Terry Crews as Mr. Mxyzptlk in Superman: Rise of the Mofo's.  
 
LOVE IT!

I think it does matter because like some people stated earlier you just cant have a black super man and i couldnt imagine a white black panther after reading comics and keeping up with them if they do change the race it just seems harder for me to get into the story becuase i feel like its not right. and i feel its wrong that if they changed a white charcter to black it wouldnt matter but if it was vice versa people would be outraged, i am not racsist just my 2 pennies. - Josh

RE the Green Lantern discussion: based purely on quantity, it makes sense that they'd use Hal over the others. If you look at their number of appearances, Hal is clearly the top player:

• 1684 - Hal Jordan
• 764 - Kyle Raynor
• 648 - John Stewart
• 640 - Guy Gardner

" All super heros should be black, BLACK POWER!!! except cod piece, he would be a discrace "

I originally thought that Will Smith should play Captain America. I even called him "Captain African-America", which is... I'm not sure how you would react...

Halle Berry played Catwoman, there were a lot of things in that movie that bothered me but it wasn't the fact that she was black.   

 the only time race doesn't matter is if a famous actor is playing them

I think it matters if it contradicts what is considered cannon.  I prefer character races to be as accurate as possible to the comic or whatever.

I don't think the issue is race, I just think that people hate to see differences in the stories they've grown attached to.  I mean people react that way even when race isn't in place, people with just naturally shun the different.  To me it personally doesn't matter, it just may seem a bit off.

I'm Black and I think if a character is White or Black from the beginning they should stay that way.I know that sounds a little mean,but I don't see a character who has been White since the 60's or 70's suddenly become Black.It's weird.I liked Samuel l Jackson as Nick Fury,he was a far sight better than David Hasslehoff.(If you don't remember that,then lucky you)
But Wolverine has been Canadian since the 70's,He should stay that way.Storm is African,she should stay that way,and Nightcrawler will always be a blue German!
Changing the race only works well if the character is not well known anyway.

I think it depends more on the actor than the character. For example I think Donald Glover would have been a great Spider-Man because he's a nerdy dude who you can end up getting behind. Bow Wow on the other hand would be TERRIBLE. 
Samuel L Jackson works as Nick Fury because he's a commanding, no nonsense guy. Cuba Gooding Jr. WOULD NOT work.

It seems to matters a lot to people that want a carbon copy of the comic book

terry crews should pl@y someone hed be perfect for SD

" All-in-all, Duncan's portrayal of Daredevil's nemesis was probably the best thing to come out of that movie. He wasn't "Black Kingpin." He was Kingpin."  This phrase is the most accurate! 
 
Anyone of any race can play Green Lantern or Kingpin or Spider-Man, as long as they have the general personality down.  There'd be nothing wrong with a white Blade. 
 
At the same time, occasionally there will be characters whose race is a part of their story.  You can't make Ryan Reynolds into Luke Cage, because part of Cage's existence and importance is that he's a representative of the black community and struggle.  If stuff like "shade of dude's skin" is not a plot point, creators should have free reign to color however they feel like.

I don't think race really matters at all, so long as they don't try to change the characters to fit a racial stereotype. Donald Glover would be a great Spider-Man, Vin Diesel would be a great Luke Cage, etc.

It does matter only because I feel better or comfortable with the actual original look cause it just would feel weird. 

It does matter only because I feel better or comfortable with the actual original look cause it just would feel weird. 

Well that's what you get from the misinformed mainstream audience. If they had actually looked this crap up on the internet, they'd find it out in a hurry. There's plenty of black superheroes, just sadly very few that are known mainstream. 
 
But again, on the subject, it kinda does matter with certain superheroes. I wouldn't have cried foul too much (despite being a Hal fan) if they HAD chosen to use John Stewart instead. Because I know what the GL Corps is, and the likelihood of seeing Hal, Kyle or Guy would've been pretty high. THAT and the comicbooks made this kinda thing work out. By the time John was running around in the GL tights, it was pretty crystal clear that there is no ONE Green Lantern. BUT if they had just suddenly (as in next issue) acted like Hal Jordan didn't exist and John Stewart was ALWAYS the Green Lantern, then there would've been problems with the fanbase. But most fans understood that being a Lantern was like being on a police force, so it didn't matter. GRANTED it took a while for people to find a good personality for Stewart. >.>;;; 
 
Then there's Ultimate Nick Fury, which worked due to the concept (ultimate comics, thus a seperate universe) AND to the excellent writing. He was also used a bit more in other media, (games, tv shows, etc.) so it kinda tested the waters that way. So nobody really batted an eye when suddenly Sam Jackson appeared as Nick Fury.
 
But with guys like Spider-man or Superman?? Sorry, that's just not gonna really work. It'd be... WEIRD. Like if they made a Shaft movie where he's white. It'd come across as something done through executive meddling and/or producers. 
 
If people are THAT starved for such heroes, then why aren't comic book companies pushing ethnic superheroes more? Why not bring guys like Luke Cage, Black Panther, Icon, Black Lightning, Static, etc. etc. to the forefront?

people think i'm joking when i say i think Will Smith would be a great Superman. WHY YOU HATIN?!!!

Some people can pull it off, (Sam Jackson's Fury didn't phase me at all) but I think that it generally just works better all-around to have actors that are the same race as the character they portray, especially with well-established characters such as GL.

I was down for the whole pimp'd Spider-man

I lmfao when I read the quote. Some I idiot thought he was sayin somethin intellegent when he said marvel screwed up.

I feel like it's best if a characters race stays the same as in the comics it's rooted from, however I do think there needs to be greater diversity in quality characters of various races

" I don't think the issue is race, I just think that people hate to see differences in the stories they've grown attached to.  I mean people react that way even when race isn't in place, people with just naturally shun the different.  To me it personally doesn't matter, it just may seem a bit off. "

As a Black man, it’s generally a good thing to see a bit of color added to any film or television series. I grew up with Hal Jordan (my favorite character as a child) as the Green Lantern (Super Friends) and collected many GL related comics, including Green Lantern: Mosaic featuring John Stewart. With that said, I believe in keeping to the general spirit of the source material, making changes where appropriate. John Stewart being the first human GL wouldn’t have kept to that spirit. For those who want to compare it to Sam Jackson as Nick Fury; Marvel choose to use another incarnation of the same character from a popular line of comics (I wouldn’t mind them running with the Asian version of the Wasp also). I had more issues with adaptations of materials like Spawn and (although not a comic) Avatar: The Last Airbender because the reasoning they gave for changing to racial makeup of the cast was to add more “crossover” appeal, which meant changing minority characters white when if the opposite happens, that reasoning is never used. 

Race does matter. I don't want to see Denzel Washington playing Clark Kent. It's very simple.

I'm surprised that Nick Fury wasn't mentioned in this article. I think it depends on the character really. Let's say you do a Deadpool movie where he never shows his face. Does it matter who is under the mask? No. And most likely he will be some random no name buff guy and be dubbed by a popular actor. Kinda like Power Rangers. But I hate that response about Green Lantern just as much as any Green Lantern fan. But my first Green Lantern memory was of reruns of the Super Friends show where Green Lantern, Firestorm, and Cyborg appeared. I knew who Hal Jordan was. I remember watching JUSTICE LEAGUE for the first time and was shocked he was black. But then again, I was like 12. I was also shocked that Wonder Woman could fly and that Aquaman wasn't a member. And when I saw him, I was shocked that he had no hand, long hair, and a beard. (This was before I read comics). But after Teen Titans hit the scene, I came across a Teen Titans comic book and decided to start collecting comics and find out all the history of DC Comics and their characters. So now I'm like a resident expert on DC in my own little world. So yeah, maybe they should stick to the correct portrayal. But getting mad that Green Lantern is white before realizing there are 7202 different Green Lanterns in the known universe, is just plain stupid.

OBV, YES!!!!!!! Look @ da latest Catwoman movie w/ Hale Berry

Because of all the bad movies and tv shows over the years, those "adaptations" should be seen as only films "inspired" and if this change makes that version better, amen.  Like Michael Clark Duncan as Kingpin.

"

As a Black man, it’s generally a good thing to see a bit of color added to any film or television series. I grew up with Hal Jordan (my favorite character as a child) as the Green Lantern (Super Friends) and collected many GL related comics, including Green Lantern: Mosaic featuring John Stewart. With that said, I believe in keeping to the general spirit of the source material, making changes where appropriate. John Stewart being the first human GL wouldn’t have kept to that spirit. For those who want to compare it to Sam Jackson as Nick Fury; Marvel choose to use another incarnation of the same character from a popular line of comics (I wouldn’t mind them running with the Asian version of the Wasp also). I had more issues with adaptations of materials like Spawn and (although not a comic) Avatar: The Last Airbender because the reasoning they gave for changing to racial makeup of the cast was to add more “crossover” appeal, which meant changing minority characters white when if the opposite happens, that reasoning is never used. 

"

They can't even really remember the cartoon properly since we saw plenty of other Green Lantern corps members, showing there wasn't only 1 guy, plus Kyle and Hal did appear at some points. (Hal with that dimensions-plot-thingie)
 
And there's plenty of other great black Superheroes that need a movie adaptation (Black Panther, Statix...), before having to adapt live John Stweart (who's a far better GL-Justice League character, meaning, in a JL comic/movie/cartoon I prefer to have John over Hal anyway)

it bothers me alot that they change the races of characters...catwoman is white not black! saying that though i think there should be more of a variety of races in comics.

Kirsten Dunst should play Storm in the new X-Men movie that's being made.

"What annoys me the most is when people cant tell the difference between DC and Marvel."

The green lantern i knew was Kyle Rayner so for me this is not a issue I guess I was pissed when the started bring dead lanterns back like Hal

" What annoys me the most is when people cant tell the difference between DC and Marvel. "

We cannot separate this issue from the history of comics, the history of how black (or for that matter Asian) people have been portrayed in comics, or from American history itself. I stand to be corrected, but I cannot remember any non - white super heroes before the late 1960's. At that time, as American attitudes were starting to change towards black people, Marvel introduced some positive black role models in the shape of Black Panther in Avengers, and Joe Robertson in Spider-man. As the 60's rolled into the 70's, the "big two" introduced more positive Black role models with the likes of Jon Stewart, Luke Cage & Black Lightning.  
If we are talking about how heroes are portrayed in today's movies, then because most Silver Age heroes (and that's when most major characters had their origins) were white, then remaining true to the initial series may mean it is important to some to cast a white actor in the lead role. 
However, depending upon how true the movie wants to stay to the comics or what kind of time span the movie is aiming to cover, then there would be no reason not to include some of the characters who were perhaps developed over the following decades, whatever the colour of their skin. 
Perhaps one of the "balancing act" difficulties casting crews face is the clamour to be as close to the original comics, while recognising that many comic readers see newer versions of old heroes as the norm - and in some cases (as Jon Stewart) that means for some a black hero is the one they relate to more than the previous incumbent whose skin (because of the age in which he was developed) was white.

At the risk of sounding offensive, I think the race does matter. I'd just prefer it if movies tried to portray their characters as closely as possible to their comic book counterparts and not change it just for the sake of it, unless they really can't find someone to play the part properly. I'm sorry, but I don't want to see an Asian Riddler, a Hispanic Shang Chi, an African Strong Guy or a Caucasian Black Lightning. Thought mostly it's only down to how they look. A white guy could easily play a Jewish or Arab character and vise versa, similarly a fair skinned Mexican or Indian can play a white guy with no problems.
 
It's funny that it's only the white characters who are acceptable to be played by other races, but no one would ever think of casting a white Shang Chi, Blade, Luke Cage, etc.

It is a bit jarring at first, but if they do a good job, why not?

Think about it, most superhereos of color are B and C level (not part of the main roster even if they have their own books).  Luke Cage wasn't a regular Avenger and Black Lightning wasn't a Regular Justice Leaguer.  Most non comicbook readers probably know very little if anything about them anyways.  Having a mainstream superhero is important.