Die-hard comic book fans are unaccustomed to change, so much so that they are highly critical of comic book movie adaptations as well as the studios' casting choices for the characters they have grown to love.
The rebooted "Fantastic Four" and the casting of Michael B. Jordan as the new Human Torch is a perfect example of this. When it was first revealed that a black actor would be portraying the Human Torch, fans were torn. Some thought that it was a great idea since Jordan is a talented young actor; others, on the other hand, hated the idea because The Human Torch in the comic books was white.
Coming to his defense, Jordan told Entertainment Weekly that if Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee has no qualms about his casting, then why should others complain about it? "If Stan Lee writes an email to my director saying, 'You're good. I'm okay with this,' who am I to go against that?" he said.
Lee also offered his insight regarding the matter, saying that the issue isn't really one of racial prejudice. "They're outraged not because of any personal prejudice. They're outraged because they hate to see any change made on a series and characters they had gotten familiar with. In 'Spider-Man,' when they got a new actor, that bothered them, even though it was a white actor. I don't think it had to do with racial prejudice as much as they don't like things changed," he said.
When Tobey Maguire was replaced by Andrew Garfield as the new Peter Parker slash Spider-Man, people got upset. And now that Garfield would be replaced by Tom Holland, people got upset again.
Because of this, Lee believes that it's up to the new actors to do a good job so that people will simply shut up and accept the new developments. And he has no doubt that Jordan would do just that in "Fantastic Four."
"I think they're gonna get to love this character. So I'm not the least bit worried about it. I always tried to pepper these groups with as much racial diversity as possible because that's the way the world is," he said.
Jordan feels the same way and he even hopes that his role as the new Human Torch would help change people's perspectives about comic book movie adaptations.
"People are always going to see each other in terms of race, but maybe in the future we won't talk about it as much. Maybe, if I set an example, Hollywood will start considering more people of color in other prominent roles, and maybe we can reach the people who are stuck in the mindset that 'it has to be true to the comic book.' Or maybe we have to reach past them," he said.
