Superman 3.0 - Reboot

[reyler]

Fully half the comments on the story over at Superhero Hype are whining about black actors playing characters that were created white. I personally don't know if he's the right guy for the role regardless of race, but it's not like color matters to the character. It's not like the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon a couple years ago where Greg Weisman gave most of the supporting cast a race lift but kept their white names, causing epileptic trees about why a girl named "Liz Allan" has a Latina accent.

 

Two TVTropes dropped in one sentence, not bad. Or not good, depending on your perspective.

[reyler]

First picture of Henry Cavill as Superman has been released.

 

Not the best image to show off the costume, but it looks okay. Not sure why they all have to have texture now.

[Krakalakachkn]

Looks kinda lame.

[Emperor]

Pretty straight forward synopsis...

 

In the pantheon of superheroes, Superman is the most recognized and revered character of all time. Clark Kent/Kal-El (Cavill) is a young twentysomething journalist who feels alienated by powers beyond anyone's imagination. Transported to Earth years ago from Krypton, an advanced alien planet, Clark struggles with the ultimate question - Why am I here? Shaped by the values of his adoptive parents Martha (Lane) and Jonathan Kent (Costner), Clark soon discovers that having super abilities means making very difficult decisions. But when the world needs stability the most, it comes under attack. Will his abilities be used to maintain peace or ultimately used to divide and conquer? Clark must become the hero known as "Superman," not only to shine as the world's last beacon of hope but to protect the ones he loves.

[SinisterDeath]

What if they cast Spawn as a White guy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_black_superheroes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Asian_superheroes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latino_superheroes

ect

ect

Theres more to casting characters than simply race and racism. Alot of it has to do with the characters back story, their upbringing, cultural differences, how society see them, ect. Could you see Superman as a black man? I honestly couldn't but thats because we know his orignal back story. Does that mean there could never be one? no. I'm pretty sure there HAS been one. (at least in an alternate DC universe)

 

But there is more to it than just backgrounds. Its also keeping faith to the original.

Would you get pissed if they changed Supermans home planet from Krypton to Mars? His weakness from Kyrptonite to Macaroons? His powers? There is such a thing as creative liscense, but how far is to far before they start changing the characters race, to changing the entire story and just keeping the name?

 

On an Aside.

Lets say there was a Wheel of Time Movie.

What would you say, if they cast

as Rand Al'Thor

as Nyneave

as Perrin

As Egwene

As Mat Cauthon

And

as Faile?

[Krakalakachkn]

A bit more synopsis with perhaps a few spoilers.

 

 

 

What's surprising here is that this matches word-for-word a synopsis that came from an unnamed source back in April on Movie Newz. The same source back then included extra paragraphs not seen in this one. These said the following:

 

"General Sam Lane, the father of Lois Lane, is a central figure in director Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot. This really is as Zack described in several interviews about the film, a 'real world' Superman. I’m told that when Superman arrives on the scene; people don’t know what to think. He’s an alien from another planet. What are his real intentions? He’s not human and that scares a lot of people. Here’s a guy who can fly, see through walls, is bullet proof and can lift a tank.

 

The military views him as a potential threat to national security. They find kryptonite, pieces of his home planet, and discover its radioactive elements can be harnessed as a near unlimited source of power, both literally and figuratively. It’s a brand new form of energy that is secretly developed by the government. The military, under the direction of General Sam Lane, uses kryptonite to power an experimental cyborg super solider named Metallo. He’s ultimately exploited as a weapon against Superman."

 

Also in spoiler territory today, a lot more set photos and reports have cropped up from shooting in Illinois and have confirmed that not only will we see a young Clark Kent in several scenes, but there's also shots of a gravestone with the name of Jonathan Kent on it indicating Kevin Costner's father figure will bite the dust at some point.

 

 

[reyler]

I think Gary Busey would make an awesome Mat.

 

Also, they didn't cast a white guy to play Spawn, but they did cast a white guy to play his best friend, who was black in the comic.

 

But don't you think you're going a little overboard there, Sin? It's not like they cast Superman himself as a black guy, because his appearance is too iconic. I invite you, though, to consider the fact that Superman isn't actually white either, not as far as being caucasian, given that he's not human. It's an interesting thing to think about. Maybe they should make it so that Kryptonians are naturally green-skinned, and he was genetically altered to look like the most populous people in the most economically influential nation on the planet he was being sent to. That would be an interesting thing to do.

 

I believe that, before Andrew Garfield was cast, there was a serious push to cast a black actor as Spider-Man. I don't recall who it was, though.

 

Anyway, there's nothing wrapped up in Perry White's character, or, at this point in time, his socio-economic status, that requires that he be white. There really isn't much to him beyond "hard-boiled newspaper editor". It might be different if you cast someone whose ethnic origin was incompatible with the name "Perry White", just from a verisimilitude respect.