moviefan2k4

I don't think Blade or Steel were deliberately made black for the sake of it. The former started as a side character in the "Tomb of Dracula" comics, and was initially drawn as a hippie. The latter was based on the fable about "John Henry and the steam hammer".

Hokeyboy

Blade could totally be white. There's nothing about his character that INSISTS he must be racially "black". Same with Steel. "Hippies" were of every strata, and anyone could be inspired by the legend of John Henry. And yes of course, the vast majority of superhero characters are white. Changing minority character into whites is draining an already really shallow pool.

Black Panther on the other... fucking duh. King of a heart of Africa country. That's akin to making Wong Fei-hung Icelandic or something.

moviefan2k4

All I'm saying is that many people seem to want character traits changed just for the sake of it, and I don't see the point.

islandclaws

Anyone who thinks that studios aren't keen on changing up races for casting in an effort to appeal to a larger demographic - and nothing more - is fooling themselves.

I'm not even a comic book guy, but if a major character has been historically one color, then changing that is likely going to annoy the fanbase that character has enjoyed for his/her existence.

It isn't racist to say you disagree. So Lee & Kirby drew most characters as white because those were the times - then that's what we have to deal with. Are Blacks and Latinos so upset because they don't have enough "major" characters that we have to arbitrarily change things up so they're included?

It doesn't bother me if it's a fringe character - not comics, but casting Fishburne to play the historically-White Jack Crawford on Hannibal was a great choice - but I think major players should be left as they are.

Giantrobo

The funny thing about that is....as everyone knows, "Jack Crawford" was modeled after the real FBI guy John E. Douglas who is White.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Cr...28character%29

RocShemp

No but that's because I don't waste my time on Twitter and don't give a shit about The Hunger Games (a.k.a. Battle Royale 3: White People) but I do see your point on old Hollywood casting. However, that was quite racist. Also quite a bit different than changing a character's ethnicity. The ethnicity of the character in question remained the same. What was different was the ethnicity of the actor playing said character.

On the other hand, I just see the changes of character's genders and ethnicities in modern media as change for the sake of change. It can work beautifully, like in the aformentioned Elementary or in Daredevil (where Michael Clarke Duncan was the absolute best choice for the role of the Kingpin).

Basically, I can see both sides of the argument even if I'm in no way perturbed by the Fantastic Four being black.

dex14

taffer

This reboot is due in less than two years, and they don't even have a script yet?

The Valeyard

They can shit something out just to keep the rights. Maybe they can hire Roger Corman again? I doubt Fox will let the FF go down the Daredevil route.

Double_Oh_7

There is a script, but from what I hear Kinberg is doing a massive re-write.

DaveyJoe

Hire Tobias Funke, turn it into a musical.

dex14

FANTASTIC FOUR - starts filming on March 31, 2014 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Paul_SD

Baton Rouge! You know Fox is serious this time.

Filming starts 3/31/14
Script will be finished 5/17/14

"remember men, we're not here to make a good movie. We're here to make a release date!"

majorjoe23

So are we going to get some casting? That's pretty quick.

dex14

I would think within the next few days/weeks.

Solid Snake

I don't even remember who was rumored. Didn't they want or mention the cool football guy from Chronicle to be Johnny Storm?

I dunno. I just have a hard time trusting Fox with this.

dex14

Yea... Michael B. Jordan, Miles Teller, Alison Williams were the rumored cast.

resinrats

I'm going by my theory that Fox really wants to let the rights expire but they are being mean spirited and are going to so destroy the FF movie reputation with the public that Marvel can't do crap with it since nobody will want another FF movie.

Solid Snake

We're they going to place this in the past? Not that it matters but Millar said they were going for a cinematic universe.

Hokeyboy

What an amazing use of company resources! That wouldn't be career suicide at all!

taffer

Yeah, if Fox was run by a bunch of 10 year old kids, then they might be that petty. To spend millions and millions of dollars to purposefully create a product so bad that they know will be a financial disaster is just plain downright stupid.

The Valeyard

If Fox is that pissy, maybe they should just release this version instead of filming a new movie.

Preterite

Hey. at least those guys are white! And that's all that matters to some folks.

nando820

Someone explain to me, so does the contract say that if they make a movie by 2015 then they get to keep the rights?

majorjoe23

I don't think any of us know what the contract says. It's all just guesses.