re: Yes, it's all pandering. All day, every day.

Blade has always been black and Fury is black in the Ultimate universe.

Genie is blue much like Gamora who's green the skin color of their actor doesn't mean shite.


Johnny Storm is the only one you got right

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Except that one time, at Ghostbusters camp

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This is also a crummy example. Ghostbusters failed in the same way that Cleopatra did, which is to say that it failed based on cost. Cleopatra was the highest grossing film of its year, but was considered a failure because of what it cost. Ghostbusters made a quarter billion dollars. That's not stellar, but that's a lot of money. They spent almost $150 million making it. That was a huge mistake.

It's not a great film, but it's far from the financial bomb people pretend it is to make their twitter points.

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Blade

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Is a black guy in the comic.

Nick Fury wasn’t, but SLJ was a fantastic casting choice and I have zero issue with it.

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This is why you can count me in a camp that would be ok if Idris Elba had become Bond. I think he could have hit it out of the park and the only issue would have been a short run due to his age.

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James Bond has been fixed securely in pop culture lexicon for over half a century. Nick Fury has not, and the vast majority of MCU fans only know Jackson in the role.

If you want to make a spy movie with Idris Elba, then make a spy movie with Idris Elba. How does that departure to the classical role add to the character outside of stunt casting? This is my same argument with Oceans 8. You have a great cast, a cool story, stop trying to shoehorn into this other IP just to be clever and edgy. Just make your own movie.

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If you want to make a spy movie with Idris Elba, then make a spy movie with Idris Elba. How does that departure to the classical role add to the character outside of stunt casting?

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Because he'd be good in the role. There's going to be another Bond. Adding a good actor who can carry off the role helps the movie and the franchise. Elba is a legit actor, not a stunt. If they gave Bond to Drake, then I can agree about it being a stunt.

I regard people who want a black Bond due to race and people who don't want a black Bond due to race in a similar light. I disagree with an inability to see acting talent for race.

Bond has changed before. He went from corny to serious and to blond with Craig. Like I said, fictional characters are malleable. Get a great actor for the role and don't get trapped in race.

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regard people who want a black Bond due to race and people who don't want a black Bond due to race in a similar light. I disagree with an inability to see acting talent for race.

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Come on man. He’s been a white guy for 50 years. Regardless of how you view the continuity of the Bond movies, you can’t have him leave the screen after 28 movies as a 50 year old white dude and come back as a 50 year old black dude and act like nothing happened. It’s like having Charlton Heston walk on screen to deliver the monologue as the gas station attendant in Waynes World 2.

And that has nothing to do with his acting talent. He’s ridiculously talented and I’ve enjoyed just about everything I’ve ever seen him in. So I say again: you want to cast Idris Elba in a gritty spy thriller, then make that movie and let it be what it is.

The only times I have a problem with changing the race or specifics of a character is either:

A) The race is integral to the character. If your story is set in 1300s Ireland or 1500s China, good chance it will be race specific. It also matters if the race is relevant to the backstory (like if being an immigrant with a religion uncommon for the region).

B) If the character is based in a real world person.


Aside from those two situations I don't care if you change a fictional character's race, gender, etc so long as you make a good product.

The all-female Ghostbusters didn't flop because it was all female, it flopped because it wasn't a good movie.

If you put the perfect frame and color scheme on a car and then put a shitty engine in it you can't expect it to sell well.

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How does that departure to the classical role add to the character outside of stunt casting?

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Because he's a great actor. He can still be a cunning womanizer if he's black.

Piggy backing on established IP is an age old tradition. Oceans 8 was decently clever and had a great cast. How is that edgy?

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I personally would like to see a black Bond. 

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I would rather see an Indian bond. It makes more sense.

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Come on man. He’s been a white guy for 50 years. Regardless of how you view the continuity of the Bond movies, you can’t have him leave the screen after 28 movies as a 50 year old white dude and come back as a 50 year old black dude and act like nothing happened.

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Bond's jumped actor to actor for years. He gets older and younger and changes hair color and eye color.

That's why I don't understand elevating his race to something beyond all the rest of it. You say they can't just have a new actor walk in and act like it's the same, but the Bond franchise has done that many times.

The only thing this time would be the change being about race, not the other parts of his character. I just don't see that as a part of the character that's unchangeable.

The part of Bond that shouldn't change is the suave, killer spy aspect that I think Elba would nail. If they tried to make Jesse Eisenberg the new Bond, I'd be upset. Not so much with Elba.