A change in character

Batfleck by Steve Scott

If you don’t know, several weeks ago Fox announced the new line-up for the Fantastic Four reboot and it got people talking. A lot. Not in the same way people talked about Ben Affleck being cast as the next Bruce Wayne/Batman, this had nothing to do with the actors credentials, it was because the actor in question is black.

Thankfully very, very few of the comments regarding Michael B Jordan being cast as The Human Torch were racist. The negativity towards this casting is because Sue Storm and Torch are siblings and in the movie Sue will be played by a white actor and Johnny by a black actor. So does this mean they won’t be brother and sister in the reboot or will one or even both of them be adopted?

I can understand some of the frustration and anguish of the Fantastic Four fans, no one likes to see their favourite characters changed, especially when it changes 60 years of back-story from the comics but is it really a bad change? Will the sibling dynamic be affected, I don’t think it will. Just because they’re not blood doesn’t mean the sibling relationship is any less meaningful.

One great argument I’ve seen regarding the FF casting is someone pointing out that in the first 2 films Sue Storm was played by Jessica Alba, who’s Father is Mexican and Mother is French/Danish, and the Chris Evans who played Johnny Storm, his Mother is Italian/Irish. Why did no one complain about that?

Now to backtrack a paragraph, changes to our beloved characters happen, and they happen a lot but are there ever any bad changes? Let’s take a look.

The Good
Sue Storm (Jessica Alba)
Heimdall (Idris Elba)
John Watson (Lucy Lui)
The Governor (David Morrisey) (eventually)
Daryl Dixon is essentially a male Andrea (Walking Dead)
Bane (Tom Hardy)

The Bad
Catwoman (Halle Berry)
The Punisher (All of them)
Venom
Sandman
The Batman films pre Nolan
Andrea (Walking Dead)
Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds)

That’s just a quick list off the top of my head, there’s lots more out there but out of all those examples above none of them are good or bad because the gender or race changed, they are good or bad because of the writing or because it’s Idris Elba.

What comic and book to TV and/or movie adaptations have caused your blood to boil due to changes to characters and more interestingly which ones proved you wrong when you saw the show/movie? Yes I’m looking at you, you Heath Ledger haters.