Spider-Man's father says leave his boy alone!

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http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/23/stan-lee-spider-man-should-stay-white-and-straight

After a new set of leaked Sony emails revealed a restrictive set of rules for Spider-Man’s on-screen persona, the character’s creator, Stan Lee, has spoken out in support of the controversial stipulations.


The rule that says Peter Parker, Spidey’s alter ego, should always be white doesn’t bother Lee, according to an interview he gave to entertainment site Newsarama.


“I wouldn’t mind, if Peter Parker had originally been black, a Latino, an Indian or anything else, that he stay that way,” he said. “But we originally made him white. I don’t see any reason to change that.”


Lee is also in agreement with the requirement that Parker’s sexuality should remain as originally written, but is open to the idea of other homosexual comic book characters.

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I'm glad they aren't planning to mess round with Spider-Man. There's been enough changing comic book characters simply because of the PC pressures to have a gay or minority character. Instead of creating new characters, established ones have been changed, throwing out years of continuity in the process.
 
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^ Yeah I don't read comics myself, but I follow the industry and love all the cartoons, shows and movies that take place in comic universes - especially Marvel. I think for some characters, race or sexuality, or even gender isn't really the key to what makes them good characters. I'm very down with having Samuel L. Jackson play a Black Nick Fury, for instance.

But for other characters, I think their complexion and ethnicity is more important to them. In my mind, Spider-Man will always be a geeky, middle-class white kid growing up in New York. And frankly, I don't particularly want any of that to change.

But perhaps, more than anything else, I totally agree that instead of taking an older character and changing them, I'd like to see NEW characters created that are more representative of other ethnic groups, genders, etc. I mean, some of my most favourite comic characters are non-white or female. I'm a huge fan of Black Panther, for example. And I can't wait to see the AKA: Jessica Jones show get released that is apparently also featuring Luke Cage.
 
I was originally very much a traditionalist re: comic book movies. I wasn't happy when I learned that Samuel L. Jackson was playing Fury. Nick Fury was a grizzled old white guy with an eye patch and a cigar sticking out of his face! I didn't want David Hasselhoff coming near the part again, but I did want to see the comic book character accurately represented on film. And then I saw The Avengers, and now I can't envision anyone but Jackson as Fury.

I agree that race/gender/orientation aren't set in stone for some characters, but for others I think you have a totally different character if you change them. Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Iron Man... all set in stone for me. The Human Torch? As long as the new Fantastic Four film gives a plausible reason for him being black and his sister being white, I don't care that they've changed his race.

You mention Black Panther. Remember how almost every black superhero or villain used to have Black as part of their name? Black Panther, Black Lightning... Spider-Man fought a guy once called the Black Racer. And then there were the ones who were just clones of a white hero, like Black Goliath. As if it wasn't obvious that the characters were black! I'm actually surprised that Falcon never had his name prefixed.

I'm looking forward to the Jessica Jones series, too. If it's as good as the comics were, it should be a hit.