Online anger erupts over "racelifting"

[siead_lietrathua]

Yeah it's a "wtf" moment, but it really doesn't affect the character or the story.

but it's also a WTF that is compleatly unessesary.
adding or skipping some stuff in a STORYLINE because of financial limits is one thing. but changing the apperance or attitude of a CHARACTER is diffrent. to me it jsut shows they were willing to put in inaccuracies to hire a more well-known actor than going with a lesser name, that would do an awesome job, AND look like the character.
it's like when the guy who played Gambit was coached in to a god-awful "cajun" accent. he became a joke in the fanbase for quite a while.

[lordlundar]

it's like when the guy who played Gambit was coached in to a god-awful "cajun" accent. he became a joke in the fanbase for quite a while.

It is actually different. The Cajun accent is a distinguishing part of his character. I recall a similar issue with Rogue because the southern accent is in the same line (though they "fixed" that by making her not come from the deep south). But being white is not a distinguishing trait of the Kingpin, Nick Fury, or Heimdal (remember, that character doesn't go to Midgard unless it's REALLY important) so the race can be different so long as the role is filled by someone who can do a really good job, which in all of my examples is the case (though Fury is more "Jacskon with an eyepatch" than Nick Fury).

[Ginger Tea]

Who would you rather have as fury
A black man (Samual L Jackson) or
A white man (David Hasslehoff)?

[Nekojin]

It's been mentioned before, but it bears repeating: Samuel L Jackson wasn't picked at random because he looks like a tough dude. The "Ultimates Universe" actually created a new Nick Fury and explicitly based him on Samuel L Jackson (with Jackson's permission and glee). So, when they decided to cast Nick Fury, Jackson was quite literally the first person for them to turn to.

For that matter, almost all of the Marvel movies made in the past few years have borrowed heavily from the Ultimates Universe as well as the Classic universe - the Fantastic Four movie had Galactus looking like a nebulous cloud (Ultimates) instead of a giant purple guy with a dorky helmet (Classic); and the Thor movie lifted the plot element of Thor being in a mental institution (although they dropped the "is he or isn't he" aspect that the Ultimates universe used).

[Lace Neil Singer]

Also, Samuel L Jackson is badass. I'd rather he played Nick Fury than anyone else, personally; he's a fantastic actor.

[anakhouri]

Black Nick Fury is also not limited to The Ultimates; he is in the animated show Iron Man: Armored Adventures and Super Hero Squad as a black guy.

[Racket_Man]

Not to mention that some of the events mentioned in a book are IMPOSSIBLE to do unless you make the entire film CGI.
Take The Hunger Games. The ENTIRE book is written from Katniss's point of view, so for the film, they had to put in a few more things to help the audience understand what's happening out of the arena and explain why there's a bushfire all of a sudden, why the muttations are popping up, why Katniss receives what she receives and so on.

I liked the fact that there were a few added scenes and dialogue that did explain some of the behind the scenes stuff. that said those 'additions" did not detract from the story being told. no stupid additional scenes that were totally irrelevant, unnecessary, or totally out of left field. the screenwriter culled some of the less important things but kept all of the major points and, if you will, hints of things to come.

Love to see what they will do with the 2d and 3d book to movie conversion. much stuff happening and many plot twists to deal with in movie form.

[lordlundar]

Black Nick Fury is also not limited to The Ultimates; he is in the animated show Iron Man: Armored Adventures and Super Hero Squad as a black guy.

The character change was created for the Ultimates however (IM:AA and SHS were created later) and even Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is getting in the act (teasers for Fury's return in Season 2 has him as the Jackson version).

[Nekojin]

Yep. I suspect part of the reason that they're using the Jackson version of Nick Fury for the new projects is simply that the classic version of Nick Fury (a graying WWII veteran who has undergone a process similar to the SuperSoldier Project, thus giving him prolonged lifespan and improved health and regeneration) just isn't as popular as an ass-kicking Samuel L Jackson. Also, it helps draw new readers to the Ultimates universe, which is otherwise struggling.

[Rapscallion]

@rapscallion: sorry for late response. i ment if people want to learn more about batman in general, not the movie.

I think there's a perspective issue involved. On one hand there are people who have followed the story in many incarnations in comic books over the years. On the other are the cinema going public who want to spend a bit of money to be entertained for a few hours.

The second group is by far in the majority. They haven't spent ages going through the history - they want to see character development, explanations, and people beating or blowing each other up for a couple of hours as well as popcorn. The average cinema goer doesn't care that much about the background.

I'm mostly in the second camp, though I know a bit more from having hung around people on the 'net or from membase etc*. However, for me it's not that important. I've read maybe three Batman comics in the last three decades. I'm there to be entertained.

Rapscallion

*that bit's actually a joke.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Yep. I suspect part of the reason that they're using the Jackson version of Nick Fury for the new projects is simply that the classic version of Nick Fury (a graying WWII veteran who has undergone a process similar to the SuperSoldier Project, thus giving him prolonged lifespan and improved health and regeneration) just isn't as popular as an ass-kicking Samuel L Jackson. Also, it helps draw new readers to the Ultimates universe, which is otherwise struggling.

I'm sure that's it; in any case, I think someone earlier made the point that surely it's better to have a brilliant black actor like Samuel L Jackson playing Ultimate Nick Fury than a lackluster white actor playing regular Fury. I know what I'd prefer, and I'd personally be spitting teeth if they got someone like Matt Damon playing Fury.

[firecat88]

(Moving this here because I thought it fit better here)

I don't know if this counts here, but one of the weirdest examples I've seen of people wigging out over race and other weirdness is in the MLP fandom. One of the major trends right now is drawing the characters as humans, and I've lost count of how many times I've seen "OMGWTFBBQ! Y U MAKE TWILIGHT SPARKLE BLACK (or make Rarity Asian, or Fluttershy Indian)?! She doesn't *act* <insert ethnicity here>!"

Basically, if you draw human versions of the ponies, expect to get flamed if you draw them as anything other than white as a blizzard and skinny as a toothpick (God help you if you draw a human version of Pinkie Pie, the pony whose diet is similar to that of Buddy from the movie Elf, even slightly chubby). And I will never understand it. The way I see it, the original characters are multi-colored ponies, for cryin' out loud. Pretty sure people can draw 'em in human form however the heck they want.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I can sort of see the point with Rarity, as she's drawn white in the cartoon, but with the other ponies? Who gives a toss, seriously. I saw a brilliant fanfic pic of human Twilight that was black, and some people were raeging over it, saying that nerds aren't black. Wow, I never knew that was a rule, that if you're black, you can't be a bookish nerd. That's like saying that if you're a girl, you can't be a comic geek.

[Jetfire]

I suspect one factor with this 'notice' is that, especially in North American comics, so many of the characters, major and minor, are white that their race doesn't leave an impact. But the fewer ones that are different races often end up having that race be a factor in their past, enough so that casting them as a different race would be difficult, if not impossible to pull off.

As for Nick Fury, Ultimates or 616 Fury are both badass Spymasters for similar reasons. 616 Fury because he's just too ornery to die; he's been around long enough that he knows where all the skeletons are buried and when to unbury them for best effect. Ultimate Fury hasn't been around as long, but he runs SHIELD more or less like a well oiled machine and has been there long enough to know the Important stuff and when and how to push the right buttons to get the job done. Both of them are so similar that I wouldn't chose in a fight between them. And in the end, their race doesn't make a stick of difference; they are who they are regardless of if they are white, black, yellow, purple, or polkadotted.

[crashhelmet]

After seeing The Avengers on Friday (Great Fracking Movie if you haven't seen it yet) I decided to watch Thor again. That's when I remembered something that hasn't been brought up here yet.

In the movie Thor, Laufey is portrayed as the King of the Frost Giants and the father of Loki.

In actual Norse mythology, Laufey is the Queen of the Frost Giants and the Mother of Loki.

The error in this though is with the Marvel Universe. To the best of my knowledge, Laufey has always been portrayed as a male.