How Thor breaks down racial barriers in Asgard

I've seen this point rehashed often in this topic already and have to suggest, instead, the *comics* are the mythology in this case.

Doesn't matter what the Nordic traditions are, just what Stan & Jack and those who followed brought forth. That's the source material.

I don't really know Thor's corner of the Marvel Universe so I can't speak to whether this casting is a problem that will be pointed at later as a reason why the film sucked. I don't even know the actor's work.

It's not like Will Smith's son is the next Peter Parker although I've seen rumors...

 

Funny you should mention Bishop. According to John Byrne who was scripting X-Men at the time Bishop was a mandate from marketing to create a black character.

While original thought of as "African-American" when created, Bishop is apparently an Australian Aborigine according to "X-Treme X-men."

Yeah, nothing there which requires Bishop to be black.

 

To be honest, the comic book character never had much of a personality. He was the guardian of the gates of Asgard and, as I recall, his main narrative function was to greet Thor whenever he returned to Asgard. "Hail, Odinson! What brings thy noble person back to the Realm Eternal?"

To a degree, worrying about whether the "wrong" Heimdall will ruin the movie is like worrying about who is going to play Felix Leiter in a Bond film . . . .

It doesn't really matter.

 

To be fair to Darkwing, Asian American, White, & Afro-American youth are pissed off at Avatar: The Last Airbender's casting of whites in roles meant for Asians, so Darkwing and his friends are in good company. Not that I'm saying he's right, mind you, just that he's in good company.

 

^Red Ranger's argument is utterly ridiculous anyway.

Nobody was bothered by Rhodey taking over as Iron Man or black Vulcans or Lanterns or anything like that. Why ? Because they weren't taking Tony Stark or Spock or anyone and making them black, they were different people!

 

^But Nick Fury or whomever is still just a fictional character. He's a figment of the imagination. So he can be reinvented any time you reboot the series, like when you film a new movie version.

Nothing is set in stone.

If I want to write a story in which Fury is a giant, orange-skinned woman and I can talk Marvel into authorizing it . . . voila, he's a giant, orange-skinned woman!

 

I'll be damned, I didn't know Idris Elba was British. Talk about an actor with presence - looking forward to seeing him in the movie.

 

Relay:

Anticipating your comeback, I asked: "If 'that's entertainment', then you shouldn't mind a black Heimdall"

He replied:

Just as I was posting this, he added:

 

So we won't see any complaining when The Last Airbender comes out then ?

Like hell we won't.

 

In which case, the problem is with the Thor comics themselves.

 

This is very true.

Get the best actor for the role!

 

No.

Strike Two!

Strike Three, you're OUT!

A little uncomfortable with the Jesus imagery in general and not a fan of Madonna herself, but the race of the actor playing the saint had nothing to do with either.

Hold on there, hoss! I have ZERO to do with Metzger or any other AN/White Supremacist group. I have not been, am not now, nor will I ever a subscriber to their "agenda".

This.

More from my friend:

 

Because Marvel can't sell that film? Because they aren't making that film? Because as you have been told a number of times they are making a film about Thor the Marvel character who is loosely based (unless the original Asgard has spaceships in it? and Thor's mother was Gaea rather than the slightly different Jord?) on Thor the mythological figure not a film about Thor the mythological figure.

If you and your white power buddies want that film, go and finance it.

 

^I don't know about the political affiliations of anyone else here but calling people "white supremacists" just because they don't agree with you is a tad unnecessary.

I believe that casting black actors in roles where the character has been portrayed as white throughout his or her history is patronising to black people and disrespectful to the artists involved, and the double standard portrayed here where it is okay to do this but not to cast white actors in non-white roles is racist.

That does not make me a "white supremacist" any more than anyone arguing against me is a member of the Black Panthers or any other such nonsensical argument.

 

The difference is that the characters that were discussed have traits or situations that arise out of their 'blackness' (for wont of a better word). Luke Cage is a character who arises out of a specific context, as do the characters in Roots. Hemedial, like Nick Fury has nothing specific in his back-story that requires any particular colour - which is why the Nick Fury of the films is not the white guy who has appeared in comics for 50 years but Samuel L. Jackson (who the Ultimate comics version of the character was based upon) because there is nothing about the character that requires him to be black or white.

There is nothing about Hemedial, the comic book character that requires it either.

 

Uh, very, very, very wrong. Heimdall has, for a very long time, been labeled as "the whitest of the gods." He is, quite literally, the White God.

It's very much the same as casting a Caucasian, a Native American, an Asian, or an Eskimo as Luke Cage.

That's not a racist statement, and it's absolutely absurd to go around throwing insults like "white supremicist" around just because people recognize those facts. Racism works both ways, buddy; caucasians aren't the only ones capable of it.

Except that he's based upon the 'real' Heimdall, and that the comic book characters are very much the Norse gods.

 

Really? I don't remember them making much use of Space-ships? I don't remember Thor's mother being Gaea rather than Jund (who does share some similar characteristics it has to be said)?

I don't remember the 'real' norse gods actually being the creation of older gods who gained power and amusement from every cycle of ragnarok?

And on and on and on...

The characters are whatever the writer of the week wants them to be - hell in one 'origin', They are space lizards...

 

I don't remember the Norse mythologies extended to the modern era, either. What's your point? It doesn't change the fact that Heimdall is very much based on Heimdall, or that Heimdall is "the White God" and "the whitest of the gods." No matter how much you try to say otherwise to rationalize your painfully racist statements.

 

When was he ever described as such in the comics? Because I can't remember it.

 

I think people are splitting hairs in regards to which version of the Norse Gods we are talking about.

The Norse Gods are just that, Norse. Their comic book depiction is based on the beliefs of Northern European people. It's difficult to think of a "whiter" culture than that.

It's more than a little insulting to suggest that a character who is white "has nothing in his background" to make him that way. Why ? Because a character doesn't have "White" in his name ?

Superman "arose out of a specific context" too. Unless you think a white couple passing a black baby they found in a cornfield off as their own wouldn't have changed his backstory just a little bit.

Nick Fury isn't really up for discussion as the Ultimate Universe version of the character was black and nobody had an issue with that. I certainly don't.