As it turns out, the reboot of The Fantastic Four films may cast a new Johnny Storm, and word has it that he could be . . .
Wait for it . . .
. . . black.
(Which also means that Sue Storm may also wind up being . . . . *whisper* black.)
Shhhhh!
I know we’re not supposed to be noticing that, being that we’re all post-racial and colorblind and all. But it doesn’t stop folks from pitching a fucking fit. Some shit about it betraying the original vision for the character or something. Y’know, kinda like Heimdall in Thor.
If anybody has seen Chronicle, the option of having Michael B. Jordan play Johnny Storm makes a whole lot of sense. Young, hot-headed dude who loves the fact that he’s a fucking superhero? Yeah, I can see it.
But when it’s Benadryl Cucumbersnatch playing an iconic man of color villain who was so awesome that even James T. Motherfucking Kirk had to show respect, all of a sudden it’s about the best person for the job.
Riiiiight.
I seent yo’ ass.
I started a fire (no pun):
but here: http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/will-chronicle-star-michael-b-jordan-be-human-torch-fantastic-four-88881
I have no idea what Chronicle is but I do hope this becomes true.
And I recently saw a thing on Tumblr about the whole Khan being whitewashed and now it makes me want to see Shah Rukh Khan in that role. I keep daydreaming about SRK captaining a spaceship and being all badass. Alas it likely has never crossed the movie makers’ minds and so it didn’t happen and it will never happen.
Chronicle is Akira meets Blair Witch Project, in a nutshell.
“Khan being whitewashed and now it makes me want to see Shah Rukh Khan in that role.”
SRK? Yeaaaaahhh no thanks. He has a tendency to over act and carries a pound of cheese in every role he plays.
I’d rather someone like Aamir Khan (no, not the boxer) play the role. He’s got the acting chops and has made a whole career out of trying out different things.
Milind Soman is another good option as he has played a Space Captain before and he’s hot!
I did think about it some more and yes, more and more I’m imagining Aamir Khan in the role instead.
I like the idea of Michael B.Jordan being Johnny. He’s an amazing actor and he’s HOT! Sue Storm doesn’t necessarily need to be black as well, he could have been adopted into the Storm family, but it’d be extremely rad if Sue was black!
OR Sue could have been adopted. Or both of them! :)
I am intrigued and hope to see more – but Fandom? yeah it’s spiderman all over again
Talking of which. I saw the trailer for After Earth before Iron Man last night, and couldn’t stop thinking how much I want Jaden Smith to play Spider-Man.
I think that my response to that would be to wait and see. Idris Elba and Michael Clark Duncan were awesome as Heimdall and Kingpin, respectively, and with the old actor for the Torch playing Captain America nowadays I believe this might be a good thing indeed. What would be best, IMHO, would be to make Johnny and Sue both black, but whether or not Hollywood would actually go through with it, OTOH, is a very different question.
Ummm. People conveniently forget that a biracial Latina actress played Sue Storm in the first 2 installments of the Fantastic Four.
Not to mention that Ben’s girlfriend was black. SO what are they really mad about? It’s not like that they’re upset because their audience insert rockstar of whitemale power fantasy is getting a bit of color?
OH WAIT!!!!!!
Jessica Alba had her hair dyed blond in that one though so maybe there’s a bit of a whitewash there?
She had her hair dyed blonde and she wore blue contact lenses. I very much think she was whitewashed. Her entire treatment during those movies was despicable.
Which is fascinating how she got treated given that she’s hands down the most powerful member of the Fantastic Four.
Oh yes, but we can’t have a woman actually ACT on set, can we?
Jessica Alba actually commented and criticized the writing on the commentary of the two FF movies with regards to her role as well as a few other scenes to boot.
Yep. And she has criticized the direction – saying that in at least one scene she was told not to display emotion and just look pretty.
So not looking up discussions/debates/whatever on the matter.
But I liked him in Chronicle, even though you know how his storyline was gonna progress–part of being the token black guy among things–and his characterization in the movie I felt was better than what you get for MANY CoCs in these sort of cast setups. He actually had personality! Personally I would have liked the movie more if it centered around him instead of another “nobody understand me” kid, but that’s just me. =p
I seriously hope he gets the role of Johnny Storm! But I HATE how the discussions about this keep falling towards–maybe HE’S the one adopted. Like it couldn’t have been white Sue was adopted? Like maybe they’re step-siblings or half-siblings? (Impossible!) Or maybe they’re–oh, I dunno–full blooded siblings? (GASP! IMPROBABLE!)
But don’t suggest a Black Sue or brains will start to melt–nevermind Ben’s girlfriend in the previous two movies.
*secretly pines for an all non-white FF cast*
*Joins in the pining*
Everyone here has already said everything I could have said already, but I’ll also reiterate that sometimes, I think fandoms need to be burned down to remove the old, ugly, bigoted deadwood.
I don’t know the actor, but if he’s good and he brings the character to life, then so much the better.
(chuckle) Sorry but I’m going to go see it for this happening alone,…. I’m trying to picture it, and I’ll just have to go see.