Michael Davis: The Fire Next Time
“I think it would be tricky to have one member of the Storm family black and one white. Is he adopted? I don’t know how you would play that.”
– Mark Millar
“ This speech is my recital, I think it’s very vitalTo rock (a rhyme), that’s right (on time)
It’s Tricky is the title, here we go…” |
– RUN–DMC
“Tyrone Cash should be named Super Nigga.”
– Michael Davis
Mark Millar is talking about the possibility the next Fantastic Four will feature a African American in the role of the Human Touch. RUN-DMC is what I think is a pretty clever answer to Mr. Millar’s assumption, namely that it would be tricky but – I think it would be right on time.
Damn – I is clever.
My quote? That’s just another dig at what I think is one of the most stereotypical backwards thinking black characters ever created in comics and it plays into (really) what I’m about to write here.
People are losing their minds over long running rumor that Michael B. Jordan is in the running to play the Human Torch in the Josh Trank Fantastic Four reboot.
I’d like to think that most of the comic book fans are losing their minds because it’s just not true to the source materials. I’m sure if Lee and Kirby sat down and created the Jackson 5 instead of the Fantastic Four there would be some people a wee bit upset if Justin Timberlake played Michael in the movie.
Hell, Timberlake tried to be Michael in real life…err, no.
Like I said. I’d like to think most of the fan outrage is because a Black Torch is not true to the comic.
The sad reality is we all know some of this is racist. There are plenty of racist dicks out there that have or will lose their racist minds at the thought of the Human Torch being played by a black person. But those racists are barking up the wrong tree.
It’s not the Human Torch that they should be afraid of being black. It’s Johnny Storm.
The Human Torch is like any other superhero. When they are in superhero mode it’s about two things: find the bad guy, and beat the bad guy.
Repeat.
It’s the alter ego that defines the character and the Torch’s alter ego is none other than Marvel comic’s original pussy chaser himself, Johnny Storm.
Johnny Storm is all about that ass.
Johnny Storm is like any other male star when they have that kind celebrity. It’s also about two things, find that ass and tap that ass.
Repeat.
It’s not “flame on” the racists should be afraid of, it’s ”where the white women at.”
I assume that most black people are OK with the possibility of a Black Human Torch. I wouldn’t know for sure because contrary to what a lot of white people think we all don’t know each other and on that note the next mofo that rolls up to me and asks if I know Ray Ray is going to get pimp sla…wait sec…I do know Ray Ray.
Shit.
Some people are getting slick with the way they protest that possibility of Johnny Storm being portrayed by a black guy. And a “possibility” is all it is now, as my boy David Walker says, I’ll believe it when I see it.
Someone posed this question on Facebook, what if a white guy played The Black Panther or Luke Cage?
Good point?
No.
Not really.
Experiencing being black (Cage in America, Panther as an African king) to a large degree defines who those characters are. How they relate to the world and how the world relates to them is at least partially driven by their color, fair or not.
The dynamic totally changes if they aren’t black, while the Torch, like Perry White in Man of Steel or Kingpin in Daredevil isn’t impacted by the race of the actor, because the race of those characters doesn’t really play a part in defining the character.
That said, when Will Smith was cast as James West in Wild Wild West, I was against that because I had trouble buying a black man as a top level secret agent in the 1860s, because once again, race impacts that character and there was no way at that point in time that the US government was ready to see a black man rolling like that, no matter how charming Will Smith might be. Bottom line, I just want to see a good comic book movie that respects spirit of the source material and the intelligence of the audience.
– Mike Stradford
I could not have said it better myself.
Mike, unlike me, is cool as ice when he breaks down someone’s argument. Just once I wish my boy would add a little Davis to his damn near perfect logic.
Like this at the end of his response he writes the following:
B L A M!
That’s the sound of me dropping the mike son!
Eh??
Now back to Mr. Millar’s quote:
“I think it would be tricky to have one member of the Storm family black and one white. Is he adopted? I don’t know how you would play that.”
There’s a couple of ways to play that Mark, ol’ buddy. One way is that instead of white people adopting a black child thus saving him from becoming a drug dealer like, oh, I don’t know, Tyrone Cash.
You remember Tyrone Cash? You should you, created him. He was the black scientist that gains the power of the Hulk, retains his intellect and decides to become a drug dealer.
Oh yeah, that Tyrone Cash – who I’m sure knows Ray Ray, BTW.
Anywho, instead of him being adopted, get this!!! Ready? Both Johnny and Sue are black!
Didn’t think of that, eh?
Hell, let’s go with that one. Both he and Sue are Black and their father is…wait for it…wait for it…
Wait
For
It…
Victor Von Doom!
He’s no longer Dr. Doom, he’s a MD. But that stands for Mac Daddy Doom and he’s a… drug dealer!
That’s all I have, not great but it’s all I could come up with, I ran out of crack so my brain stopped working. Luckily I know Ray Ray and he knows Tyrone Cash so I’m good to go.
WEDNESDAY MORNING: Mike Gold
THURSDAY MORNING: Dennis O’Neil
I’m assuming this is the next film, as opposed to the comic. Making a change like that in the comic would be a challenge because you’d pretty much have to reboot from scratch.
I’d be totally cool with Johnny Storm being black. But assuming nothing else changed about where and how the Storm family lived, he’d be a young black man raised in a suburban environment by a loving family with a pretty okay income, even if they did have to take in boarders. So he wouldn’t fit the “hip (urban) black teen” that most people would expect in that role. That might actually mute the protest from some quarters, and increase it in others.
I think it would be a much harder sell is Sue Storm were black. Because not only would you have a black female lead, you’d have one in a (blooming, at least) relationship with a white guy. I can see the letters now.
They’d probably try to soften the blow by going with one of those multi-ethnic girls that are so hot right now, with vaguely ethnic features that make them sort of generically, but non-threateningly, exotic.
Like Jessica Alba.
Oh, well.
I was upset at a black Nick Fury.
Because, for me, Nick Fury is that guy who fought in WW2 and is apparently immortal.
I picked up Sergeant Fury with its first issue. I have a mental image for the name “Nick Fury” that is immutably Caucasian.
That said, character-wise, Samuel L Jackson nails it.
I didn’t have a problem with a black Nick Fury in the Ultimate comics, cause the rules are all different there and it’s not the same history and besides I didn’t read it.
I didn’t mind a black Nick Fury in the movies, cause again, different history, and hey, Sam Jackson.
I wasn’t upset, but I was confused when the black Nick fury started showing up in the regular mainstream marvel books. So I asked Tom Brevoort, and he explained that this is “our” Nick’s son.
What it really is, is a clever way to make the current Marvel Comics look more like the movies, so that any new readers who’ve seen the movies don’t pick up the books and ask “Who’s this old white man running SHIELD?”
I have no problem with the Ultimate Fury, because, as you, i never read it and so on.
Since i haven’t read a Marvel comic in a year or so (and DC even longer), how would they explain that the Nick’s-son-Nick-Fury-jr character has an eyepatch, too? (I assume he does.)
Also, i have to question your use (unless meant sardonically) of the word “clever”, there.