) person's fantasy and remakes it with stereotypes and caricatures of Afrakan (black) people. For those who suffer from this malady I suggest researching, reintroducing and creating fantasies from an Afrakan perspective. Instead of doing a “black” interpretation of the Wizard of Oz do a story about Anazi. One does not need to argue the legitimacy of making Spider-Man an Afrakan if one focuses on the Black Panther.

So why all the fuss about making White heroes Black. Maybe some commentary from Emperorjones will help to enlighten us.

<<The feeling I get from some of the sighing about black history is that black people should just forget about it. Some white people might say or think that blacks should be happy they are here. Because our pain isn't as worthy as others, our experiences are valued less, as have been our lives.>>
                                                                                                               (Bold and red print mine)


Our conversation went on for a couple of hours. It was inconclusive with 3 of the 5 holding on to the point that Superman or Spider-man could be done with an Afrakan, Hispanic, Indian or Asian. One of them even remarked “Of course they can they're fictional.” His compatriot stated that race is an outdated concept. He said we are going to wind up living in a world that is like Star Trek. Tiring of the conversation I decided to ignore the obvious and bowed out gracefully. Upon arriving home I remembered another post by Emperorjones.

<<What I noticed about some responses to Sisko was that him being proud to be black was considered racist, and him being cognizant of his racial heritage as being unnecessary, something to get over,>>

                                                                                                                         (Bold print mine)

[KIP LEWIS]

I think the real answer is, "it depends."  For one thing, being in a post-modern society that tends to hold there are no absolutes, then no one can say Spider-man has to be white.  As long as you can tell a convincing story, then all is well.  Fury as a Black man is a convincing story; Michael Clark Duncan (and the whole movie) not so much.
But I think there are way too many variables to make an absolute statement.  Take the Wiz.  The original is such a classic that even in this age of "let's remake every movie ever made". They haven't tried to remake this one.  But with the Wiz they did reimage it.  That served a purpose because it was a really different movie.  The core remained, but the show stands unique.  So it was creative, yet not.

Along that line, I think the switch is used, because mainstream is afraid to try and make really new stuff.  Colorizing a few guys in a remake is safe money.


Part of this I think is Whites are constantly drilled that the only difference between Whites and Blacks is skin color.  The goal being, race is no more important than hair color in a person's identity.  (That's where the ST world takes us.  Just wait till one writer realizes that the tech of Star Trek makes it possible for people to change skin color, hair, etc like dying one's hair today.  Being Black in ST world isn't a matter of heritage, but choice.)

But all in all I think there is a danger that colorizing a character falls back on the premise that "white" is the default race.  Saying you can turn a character from white to black without changing the character, makes it seem as if white is the universal core and Black is a one of several interchangable faces that can cover the core.  The new Karate Kid isn't doing this.  The new guy isn't Daniel with new skin.  He is a completely different character.  But take Pete Ross on Smallville.  Nothing about him was Black.  If they cast a white man to play him, not one detail in the story would have changed.  The same is true of Kingpin in the Daredevil movie or Nick Fury (so far)in the movies. On one level it does provide diversity, but on another, it can suggest that being Black is "take white character, add Black" if you do it wrong.   

My thought, if you were to do a Black Spider-man, then make him a new--but similar--man inside the costume.  Just as in the new Karate Kid, he is a new guy who has a different name and is years younger.  He is unique yet the familiar.

(Still, all of this means, play it safe with your product--use the familar.  Original ideas need not apply.)

[Naki]

You hit some great points KIP. The concept of whiteness is seen as the norm and universal and anything or anyone else is judged from that standard. To simply take a character who has always been portrayed as a white person and now cast in a different "skin," is easy, gives the illusion of diversity and pluralism, but means very little in the broader spectrum of things. Like KIP said, simply putting a person other than a white person in the role without changing more than the hue of the character devalues the culture of the "new" character. Peter Parker isn't a person who happens to be white. The fact that he is young, white, male, educated, straight, etc. etc. all makes up his character and his culture. The problem, at least in this country, is that too many white people believe they don't have a culture or that there is no "white culture." If you ask them about culture they think about  so-called minorities or reduce culture to nothing more than food, clothing, music, and holidays. So, yeah they'll change a beloved "white" character into a "Black" character, add some Hip Hop music as background or create a church scene with a Jeremiah Wright type of preacher, or, throw in a Kwanzaa celebration, or pan to a painting of a Black Jesus in Nana's house, and they're done "blackening" the character.

[sinjection1]

Is there a developing penchant for making Caucasian (White) characters Afrakan (Black)?
The term is derived from the fact that a white man named L. Frank Baum created a fantasy about a white girl named Dorothy and her magical trip to a wonderful place. There she befriended a scarecrow without a brain, a tin man lacking a heart and a lion in need of some courage. She encountered a wicked witch, Munchkins and flying monkeys. She also met a fake wizard who was not only able to show the scarecrow, tin man and  lion that they already possessed what they thought they lacked, he was able to take Dorothy home.

Decades later a remake was made. Here is where the complex takes affect. The remake was colorized. Dorothy was re-imaged as an Afrakan, the scarecrow was made of garbage, the tin man was carnival hustler made of a hodgepodge of cans and the cowardly lion was not only mangy but effeminate in high heels. All possessing the same flaws as the originals. The wicked witch was obese and perched on a throne that resembled a toilet. The Munchkins were graffiti. The flying monkey smelled horribly and were made to look like some throw back caricature. The Wiz (slang for wizard) was incapable of offering any insight to Dorothy's companions and powerless to take Dorothy home.

!!!!  I mean to say... !!!!

Years ago, I made mention of a supporting character in a now-canceled Cloak and Dagger ongoing. The character was a black female detective named Rebecca Nales. Her nickname was "Rusty" and so, she was more popularly known as "Rusty Nales" or rusty nails. Upon learning of this, my dear brother Mastrmynd expressed an incredulity in his own inimitable and amusing fashion which as it has so often, made me laugh out loud. I now have some sense of how Mastrmynd must have felt.

A scarecrow made of garbage. A lion who was not only cowardly, but mangy and an effeminate cross-dresser as well. WTF?! I say! Brother Ture, it may well be this "changing faces" trend isn't as recent a phenomenon as we might think. Al Jolson and the American "minstrelsy" of yesteryear,a white performer wearing blackface rendering their interpretation of an exaggerated all-too-often unflattering characterization of Americanized black people. And not only this, Ture. I've never seen The Wiz in it's entirety and never will. I've also never seen the Warner Bros version of their "black remake" of the classic fairytale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which they entitled: Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs. And the creators of the "parody" seemed pleased and proud with their efforts. http://www.toontracker.com/coalblack/coalblack.htm

[Vic Vega]

Y'know if they never made a white character a minority again I'd be fine with it.

All I want is for them to get the extant minorities characters correct.

The Prince Of Persia is White in the movies.

Ang, The Last Airbender is White in that upcoming movie.

They are going to get Angelina Jolie to play Cleopatra in an upcoming movie. 

Making White characters Black is the very least of my concerns.

 

[Curtis Metcalf]

Y'all do know The Wiz (the movie) is an abomination adaptation of the Broadway (and touring) stage show of the same name that launched Stephanie Mills, right?

[sinjection1]

In the superhero genre Daredevil has Michael Clarke Duncan playing the Kingpin. Samuel L. Jackson plays Nick Fury in Ironman (although he is first converted in the Ultimates comic book) and most recently Idris Elba has been cast to play Heimdall in the upcoming Thor movie.

Interesting how a "Black" Heimdall and a "White" Sif is going to work out. Heimdall and Sif are siblings, brother and sister. This will most likely not be the case in the Thor movie.

In comics  such conversions have occurred with Firestorm and the Spectre. Rumor has it that a new Aqualad will be converted. I acknowledge certain adaptations are organic like those of Green Lantern John Stewart or War Machine James Rhodes.

In the case of Firestorm, it appears the LCB-RD muscle-flexing and incessant whining has had an effect. Firestorm is now rendered as a white male, the original white character having seemingly been resurrected from the dead. The black character who had been "the face" of Firestorm - to the chagrin of more than a few LCB-RD types - has been relegated to the "floating talking head" role.

*Not that the character was ever white or anything, but didn't Beta Ray Bill manifest as a black man in his human alter-ego?

[4sake]

In the superhero genre Daredevil has Michael Clarke Duncan playing the Kingpin. Samuel L. Jackson plays Nick Fury in Ironman (although he is first converted in the Ultimates comic book) and most recently Idris Elba has been cast to play Heimdall in the upcoming Thor movie.

Interesting how a "Black" Heimdall and a "White" Sif is going to work out. Heimdall and Sif are siblings, brother and sister. This will most likely not be the case in the Thor movie.

In comics  such conversions have occurred with Firestorm and the Spectre. Rumor has it that a new Aqualad will be converted. I acknowledge certain adaptations are organic like those of Green Lantern John Stewart or War Machine James Rhodes.

In the case of Firestorm, it appears the LCB-RD muscle-flexing and incessant whining has had an effect. Firestorm is now rendered as a white male, the original white character having seemingly been resurrected from the dead. The black character who had been "the face" of Firestorm - to the chagrin of more than a few LCB-RD types - has been relegated to the "floating talking head" role.

*Not that the character was ever white or anything, but didn't Beta Ray Bill manifest as a black man in his human alter-ego?

*Not that the character was ever white or anything, but didn't Beta Ray Bill manifest as a black man in his human alter-ego?

Yes :


Interesting how a "Black" Heimdall and a "White" Sif is going to work out. Heimdall and Sif are siblings, brother and sister. This will most likely not be the case in the Thor movie.

Maybe they'll be half or step siblings lol   

[sinjection1]

4Sake, I was wondering where you'd gotten off to 

Thanks for the visual of Beta Ray Bill's human alter-ego. I'd learned from internet sources sometime ago that he'd chosen the appearance of a black man but your's is the first visual evidence of this I've seen. Not surprisingly, I have read at least one comment criticizing BRB's need/use of a human alter-ego as ludicrous.

Interesting how a "Black" Heimdall and a "White" Sif is going to work out. Heimdall and Sif are siblings, brother and sister. This will most likely not be the case in the Thor movie.

Maybe they'll be half or step siblings lol   

And now, another question for you.

Long, long....loooooooooooooong ago....(nigh on 40 years ago, I'd guess), there was an issue of Thor in which Odin sought out 3 mortals who through his "godly machinations", transformed into Asgardian god-type beings. The first mortal was a white male; the second mortal was an Asian female, and the third mortal was a Black male. Talk about changing faces of superheroes from white to black, in this case Scandanavian mythology-turned comicbook mythos became home for two non-Scandanavian, two non-white immortals.

The question is this. Do you have a scan of those 3 characters?

[KIP LEWIS]

4Sake, I was wondering where you'd gotten off to 

Thanks for the visual of Beta Ray Bill's human alter-ego. I'd learned from internet sources sometime ago that he'd chosen the appearance of a black man but your's is the first visual evidence of this I've seen. Not surprisingly, I have read at least one comment criticizing BRB's need/use of a human alter-ego as ludicrous.

The problem with the human secret identity is that it served no purpose whatsoever.  It was added in the end of his mini.  It showed up briefly in Omega Flight, but served no essential purpose and since then, I haven't seen that identity.  So, yeah, it's "ludicrous" because we're not sure why they did it in the first place.  BRB isn't even residing on earth anymore, so a human secret identity (any human secret identity) serves no appearance.

Now, if they had a storyline planned for the new identity then it would make sense, but if they had such a plan, we never saw it.

[4sake]

4Sake, I was wondering where you'd gotten off to 

Thanks for the visual of Beta Ray Bill's human alter-ego. I'd learned from internet sources sometime ago that he'd chosen the appearance of a black man but your's is the first visual evidence of this I've seen. Not surprisingly, I have read at least one comment criticizing BRB's need/use of a human alter-ego as ludicrous.

Interesting how a "Black" Heimdall and a "White" Sif is going to work out. Heimdall and Sif are siblings, brother and sister. This will most likely not be the case in the Thor movie.

Maybe they'll be half or step siblings lol   

And now, another question for you.

Long, long....loooooooooooooong ago....(nigh on 40 years ago, I'd guess), there was an issue of Thor in which Odin sought out 3 mortals who through his "godly machinations", transformed into Asgardian god-type beings. The first mortal was a white male; the second mortal was an Asian female, and the third mortal was a Black male. Talk about changing faces of superheroes from white to black, in this case Scandanavian mythology-turned comicbook mythos became home for two non-Scandanavian, two non-white immortals.

The question is this. Do you have a scan of those 3 characters?

I wish I did cause that sounds interesting, but Ive never regularly read Thor (I got like 4 Thor comics in total lol.. Thor 600 & Thor SI)... But that something I'd like to see.. So I'll look around the net & see if I find Odin transforming the ppl..

[Mastrmynd]

Is there a developing penchant for making Caucasian (White) characters Afrakan (Black)?
The term is derived from the fact that a white man named L. Frank Baum created a fantasy about a white girl named Dorothy and her magical trip to a wonderful place. There she befriended a scarecrow without a brain, a tin man lacking a heart and a lion in need of some courage. She encountered a wicked witch, Munchkins and flying monkeys. She also met a fake wizard who was not only able to show the scarecrow, tin man and  lion that they already possessed what they thought they lacked, he was able to take Dorothy home.

Decades later a remake was made. Here is where the complex takes affect. The remake was colorized. Dorothy was re-imaged as an Afrakan, the scarecrow was made of garbage, the tin man was carnival hustler made of a hodgepodge of cans and the cowardly lion was not only mangy but effeminate in high heels. All possessing the same flaws as the originals. The wicked witch was obese and perched on a throne that resembled a toilet. The Munchkins were graffiti. The flying monkey smelled horribly and were made to look like some throw back caricature. The Wiz (slang for wizard) was incapable of offering any insight to Dorothy's companions and powerless to take Dorothy home.

!!!!  I mean to say... !!!!

Years ago, I made mention of a supporting character in a now-canceled Cloak and Dagger ongoing. The character was a black female detective named Rebecca Nales. Her nickname was "Rusty" and so, she was more popularly known as "Rusty Nales" or rusty nails. Upon learning of this, my dear brother Mastrmynd expressed an incredulity in his own inimitable and amusing fashion which as it has so often, made me laugh out loud. I now have some sense of how Mastrmynd must have felt.

i make u laff outloud? that's what's up. coming from you sinjection1 (being that you ARE the man), i'll take that as a huge honor and compliment

[sinjection1]

4Sake, I was wondering where you'd gotten off to 

Thanks for the visual of Beta Ray Bill's human alter-ego. I'd learned from internet sources sometime ago that he'd chosen the appearance of a black man but your's is the first visual evidence of this I've seen. Not surprisingly, I have read at least one comment criticizing BRB's need/use of a human alter-ego as ludicrous.

Interesting how a "Black" Heimdall and a "White" Sif is going to work out. Heimdall and Sif are siblings, brother and sister. This will most likely not be the case in the Thor movie.

Maybe they'll be half or step siblings lol   

And now, another question for you.

Long, long....loooooooooooooong ago....(nigh on 40 years ago, I'd guess), there was an issue of Thor in which Odin sought out 3 mortals who through his "godly machinations", transformed into Asgardian god-type beings. The first mortal was a white male; the second mortal was an Asian female, and the third mortal was a Black male. Talk about changing faces of superheroes from white to black, in this case Scandanavian mythology-turned comicbook mythos became home for two non-Scandanavian, two non-white immortals.

The question is this. Do you have a scan of those 3 characters?

I wish I did cause that sounds interesting, but Ive never regularly read Thor (I got like 4 Thor comics in total lol.. Thor 600 & Thor SI)... But that something I'd like to see.. So I'll look around the net & see if I find Odin transforming the ppl..

The book I have featuring that story has virtually disintegrated. The cover is long gone, what's left is 5 or 6 pages...at least that was the page count the last time I saw the remnant which was a long, long time ago. I do remember that Odin used a being known as Ego Prime to bring about the transformation of the chosen mortals who were contacted by Heimdall. The brother's name was Jason Kimball. He was an artist. The only other thing I can remember about the three transformed humans is that Kimball's garb was green; the Asian lady's garb was red and the white fellow's garb was blue. I'm sure that if anyone can find their image on the net 4Sake, it will be you.

Now one more thing. I have seen the spirited debate taking place at "the other place". Our brothers there are doing a splendid job batting about the loopy LCB-RD types intent on derailing the topic with all that mutant-racial minority nonsense. If it hasn't been mentioned yet, I hope one of the brothers gets around to doing so soon. What needs to be pointed out there is that mutants are not a race. Mutants are a different species. Cyclops is a homo-superior. Charlie Daniels is a homosapien. The two men are of different species but they're both caucasians. Also, not every mutant in the MU was born that way. There was a sentinel of all things, who because he flew too close to the sun underwent a change which changed him into a human AND a mutant.

[Kristopher]

4Sake, I was wondering where you'd gotten off to 

Thanks for the visual of Beta Ray Bill's human alter-ego. I'd learned from internet sources sometime ago that he'd chosen the appearance of a black man but your's is the first visual evidence of this I've seen. Not surprisingly, I have read at least one comment criticizing BRB's need/use of a human alter-ego as ludicrous.

Interesting how a "Black" Heimdall and a "White" Sif is going to work out. Heimdall and Sif are siblings, brother and sister. This will most likely not be the case in the Thor movie.

Maybe they'll be half or step siblings lol   

And now, another question for you.

Long, long....loooooooooooooong ago....(nigh on 40 years ago, I'd guess), there was an issue of Thor in which Odin sought out 3 mortals who through his "godly machinations", transformed into Asgardian god-type beings. The first mortal was a white male; the second mortal was an Asian female, and the third mortal was a Black male. Talk about changing faces of superheroes from white to black, in this case Scandanavian mythology-turned comicbook mythos became home for two non-Scandanavian, two non-white immortals.

The question is this. Do you have a scan of those 3 characters?

I wish I did cause that sounds interesting, but Ive never regularly read Thor (I got like 4 Thor comics in total lol.. Thor 600 & Thor SI)... But that something I'd like to see.. So I'll look around the net & see if I find Odin transforming the ppl..

The book I have featuring that story has virtually disintegrated. The cover is long gone, what's left is 5 or 6 pages...at least that was the page count the last time I saw the remnant which was a long, long time ago. I do remember that Odin used a being known as Ego Prime to bring about the transformation of the chosen mortals who were contacted by Heimdall. The brother's name was Jason Kimball. He was an artist. The only other thing I can remember about the three transformed humans is that Kimball's garb was green; the Asian lady's garb was red and the white fellow's garb was blue. I'm sure that if anyone can find their image on the net 4Sake, it will be you.

Jason Kimball, Carter Dyam, and Chi Lo were chosen to become part of The Young Gods
Upon orders from the Rigellian High Commissioner, the Colonizer named Tana Nile took a relatively tiny sample of Ego's substance, in the hope that it could be used to transform other planets into habitable worlds. The planet selected as the first test was Blackworld, where energy reflections off Ego Prime evolved the lifeforms on that world to parallel the development of Earth. Instead the sample of Ego became a being with its own consciousness, called Ego Prime, which followed Sif, Valkyrie and Tana Nile to Earth, where he fought Thor and the Warriors Three. As Odin had planned, in the course of the battle Ego Prime released an unknown form of energy which irradiated three Earth humans whom Odin had arranged to have present. The energy released the latent genetic potential in these three humans, Carter Dyam, Chi Lo, and Jason Kimball, transforming them into superhuman beings who together with nine other similarly evolved human beings have become known as the Young Gods. Ego Prime, having expended all of its energy, disintegrated.
http://marvel.wikia.com/Ego_Prime_(Earth-616)

[sinjection1]

Jason Kimball, Carter Dyam, and Chi Lo were chosen to become part of The Young Gods
Upon orders from the Rigellian High Commissioner, the Colonizer named Tana Nile took a relatively tiny sample of Ego's substance, in the hope that it could be used to transform other planets into habitable worlds. The planet selected as the first test was Blackworld, where energy reflections off Ego Prime evolved the lifeforms on that world to parallel the development of Earth. Instead the sample of Ego became a being with its own consciousness, called Ego Prime, which followed Sif, Valkyrie and Tana Nile to Earth, where he fought Thor and the Warriors Three. As Odin had planned, in the course of the battle Ego Prime released an unknown form of energy which irradiated three Earth humans whom Odin had arranged to have present. The energy released the latent genetic potential in these three humans, Carter Dyam, Chi Lo, and Jason Kimball, transforming them into superhuman beings who together with nine other similarly evolved human beings have become known as the Young Gods. Ego Prime, having expended all of its energy, disintegrated.
http://marvel.wikia.com/Ego_Prime_(Earth-616)

I had no idea so much was behind this story. Then as now, my primary focus is always on comicbook art. The writing/story has always been secondary. This story was illustrated by my all-time favorite artist, the late, great "Big" John Buscema and so while I did retain parts of the story that caught my attention - Heimdall in street clothes, Heimdall speaking with Jason Kimball in his cramped apartment, the name and appearance of the story's antagonist, the transformation of the 3 mortals into superhumans, and Thor's irritation with Odin when he'd realized he was little more than a pawn in Odin's plan - it was for Buscema's art I enjoyed constantly poring over that "piece of comicbook". But it seems that the mortals were not transformed into Asgardians, but "merely" superhumans. Thanks for the info and the link.