Reaction to Elba's casting as(the decidedly whiter God) Heimdal in Marvel's Thor ranged from some mildly put out fans who wanted the character portrayed onscreen as he is on the page, to outright racism when some fanatical groups went on the rampage over it.
Speaking to Empire, the director of
Thor Kenneth Branagh gives his thoughts on this..
"Idris Elba is a fantastic actor - we were lucky to get him. He provides all the characteristics we need from Asgard's gatekeeper, the man who says, "Thou shalt not pass". When Idris Elba says that, you know you're gonna have a problem. He's smart, intelligent, handsome and an absolute joy to work with. If you have a chance to have a great actor in the part, everything else is irrelevant.
"If you're going to say the colour of his skin matters in a story like this, look at 50 years of Thor comics to see how many ways great artists have bent alleged 'rules'. Look at the Norse myths to see the way they confounded and contradicted themselves. That whole 'controversy' was a surprising - and daft - moment."
For more on this, pick up the
X-Men: First Class themed issue of Empire, available Thursday. And you can check out some cool stills and info from the mag below.
About The Author:
Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.