When you think of Superman and his weakness, you think Kryptonite. When you think of Iron Man and his weakness, you think Pepper Potts.
When it comes to the Human Torch in the new "Fantastic Four" movie, you think about his skin color.
Michael B. Jordan, a rising star in his own right, was recently cast as the new Human Torch in the upcoming release of the new "Fantastic Four." While most people were celebrating a new hot young cast, another group was wondering why the new Human Torch was black.
Black casting over the past few years has been causing significant uproars in different communities. People either love or hate the fact that black people are cast in movies. The truth is, there isn't one type of skin color and we should represent that in our movies.
This, however, is not the first time uproars happened. When Rue in "The Hunger Games" was cast as a young girl of color, many were so disturbed that they did not want to not see the movie — even though she was black in the book on which the movie was based.
What makes Michael B. Jordan’s case different?
To most, superheroes are white. It seems like these critics don't realize that it's 2014. Please look at the streets around you. Please look at your classrooms. Look up and down Mill Avenue and on the sidewalks around campus.
It’s not just white anymore. There’s color all around you. And it would be the most realistic and probably the most awesome thing to see an African-American superhero.
Traditional superhero comic books were born and raised in the '60s where it was normal for the characters to be white. That's just not true anymore.
At this point, it's unrealistic to see that people in movies are only white. In fact, there should be more superheroes of color cast in leading roles. Casting a black man to play your favorite superhero should not make you not want to see the movie.
The stupidity of complaining about a man’s skin tone being shades darker than your comic book drawing is ignorant. There’s no other way to describe it.
While I see no difference between Chris Evans playing the Human Torch and Jordan playing the same character, one thing is for sure: While some don't want to see the movie, many will still pay money to see "Fantastic Four."
Reach the columnist at Tishni.Weerasinghe@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @tishnii
