You ok with Fox casting a black actor to play a white comic book character? Why do some people care? Is it because they're racist? Well then let me ask you, should it matter if the HULK is green in the next Avengers movie? Does it matter if Martian ManHunter is blue in the JLA movie? Why can't they go with blue or orange? Is it because the HULK and J'onn aren't blue or orange and to change their color would create a disconnect between the movie and comic counter-part?
If you can really say you're ok with changing a characters' race from page to film then you have to be ok with casting the next Blade as a white male, or the next Batman as an asian.
Wait, why stop there? If my only argument is making the character look as much like the comic book counter-part as possible what about other contributing factors like body type and gender?
Are you ok with casting a 300 pound man to play the next Spider-Man? Why? Because a 300 pound man in a Spidey suit would look nothing like the character from the comics? Do you hate fat people or something? Or how about casting a 98 pound skinny guy to play Wilson Fist the Kingpin in a new DareDevil movie? You have something against skinny people?
How about changing Tony Stark into a woman in the third Avengers? Why not? I know some women named Toni. If you're against that idea you must be sexist right?
Ok. I'm sure you get the idea. My point is comics are a very visual media. We see the character every time we read a comic. Unlike books, comics SHOW us EXACTLY what the character looks like month after month, year after year. For more than 50 years I've seen the Human Torch every time I pick up a Fantastic Four comic. I know what he looks like. So when I'm givin a fat Spider-Man, skinny Wilson Fisk, asian Bruce Wayne, or a female Tony (Toni?) Stark I don't feel like I'm seeing the same character I've been reading for decades. We get so excited for these films because we want to see the characters we all grew up with.
And you know what? Hollywood agrees with me 99.9 percent of the time. They cast a black actor to play Falcon. They cast a black actor to play Blade. They cast a black actor to play Warmachine. They cast a white actor to play Superman, Batman, Wolverine, and Spider-Man. I'm Native American and I'm glad they didn't cast a Native American to play my favorite superhero, Spider-Man. You know why? BECAUSE PETER PARKER ISN'T NATIVE AMERICAN.
The end.
Alright. I'm sure this is going to blow up in the comment section. Just remember, "if you're ok with a black Johnny Storm, making the HULK blue or Spidey fat isn't bad form."
And for the record, if someone is out there that is ok changing the color, race, and/or body type of a comic book character you have loved then more power to you. But I don't want to here a thing from someone that is ok changing one and not the other. At least be consistant. Either you want the character to look like the comic book character, or it doesn't matter to you.