"Dat's Raysis!"

You know, I'm so sick of the race card. Recently there has been some uproar among comic book nerds as the character 'Heimdall' in the upcoming movie 'Thor' is potrayed by a black actor, Idris Elba.

Well, you know what? Norsemen weren't black. And it has nothing to do with being 'racist'. I find old 50's cowboy movies with Native Americans being played by white men equally ridiculous. At least they had the excuse that there probably weren't a whole lot of Indian actors running around. This is nothing more than forced integration in order to try to be politically correct. I wonder what would happen if you had a movie where Dr. King or Chaka Zulu was played by a white guy?

Yes, I get that Asgard and Thor are made-up, though how it's any more made up than any other religion is beyond me. However, the fact that they are Norse is part of the story. Why in the hell would a black man be named 'Heimdall' anyway? Or be part of a pantheon to people that were likely completely ignorant of the existence of the black race? It has nothing to do with disliking black people or racism, it has to do with authenticity of the freaking story.

Since neo-nazi idiots are big into Norse stuff, I almost wonder if this was a jab at them. Or simply an opportunity for Marvel to stuff their 'enlightenedness' in our face with a show of forced diversity. Or perhaps Elba (who is by all accounts an excellent actor) auditioned and they didn't want to be sued. Maybe it's a stab at irony, as Heimdall is described as "the whitest of the gods":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heimdall


At any rate, it's ridiculous. Much as I liked Thor as a kid, I won't be seeing it; any more than I would watch the 'Brown Hornet' if the title role were played by Leonardo DiCaprio.