WINTER SOLDIER Star Supports Michael B. Jordan, Calls Out Fanboys For Racism


(Michael B. Jordan pictured at right) Michael+B+Jordan+8th+Annual+Teen+Vogue+Young+32FiL8IF8tAl

Anthony Mackie, the winged thespian in Marvel Studios’ next blockbuster CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER, is one of fandom’s fancasting favorites. Whenever a comic book franchise flirted with a silver screen adaptation, Mackie was always a top choice for roles. For Black characters, that is. And that’s always a small pool to choose from. Even in the Marvel universe, which prides itself on a diverse pantheon of heroes and heroines, Black characters (along with Hispanic and Asian) are by far the minority. Still, Mackie’s one of the lucky actors to score a role in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe as the Falcon (aka Sam Wilson), one of Captain America’s most notable sidekicks. Like James “War Machine” Rhodes, Mackie’s Falcon falls into Black Best Friend tropes, but he’s still one of the most compelling characters from that mold.

And so, when Michael B. Jordan, that talented superhero actor from Josh Trank’s Chronicle, was selected to portray Johnny Storm (The Human Torch) in Fox’s upcoming Fantastic Four reboot, Mackie was particularly disgusted with fandom’s backlash. The rioting masses decried Jordan, not for his acting merits, which are numerous, but for his skin color. And while I’ve been swayed in brief moments to question Marvel’s casting choices in years past (I’m guilty of criticizing, briefly and superficially, the Heimdall casting. In all fairness, I assumed Kenneth Branagh was aiming for a pseudo faithful Viking epic), I’ve never been as intense as these folks.

EXCLUSIVE Anthony Mackie, who plays The Falcon, was spotted on the set of "Captain America: Winter Soldier" filming on location in Los Angeles doing his own stunts in front of a giant green screen.Featuring: Anthony MackieWhere: Los Angeles, CA, United StatesWhen: 01 May 2013Credit: Shinn/JFXimages/Wenn.com

“I think with these type of movies, everything else aside, you need a good actor. Michael B. Jordan is a good actor, black or white. So what you have to realize is, and go back and forth and just say, ‘Superman can’t fly, Batman ain’t real, the Human Torch don’t really set himself on fire and fly around the room, so he can look like whatever they want him to look like.’ You just have to allow yourself to see him that way. And if you can’t do that, that says something about you. As an audience member if you can’t do that, you need to look at yourself, because there’s something going on with you, that you might need some help with.”

Ooooph! That one’s gotta sting. In case you didn’t fully digest it the first time, allow me to reiterate…

because there’s something going on with you, that you might need some help with.

Burn!!!! Now, while I can admit a bit of sympathy for those fanboys who don’t want their canon changed in the slightest. And they especially don’t want the “PC” police deciding which characters need to transform into which race/ethnicity, Anthony Mackie’s entirely right in his point. These films are adaptations. They’re films meant for a modern audience. If Fox truly wants to adhere to canon, they should recycle the terrible 1994 flick (which Marvel had to forcibly bury from the public in order to hide it from wide release). That version of Marvel’s 1st Family was as superficially canonical as possible.

Michael B. Jordan is also the best possible actor for the part. Think about it. His performance in Chronicle was almost a clone of Johnny Storm, except he was a bit more sincere. No offense to Chris Evans’s performance as the Human Torch, but he didn’t achieve much more than “young, horny asshole”.

Oh, and btw, this is still one of the most badass scenes in comic book movie history.

silver surfer human torch

Source: ComicBook