Ready for a Black Peter Parker/Spiderman?

[samurainoir]

There he is in the little green caption box to the right of the logo.

[Brue]

I'm pretty sure Morgan Freeman never played Spidey. He played Easy Reader along side Spidey on The Electric Company. And was featured on the cover of Spidey Super Stories saying "This comic is easy to read".

Correct. His main character on EC was Easy Reader

on the SPiDEY skits he played a variety of characters including an umpire and Dracula. it was Danny Seagren who played spidey. Seagren had no other roles on EC.

[LonnieFisher]

didn't Morgan Freeman play Spidey at one point?

I'm pretty sure Morgan Freeman never played Spidey. He played Easy Reader along side Spidey on The Electric Company. And was featured on the cover of Spidey Super Stories saying "This comic is easy to read".

[samurainoir]

You know, the cynical person in me thinks this is marketing genius. They leak that this guy is a major contender, the media runs it everywhere, collective nerdom gets in a fit, and voila, the new movie just got some major buzz.

It's actually brilliant self-promotion since it's Troy from Community himself who has started this as a grassroots twitter campaign amongst his fans.

We all know it's very unlikely, but how many people on this very thread are now aware of this actor that they previously did not know? Multiply that across all the various comic book and movie forums on the web that are now talking about him.

The general consensus seems to be "Not for Spiderman, but he's really funny in Community". With that kind of buzz, I'm sure he'll be on the list of contenders for producers looking to cast a young funny black guy in movies that are Not Spiderman.

A far cry from Sean Young's campaign to get the Catwoman role by dressing up and stalking Tim Burton on the Warner lot!

[Brue]

Speaking as a black woman, I have mixed emotions about this.

The character is already established as a white guy. But, (and keep in mind I don't know the history), Green Lantern has a black guy. Did anyone make a fuss about that?

Realistically speaking, I really don't think the public at large would go for this. I wonder how Stan Lee feels about it?

the black green lantern is a different guy. there are many GLs. there is one spiderman (2 if you count his clone but he's a white guy too for obvious reasons).

i like troy on community. i don't see it as even something the producers would entertain as a possibility for spider-man. changing race on a C list character is easy - most of the public don't know who they are anyway. changes race on a B list character like catwoman, kingpin, nick fury, even Robin would be OK. You can't change the big guns much- Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Spiderman. Especially after already establishing the movie version of the character. Though I will have to say Dean Cain pushed the envelope not really looking like he was a mid western farmer. I could also see WW looking a bit more exotic - asian, islander, Mediterranean, Norwegian, etc.

[Earth 2 Chris]

You know, the cynical person in me thinks this is marketing genius. They leak that this guy is a major contender, the media runs it everywhere, collective nerdom gets in a fit, and voila, the new movie just got some major buzz.

Then they'll announce Spidey IS to be played by a pasty white kid, and all the fans will breath a sigh of relief that they didn't muck with the character, and everyone will forget about Toby what-his-name, and this new guy will be the guy who saved Spidey.

Brilliant!

Chris

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

I dunno. Overall I don't think ethnicity is a big deal, but I think it's bad to hash with established continuity like Parker being a nerdy white kid. I don't think story-wise it'd make a difference at all, but it'd throw a lot of folks since Parker is a well known character.

>When is this maddening PC ever going to end?

I'd suspect it's more a marketing thing. 'Course, didn't Morgan Freeman play Spidey at one point?

>If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got.

That's kinda what people want. I've seen comic fans scream blue murder 'cos they changed Batman's emblem.

Don C.

[fallensaviour]

Didn't they already do that to superman and call it Hancock???

[garagesale]

I don't mind if they change the ethnicity of major characters in these kinds of movies. But if they look and present themselves much different from the previous actors, then it's always better to just do a complete reboot IMO. The gulf between the Keaton and Clooney portrayals of Batman was just way too big for me to buy, though Keaton to Kilmer was OK. The switch from Bana to Norton for Hulk was very much a reboot, as the two are nothing alike and neither were the films.

An African American Peter Parker sounds like a complete reboot to me. Might be worth seeing if so.

JamesD

[Meule]

This is ridiculous. Peter Parker/Spiderman is a white guy, why does Hollywood constantly feel the need to **** **** up like that?

[SeattleEd]

Oh....HELL YEAH!!! I'd be all over this.

Why not go all the way and make Peter Parker a fat transvestite with triple D's and tourette's syndrome...

[EMCE Hammer]

Shaft Fury says "Hello."

[Brazoo]

Why not go all the way and make Peter Parker a fat transvestite with triple D's and tourette's syndrome...

I think that would work a lot better than Spider-man 3

[jwyblejr]

Danny Glover? Isn't he to old for this ********?

Seriously, this is just nuts. Apparently some boneheads thought Ali should play Superman back in the 70s too, so it's not a new idea. As others have said I wouldn't want a white guy playing T'Challa or Luke Cage, or Cyborg, or John Stewart, or...

For whatever reason, the Kingpin didn't bother me much. Maybe because he's not the main character, and he's not a mascot character like Spider-Man.

There has to be a nerdy white guy other than Tobey who can play Peter Parker!

Chris

Yeah,if it's minor character like Kingpin or Nick Fury,let them do what they want. Make him sky blue with pink polka dots for all I care. If it's a major player like Peter Parker,leave it be.

[palitoy]

Danny Glover? Isn't he to old for this ********?

Arg, I meant Donald. I get their names mixed up, I just usually call him "Troy from Community"