Yesterday, I received a text from my little sister that simply read, "Was the original Green Lantern black?" I didn't think too much of it, since she's not a comic book reader, and explained to her that John Stewart was in fact a Green Lantern, but not the original one. He was the Green Lantern during the 1980s and that the Green Lanterns were essentially the "space police" and there there were roughly 7,500 of them patrolling the universe at any given time. I had no clue that when the trailer for the upcoming Green Lantern film was released, it would be a bigger controversy than many people could imagine. All across the twitter-verse. 

"GreenLantern movie coming out. The have a white guy playing him. Smh, one of the only black superheros and they made him white. Smh." And one of my personal favorites, "Marvel get the fail of 2010 for making a whiteGreenLantern! Smh he was the only official black hero out lol... "

I think it can make a difference.

I think it makes a difference. Portray the character as they are meant to be portrayed that means race and all. I think Cartoon Network made a big mistake when they used John Stewart as the main Green lantern of the Justice League cartoon and didnt explain the other lanterns. Its for that reason that people believe Dc is being racist by using Hal Jordan.

Waiting for Sexy Merc.....

 
If they ever make an Azreal show they can use Lane and I won't be bothered by it.

 "Marvel get the fail of 2010 for making a whiteGreenLantern! Smh he was the only official black hero out lol... "
Green Lanterns are part of the marvel universe LMFAO

 i feel that they cant change race. if they change race they change the whole character. not just personality but mannerisms and how they lived and im surprised race changes arent a huge controversy in any adaptations. couldnt that be considered racist in a way cuz they changed a character's whole ethnicity.

" Waiting for Sexy Merc..... "

If the comicbook character that the movie is using is white, then the movie character should be white. If the comicbook character is black, then the movie character is black.  
 
People need to stop playing the race card. The first human Green Lantern in the comics is white, they based the movie around the first human green lantern and therefore he is white

Yes, it matters in the sense that if a character is established as being white, or black, or Asian, or whatever, then it makes no sense to cast someone who doesn't fit into that role. Peter Parker is obviously white, and and has a distinct look, so Donald Glover is a ridiculous choice. He looks nothing like Peter Parker and would have been terribly miscast (regardless of his actual ability) because Peter Parker is white. It's just as ridiculous as say casting Brad Pitt as T'Challa in a Black Panther movie. Imagine how offended people would be if that happened? But doesn't it go both ways? 
 
I want to see more black heroes, more Asian heroes, more Hispanic, etc. But changing an established character to fit an actor is never the way to do it. Actors should be hired based on whether they can portray a character, and that includes the likeness/appearance/race/etc of the character. 

Ignorance is not bound by the anti-racist population.  
 
These people aren't even realising they're being racist just against a different skin colour.  
 
Don't get me wrong I would love to see John Stewart on screen, I think if he's portrayed like the cartoons I'd have more faith than in Ryan Reynolds after his 'Van Wilder in Space' trailer. Point is, ignorance is the root and cause of all racism and prejudice.  
 
Know your subject before you mouth off 
 
PS On the subject of different coloured actors playing iconic characters. No there's a reason for looking for a specific 'face' when casting. It helps the audience reconcile the actor with the character and no matter how much you aren't a racist there is no way you can accept Will Smith as Superman (so fuck off Jon Peter's with your mechanical spider)

The way I see it is like this...
 
If the character was already established. That's when I have a problem with it. Like when people were saying Will Smith was going to play Superman. That's absurd. Superman has been around for decades as a white dude named Clark Kent. He has been established as a white guy. He is a white guy.
 
I mean... you wouldn't turn the Black Panther or the Blue Marvel or Luke Cage or even Blade into white guys for the exact same reason.
 
The people saying DC are being racist are just ignorant of the character's history. Period. Amen. John Stewart (my second favorite GL behind Alan, who doesn't really count) was placed on the animated series for race reasons in the first place. And I understand that. But if you're going to make a movie about GL it should start with Hal. Because timeline wise he came first. If they want to include John later (and they shoud) that's fine. 
 
BUT... The idea of Terry Crews playing all of those characters is too awesome for words.

Funny thing is that John Stewart was originally going to be the star of a Green Lantern movie. Corey Reynolds brought up the idea, he knows John very well and intended to play him. He envisioned a trilogy which would later include Hal and the JLA. Personally, I was stoked for it as I'd love to see John star in a movie. So he ends up writing the script, and titles it: Green Lantern Birth of a Hero. They abandoned it for reasons I'm not aware of and hired Greg Berlanti, who went in a new direction with it, having Hal as the star of the film. I think it made more sense from the time they were constructing it because they were planning on making the film when Rebirth came out, and Hal since then, has been the star of the current volume. John makes a lot of appearances, sure, but Hal gets the bigger roles, and I'd be willing to bet that a lot of the viewers of the film to be, are recent GL fans, so having John star in it, might not be something they'd be used to. Had the film started production in the 80s/early 90s, where John was the star of the GL title, along with his own ongoing (Mosaic), it would have made more sense to make him the main protagonist of the film. If they were planning on making the film from the 90's/early 2000s, they would have used Kyle as the starring role. All in all, it's dependent on the time they decide to develop the film, IMO, and currently, Hal is the most logical choice.

" I think it makes a difference. Portray the character as they are meant to be portrayed that means race and all. I think Cartoon Network made a big mistake when they used John Stewart as the main Green lantern of the Justice League cartoon and didnt explain the other lanterns. Its for that reason that people believe Dc is being racist by using Hal Jordan. "

 
It definitely does. I mean, a characters heritage is a strong part of their character. Storm being white just wouldn't work, getting rid of her strong African background would just  completely ruin the character. None of it was really mentioned in the X-Men Movies, but the race of actor Halle Berry did come across largely. 
 
I hate how people are complaining of Green Lantern being 'white' they should do the real research.  If this GL franchise works, we could see multiple trilogies featuring the different lanterns, which would be pretty awesome.

In some cases it might, like if the character's race plays into the story a great deal, but with a character like Spider-Man it doesn't really matter.  I would have been happy with Donald Glover as long as he was good at playing Spider-Man/Peter Parker.
Many characters race doesn't really play into their story.  I remember hearing that Cubba Gooding Jr. (spelling?) wanted to play Daredevil.  That would have been awesome I think.  All he needed was read in his hair.  Like the song says, "He's much better than Ben Afleck." 
(Which reminds me of different question.  Should a comic fan be cast instead of an actor who isn't familiar with the part?  Because Afleck was a fan of DD, but wasn't that good to me.)
A character like Black Panther however, an African King.  His race plays into his story.
I was a little upset that Doctor Octopus didn't have a German accent, he is German right?  That cartoon made him German.  Anyway, I don't think it matters most of the time.

Huh as much as I hate to say some character just can't have a character change. Trust me it's kinda hard to say because I'm black and I love different races or sexes in comics. Authority was such a great book to me because no one was really a WASP. The thing is the race can really only be changed when the character isn't well known outside the comics. I bet if the Green Lantern was black comic fans may have been mad but the common people wouldn't have been because of Justice League. Kingpin prolly worked because MCD was such a good actor but people prolly didn't really recognize Kingpin and weren't used to him. Nick fury is the same way outside comics almost no one would know who he is and what made it even better was he was based off of Sam L Jackson and then played by Sam L Jackson.

In some cases it can work, in others, it doesn't. You can't have a black Hulk, unless you're going to change the movie to RAGE. Some characters have counterparts of other races, and it works. But in the case of other characters, you have to have them the way they were originally.

It depends. Unless race/sex/religion is a part of the character's story (Power Man, Black Panther for example) it makes no difference as to how they're portrayed. That being said, I'm a stickler for continuity and being true to the source material. Black Superman or White Cyborg wouldn't change the character all that much, but it just seems unnecessary and then people are blamed for being racist when they're unhappy since it's not the way the character has been depicted for 99.9% of their history.
 
Also, I had no issue with Kingpin in the DD movie... although I did have an issue with the DD movie.

The character is the character. They should match the actor to them as closely as possible. If the character is black, then cast a black actor, if the character is white, cast a white actor. Simple as that.

@Chibi-Iroh said:

" I think it makes a difference. Portray the character as they are meant to be portrayed that means race and all. I think Cartoon Network made a big mistake when they used John Stewart as the main Green lantern of the Justice League cartoon and didnt explain the other lanterns. Its for that reason that people believe Dc is being racist by using Hal Jordan. "

They did explain some of the other lanterns. They had Kyle Rayner in Superman: The Animated Series BEFORE Justice League, in fact. And they had the whole corps and stuff. And they had the almost Alan Scott. And it's not really Cartoon Network who made that choice, it's Warner Brothers and mostly good old Bruce Timm. Ohhh, so he wants to do something unique and different. Shine some spotlight on a different Green Lantern than the almighty Hal Jordan. Yeah, sure, that's a mistake. And Mosaic was also a huge steaming pile of crap. "

Those tweets make me want to kill people 

This is from the most "reliable" source of information around, Wikipedia:

 "the African-American Green Lantern John Stewart, who has worked with the League in the comics before, was used rather than one of the better-known modern-era Green Lanterns Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner or Kyle Rayner, even though Rayner had appeared as Green Lantern in the Superman animated series. In addition to his race, the producer felt Stewart's original abrasive personality would have more dramatic potential. (In the second season, Rayner is described as a Lantern in training under Stewart's old mentor, explaining his absence. Both Rayner and Jordan make brief appearances in Justice League Unlimited.)" 

Honestly, growing up, John Stewart was the only Green Lantern I knew, and he was one of the only cool black superheroes(along with Static and Black Panther) I knew of at the time. When I first heard they were making a GL movie, even though I knew it was going to be Hal, I couldn't help but be a little disappointed. There aren't any primary black superheroes on the big screen, which is a shame, and the bad thing is, very few will translate well to movies. I would love to see a very successful movie starring a black superhero, but I really doubt it will happen in Hollywood anytime soon. That's just the way it is

samuel should be every character of every movie

Hal Jordan is the only Green Lantern I know, so all of this is news to me :)

Liam Neeson could play any role white or black, male or female, lion or greek god, and i would go see it. i'm about to go see The Next Three Days just because liam neeson is in it. same goes for morgan freeman, christopher walken, and denzel washington. lol

" I would love to see a very successful movie starring a black superhero, but I really doubt it will happen in Hollywood anytime soon. "

I think the actor should be able to portray the character well. I don't think race is a factor, unless the character's race is tied directly into defining that character.  
 
I went round and round on this when they announced Dragon Ball was going to star a white Goku. I didn't really understand why it made such a big deal to so many people. Goku's story didn't change with his race. Yes, the character is from a Japanese anime version of a Chinese legend, but he is in many ways so removed from his origins that many people of all races could appreciate the character. Someone did help me understand at one point, however. It was a cultural identity thing. He was to many Asian kids here in the states an "Asian Superhero." Not being Asian, I didn't get that impression myself when initially watching the show. But now I can see how so many people felt such blatant disrespect towards their culture and race with the casting of a white Goku.  
 
Then the movie bombed, and no one really cared anyway. We all like to pretend that one didn't happen.

Yes it matters, make the character who they are in the comics, that's what I'm paying to see and that's what people are expecting to see. Whatever their ethnicity is it should be reflected by the casting. Example, Lucy Liu  should be cast as Psylocke and not Angelina Jolie (fine as she is). And while I think MCD's portrayal of Kingpin was on point, it was distracting having a black actor in the role, and I'm saying this as a black man. To people commenting on Nick Fury being black in films, well that's based on Ultimate Nick Fury who was literally based on Jackson. In fact marvel's films borrow more from the Ultimate U than from 616 continuity. Also, to those that said DC/Warner did a bad job of explaining the Corps must not've watched JLA/Unlimited or any other DCAU property very closely.  
 
I more than understand some people's frustration with Hal Jordan, not John Stewart being the Lantern in the film. Many people have come up seeing Green Lantern as a black man & have never cracked open a comic book in their life to see otherwise. Many people, blacks especially are speaking from the perspective of individuals who have routinely been under/misrepresented in all forms of media for centuries. Their/our frustrations are understandable. I really question the choice to go with Jordan seeing as the general populace seems to connect GL with Stewart and Reynolds is looking to screw this up royally. Also if it was about filling seats then it was in their best interest to attract that general audience with Stewart. Comic fans pre or post Rebirth were going to show up regardless.

" @biggkeem89 said:

" I would love to see a very successful movie starring a black superhero, but I really doubt it will happen in Hollywood anytime soon. "

Blade 1 and 2 were almost as profitable as Iron Man 2, and crapped all over ones such as Daredevil and Wolverine. Is that not "successful" enough for you? :) "

" @Danial79 said:

" @biggkeem89 said:

" I would love to see a very successful movie starring a black superhero, but I really doubt it will happen in Hollywood anytime soon. "

Blade 1 and 2 were almost as profitable as Iron Man 2, and crapped all over ones such as Daredevil and Wolverine. Is that not "successful" enough for you? :) "

I know right? And those movies were sick. "

" @Baron_Emo: It is especially ridiculous when people actually realize he was an alien anyway. Where in DB history was it stated that Saiyans looked as though they were of any specific Asian descent?? If anything it's more of a reason that Goku SHOULD look different. "

" @biggkeem89 said:

" I would love to see a very successful movie starring a black superhero, but I really doubt it will happen in Hollywood anytime soon. "

Blade 1 and 2 were almost as profitable as Iron Man 2, and crapped all over ones such as Daredevil and Wolverine. Is that not "successful" enough for you? :) "

I think it matters a lot that a characters race matches the comic character's race.  No one would like  to see a white guy playing Black Panther or a black guy playing Wolverine.

Issues of race are rarely addressed IN comic books. Does a Superhero's Race matter OUTside of comics? Apparently, to some people. I've heard DC accused of racism, but honestly those people insecure about race are usually racists, so I don't listen to them. 

" I doubt we'll see a repeat performance from any other black superhero  "

It Does matter when 95% of the superheroes out there are White, mind you this debate and "upset" over John not being Green lantern strikes me as silly since I'm a comic fan and I think Kyle is the best green lantern out there BUT i do get where they are coming from, are we not tired of yet another whitey running around in spandex?
 
It shouldn't matter IF the acting and characterization is spot on BUT seriously a black man was never going to be cast as spiderman despite the superb job we had with Kingpin in Dardevil. Face it we still live in a world where race is still a very important line of separation  and importance.
 
Cheers

i think it matters. its not racist to say that a character being a different race than how they were presented originally creates a different dynamic. if the point is to change things up thats fine, but if you want to maintain the same feel for the story, casting a different race could stir things up.

It matters to me because I have this idea of what the character looks like and should look like, based off what the comics give me. Screwing around with that perception kinda kills it for me. It has little to do with the actual race of the actor, but more how he looks...They want to cast a white looking Hispanic dude to play Danny Rand. Alright. I'm cool with that. If Scarlet Johansson had a Russian accent in Iron Man 2, I would've been cool with the fact that she isn't Russian. 
 
I mean, they wouldn't cast a white guy to play Luke Cage, why cast a black guy to play Spider-Man?

I think it only matters if it goes against what the comics say is the character's background.  Another words there would probably have to be a good reason why Black Panther would be some Chinese guy with a New York accent.  Otherwise it doesn't make any difference at all.  And btw, John Stewart is one of my ALL TIME favorite Green Lanterns and it would have been Killer, if HE was the one in the movie. But hey, the movie is prob going to be a train wreck anyway. But that friends is for another comments section. :)