Kal-el is not even Earth-human, let alone North American or even white ethnicity. So why not let someone who looks exotic play Superman? It would be more faithful to the premise of the story. As for Lois Lane, despite the name, it is enough that a Latina mother married a guy named "Lane" (who could have been half Latino himself) and Lois could very well look thoroughly Hispanic. Or the same thing could be done for Asiatic, or black, or any other ethnicity. What difference does any of that make?
Superman needs a certain look when played live-action. Chris Reeve had the right look. Brandon Routh had the right look, tho I personally thought the "S" emblem on his version of the suit was too small. Dean Cain always looked vaguely uncomfortable when he was Superman, like he didn't really want to be in the suit at all, tho other than that he looked good in it. Henry Cavill plays the role way too angst-y tho that may be more directorial than actor. His version of the Superman suit looks awful, tho. The guy on Supergirl is too skinny and overall puny-looking. And good old George Reeves wasn't bulky enough, tho he captured the character and confidence of Supes pretty well. Basics: Superman needs to be relatively big, like around 6'2" or so, broad shoulders, square jaw, well-proprotioned. His ethnicity is less important, tho historically he's always been portrayed as caucasian, unless he was being poisoned by green kryptonite or affected by red kryptonite. There are various Superman knock-offs of other persuasions who have been pretty interesting . . . Milestone's Icon character, for example. And if you want to get really out there, the Martian Manhunter is a Superman expy who's green and funny-looking and has a few extra powers tossed in.
And on that tangent, I would also say that I'd also like to see more stories featuring PoC and not ones being retrofitted for inclusion points and a quick cash grab. Like what Jordan Peele has done for horror films, but for the other genres.
Everyone uses race or gender changes as a "gotcha" moment, but I think we can agree there are limits as to how far you can stretch things by replacing people and not altering anything else within the source material. I don't believe people are necessarily being racist or sexist when they resist changes to beloved childhood stories, some are for sure, but I think it's a little reductive to simply state their resistance is racist or sexist in nature. There are some things that are part of the core of the audience's understanding of a character. Can you replace Captain America with a black man? Sure, because his race isn't integral to his background or character, he's fighting for the American Dream, regardless of race. Can you replace Black Lightning with a white guy? No, because his race is a part of his character and his reason for fighting. With that said, there are some repetitive stereotypes in comics that need to be addressed, for example, why are all the gadget superheroes wealthy white dudes?
Forge. I know, it's only one example, but it is an example. Unless of course, I am misunderstanding what you mean by "gadget superheroes".
I've never heard of either of those until you posted links. I'm going to bet 99% of the population, outside of comic nerds, haven't heard of them either. I'm also going to bet if you ask the average person about "gadget superheroes", they're going to immediately say Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark. So @The Exception is largely correct.
Psylocke started off Caucasian (is the sister of Captain Britain), had some incident involving Revanche that was essentially a body swap, I think in the Mojoverse. Might've been in one of the early issues of Excalibur I missed.
The Milestone line got a good deal of press at the time due to being black-owned and created. Later bought/merged/eaten by DC comics. Steel got started in the infamous "Death of Superman" storyline of the 90s that got national media attention. Might not be quite as unknown as you think, but yeah . . . Joe Blow on the street is going to think of Tony Stark.
I thought Idris Elba was fricking awsome as Heimdall. I don't care that it didn't make a lick of sense.
On Earth 23, he's Calvin Ellis, a black Superman. I think there's also a black Clark Kent Superman on Earth 2 (briefly). So "always" is wrong. And it makes you wonder... what would a black Kal-El still raised in Smallville by the Kents be like grown up? Would he still fight for truth, justice, and especially the American way? Or would some of that have been terrorized or beaten out of him as a child? Calvin Ellis specifically fights bullies. Would black Clark Kent raised in Kansas be similar?
I can remember back when the Soviet Union was falling apart a friend of mine telling me he was watching news showing things happening in the Soviet Union and being shocked that they were white. He literally thought, until that moment, they had red skin.
I would argue that you can't without changing his backstory. Cap was an all American hero, and at the time he was given his super strength the US was still heavily segregated and the military/government wouldn't have used a black man. Someone else taking up his shield? Totally could be any race, as well as if you changed his backstory.
in that same x-verse was "whiz kid", who was Japanese and in a wheelchair around the time of Inferno. but yeah, kinda forgettable. Forge, at least, was a significant player for a good part of the 90s.
I was partially trolling due to the crybaby histronic over a biracial (as in "as black as Meghan Markle") chick who was cast as Mary Jane Watson in a recent Spiderman reboot and the howls of SHE DOESN'T HAVE RED HAIR! HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN?!?! that happened a few years ago. It was so ridiculous, I nearly scrambled my password to this fucking place. But I largely agree with the rest of the post.
yeah... I wound up reading Red White and Black last night. Only wish was that it was a bit longer to fill in more of the details.
Point of order: That Harvey Dent was played by Billy Dee Williams, one of the coolest mofos on the planet at the time. Have Jaleel "Steve Urkel" White play Harvey Dent, and people are going to bitch, no matter how "cut" he might be today. Have Samuel L. Jackson play him, and ain't nobody gonna say nothin' lest they get their ass beat.
I don't remember any kind of uproar when Samuel L. Jackson was tapped to play the previously white Nick Fury. I think @The Night Funky has a point here.