A Black Mark on Superhero Films?

With last week’s announcement of the new Fantastic Four cast, Hollywood has once again adopted the “controversy as marketing” process.

It’s not the first time fandom has made the Internet explode with complaints about casting decisions — Michael Keaton, Heath Ledger, Gal Gadot, Ben Affleck — but now that race has been injected into the discussion, it’s going to be very difficult to have an intelligent conversation with anyone about Fantastic Four.

From here on in, folks, I may say some things that rub you the wrong way.
You’ve been warned.

Frankly, it offends me that we have a double standard in this country that denies certain people the ability to voice an opinion without another segment of the population shouting “racist” as a trump card to win the day. It’s indicative of the political and ideological divide that makes the bus known as the United States look like it’s being driven by the lowest common denominator — uninformed, unwashed masses who believe anything they read unless it’s about the President, because anyone who criticizes the President is automatically a racist and their criticisms are therefore irrelevant.

Such is the argument that now pervades the discussion over the casting of Michael B. Jordan — a black actor — as hothead Johnny Storm — a white character — in Josh Trank’s reboot of the franchise for Fox. Many have said that Jordan is a fine actor, and let’s stipulate that his acting skills are probably the only part of this discussion where people tend to agree more often than not. Jordan also has a history with Trank, having been in Chronicle. So there are obvious “it’s who you know” elements at play here, in addition to the reasoning that a film should make every effort to get the best performer for every role.

But is Jordan the best actor to play Johnny Storm? Or is this casting designed to do just what it’s doing — create controversy and generate waves of conversation and consternation ahead of the film’s release? Is Fox (and Trank) counting on the fact that — as Jordan said — people will go see it anyway? Any press is good press?

Anyone who feels Jordan is not right for the role is automatically shouted down as a racist, when in actuality, I think a lot of us questioning the casting are “purists” more than anything. If you’re going to adapt existing story material, with characters that have been around for 50+ years, then you should respect the source material. Johnny and Sue Storm are siblings, always have been, and now with Kate Mara (white) playing Sue, it introduces a bi-racial component in the story that will either be a tropey plot point (one of them feeling like an outsider, black sheep of the family, or something else just as tired), or will be a distraction from the plot because the film won’t address it at all.

Yes, there are plenty of blended families. Yes, it’s possible that you can have siblings or half-siblings or step-siblings that are not quite the same skin tone. But the fact that we’re talking about black and white actors and characters brings this back to the realm of the political and ideological, in a country where whole industries exist — and people make their living — profiting off the “victimization” of blacks in this country. Hollywood, being a bastion of left-leaning political thought, of course is going to be making efforts to correct for the perceived racism of the White Man who made comics in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Their logic is that race shouldn’t matter, but it seems that race shouldn’t matter conveniently when we’re talking about making a character black.

But try to apply the same logic the other way — a white Black Panther? Hispanic Storm? Redhead Cyborg? Asian Luke Cage? — and you get deflected with the racism charge and the whole thing goes to pot.

Just look at this article in The Atlantic — and I hate to even link to it — in which Noah Berlatsky makes a specious argument that Iron Man, Green Lantern, and Spider-Man have all “changed race” in the comics. Uhm, no, Berlatsky, those were completely different people in the costume. Tony Stark did not transmogrify into James Rhodes. And let’s be clear: there were reasons integral to the story why those changes were made. Tony Stark was a drunk. Hal Jordan went crazy. Peter Parker died. And so other characters took on those superhero identities. (And we all know that Black Nick Fury is White Nick Fury’s son, right? Spoilers.)

The sole purpose behind Berlatsky’s article is to paint with a broad brush the label “racist” to anyone who feels the Jordan casting is contrary to the source material.

Let’s go the other way with it, for a moment. Johnny Storm has always been the hothead, with authority issues. A bit of a womanizer. Arrogant. Self-absorbed. A punk. Would that character, played by a black actor, not play into yet another stereotype — that of the black gangsta thug? Or the Player? Where is the “outrage” over putting a black actor into the role of the womanizing punk with authority issues? Is that not racist casting?

As a comic book reader, as a fan of superheroes, as a film critic, as an opinion journalist (and I do have my opinions), I would just like to see the filmed media stay true to the source material — whatever that source material may be — as much as possible given our societal mores.

If it’s such a big thing to get black superheroes in the movies — to the point where we have to change white characters into black characters — then why not make an effort to make movies utilizing the black superheroes in the first place? Where’s Black Panther? Why can’t Storm get a solo film? What about Icon, Static, and Blood Syndicate? John Stewart in Green Lantern 2? How about a team-up between Black Lightning and Apache Chief?

Or come up with new heroes. In this age of reboots of reboots of reboots, I bet it would be refreshing to get an original thought out of Hollywood every now and then.

But that argument then runs into the business model of Hollywood, an industry now run by marketing suits and focus groups. Who’s the audience for superhero stories? Is it predominantly white male? Yep. But that predominantly white male audience is clamoring for Black Panther, has been for a few years now. And many have said the next Green Lantern film should feature John Stewart. Anthony Mackie as Falcon has many fans excited. Plus, figure in the popularity of the animated Justice League — featuring a black Green Lantern in a leadership role — and Young Justice — which featured a black (non-white) Aqualad in a leadership role — and I think we can get past the point where you can justify the “racist” criticism.

Race shouldn’t matter. Except it does, especially when you want to beat me over the head with the race card in an effort to render my opinion irrelevant.