Topic: Should a black actor play Spider-Man in the next movie?

Peter Parker/Spider-Man is probably one of the only comic book characters who should never be changed.

Morgan Freeman should play Spiderman.

I wouldn't be against a black Spider-man or a black Superman. Oddly, however, I would be against a black Batman. The only two races I can imagine Batman as is white and Asian. I think Donald Glover might make a good Peter Parker, it seems like a good casting choice to me. The other guys they have in the running just seem generic to me.

(Personal note: I am a very big Spider-Man fan, respect the classics)
Also,
RIP Gary Coleman.

I think blind casting is something that should happen more often. Unless there's a specific aspect to the character's history or the film that requires a certain ethnic background then I don't see why it should come into play. There's nothing about Peter Parker or Spider-Man which requires he be of white, European descent.

Anyone remember Shawshank Redemption? Morgan Freeman's character is a white Irish guy in the story it's based upon. Anyone outraged that he got cast? More importantly, can anyone imagine anyone else in the role? I've seen James Earl Jones play a white Souther aristocrat in a Tennessee Williams play and do an excellent job - skin colour isn't as big an issue as whether or not the actor understands the role and does a good job portraying the character.

If you want to be faithful to the source then Spider-Man should be set in the 1960s calling everyone daddy-o and refusing to get involved with student protests - the man was so unhip it hurt and by modern standards would be somewhere right of centre and have very little appeal with the youth market that the film's producers are going to target. I personally don't see a problem here.

While I think non-white characters are woefully underrepresented in comic books (and elsewhere), I think Peter Parker should still be white.

I'm still trying to get over a black Nick Fury. wtf

@sykotek You have the absolute worst wayof forming an argument for race in entertainment. You link us to a non-canon, faux adaptation bollywood film when trying to argue against superman being played by a non-white actor? how insulting. You think a black actor playing spiderman would have to be none other than a comedy done in blaxploitation-style? Don't say i misquoted you because that's exactly what you wrote. Dude, come on, that's really not cool. How about you reread what you wrote and tell me that's not incredibly offensive. "I certainly won't pay to see a serious black spiderman..." Wow

That's not to say I'm for changing the race of a character who was never anything but [blank] in the source material. Making an argument that all comic book characters are white is stupid. The argument that all the more famous American comic book characters are white I can agree with. Why the original poster equates an internet meme that Spiderman should be played by a non-white actor means Black i have no idea.

Changing race seems to be a very Hollywood thing these days. Remember, they changed Speed Racer to white (don't tell me he was originally white, because he wasn't), they're changing Akira to white for that adaptation too.

@Sean_Aaron You're right about the blind casting thing though. The problem is that American's are still too hung up about race, especially with the entertainment industry, which is actually kinda sad because Hollywood films still represent a huge market internationally too, so the rest of the world sees just how much America focuses on its racial standards.

Though, it wouldn't matter who is the next Peter Parker, weather he is black or white, as in the third, it was meh. They tried to add way to many villains to please the fans, it just felt awful.

If they can cast Jake Gyllanhal as the Prince of Persia, I don't see a problem with a black Spiderman.

I'm surprised I haven't seen any "In before the lock" gifs yet.

This.

I should note that i have never seen any of the spiderman or superman movies (though i did watch the Japanese spiderman series from Toho, which i liked, which is technically an official adaptation since they got permission to make it from the original creators). While i think that race (or gender) isn't important in the casting of a character, it IS important whether the creator gives permission for the character to be changed in any way. As long as the creator (or estate) gives their okay, i'm fine with anything as long as it's quality material. Like if the creator of Spawn had a reason for making him black originally, and it was deep-rooted enough into the character that it couldn't be seperated, then a non-black Spawn really would be inappropriate.

Some characters are culturally specific though, as i couldn't imagine a Doctor who wasn't from the UK. I don't say british anymore, since David Tennant wasn't British, and he was the most nerdly sexy-liscious Doctor ever. I don't care if the Doctor was not white, but the character is so deep-rooted in UK culture that he would need to be from there.

I'm currently writing a book featuring a main character who is Japanese. Someone once asked me if he NEEDS to be Japanese, or if he could be changed, and i flat-out said no. I've written characters of all kinds, and while some of them could be whatever, since in my head i never fixed their race or ethnicity to begin with, this character NEEDS to stay Japanese. I'm sure that exists for a lot of writer's creations. That to me is where the lines are drawn for this topic.

Does Spiderman NEED to be white? Hmmm, can't imagine why he would...but who knows...

That's the point I was trying to make about superhero films: people forget that these characters were born out of very particular sociopolitical contexts, and it takes some work to move them into the present in any kind of meaningful way. I don't think they've managed to do that with Spiderman; for me, the 2 recent Spiderman films I saw were worse than brain-dead. Batman has at least made a genuine attempt to be relevant to the contemporary world and its fears, rather than expecting the old villains to translate in unaltered form.

@Wariowoods nice to see you again! and good point, to both you and Sean Aaron. Changing the character so completely negates what the creator originally intended, of course, that is if something deeper was intended in the first place. Am i correct in thinking that this isn't the case for all superheroes? I'm not much into American comic books, at least, not Superhero type ones (for an example of one i DO like, look up David Boring, totally amazing). Peter Parker was always kind of a square, so when i saw Toby McGuire cast, it made sense.

Even through all the reboots, Batman and The Hulk maintained their back-stories and basic personality triats didn't they?

@Tsuchinoko

Howdy (I've been so busy of late that I've been hiding from the two threads to which I usually contribute, Wii Music and DIY, until I have time actually play games again rather than just talk about them on the forum while at the office ).

The recent Batman reboot is interesting because it did take fairly sweeping liberties with the character and backstory. I could be wrong, but I'm fairly certain that being trained by Ra's Al Ghul, and even inspired to become Batman by that training, has no basis in the comics. Even more interesting was how they delayed his nobility a bit; when he first donned the bat suit, it had a motivation closer to anger and revenge than to a fight for justice, but it is implied that he slowly made the transition.

But I'd certainly be interested in any kind of change to Spiderman which might make it interesting for a change. I feel like better writers would be a start, regardless of the race of the actor.

@Tsuchinoko: I wouldn't pay to see it, I WON'T PAY TO SEE A SERIOUS BLACK SPIDER-MAN MOVIE, deal with it Tsuchinoko, ha! I hope it eats you up inside. I wouldn't want to see another Spider-Man movie if the only difference is that he is black, it wouldn't appeal to me. I happened to think the non-canon, bollywood clip was funny and it was meant to elicit a laugh at how bad it is, not to be taken seriously as how a movie would actually turn out, I was being OTT, but I did do some thinking about it and I would enjoy a blacksploitation movie of Spider-Man, it would be different, give a valid reasoning why he'd be black since its not like that in the comics and if written well, would be very entertaining to watch as it would bring the reasoning as to why Spider-Man is black into the spotlight. Since it wouldn't be viewed as canon in that scenario, I wouldn't be bothered by it. I didn't make the argument that all comic book characters are white in case that was aimed at me, just that they should stick to the source when they are to be taken seriously. Changing race of characters IS a modern Hollywood thing, one that I don't support since they don't do it to benefit the story in any way. In my experience it has never added anything positive to the movies themselves. Speed Racer sucked and I didn't even know they made an Akira movie, but I hear that Dragon Ball wasn't so great either, what would've helped? ...probably if they stuck to the source material.

@Magi: At least with Nick Fury(though I preferred Hasselhoff as the actor in the campy movie from years back), he's apparently black in the Ultimates(which I didn't read) universe. SLJ brings his same acting style to Iron Man 2 as he does in all other movies and doesn't add anything positive and I don't feel portrays Nick Fury correctly. That is my only gripe with his portrayal of him.

@Sean Aaron: I don't make it a point to bother arguing with moderators, but the Shawshank Redemption was originally a novel was it not? I don't believe that the vast majority of the people that have watched that movie read the novel prior. Spider-Man, however, is far more mainstream and was introduced as a comic and his character has been drawn and inked since the beginning and as far as I know, he's been white for the last 60 years. If it is introduced in the comics that Peter Parker is anything besides white, I won't take issue or if they sell it as non-canon. Like if they decide to make a movie about Pavitr Prabhakar and Spider-Man: India. What I'm trying to get at is that its different, Spider-Man/Peter Parker/mythos is already heavily rooted, so I don't feel it works in that case in regards to blind casting, at least for me.

Thinking back, when Spider-Man the movie was first being released, I heard the outrage some people had when it came to the organic web shooters, but figured the reasoning was because there wasn't time in the movie to waste having him make them in the director's opinion. The thing that got me that I felt outraged by was hearing that Uncle Ben didn't die or that he wouldn't and that would have completely screwed up Spider-Man's origins. I was glad that was an erroneous report after all. For me, its not so much that its unacceptable that the characters are replaced with black actors or any other race, but because the characters aren't obscure, changing their race doesn't add anything to the character and seems cheap and unnecessary to me.

@Tsuchinoko: David Borin is awesome - actually all of Clowes recent stuff is excellent, so you should check them out.

@Warioswoods: I feel the same way about Iron Man - brilliantly brought into the modern world with the focus on his own demons that really didn't featur prominently until much later in the character's development.

@Sykotek: I'm sorry, but "well established" to whom? I'd wager a very small percentage of people who made the Spider-Man films massive successes have ever read a Spider-Man story in their life - I'd say it's even smaller for the Batman and Iron Man films. These movies aren't made for people who've been reading the comics their whole lives; if they were they'd be lucky to break even because guess what, the traditional super hero book doesn't have broad enough appeal. Don't believe me check out sales in the direct market - if Marvel wasn't successful in turning their properties into films they'd probably have gone bust by now; the ONLY value these characters have to companies like Disney and Time-Warner is their film and toy sales.

If someone thinks Spider-Man could have broader youth appeal played by a non-white actor then that's what's going to happen. Deal with it.

Yes.
Yes I am.

ITS LIKE CASTING GOKU AS JUSTIN CHATWIN...! oh wait.

@Sykotek No, i don't have to accept something that ridiculous just because you say it. I feel that what you said was wrong, and i stick by it. I am very comfortable saying you're wrong. It doesn't eat me up, because i don't feel i have to convert you to my side. Its not even an argument or a debate its so ridiculous.

And for the record, i really don't think you should be spending your time arguing with moderators either.

The only valid reason Spiderman would be black is if it is a blaxsploitation film, a satire of black culture and a comedy. A serious spiderman film with an actor who just happened to be black wouldn't appeal to you based on a casting choice? No, like i said, i am very comfortable telling you how wrong i think that it.

I'm black and as would prefer a white peter parker even though i imagine that Donald Glover would own the role. Also the doctor is different as he's a time traveling space alien who can change his apperance and personality.