Should they have casted a hispanic or black April for the film?

[Zulithe]

I'd rather have a Samoan Casey Jones personally

[Metalwolf]

Originally Posted by Powder

So blacks & Hispanics are a different species from whites? Wow. The ignorance of some people.

No, he means that it would be strange to have April that different, when she's recognizably a certain way.

It does not mean that he comparing blacks and hispanics to another species.

[Davetello]

Originally Posted by sgtfbomb

I could care less. For one thing, changing April's race isn't one and the same as changing the Shredder's ethnicity. Shredder's heritage is part of his character. His character is from Japan. So I can see why casting William Fichtner has so many scratching their heads, and rightfully so. That is odd. The change itself also implies that his character's history will have significant changes. (Fichtner is a good actor, but ethnicity aside, I still can't see him as the Shredder.)

Changing April's ethnicity means very little to her character's history. Nothing significant, at least. April was white, now she's black. Oh well. As long as the role is played by a charismatic actress, with energy and spunk, who cares? Chrisdude even had a fantastic suggestion. (Hell, I wish they'd cast her over Megan Fox! She can act, she's likable, and, IMO, she's even better looking -- you know, for those who care only about eye candy.)

The only people who would have any issue with this would be the same pig-headed morons who couldn't get past the gender changes from the more recent Battlestar Galactica. Who cares what they think?

Good post. April's ethnicity or heritage really makes no difference to her character. You're bang on in making that distinction between she and Shredder.

And, as an aside, it's interesting that you refer to BSG - I've started watching that on Netflix.

By the way, about your first sentence, I always find it curious when Americans say 'I could care less' rather than 'I couldn't care less'. Surely that means you care a great deal? Just something I find funny about how Americans talk.

[The Stryker]

Originally Posted by Raphael232

they should also turn the turtles black/hispanic instead of green. I can see it now "yo homes, check out my nunchucks esse" OR "fo shizzle my nizzle as I slice you with my sizzled katana" it would be too stupid. lol definitely would skip that movie.

That's really funny.

I'm being sarcastic.

[sgtfbomb]

There was a time when Nick Fury was recognized purely as a white character. Then came the "Ultimate Nick Fury," and now we have Samuel L. Jackson playing him in the Marvel film universe, and people love it. Yeah, I'm sure some people made a fuss about it, but most people don't care that the character was once white, and now is black.

[Davetello]

Originally Posted by sgtfbomb

There was a time when Nick Fury was recognized purely as a white character. Then came the "Ultimate Nick Fury," and now we have Samuel L. Jackson playing him in the Marvel film universe, and people love it. Yeah, I'm sure some people made a fuss about it, but most people don't care that the character was once white, and now is black.

Apparently the Ultimate version of Fury is actually based on Sammy as he told Marvel he wanted to play the part in future films years down the line.

[Lord Nightwalker]

Originally Posted by Powder

So blacks & Hispanics are a different species from whites? Wow. The ignorance of some people.

Powder you're a damned idiot. I did not imply that at all. What I am saying is there should not be a change of character. Period. She wasn't either in conception, so why make her so now. Bond is a white man. Batman is a white man. Black Panther is a Black man. And they should be so on film, because that is what they were intended by their creators. Was that simple enough for you or do I need to break out the realty big crayons?

[Powder]

By making a comparison of two different species, that's exactly what you implied, if only by mistake.
Also, this damned idiot doesn't know what 'realty big crayons are'. Really? Reality? Matters of real-estate?

That aside, her ethnicity has no significance to her character.

[Jester]

Lord Nightwalker...um...early in April's inception, one creator saw her as white and the other modeled her after his black girlfriend...in fact some subsequent artist amped up the African-American features in April. It's not a completely ridiculous question (I can't believe I'm saying this...), and it's not as (soooo ironic) black and white as you see it. And really what does it matter if some creator decided to re-tell the Batman story with the Waynes being a black family. Would it be that far fetched? Now BLACK Panther....sure. But Batman doesn't HAVE to be white.

EDIT:
Here. Which of these 2 women is April O'Neil?

[Shark_Blade]

There's already a black Batman, Spiderman, etc though. No idea who is Black Panther.





And I agree, in the early comics, April changed her straight hair to curls and look like african origin. It's in my ultimate collection books, kinda hard to find images online though. Anyway, I don't see the big deal.

[CyberCubed]

I dislike the idea of Miles in Spiderman. He's just a token character of mixed black and whatever else he was as tokenism.

[Casey]

She was clearly African American in the early Mirage comics. Why does she always have to be based on the cartoons? In Megan Fox's defense (I never thought I would say those words), she does more closely resemble the original April compared to the button nosed redhead in a yellow jumpsuit that Fred Wolf and his cronies came up with. This movie is obviously more in line with the original animated series more than any other incarnation of the turtles though, so really she should've been cast to match the April we all came to know and love as children.

[Jester]

The REAL reason Megan Fox was cast as April:

Spoiler:

[Lord Nightwalker]

That's the first new 52 Batwing. Fox's son is the new one, new costume too. And yes, changing the Waynes to blacks would be wrong because that is not what Bob Kane envisioned. But, that could be explored on one of DC parallel Earths. If you created this really cool character featured in books, TV and movies would you want someone screwing around with the characters you created? And April's the brunette. I know the story about Eastman's girlfriend of the time, you're making it a racial thing, I was not. If it were my work being changed "just because", I'd be rather pissed off. Lets make Sherlock Holmes a pharmacist instead of a detective, Dr.Doom can replace Dr. House, and Mickey can be a talking goat instead of a mouse. Scew Walt.

[Lord Nightwalker]

Originally Posted by Powder

By making a comparison of two different species, that's exactly what you implied, if only by mistake.
Also, this damned idiot doesn't know what 'realty big crayons are'. Really? Reality? Matters of real-estate?

That aside, her ethnicity has no significance to her character.

Not what I was going for Powder. I apologize for the name calling, I just find it unpleasant when being label as an ignorant racist which is what you implied. It made me angry.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Originally Posted by omnimorphic

...

Really? is there a difference in New York sewers? The city is filthy!

The point was simple - I can't think of a single woman I know who would willingly, routinely, go into a Sewer.
In fact, most guys I know wouldn't either. It's gross and full of toxins, airborne and otherwise.

My second point, was that this entire thread is ridiculous. Every argument about Changing/not changing race is troll bait.

And if we're going to consider changing the race of a notable character in Comics, April O'neil is hardly the character I'd consider.

Wonder Woman would be a better place to start. An empowered role model, strong, fearless, etc etc.

April's always a whiny damsel in distress who clearly has no aversion to trenchfoot. Sometimes she's a butchy computer nerd (2k3), or a lonely assistant, or a skilled ninja warrior etc...

She's very two dimensional, as proven by her origin story in Mirage.
Sure, cast any ethnicity, but casting just to include another race that serves no purpose to the story, is no different than the stunt casting of Megan Fox.

It should actually be a question of "does this actor bring something to the role? Can she elevate a 2D character and make her come alive on the screen?
Can she do what Sam Jackson did for Nick Fury? What does this actor offer that the others don't?

Like I've said before, This is in no way a definitive TMNT film, so really, who cares? And even if it was the pinnacle of TMNTness, same question.

Maybe in the future we'll get our Avengers version of TMNT. For now, it's Sharktopus, and Shredder is a white dude.

Life goes on.

Actually, YES, there IS a difference. NYC may be dirty but it's hardly the fault of their sewer system. And for the most part, the drainage part would be relatively safe and dry unless the city is experiencing a heavy rain. Which is probably why the green boys live there. It's relatively comfortable for the most part (after some modifications, of course, is easier to remain unseen than say, the subway, and not many people would venture in due to most people not knowing the difference.....

Okay, back to the topic of April. Personally, I don't have a problem with making April any race at all. Heck, make her Polynesian, so long as she is still recognizable! However, I disagree with her being two-dimensional- and I most certainly discard that awful origin story as just plain ridiculous. As much as I liked the tale of Kirby and his crystal-topped pencil, using that to explain who April is was just bad writing- which I may take flack for, but hey, even an otherwise good writer can turn out a stinker every now and then. April has always been smart, spunky, brave- let's face it, she dove head-first into a bizarre world of mutants, aliens, robots, and ninjas without batting an eye- and compassionate. Those are traits could belong to any race.

[Toby Barrett]

She didn't bat an eye, but she did spend most of her time huddled in her corner crying.

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by Casey

She was clearly African American in the early Mirage comics. Why does she always have to be based on the cartoons?

Is that why April is white on all the Mirage covers? Look at the alternate covers for issue #2 and 3, her first appearances....she's white on the covers.

[Jester]

Originally Posted by Lord Nightwalker

That's the first new 52 Batwing. Fox's son is the new one, new costume too. And yes, changing the Waynes to blacks would be wrong because that is not what Bob Kane envisioned. But, that could be explored on one of DC parallel Earths. If you created this really cool character featured in books, TV and movies would you want someone screwing around with the characters you created? And April's the brunette. I know the story about Eastman's girlfriend of the time, you're making it a racial thing, I was not. If it were my work being changed "just because", I'd be rather pissed off. Lets make Sherlock Holmes a pharmacist instead of a detective, Dr.Doom can replace Dr. House, and Mickey can be a talking goat instead of a mouse. Scew Walt.

Yes, but there's a HUGE difference between changing a core part of the character like making a detective a druggist, and taking a white character and making him black. Judging them by the "content of the character" and not the color of their skin and what not.

Making the Waynes black wouldn't change the core of the Batman character. Making him become a police detective would.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Jester

Yes, but there's a HUGE difference between changing a core part of the character like making a detective a druggist, and taking a white character and making him black. Judging them by the "content of the character" and not the color of their skin and what not.

Making the Waynes black wouldn't change the core of the Batman character. Making him become a police detective would.

A black Batman would be interesting. I assume this would work more in modern times since we do have black millionares, but back then when Bob Kane first created Batman, a black family being as 'stupid rich' as the Waynes would probably be unheard of.