Donald Glover as Spider-Man?

[TGC]

Powerman and Iron Fist YES!!!!

But only if Powerman is Asian and Iron Fist is Austrian!

[Noah]

How much muscle mass would Arnie have to lose to take on the role of Fist then?

I know precious few famous Austrians and it's something that keeps me awake at night.

[Noah]

The new Iron Fist?

Leading contender to play Power Man?

[Heel Turn]

Fuck yes, Glover as Spider Man. He was great in Mystery Team, and he totally has the personality to be an excellent Peter Parker.

And Keith, awesome line.

Edited June 12, 2010 by Heel Turn

[GoGo Yubari]

Stop editing before I can post, HT.

[Heel Turn]

Stop editing before I can post, HT.

Sorry. I actually love the idea of Glover as Spidey -- the older movies are still fresh in everyone's mind and I could see Glover as a great way to distinguish the two series from one another.

[Hutch2004]

"I love the Spider-Man movie."

"Black or White?"

[Benji]

People arguing about him not being black, I have to ask - how does it affect the character?

Did you know that in India, Spider-Man is Indian?

It's not about people who don't want it being racist, I understand that, but by the same token, it's not like by being black Spider-Man would be any less Spider-Man. Peter Parker is a character that overcomes adversity, his skin colour has never come into this and nor should it ever, regardless of if he's played by a black guy, a white guy, an asian guy or whatever. Peter Parker is a guy who is persecuted simply for being the good guy. Anyone thinking a guy shouldn't (read that carefully, shouldn't, not can't, because anyone who thinks he "can't" play the role is indeed being a racist douche bag) play the character because of his skin colour is blind to the fact that there's only one thing that should decide who Peter Parker is - whether the guy is "The Good Guy" for the part on his ability to portray the nerdy, heroic, down-on-his-luck, ultra-pimp with the ladies Peter Parker.

[TCO]

I don't think it would change the character, it's just a personal preference that Peter Parker should look like he does in the comics being a Spider-Man fanboy that I am. If Superman were a Chinese midget I wouldn't care but I'd understand if people were.

Edited June 12, 2010 by The Cool One

[LL!]

I don't think it would change the character, it's just a personal preference that Peter Parker should look like he does in the comics being a Spider-Man fanboy that I am. If Superman were a Chinese midget I wouldn't care but I'd understand if people were.

Redundant. :/

[zero]

Captain America and the regular Marvel Universe Nick Fury wouldn't work as black because it would be downright impossible to believe a black man would have ever been put in their positions during WW2

Um... perhaps you should look up the Tuskegee experiments, because if the US government was going to test a potentially dangerous serum on someone during WW2, it surely would've been a black man.

The "culture" argument is irrelevant, unless you want to stereotype all black people. I've known a lot of black guys who are whiter than I am, and I'm one lame cracker.

And as for Glover's limited exposure to mainstream audiences, what about all the other guys on the shortlist? Clearly they're looking for someone who's relatively unknown, because Jamie Bell is the biggest name on that list, and no one knows who the hell he is either.

People are excited for Glover because he's fun, and Spider-Man is supposed to be fun. No one's calling for him to be the new Wolverine or Magneto, they want him to be Spider-Man because he seems like a good fit for the role. Considering that this campaign has generated more buzz than anything else related to the movie, I'd say he at least deserves an audition.

[GoGo Yubari]

Um... perhaps you should look up the Tuskegee experiments, because if the US government was going to test a potentially dangerous serum on someone during WW2, it surely would've been a black man.

That's not the point. The Steve Rogers Captain America was put forth as the face of the US at the height of WWII; in Marvel continuity he was the biggest hero of that period. There's no way the US government would have put a black man in that position, which is why if you want to properly portray that Captain America it has to be a white guy. Now, if you want to have an actor portray Isaiah Bradley, the Cap who in Marvel canon was a product of the kind of experiments you're referencing, then I'd agree with you (... with the postscript, though, that if I'm paying to see a Cap movie I'm damn well wanting to pay to see Steve Rogers).

[thatblindgeye]

Um... perhaps you should look up the Tuskegee experiments, because if the US government was going to test a potentially dangerous serum on someone during WW2, it surely would've been a black man.

That's not the point. The Steve Rogers Captain America was put forth as the face of the US at the height of WWII; in Marvel continuity he was the biggest hero of that period. There's no way the US government would have put a black man in that position, which is why if you want to properly portray that Captain America it has to be a white guy. Now, if you want to have an actor portray Isaiah Bradley, the Cap who in Marvel canon was a product of the kind of experiments you're referencing, then I'd agree with you (... with the postscript, though, that if I'm paying to see a Cap movie I'm damn well wanting to pay to see Steve Rogers).

See, that is a case where the persons ethnicity would actually come into play with the character, since times were different back then. But Spiderman isn't in the same boat. He's just a nerdy kid that gets bit by a spider. He isn't from a time where only crazy white kids were allowed to be bit by radioactive spiders. Spiderman wasn't signed up for some experiment where only white people were allowed by the government or something. While changing Captain America from white to black might require some changes to his character/backstory due to the time his backstory is set in, the only thing that would change with Peter Parker is that he would just have different skin color.

[Skummy]

Captain America and the regular Marvel Universe Nick Fury wouldn't work as black because it would be downright impossible to believe a black man would have ever been put in their positions during WW2

The "culture" argument is irrelevant, unless you want to stereotype all black people. I've known a lot of black guys who are whiter than I am, and I'm one lame cracker.

Just to clarify - the "culture" argument was against people saying that changing a character's race is the same as changing their hair colour, not that all black people behave in a certain way, just that there's a cultural and historical background to race that means it's not purely aesthetic, and that people arguing otherwise tends to make me a little uncomfortable.

[zero]

Fair points to Skummy and GoGo, but I'd still maintain that in WWII America, a black guy would be the test subject for any sort of medical research. He may not get to be Captain America or the face of the US, but he would be the guinea pig... because that's exactly the kind of stuff we did to black people not that long ago.

[apsham]

Captain America and the regular Marvel Universe Nick Fury wouldn't work as black because it would be downright impossible to believe a black man would have ever been put in their positions during WW2

The "culture" argument is irrelevant, unless you want to stereotype all black people. I've known a lot of black guys who are whiter than I am, and I'm one lame cracker.

Just to clarify - the "culture" argument was against people saying that changing a character's race is the same as changing their hair colour, not that all black people behave in a certain way, just that there's a cultural and historical background to race that means it's not purely aesthetic, and that people arguing otherwise tends to make me a little uncomfortable.

This is pretty much exactly what I was trying to say.

[livid]

Captain America and the regular Marvel Universe Nick Fury wouldn't work as black because it would be downright impossible to believe a black man would have ever been put in their positions during WW2

The "culture" argument is irrelevant, unless you want to stereotype all black people. I've known a lot of black guys who are whiter than I am, and I'm one lame cracker.

Just to clarify - the "culture" argument was against people saying that changing a character's race is the same as changing their hair colour, not that all black people behave in a certain way, just that there's a cultural and historical background to race that means it's not purely aesthetic, and that people arguing otherwise tends to make me a little uncomfortable.

The point that argument was trying to make is that those against it were saying that they didn't want it based purely because of how the character had been written the past 50 years. By that logic, those people would've and should've gotten upset about the idea of Peter Parker having blonde hair instead of brown because he'd been written as having brown hair since the character's inception.

Though I would imagine that's just their excuse for the idea that they just don't like the idea of a black Peter Parker, which is fine, but people were hiding behind that argument, probably in fear of being called a racist. And while nobody likes to be called a racist, at least comes up with a better argument than that.

[Daniel Bryan]

Just to clarify - the "culture" argument was against people saying that changing a character's race is the same as changing their hair colour, not that all black people behave in a certain way, just that there's a cultural and historical background to race that means it's not purely aesthetic, and that people arguing otherwise tends to make me a little uncomfortable.

I was never trying to say that in real life race is the same as hair colour. But when it comes to a fictional character like Spider-Man, they are pretty much the same, because you can change them as much as you like, and it won't have any effect on who the character is, just what he looks like. There are some comic characters for whom their race is important: Storm, Captain America, etc, but Spider-Man isn't one of them. He's as intrinsically white as he is intrinsically brown-haired.

[TCO]

Captain America and the regular Marvel Universe Nick Fury wouldn't work as black because it would be downright impossible to believe a black man would have ever been put in their positions during WW2

The "culture" argument is irrelevant, unless you want to stereotype all black people. I've known a lot of black guys who are whiter than I am, and I'm one lame cracker.

Just to clarify - the "culture" argument was against people saying that changing a character's race is the same as changing their hair colour, not that all black people behave in a certain way, just that there's a cultural and historical background to race that means it's not purely aesthetic, and that people arguing otherwise tends to make me a little uncomfortable.

The point that argument was trying to make is that those against it were saying that they didn't want it based purely because of how the character had been written the past 50 years. By that logic, those people would've and should've gotten upset about the idea of Peter Parker having blonde hair instead of brown because he'd been written as having brown hair since the character's inception.

Though I would imagine that's just their excuse for the idea that they just don't like the idea of a black Peter Parker, which is fine, but people were hiding behind that argument, probably in fear of being called a racist. And while nobody likes to be called a racist, at least comes up with a better argument than that.

I wouldn't be happy with him being blond either, but as already stated it'd just be a case of dyeing his hair, which they'd more than likely do.

As far as racism goes, I reckon there's very few people who aren't racist to some degree, whether they like to admit it or not.

[TKz]

I don't want him to play Spider-Man because I hate black people.