Opinion: ‘black-washing’ in Marvel’s Thor Ragnarök

Comic book movies, love them or hate them, are the current champions of Hollywood. As other genres of movies have peaked in different eras, nobody can argue that we are currently in the era of the ‘Superheros’ with many of the highest grossing movies of all time being based on characters from Marvel and DC Comics respectively.

Let me start by saying I am indeed a ‘comic-book geek’ familiar with the lore of key marvel properties including Thor; Valkyrie and Heimdall, like all Asgardians whom are based on Norse Mythology, are white.

Why does this matter? Why can’t she be black played by the talented and beautiful Tessa Thompson? Why did nerds across the West cry outrage at the casting of the equally gifted Scarlett Johanson being cast as Major in Ghost In The Shell? Some people may think Valkyrie is not an important character in Thor’s universe however IGN voted her 30th in their ‘Top 50 Avengers’ and ’65th sexiest woman in comics’. Period.

Is this hypocrisy because of a racist anti-white sentiment in the West or as a black university student told me this week ‘the limited number of roles for poc going to white people isn’t a problem but obviously its a problem when we barely get any roles to begin with and the few we do get are changed and given to a white person. We don’t start on a level playing field so the argument doesn’t work both ways.’

Personally, while I find this person to be a racist favoring different treatment based solely on skin colour, I want to believe that the main issue with casting actors who are not obviously the ethnicity of the beloved character is that it is disrespectful to the fans of the character who have loved this character for far longer than the average cinema viewer has enjoyed the MCU. This is the same issue I had with the original casting of Hellboy reboot with Ed Skrein playing an Asian character. The public outrage of that casting was evident and rightly so, however, where were those people with Valkyrie?

It’s the inconsistency I have difficulty understanding. Surely the SJW movement doesn’t stand for discrimination against white people? Do you agree with me? Am I missing the point?