That said …
1. Johnny's race/ethnicity has never been something significant about the character. He could be white, black, fiery red, whatever.
2. We live in enough of a multi-racial society that the Storm sibs being black and white strikes me utterly inconsequential.
3. When the entire FF get cast as black except for Ben Grimm who then gets turned orange, then we whiteys can complain. Until then, we can just shut our gobs about 1/4 of the Fantastic Four being something other than All-American White Folk.
THE COLOR BARRIER: Hollywood’s New “Fantastic Four” & Effective Brainwashing – Comic Book Resources
THE COLOR BARRIER: Hollywood’s New Fantastic Four & Effective Brainwashing – Johnny Storm will be played by a Black actor in Fox’s Fantastic Four reboot, but, as it turns out, that’s not the reason fans are angry.
I think that this is a horrible travesty! A dark and horrible day for comic fandom. That little squirrelly dude with the big ears couldn't possibly be Ben Grimm.
…Suddenly, I want to see an All-Asian Fantastic Four. Two versions — one played with manga flavor, and one still in the western mode but informed by the new ethnicity.
"Jeez, folks, if this is the biggest, most profoundly irksome thing you have going on in your life, then drop down on your knees and pray in thanksgiving, brother."
I wouldn't say it's quite that bad. Though CBR, trying to milk whatever nerdrage they can dredge up on their Facebook page for the past week, would have you think otherwise.
I've given up on Hollywood trying to faithfully interpret comic books to the silver screen a long time ago…..it's all about the money, of course. I see this as just another ploy to try to use diversity to put more butts in the seats.
1. I disagree here. Storm has always been a "hothead" (no pun intended) and I don't think that's something that would have played well with a black version. I mean, you can't have an "angry black" man on fire running around…..especially in the 60s.
2. No, I don't see that as a "problem", but it does beg for a bit of an explanation. Not a deal breaker by any stretch.
3. I guess, for me, I don't want to see a black Johnny Storm for the same reason I wouldn't want to see a white Falcon….it's just not how I envision the character.
I'd pay to watch a Captain America movie with a black Cap and a white Falcon, hell yeah.
As I've said else-thread, I don't see Johnny's race as being integral to his characters. He's impulsive (rather than angry, in my opinion, these days), irresponsible, cocky, mischievous and a womanizer. None of those are tied to any one race or culture.
+Mark Means I completely agree that it wouldn't have been practical to have a black Johnny Storm in 1961. It also wouldn't have been practical to have shown a black president, a black chairman of the joint chiefs, a black head of SHIELD, a black secretary of state, or a black superhero of any kind (at least until 1966, and then he was an African King). But just like the comic canon Reed Richards and Ben Grimm didn't actually fight in World War II any more, I don't see that the racial sensibilities of the early 60s needs to dictate a movie made fifty years (!) later.
And, as has been noted, Jamie Bell doesn't look much like Ben Grimm, heavy-set muscular Test Pilot, either.
For that matter, I didn't envision Bruce Wayne as Michael Keaton, but the actor brought it home. And Idris Elba made a faboo Heimdall. And why is Thor actually blonde when the Norse myths make it clear he's a red head?
Now, would it be interesting to create a Fantastic Four movie set in the early 60s — and have their origin tied to the space race against the Commies, and all the men still wearing hats and Sue still coiffed in a bouffant and pearls and Johnny building hot rods and Reed smoking a pipe? Sure, but I'm not going to blame 2014 film makers for not going with that niche choice. _(X-Men: First Class_ dabbled with that a bit, but still inserted some modern sensibilities).
Frankly, that they all have the same names and, as far as I know, the same powers puts them a step above a lot of other comic book movies out there.
Considering what a shit fest every single FF movie has been to date, my reluctance to see another one has nothing to do with whether or not Johnny Storm is white.
" I don't see that the racial sensibilities of the early 60s needs to dictate a movie made fifty years (!) later."
+Dave Hill
I was responding to your point about Storm's race never being something significant about the character when, back in the 60s, I think it was. Unless I was misunderstanding the point you were going after (which is possible).
+Les Jenkins No argument there!
I do agree that it's probably going to need some explanation, but a single line of dialogue will do. There are loads of reasons why you would have interracial siblings.
I just want the superhero casting news and speculation to stop. I don't care what the movie is or who's in it, I'm ready to ragequit the whole damn genre at this point.
+Mark Means And I was responding to your idea that you couldn't have a hot-headed guy on fire in the 60s who was black. And I agree.
But I'm willing to accept that the constraints of the 60s on the characters need not apply to their re-imagining five decades later. It's a delicate balance to be sure — shift too far away from who the character was crafted as and you lose the connection to the creation you're trying to work with.
In the case of Johnny Storm (and when we're talking about black supers we should probably avoid just saying "Storm" 🙂 ), his racial background was not a key part of his character. It may have been driven by the comic book publishing / audience norms of the time (just as Sue and Reed weren't Sue and Lisa), but that's a negative attribute (something a character isn't) vs a positive one (something a character is). A white Black Panther would be missing something that is fundamental to the character as created and portrayed over the decades. A black Johnny Storm can be played exactly the same as a white Johnny Storm, and is no more a fundamental shift in the character than if they don't wear the exactly same blue jumpsuits that Kirby designed for them.
You are probably correct that this is less of a great creative / artistic judgment than a commercial decision. (Or a commercial decision that's tied to the director simply knowing the actor and wanting to work with him.) It's the same commercial calculus that goes in to hiring a Sue Storm who looks beautiful, or that goes into doing an FF movie in the first place. It doesn't necessarily bug me, as long as they tell a great FF tale.
To which end, I agree with +Les Jenkins, too — I'm less concerned over the complexion of the characters than whether it's a decent movie.
+Brittany Constable Not being celebrity-oriented, it seems like a huge amount of useless chatter, especially in the speculative area ("Is Matt Damon up for the role of Iron Man when Robert Downey, Jr leaves the role?" There, I just started an Internet rumor). Once casting is announced, I'm usually okay wit folks talking about it (though the "Person X will never, ever, never make a good Character Y" line of discussion is rarely useful).
One line in the review nailed the whole issue:
"to paraphrase the words of Denzel Washington as Malcolm X by way of Spike Lee"
We just need to remember that it's Hollywood. Everything is an illusion. There is no "reality" that needs to be followed.
Whoops, I just got myself banned from Comic-Con for life, and then some.