The Human Torch is Being Played by a Black Guy. So What?!?

Originally posted at BadAzzMofo

Now that Black actor Michael B. Jordan has been officially cast as Johnny Storm (a.k.a. Human Torch) in the new Fantastic Four movie, all the negative crap has started to spew (again). We’ve all heard the crap before: “Johnny Storm is white!!! That’s Like casting a white actor as Martin Luther King, Jr!” Well, dumbass racist, it’s actually nothing like that. Johnny Storm is a fictional character. Martin Luther King Jr. being played by a white actor would like… well… it would be kind of like this…

oakie-beckJack Oakie playing real life African American explorer/mountain man James Beckworth.

geronimo connorsChuck Connors playing real life Apache warrior Geronimo.

wayne khanJohn Wayne playing Mongol emperor Genghis Khan.

Would you like me to go on? Or could you just shut up, and avoid sounding any more racist?

19 thoughts on “The Human Torch is Being Played by a Black Guy. So What?!?

  1. Also, it’s okay to award it to the actor that you think would do the best job and fit the vision of the movie. If we only casted black / brown people for characters that were there race, we wouldn’t have much screen time. We don’t have that much in super hero movies anyway. I’m interested in how this is going to turn out.

  2. I totally agree. It’s a fictional character and it shouldn’t be a big deal. The racism in Geek Culture is a huge issue (thanks to white supremacy) and it doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon. The best thing to do is to call out this behavior so we can finally stop being so comfortable with letting this crap slide. Every geek who’s Black, White, and everything else have to work together to stop this racist BS.

    1. Horrible comment, from someone who doesn’t understand Comic book fans at all.
      Comic book fans are some of the most artistic, free thinking and modernized fans in all of entertainment.
      You have an agenda, who’s the one who’s closed minded?
      I want Johnny Storm to be portrayed as he’s always been, White with blonde hair, I’m brown with black hair, you gonna call me racist?
      Considering CB fans love all the characters which include purple, green and blue skinned characters how the hell you gonna call them racist?

  3. My problem is that Johnny is a womanizing, irresponsible, impulsive, immature, “flame brain”. And they choose (of all characters) HIM to be portrayed by an African American. At the very least they could make Sue black too.

    So now FOX is between a rock and a hard place with black Johnny. Either he acts nothing like Johnny and Michael makes him his own character, or he acts just like Johnny and channels classic minstrel performances. It’s like remaking Gilligan’s island, and making Gilligan black for the sake of diversity.

  4. I’m with Soduhson, Why not just feature a cameo from Wesley Snipes as blade or an actor playing Black Panther…..It’s weird to me to change the characters up just to get black people to support the movie, to me it’s lazy.

  5. I can’t say I’m impressed with this overall casting. I hope they give a synopsis soon because I want an FF film that’s about exploring the unknown, not simply family drama and action. Do these actors look like they can investigate strange phenomenon?

  6. BTW: those characters mentioned above are all historical figures. Fantastic Four are from comic books. So it should be less controversial.

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