Ok, so apparently Mandarin, a blatantly Mongoloid villain who has always been Oriental is going to be portrayed by a Caucasoid actor of Indo-European descent.....and Marvel fanboys are somehow happy? First off, dear God are these Iron Man movies pissing over the villains to where they don't even act anything like they do in the comics, let alone resemble them. This is apparently some huge victory, but Marvelites will take every chance they get to complain about Bane, a villain who was white to begin with, being whitewashed. Bane in the comics is never shown with Mongoloid features(Native Amerindians are Mongoloid), where as comic Mandarin is always shown as Mongoloid. So with this blatant middle finger to source, I believe Black Panther or Luke Cage should be white or Asian in the movieverse. First off, I hate unnecessary race changes, as I was and am against the racebending in Thor, Man of Steel, Last Airbender, and Dragonball Evolution. And before someone says, "race is an important part of T'Challa and Cage", IT'S IMPORTANT WITH MANDARIN TOO! LOOK AT HIS NAME!!! Look at his MO of being unhappy with China's current state. That's just as integral as any part of Black Panther and Cage's back story. And before I hear the yellow peril crap, Luke Cage was/sometimes still is a blaxploitation character. He AS WELL as Falcon, who will be in Captain America 2, both have history with criminal activity. The yellow peril depiction of the Mandarin hasn't been used since the 60s, back when 'ol Shellhead "crush Commies" and the Crimson Dynamo was the baddest "Red" in comics. Falcon and Cage, however, still have all that crap as their back story . Also, there are characters like Black Lightning or Icon, who are upstanding Black heroes who try to fix the problems of the black community in Dakota and Suicide Slum, and are comparable in morals to say Superman, Captain America, and Spiderman, However, Cage, Marvel's most prolific black hero, has a criminal record, is a mercenary who only worked for hire, still lives on the streets and thrives in ghetto mentality instead of opposing it, and gets a woman knocked up out of wedlock. And yet Mandarin is apparently the bad stereotype.

The race of supporting cast characters is always fair game. 

@jointron33: I called BS on this a month ago

The Indian Fire Nation still takes the cake.

I never liked ethical changes...It gets me angry.

I don't think it's that bad. Kingsley is a good actor, and Mandarin's mom is a British woman. Tom Hardy is a great actor, and Bane's dad is King Snake, who's also British. As long as these actors look more like their comic book counterparts than not, and they capture the feel of the character, I'm perfectly fine.

I say that they get whoever is the best actor for the part to play the part....the Kingpin in Daredevil is an excellent example...the changed him from white to black but I don't think there's a single white actor who could have played the part of the Kingpin

man of steel? what lois will be played by beyonce?

You should probably do a google search about what a Indo-European descent actually means. People of Indo-European decent have a majority Oriental decent in their genetics and appearance, so it's not really a big deal.

@SoA said:

man of steel? what lois will be played by beyonce?

Laurence Fishburne playing Perry White.

Keep him the same.

man of steel? what lois will be played by beyonce?

Sir Ben Kingsley is a fantastic actor. Don't fret - he will do Mandarin justice.

@The_Tree: oh then who cares lol besides OP i mean.

If being Mongolian weren't an integral part of the characters entire motivation for being a villain this wouldn't bug me but this is like casting a black guy as a white supremisist

I do find it amusing that Black Heimdale started a war but having a white guy play a Mongolian is just fine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i9iTYe6tEk

Ben Kingsly is half Indian but he looks like the Mandarin.

@SoA: I've seen that before. What really bothers me is when ever anyone of another race tries to play a traditionally white character people flip out but have no problem with white people playing taking roles from characters of other races. Its white washing under the guise of cultural sensitivity. They could have hired an Asian actor and just took out the cultural stereotypes that have been gone for years in the comics any way. Are they saying an Asian couldn't have what it takes to be a drunk white dude's nemesis?

If being Mongolian weren't an integral part of the characters entire motivation for being a villain this wouldn't bug me but this is like casting a black guy as a white supremisist

If being Mongolian weren't an integral part of the characters entire motivation for being a villain this wouldn't bug me but this is like casting a black guy as a white supremisist

Why can't he be Asian? Do they think Asians will get up set? Look for him to look like Ben Kingsley in comics when that Ironman 3 comes out.

@Duke_Nasty: They already replaced Nick Fury with his formerly unknown black son in the comics.

@joshmightbe: I was referring to that. With Marvel if it happens in the movies it will happen in the comics.

@Duke_Nasty: It is likely that because Hollywood and China have been spending huge amounts of money on Theaters and production studios in China. They don't want to anger moviegoers by making the villain actually Asian.

@joshmightbe: kigsly is of indian descent , and indians are considered asian , but i see you point in what you wanted but we have a asian actor portraying a asian role. to be fair ,if they cast vin diesal to play luke cage they still got a black guy (he is italian and black) but it wont be the same so yeah ur complaint is valid ur rage no.

@gravitypress: Then why the hell did Marvel team up with China? Secondly, tell China to eff off, I mean Disney basically did Mandarin with Sao Feng in Pirates 3

@SoA: Yea cause Indians and Mongolians are just interchangeable like legos

@danhimself: So a white person should play a character like Luke Cage or Black Panther?

@jointron33: I didn't say that...I said that they should get the best actor for the part....I'm pretty sure there are tons of black actors who could play those parts

@Vance Astro said:

The race of supporting cast characters is always fair game.

Agreed.

I could care less whether Beyonce is Lois Lane or whether Glover is Spider-Man, as long as they act well.

Remember when people freaked out about Heimdall? That was funny.

@joshmightbe: outside this thread i love that line and wish to use it lol , im serious using at random and giving it some attitude just makes tht statement awesome.

back on topic its a PC world and changes will be made , not much one can do about it

@jointron33: There moviegoers are increasing in numbers faster and ours in the US have remained flat.

Are people seriously getting mad about this? Unbelievable.

Also, the Heimdall controversy was started by a white-supremacist group. Only thing I don't like about Idris Elba playing Heimdall is that he can't play T'Challa.

Ben Kingsley will be a fantastic Mandarin.

@Vance Astro said:

The race of supporting cast characters is always fair game.

nice avi

@RainEffect said:

Sir Ben Kingsley is a fantastic actor. Don't fret - he will do Mandarin justice.

ACTING DOESN'T MATTER!!!!

RACE MATTERS!!!

Sorry, I have to say it before the OP does.

@Vance Astro said:

The race of supporting cast characters is always fair game.

nice avi

Seriously, I guaran freakin tee you if this was Luke Cage being white, you would be all "the white man is being racist" and whatnot. And let's see.....a character that is supposed to be Chinese because it TIES INTO HIS BACKSTORY AND IS MORE THAN JUST THE RACE HE HAPPENS TO BE! If you seriously think race is insignificant with a character like Mandarin, you are a freaking moron.

Seriously, I guaran freakin tee you if this was Luke Cage being white, you would be all "the white man is being racist" and whatnot. And let's see.....a character that is supposed to be Chinese because it TIES INTO HIS BACKSTORY AND IS MORE THAN JUST THE RACE HE HAPPENS TO BE! If you seriously think race is insignificant with a character like Mandarin, you are a freaking moron.

@RainEffect said:

Sir Ben Kingsley is a fantastic actor. Don't fret - he will do Mandarin justice.

ACTING DOESN'T MATTER!!!!

RACE MATTERS!!!

Sorry, I have to say it before the OP does.

@The_Tree said:

@SoA said:

man of steel? what lois will be played by beyonce?

Laurence Fishburne playing Perry White.

The difference is: you could blot out Perry's features and skintone and never know what race he is. Mandarin, Luke Cage, The Falcon, Black Manta, Black Lightning, and Vixen are all characterized by their heritage.

But to be honest, I have a slight bias. Any race change for no reason kind of bothers me, but I'm a little apathetic toward white, non-lead, side or supporting characters. Couldn't careless about Hiemdell or Perry, but Kingpin did erk me, despite the fact that I love when black men are badass villians. If Carmine Flacone, whose European decent is clearly established, was suddenly a Japanese man nicknamed "The Roman", I'd be fairly upset. I'd hate for Gordon to be black just like I'd hate for Lucius to be white.

The thing is, actual Asian characters in comics seem to be a rarity as it is. Sure, you would probably need more than just two hands to count all of them in the Marvel U, but they're usually shoved into minor roles and are far from mainstream. What they are doing here is denying the one opportunity for Marvel's most (in)famous East Asian villain to appear on the big screen as who he is. And ironically, it's probably to appease the audience and censors in China. Don't get me wrong though, I think as an actor, Kingsley should be able to pull off the Mandarin quite well (except perhaps in the field of martial arts). Also, being Indian is still technically Asian, so it's not the worst travesty out there. But let's be honest, the producers had plenty of opportunity to pick a more fitting actor for the role, and Kingsley is far from being the first to come to mind. Here are just a few actual East Asian actors that could have fit the role much better: John Lone, Ken Watanabe, Chow Yun-Fat, and Collin Chou. This is a short list of people that came to my mind at least, and it doesn't include a plethora of oversees actors who haven't had much presence in western cinema yet.

So bottom line, I don't think Kingsley is the worst person for the role. In fact, I'd say as an actor he's overqualified (though he's been overqualified for a lot of stuff lately). However, it's blatantly obvious that the move to change the Mandarin's depiction from being half-Mongolian (or Chinese) to being another ethnicity entirely is both deliberate and lazy. Kingsley is far from the ideal actor for this role, and while not something to get upset over, it's a stupid move on behalf of the studio(s) involved. Here's hoping that we'll see a more suitable actor play Chen Lu, assuming they're still keeping his character in the film - and that he actually does something substantial.

@joshmightbe said:

If being Mongolian weren't an integral part of the characters entire motivation for being a villain this wouldn't bug me but this is like casting a black guy as a white supremisist

Dave Chappelle?

@Vance Astro said:

@daredevil21134 said:

@Vance Astro said:

The race of supporting cast characters is always fair game.

nice avi

Thanks but I changed my av 4 times. Are you talking about the Huntress avatar?

Yeah,she's awsome

@Guardiandevil83: and you're only forth person to point that out

@joshmightbe said:

@Guardiandevil83: and you're only forth person to point that out

I know..what a drag. lol

Jason Statham as Luke Cage. His Luke Cage will not be very accurate and the movie will most likely suck, but lets hope the action will be top notch.

Can't he wear a yellowface like the Fu Manchu?