Supergirl TV Series is being work on.

[Shaka Zulu]

Strahovski would be inspired.

Get it done!

All too old for the role: I say get a 15-16 year old girl (like Elle Fanning or Chloe Moretz) and you have it made. After all, Supergirl's supposed to be 16, not 23.

Honestly, I hope they don't limit their casting considerations only to Caucasian actresses. It's not like most blond actresses are natural blondes anyway. And heck, in many versions, Supergirl wore a brown wig in her civilian identity, so they could reverse it and have the blond hair be a wig (although it'd have to be really well-secured). Plus we've already had a half-Japanese Superman (Dean Cain) and a half-Chinese Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk), so there's precedent.

Most importantly, I just hope they cast for talent instead of just looks. An actress who's nice to look at but boring to listen to is not going to satisfy me.

The idea would be like casting a white actress to play the role of the daughter/cousin of a black character, and be just as foolish (and also just as despised.) Half-Japanese and half half-Chinese might be okay.

What do you mean MIGHT? Christopher proved it was fine. ANd i'm with him on going beyond the limited scope of blond white girs
I also have my own personal favorite choice for SUpergirl =

I say get a 15-16 year old girl (like Elle Fanning or Chloe Moretz) and you have it made. After all, Supergirl's supposed to be 16, not 23.

The series is based on a YOUNG ADULT (age 24) Kara, not on a teenager, and there's no way in heck they'd cast an underage actress to play an adult character because, even if said actress was amazing, there are differences between the way a teenager behaves and the way that a young adult behaves that a teenage actress just wouldn't be able to convey convincingly.

As far as casting non-Caucasian goes, I can see Christopher's broader point and agree with it in principle, but there aren't a whole lot of KNOWN and available actresses in the right age range for the character that aren't Caucasian (sad, yes, but that's just the way that it is right now).

If they go with an unknown actress, I think the probability of getting a non-Caucasian (or mixed-ethnicity) actress in the role goes up.

All too old for the role: I say get a 15-16 year old girl (like Elle Fanning or Chloe Moretz) and you have it made. After all, Supergirl's supposed to be 16, not 23.

There is no "supposed to be." It's an adaptation, a word that literally means change. Adaptations are perfectly free to reinvent the characters and continuity as much as they wish. That's the whole point. Why bother making a new version if it doesn't offer a fresh approach?

The idea would be like casting a white actress to play the role of the daughter/cousin of a black character, and be just as foolish (and also just as despised.)

Except, again, this is a new continuity. They could just as easily cast a nonwhite actor as Superman, as Lois and Clark did with Dean Cain.

Besides, they're Kryptonians. They don't have to have the same ethnic categories and differentiations that we do.

As far as casting non-Caucasian goes, I can see Christopher's broader point and agree with it in principle, but there aren't a whole lot of KNOWN and available actresses in the right age range for the character that aren't Caucasian (sad, yes, but that's just the way that it is right now).

If they go with an unknown actress, I think the probability of getting a non-Caucasian (or mixed-ethnicity) actress in the role goes up.

Exactly. The reason they aren't known is because they aren't being looked for. Inequality doesn't change until people make an effort to change it.

That article linked above suggested Star-Crossed's Aimee Teegarden for the role, but she was totally bland as the lead actress of that series; the real breakout actress, for me, was supporting player Malese Jow, who was charming and talented and pretty and far more compelling to watch. I'd be happy to see her as Supergirl, since she seems to have a good personality for it. Or, for a more conventional blonde type, there's Natalie Hall, who was Taylor on Star-Crossed. Really, just about every supporting female actress on that show was more engaging than Teegarden.

Morpheus 02: Sorry, but I'm a traditionalist on this one, and last time I checked, Superman and his family were white, not black. If you're going to do an adaptation of something from the comic books, why stray so far from the source?

Since they're not casting (and there is not) a black man as Superman (although there is a black version) why cast a non-white person as his cousin? And why can't these people who demand this (not you guys/gals I'm responding to here, but others online) create their own heroes of color?*

*Before anybody bites off my head; yes, I'm a black guy, and I do want to see racial diversity in film and TV. But I don't think that there's a big need for it here in this instance, with this character. It's just creating a future controversy where none is that would derail it in a farrago of criticism about 'reverse racism' and the 'race card' from the usual suspects on and off-line, and for no good purpose.​

Christopher: thanks for the heads-up/reminder about her being an adult in this TV show. But then, why call the show Supergirl if she's not going to be a girl? Why not call it Superwoman, and make her look like this:





Or this:



Sounds like a show I won't be seeing.

 

[DigificWriter]

^ The term "Girl" CAN be used to describe young adult women. It's just not the most common usage. It also delineates her gender moreso than her age when used in the context it's being used in here.

 

[Gaith]

No hour-long TV show is ever going to hire a minor as a lead if they can possibly avoid it, as there are numerous legal restrictions regarding how much minors can work, so anyone wishing for an under-18 actress can just give that up right now, mmmkay.

 

[Christopher]

Morpheus 02: Sorry, but I'm a traditionalist on this one, and last time I checked, Superman and his family were white, not black. If you're going to do an adaptation of something from the comic books, why stray so far from the source?

Oh, come on. You can't seriously expect anyone to take that objection seriously after we've had or are about to have:

Eartha Kitt as Catwoman (and Halle Berry, sort of).
Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent.
Dean Cain as Superman.
Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang.
Sam Jones III as Pete Ross.
Mel Winkler as Inspector Henderson.
Phil Morris as Martian Manhunter.
Laurence Fishburne as Perry White.
Alessandro Juliani (Chinese-Canadian) as Emil Hamilton.
Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin.
Kerry Washington as Alicia Masters.
Bill Duke as (a version of) Bolivar Trask.
Dania Ramirez as Callisto.
Kelsey Chow as Sally Avril (in The Amazing Spider-Man).
Jamie Foxx as Electro.
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.
Idris Elba as Heimdall.
Maximiliano Hernández as Jasper Sitwell.
Dave Bautista (Filipino-Greek) as Drax.
Djimon Hounsou as Korath the Pursuer.
Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm.
Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson.
Candice Patton and Jesse L. Martin as Iris West and her father in The Flash.
Zabryna Guevara as Sarah Essen in Gotham.
Angélica Celaya as Zed in Constantine.
While we're at it, Keanu Reeves as John Constantine in the movie.
Susan Heyward as Deena Pilgrim in Powers.
Jason Momoa as Aquaman.
Tao Okamoto as Mercy Graves (a role also played in animation by Cree Summer and Gwendoline Yeo).
Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam.

And beyond comics, examples like Bernie Casey and Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter in James Bond movies, Angel Coulby as Guinevere in Merlin, David Harewood as Friar Tuck in the 2006 Robin Hood, Lucy Liu as Watson in Elementary, etc. This is normal now. It's been going on for decades. And it's never caused a problem.

And it's not straying far from the source at all, because race doesn't define a character. Heimdall or Iris West being black doesn't affect their characters any more than Wolverine being a foot taller or Charles Xavier being English. It's a trivial change in-story -- and a change for the better in real life, because it corrects generations of discrimination. Not all traditions are worth adhering to.

And no, Superman isn't "white." He's Kryptonian. That could be anything. And why did you single out "black" as the alternative? We've been talking about actress candidates of various ethnicities, mostly Asian or part-Asian. As stated, we've already had a half-Japanese Superman.

^ The term "Girl" CAN be used to describe young adult women. It's just not the most common usage. It also delineates her gender moreso than her age when used in the context it's being used in here.

Frankly, yes, Superwoman would be better. But we're kinda stuck with the usages from decades ago, when it was common to refer to adult women as "girls." Plus there's a totally different character named Superwoman.

Maybe they should make it "Supergrrl."

 

[Agent Richard07]

^ There's also Keanu Reeves as Constantine.

And men are often called 'guys'. The female equivalent should be 'gals' but it sounds too awkward, so 'girl' is a good alternative.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Think Forward Christopher, if Iris is black then so is Wally/Kid-Flash when he shows up.

Although, New 52 Wally/Iris are already black, so it's a question of who is conforming to who?

All we need is identical twins or triplets to get around the labour laws for children.

No. The Olsen twins were never hot. There has to be a better example of competent minor duplicates.

(Every time I ever saw those two after 1990, in the back of my head, I heard someone saying "love that Joker Smile!")

http://www.listal.com/list/actorsactresses-with-identical-twin

Less impressed by the special effects in Terminator 2 now that I know that Linda Hamilton's Twin Sister was helping out for the difficult bits.

My balls just did cartwheels. Two Jill Hennessys? Thankyou baby Jesus.

And more...

http://www.imdb.com/list/ls008178331/

Even if it wasn't to get around labour laws, by using twins, they could be constantly doing stuff with time travel, super speed, red kryptonite, and when they both turn 18, when they can work full time, the writers room can wheel in Power Girl to the story!!!!!

(you know exactly how they decide who is Powergirl and who is Supergirl, and even if they're still identical, the one playing Powergirl is going up three cup sizes from padding.)

Such fun!

 

[Christopher]

^ There's also Keanu Reeves as Constantine.

Already edited that in.

And men are often called 'guys'. The female equivalent should be 'gals' but it sounds too awkward, so 'girl' is a good alternative.

The male equivalent to "girl" is "boy." It's rare to hear a male adult called a boy -- except in some unfortunate racial usages of the past.

Then again, in the 1988 syndicated series, Clark Kent went by "Superboy" well into adulthood, because the producers didn't have the license to the name "Superman" anymore.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The reverse is true fo that legion cartoon ten years back. They had to get rid of Superboy (replaced him with a clone of Superboy) because the rights got sketchy that they couldn't even call a 16 year old Clark Kent "Superman" which is what they had been doing.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Maybe that's why Green Lanterns "Magic Ring" hurts so much when Hal claims that he has "made" Kryptonite with will power to ward off Clark, it's the magic in the ring and not that this ring is emitting wave lengths of radiation identical to Kryptonite with a hadron collider app?

GL Corps rings aren't based on magic. Alan Scott's was, though.

 

[Morpheus 02]

Shaka Zulu,

So you really think "the public" would reject someone who looked like my daughters as Supergirl?

I don't think so -- they could always introduce Power Girl for some special show to please certain fans.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Maybe that's why Green Lanterns "Magic Ring" hurts so much when Hal claims that he has "made" Kryptonite with will power to ward off Clark, it's the magic in the ring and not that this ring is emitting wave lengths of radiation identical to Kryptonite with a hadron collider app?

GL Corps rings aren't based on magic. Alan Scott's was, though.

Sure it's not based on magic, I know that, but Hal Jordan used to call it a "magic ring" all the time in the 70s and 80s because he was a primitive Earthman who did not understand the technology in a comic book for children who did not understand the technology.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Shaka Zulu,

So you really think "the public" would reject someone who looked like my daughters as Supergirl?

I don't think so -- they could always introduce Power Girl for some special show to please certain fans.

Fuck the fans.

Casting a part. The Casting Directors send out guidelines of what they want to agents. Agents talk to their talent. 2000 skinny blonde white women show up in an office.

It's a cattle call. Meat for the grinder.

If a woman of colour did show up anyway, it's somewhat illegal to tell her that she is not allowed to audition because she is the wrong colour, but the casting people after they have seen her try out, can make any decision they want and it's not illegal to pick what they actually asked for... Unless she's really, really really good and blew their socks off and... Surprises can happen.

But in all honesty, this is how a black woman gets to be Supergirl. Some actress/celebrity who is already famous and already has name recognition, who can bring 5 million, 15 million, 40 million, loyal viewers with her, who says that she wants to be Supergirl, which awards gravitas and credibility to the production that any random skinny white girl couldn't.

Which is true of any movie star or popstar that walked in and said "give me the part" no matter what ethnicity they were.

...

If Babrak Obama is Superman currently (Which he is. God bless the multiverse.) doesn't that logically follow that there is a black Supergirl in play near him?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

They'll cast whoever they can get who they think will be best for ratings, obviously.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

^ The term "Girl" CAN be used to describe young adult women. It's just not the most common usage. It also delineates her gender moreso than her age when used in the context it's being used in here.

Frankly, yes, Superwoman would be better. But we're kinda stuck with the usages from decades ago, when it was common to refer to adult women as "girls." Plus there's a totally different character named Superwoman.

Maybe they should make it "Supergrrl."

That's a tired thing that deserves to die (the 'girrl' meme.) And while in the Afro-American community people like my late mother used to refer to her friends as 'girl', I can see why most women object to seeing a 20-something woman be called a girl when she isn't one (and believe you me, women will object on and offline about this.)

Since this is a different version of Supergirl that's not a teenager, why dress her up as that version and call her that? Superwoman's better.

Oh, come on. You can't seriously expect anyone to take that objection seriously after we've had or are about to have:

Eartha Kitt as Catwoman (and Halle Berry, sort of).
Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent.
Dean Cain as Superman.
Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang.
Sam Jones III as Pete Ross.
Mel Winkler as Inspector Henderson.
Phil Morris as Martian Manhunter.
Laurence Fishburne as Perry White.
Alessandro Juliani (Chinese-Canadian) as Emil Hamilton.
Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin.
Kerry Washington as Alicia Masters.
Bill Duke as (a version of) Bolivar Trask.
Dania Ramirez as Callisto.
Kelsey Chow as Sally Avril (in The Amazing Spider-Man).
Jamie Foxx as Electro.
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.
Idris Elba as Heimdall.
Maximiliano Hernández as Jasper Sitwell.
Dave Bautista (Filipino-Greek) as Drax.
Djimon Hounsou as Korath the Pursuer.
Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm.
Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson.
Candice Patton and Jesse L. Martin as Iris West and her father in The Flash.
Zabryna Guevara as Sarah Essen in Gotham.
Angélica Celaya as Zed in Constantine.
While we're at it, Keanu Reeves as John Constantine in the movie.
Susan Heyward as Deena Pilgrim in Powers.
Jason Momoa as Aquaman.
Tao Okamoto as Mercy Graves (a role also played in animation by Cree Summer and Gwendoline Yeo).
Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam.

And beyond comics, examples like Bernie Casey and Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter in James Bond movies, Angel Coulby as Guinevere in Merlin, David Harewood as Friar Tuck in the 2006 Robin Hood, Lucy Liu as Watson in Elementary, etc. This is normal now. It's been going on for decades. And it's never caused a problem.

And it's not straying far from the source at all, because race doesn't define a character. Heimdall or Iris West being black doesn't affect their characters any more than Wolverine being a foot taller or Charles Xavier being English. It's a trivial change in-story -- and a change for the better in real life, because it corrects generations of discrimination. Not all traditions are worth adhering to.

And no, Superman isn't "white." He's Kryptonian. That could be anything. And why did you single out "black" as the alternative? We've been talking about actress candidates of various ethnicities, mostly Asian or part-Asian. As stated, we've already had a half-Japanese Superman.

By the same token, then I can have all of the characters in any future Avatar:The Last Airbender/Avatar: The legend of Korra movie/TV show be white (which is what happened, to the horror of all of the fans and people of color everywhere.) And I, as person of color trying to sell a script about a movie entirely with people of color in it, can also have my film changed by a film company executive saying 'let's have the role of the brother be played by a white actor.' After all, fair is fair, and it doesn't matter.

I have no problem with white characters being another color; I'm excited to see the upcoming Annie movie with Quvenzhané Wallis as Annie Stacks (Warbucks is déclassé now as a name) and I loved the version of Velma Dinkley in the Scooby-Doo made-for-TV movies that starred Hayley Kiyoko (also, I have a crazy concept for an Asian-American cast version of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof with George Takei as Big Daddy.) But I don't think that every fictional character has to have its gender or skin color changed just because. I do think that we need to see more characters of color in movies and TV, though and they should be new characters in new movies and TV shows, not always older and established ones.

 

[Gaith]

The male equivalent to "girl" is "boy." It's rare to hear a male adult called a boy -- except in some unfortunate racial usages of the past.

IME, women in their 20s refer to men in their 20s as "boys" all the time, especially when it comes to dating, though I agree it'd be weird if the general public referred to a 25-year-old super-guy as "Superboy". And while "Superwoman" is both logical and pleasing, that extra syllable is not quite ideal.

Perhaps "Superdame" is the way to go. Or "Supermiss". "Superbroad"? No, that's gauche. "Superqueen"? Too LGBTQ. Of course, we haven't discussed the prospect of a trans Supergirl... okay, let's not go there this week. Not before I quit sniffing glue.

Wait. Wait. Got it. "Supercoz". 'Cause no matter how much she achieves, the world will always see her as a certain man's cousin. No, that's not so good either, is it.

Well, shoot; I guess I vote "Superwoman" after all. Damn the torpedoes! Go down with the ship!

 

[DigificWriter]

Oh, come on. You can't seriously expect anyone to take that objection seriously after we've had or are about to have:

Eartha Kitt as Catwoman (and Halle Berry, sort of).
Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent.
Dean Cain as Superman.
Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang.
Sam Jones III as Pete Ross.
Mel Winkler as Inspector Henderson.
Phil Morris as Martian Manhunter.
Laurence Fishburne as Perry White.
Alessandro Juliani (Chinese-Canadian) as Emil Hamilton.
Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin.
Kerry Washington as Alicia Masters.
Bill Duke as (a version of) Bolivar Trask.
Dania Ramirez as Callisto.
Kelsey Chow as Sally Avril (in The Amazing Spider-Man).
Jamie Foxx as Electro.
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.
Idris Elba as Heimdall.
Maximiliano Hernández as Jasper Sitwell.
Dave Bautista (Filipino-Greek) as Drax.
Djimon Hounsou as Korath the Pursuer.
Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm.
Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson.
Candice Patton and Jesse L. Martin as Iris West and her father in The Flash.
Zabryna Guevara as Sarah Essen in Gotham.
Angélica Celaya as Zed in Constantine.
While we're at it, Keanu Reeves as John Constantine in the movie.
Susan Heyward as Deena Pilgrim in Powers.
Jason Momoa as Aquaman.
Tao Okamoto as Mercy Graves (a role also played in animation by Cree Summer and Gwendoline Yeo).
Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam.

And beyond comics, examples like Bernie Casey and Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter in James Bond movies, Angel Coulby as Guinevere in Merlin, David Harewood as Friar Tuck in the 2006 Robin Hood, Lucy Liu as Watson in Elementary, etc. This is normal now. It's been going on for decades. And it's never caused a problem.

And it's not straying far from the source at all, because race doesn't define a character. Heimdall or Iris West being black doesn't affect their characters any more than Wolverine being a foot taller or Charles Xavier being English. It's a trivial change in-story -- and a change for the better in real life, because it corrects generations of discrimination. Not all traditions are worth adhering to.

And no, Superman isn't "white." He's Kryptonian. That could be anything. And why did you single out "black" as the alternative? We've been talking about actress candidates of various ethnicities, mostly Asian or part-Asian. As stated, we've already had a half-Japanese Superman.

By the same token, then I can have all of the characters in any future Avatar:The Last Airbender/Avatar: The legend of Korra movie/TV show be white (which is what happened, to the horror of all of the fans and people of color everywhere.) And I, as person of color trying to sell a script about a movie entirely with people of color in it, can also have my film changed by a film company executive saying 'let's have the role of the brother be played by a white actor.' After all, fair is fair, and it doesn't matter.

You're trying to conflate the issue. There ARE certain characters whose Ethnicity IS an integral part of their characterization and cultural identity, but characters like Superman, Supergirl, Lex Luthor, Batman, Batgirl, Robin, Joker, Catwoman, Spider-Man, and all of the other characters Christopher mentioned don't fall into that category.

Also, the Avatar: The Last Airbender thing was blown completely out of proportion and is therefore a poor example when it comes to 'Ethnic purity' as far as casting goes.

 

[theenglish]

Shaka Zulu,

Consider that most long-time established comic characters who are white were drawn that way because of the times they were created. I have been a little disheartened that DC's various worthy attempts to diversify its skin tone palette over the last decade or so have faltered.

The truth is though, that there are very few comic book characters whose skin colour is inherent to their origin story or their background as a character. Katana for one. Ryan Choi. Simon Baz comes to mind, but the other Earth Lanterns? In fact, none of the main non-legacy Justice League has to be any specific ethnicity at all.

EDIT: There are some specific mis-castings I remember such as the Earthsea adaptation a few years back. In LeGuin's stories, she is quite specific about the colour of a character's skin for a reason and it is of thematic importance to the story. "The Left Hand of Darkness", for example, has one line that identifies the main characters skin color --something to the effect of "some people on Earth have lighter skin than me". LeGuin's purpose is to disrupt the reader's tendency to envision the protagonist as white, in a story whose entire purpose is to help us question our preconceptions of what defines the humanity of a person.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Superwoman is a barely used yet distinctly different... Oh?

The Crime Syndicate?

Well, that Superwoman is an evil mirror universe version of Wonder Woman, belonging to an evil mirror universe version of the Justice League.

Superwoman is also sorta/sometimes the mirror universe Lois Lane.

But a baddie never the less.

There's also a hero called Superwoman, who is who I was thinking of when I started this post. She wears a version of Superman's uniform with a blue halfface mask to disguise her identity. last time we saw her, Superwoman was really Lucy Lane, a modified human working for the US Army to plot against certain invasion from New Krypton.

What about the Legion?

They got into their thirties at one point.

Ageing as they were, did the many boys become men and the many girls become women?

Maybe I could see the point in changing kara's name to something more politically correct if her name was Superc###, but the only reason that this is a problem is that we are assuming that the WB is too lazy to cast a child, for who such a name as Supergirl would be appropriate.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Any one seen Louie last season?

Louie's black wife is the mother of their two lily white Irish catholic blonde girls.

At first I thought it was adoption.

Then when it became clear that she was the biological mother, I just assumed it was don't ask, don't tell because Louie was ####ing with convention, reality and us.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

As stated, we've already had a half-Japanese Superman.

Actually, Superman was one-quarter Japanese at one point. Not half. However, I get the gist of the conversation.