I would love to see Donald Glover write a treatment about Peter Parker aka Spiderman in a NYC with slight differences, maybe the World Trade Center was never attacked? Maybe a zeppelin is tethered to the top of the Empire State Building? Whatever, small differences.
But, through the story of the film this Peter discovers there is a parallel universe (perhaps more than one?) where there is another Peter Parker aka Spiderman who is white (a newcomer TBD).
That is how I would expect it would be justified. I want a sophisticated science fiction tale worthy of Peter. He is a scientist at the core of his character and a nerdy one at that with plenty of insecurities. You can change the race/ethnicity/sex/sexuality/beliefs of a character as long as you justify it. (The Ultimate Clone Saga was amazing, yeh?)
For instance, I loved the skillful way J.J. Abrams handled the reboot of Star Trek. It served many purposes and was entertaining but it didn't draw attention to itself by making Kirk black for no evident reason. I think Uhura should have been a lesbian Native American, though, just because we don't see enough of them.
I love the idea of color blind casting, but I think it works better in theater than in film--especially if one is adapting well known characters with a set origin. Angelina Jolie's character in Wanted is far from an icon so changing the race there isn't as big a problem. I do think it betrayed the original Mark Millar work, however. But, Jolie is a name and you gotta have a name. One less strong African American woman on screen though. =/ Maybe it will be made up for with Alicia Keys playing 355 in Y: The Last Man. Hey, maybe Yorick should be black? Um, no.
In theater we are asked to suspend our disbelief all around; in film, less so.
Robert Guillaume as Cyrano and The Phantom of the Opera in those respective musicals? Sure, why not? If he was Cyrano in a movie, not so much.
I LOVED the revival of You're A Good Man Charlie Brown and that color blind casting worked because it was consistent in its diversification and it spoke to the universality of the Peanuts characters. I felt it was justified, and had some top notch performers.
It's a tricky thing, but I don't know why Spiderman being white or black or pygmy has anything to do with what Marvel comics and that particular title are about. I don't understand why this question is even being raised as a possibility unless it is backed up by some justification beyond "there aren't enough black characters."
Where's my Runaways movie? That has black characters and Asian characters. Where's the Cloak and Dagger film?? Cloak is black, but maybe he should be Latino because there aren't enough Latino characters in films?
I'm not a *crazy* fan-atic, but I do have a lot of respect for the comic medium. I think changing races on Spiderman at this point is a bit of a novelty move. (Again, unless there is something to say by making that change. Maybe Donald could make a part documentary/part narrative about how Spidey is held aloft by a minority audience who are not represented well enough by Marvel titles?) (I'd kill to see the Bollywood Spiderman. Hey, how about an all black Spiderman musical? Pearl Bailey can be Aunt May!)
And, yes, please don't give us ANOTHER origin story in the next movie. I've seen Thomas and Martha Wayne, as well as Uncle Ben, die enough.
Maybe Donald could be the black Captain America? In fact, if you don't know, BCA was the first Captain America in Marvel continuity as they had to test that Super Soldier serum on someone before they tried it on Steve Rogers.
I think the better question is why they don't make a Spiderwoman (above) movie? I would want it to be inspired by the Ultimate Clone Saga where she is basically Peter (with all the memories and abilities) it just so happens the clone is a girl. It's a fantastic story and I love that Johnny Storm, unbeknownst to her origins, was making out with her in a recent issue of Ult Spidey.
With Irma you gotta do something!
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