So you’ve probably heard by now that Michael B. Jordan will be playing the Human Torch in the next Fantastic Four movie. Of course some fanlosers are throwing a fit about it… aaas they do. But neither such “race-makeovers” nor the outrage over them is news these days.

Whether or not those disappointed fans actually go and see the movies or watch the shows despite the horrible affront of casting a black Nick Fury or a female Major Anderson (Ender’s Game), these films tend towards the top of the box office lists and, for the most part, the complaints are totally mum after minds are blown at the theater that *gasp* a change of skin color didn’t actually ruin the film!

So let’s take a look at the many many times that an actor’s physical appearance differed in some notable way from the traditional character’s appearance, and how that bafflingly managed to not ruin the film!

Nick Fury

Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury

Nick Fury in the comics

Nick Fury is white in the comic books he’s graced. However, he’s also a New York-born super-spy who isn’t afraid of anything. It’s doubtful anyone could argue that Samuel L. Jackson can’t play a fearless super spy with absolute believability.  Not to mention, a 2012 comics series titled Battle Scars created the circumstances for Nick Fury to have a secret son who is actually a black Samuel L. Jackson look-alike, christened Nick Fury, Jr….

Heimdall

Heimdall in the comics

Idris Elba is a phenomenal actor and did a great job as Heimdall. And while Heimdall is based off a Norse god, he’s actually Asgardian, as in of a fictional ethnicity. Who says Asgardians can’t be black?

Catwoman

Catwoman as depicted in the 1960s Batman comics

Eartha Kitt as Catwoman in the 1966 TV series

No one can argue that Eartha Kitt wasn’t absolutely perfect as Catwoman. No one.  …I have nothing to say about Halle Berry‘s unfortunate depiction…

Ford Prefect

Mos Def as Ford Prefect in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie (2005)

David Dixon as Ford Prefect in the BBC television series of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (1981)

Mos Def is a hip hop artist first, so maybe one could find fault in his acting skills. However, certainly it’s not even a point to argue in this case seeing as Ford Prefect in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy novel was described as Betelgeusian. That’s right, an alien journalist, not a white guy. David Dixon was cast as Ford Prefect in the 1981 BBC series, but that’s hardly reason enough to make sure the character is white in future productions.

Major Anderson

Viola Davis will play Major Anderson in the Ender’s Game movie adaptation

In the book Ender’s Game, Major Anderson was a white male

This is a fun one. In the science fiction novel Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, the character Major Anderson is described as a white male. In the movie adaptation this character will be played by (amazing) actress Viola Davis, who has nabbed awards galore for her remarkable talents.

Rue

Amandla Stenberg as Rue in the film adaptation of The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

PSYCHE! There was a big, sad, cruel hulabaloo over the casting of Amandla Stenberg as Rue in the Hunger Games film, with viewers outraged that the character was made to be black when (as they oddly believed) she was supposedly white in the book… Buuut, turns out, the book explicitly describes Rue as having dark skin and brown hair. Soo… yea…

And then of course there’s the fact that throughout the history of film-making and theater, male actors regularly played female characters, and, more problematically, white actors regularly played black characters, Native Americans, Latinos, Egyptians… well, basically characters of every ethnicity… because more racist eras felt it inappropriate to have actual people of color on screen.

The Aztecs

Gengis Khan

There are too many examples to choose from, and I won’t even get into blackface. This of course is quite different from much of the race-switching and gender-switching happening on big screens today. These early uses of white actors for ethnic roles were the result of deep-seated racism:

a) it was considered unacceptable to have actual ethnic characters on screen, especially as heroes or major protagonists.

b) ethnic peoples were so marginalized and subjugated that few could afford the luxury of a (respectable) acting career.

Thankfully, much has changed and strides have been made towards greater equality in Hollywood… Though there remain glaring inequalities and many areas in need of serious improvement.

One of these issues is the lack of major, non-stereotyped roles for actors of color. The historic casting of  actors of color as slaves, maids, thugs, tokens or expendable characters sadly continues. Which is why it’s so thrilling to see ethnic actors playing superheroes and iconic characters like Nick Fury!  And why not?

Sci-fi and comics readers build strong relationships to the characters they follow through epic adventures and heroics. We grow to care about them and identify with them, and we grow attached to the representations of them either in our own minds or in the art provided us. Understandably it can be jarring when a film adaptation shows a character looking very different than the image we’ve grown attached to.

Maybe she’s a different ethnicity altogether, like half-Jewish, half-Danish American actress Scarlett Johansson playing the Russian superheroine Black Widow…or Jennifer Garner playing dark-haired Greek assassin Elektra

Elektra from the comics

Jennifer Garner as Elektra

or maybe he looks absolutely nothing at all like the character (like Keanu Reeves as British comic book hero John Constantine) …

Or the ever changing face of Batman…(apparently a little hair gel does the trick for most viewers)

Or maybe they’re even significantly older, like the Stark boys in Game of Thrones, who in the books were still pubescent, but in the show have well-groomed facial hair.

Instead of leaving every film disappointed by the physical dissimilarity, we adapt. We use those imagination things we have and focus on the actor’s depiction of the character rather than the physical traits they share. And thank goodness, or movies would suck for everyone, always.

We adapt to different hair colors, body types, heights, ages, faces… So, surely, it seems pretty ridiculous to obstinately draw a line at skin color.

Finally, I just have to add… Some of the concerns over Michael B. Jordan‘s casting in Fantastic Four have been around the casting of the character’s sister Sue Storm, who is reportedly being played by white actress Allison Williams. Some argue that this presents a problem about the parentage of the siblings.  To them I have to say…. meet my brother… (also a great excuse to share this ridiculously adorable photo of us as kids)