I have no problem at all with Johnny Storm being played by a black man … because his character has nothing to do with race. The only thing I'd ask is that, therefore, Sue Storm Richards was also cast with a black actress. Which I would also have no problem with, for the reason.
The 5 Most Insulting Defenses of Nerd Racism
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It would not bother me if Johnny was black and sue was white. Biracial families exist.
I'm sure all these nerds boycotted the Ultimate universe and every Marvel movie so far because of black Nick Fury.
Friend of mine has a white American son, an Ethiopian daughter and Chinese son.
They do, +Jamie Jordan, but then that becomes one additional element to tell or assume, because it's not all that common.
I was actually irked, +Casey Garske, that they swapped out Nick Furys in the "real" MU, if only because it was a bad case of the movie tail wagging the comics dog, and the "new" NF in the MU isn't as cool as the old one. But I've very much enjoyed Samuel L Jackson's stint in the role, in the movies and in the Ultimate MU.
Well, I don't like it, but I also get upset if a character's hair color is wrong, or "Bruce" becomes "David," or a costume is changed.
I hate it when the comics are changed to reflect the movies. They even changed J. Jonah Jameson's mustache for a time (were they afraid new readers wouldn't buy the comics if the mustache wasn't like the one they saw in the movie?)! Of course, there's quite a history of this. Alfred Pennyworth was portly until the movie serials in the '40s cast a thin actor. Now we're all used to a slim Alfred.
For me it's a matter of degree. I understand the convenience of finding the right actor for the job and having that actor then shape the role across different media. Fine. So white Nick Fury becomes black Nick Fury. Or white Johnny Storm in the comics becomes black Johnny Storm in the movies. Or for some bizarro reason they make an FF cartoon that can't have the Human Torch, so we get HERBIE instead … but the writers actually come up with (ongoing!) inclusion of HERBIE in the comics. (Ditto for Firestorm.) And, for that matter, Robert Downey Jr was an obvious match for Tony Stark 0 but has further informed that character. That's all fine.
My problem comes when changes are made that make no sense — changing Bruce Banner's name (though the Hulk's writers had fun with that), or coming up with a convoluted reason (and a mediocre mini-series) why there's now a black Nick Fury in the MU. It's bad story-telling.
Frankly I don't get the problem with changes, or why a backstory would be needed if Sue and Johnny had different fathers or mothers. Shit, folks in comics die and come back with the flimsiest of story lines. Guess I am not a comic geek.
The strange thing here is the obvious irony in that many comic book fans were outcasts growing up and now they are exhibiting bully behavior too.
I object in the strongest possible terms to this and all other casting decisions for this reboot. The original version was awful.