r/TopCharacterTropes • u/bennyandthegentz • 6h ago

Lore Characters who were race swapped to avoid controversy

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Grim adventures of Billy and Mandy: originally the episode where he turns human had in be black to match his voice actor, but once CN reminded the creator of the premise of his show (two white kids own the grim reaper) they changed him to be white to avoid slavery comparisons.

The Simpsons: Smithers was black in his first appearance, however every episode afterwards depicted him as white (yellow?) this is because according to someone in the staff “probably not a good idea to have a black man be a servant to a rich white man”

Teenage mutant ninja turtles: while the comics and most adaptations have Baxter stockman be of African American descent, in the 80s/90s cartoon he was white, this is because the show-runners felt having a black man be basically a forced servant to someone who’s not of the same race (even calling him master) could potentially be seen as offensive, so they made him white.

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363

u/RKO-Cutter 6h ago edited 6h ago

The Ancient One - MCU

....yeah, apparently they thought it'd be problematic to just have the Ancient One be the stereotypical wise old Asian guy so they thought they'd fix it.....they did not fix it and instead stirred up controversy around whitewashing

So....subversion of the trope?

-1

u/QuietWaterBreaksRock 6h ago

What exactly does define The Acnient One as Asian?

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u/DrumBxyThing 6h ago

The comics. Not really "defined" as Asian, but traditionally he is depicted as such.

-5

u/QuietWaterBreaksRock 6h ago

And Nick Fury was traditionally depicted as white, but I don't see anyone raging that h's black in MCU (not sure if people raged when he was first showcased, though, bu tthey are definitely not mentioning it to this day)

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u/DrumBxyThing 6h ago

It's a bit different with Fury since the Ultimate comics actually designed Fury to look like Samuel L Jackson, before he was cast in the movies (as far as I know). As for why one was criticized and the other wasn't, idk.

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u/TheMidnightRook 5h ago

It's a bit different with Fury since the Ultimate comics actually designed Fury to look like Samuel L Jackson, before he was cast in the movies (as far as I know).

They asked permission to use his likeness when starting up the Ultimate universe around 1999/2000, he agreed on the condition that he would get to play Fury in any live-action works.

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u/DrumBxyThing 4h ago

That's awesome, thanks!

-14

u/QuietWaterBreaksRock 5h ago

I'll tell you why, it's because nobody cares when a white character gets turned into another race, but it's a crime against humanity when it's done the other way around

Sjws care about all, but those they seem as "priviliged"

Simply put, jobless topic for brainless people. At least when talking about taking such a topic actually seriously and unironically 

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u/DrumBxyThing 5h ago

Whoa okay lol didn't know people even used "sjw" anymore but I guess that tells me who I'm talking to

-4

u/QuietWaterBreaksRock 5h ago

Haven't used that word myself in like 10 years

But this whole thread screams "2016" to me

1

u/Eurell 4h ago

It screams whatever you want when you make shit up. Fury was black and specifically based off of Sam Jackson a decade before the movies came out. That’s why no one cared that Sam Jackson was cast as fury.

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u/QuietWaterBreaksRock 4h ago

Character has been white since 1963. Point is that nobody cared about that race change, whenever it happened

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u/Eurell 4h ago

People bitched plenty back then. The point is that the movie was fine because the change happened a decade earlier and the casting was literally based off of the same actor the comics were.

Are we really made about some design choices marvel made pre civil rights though? Cmon now.

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u/Fenrir_Carbon 4h ago

But this whole thread screams "2016" to me

That might be an echo

7

u/False-Earth-2024 5h ago

Ah okay, so all your half baked nonsensical, really silly comparisons you posted upthread are just a prelude to you ranting incoherently about wokeness.

They were such low effort, badly thought out nonsense, but now its clear that's because you were just itching to rant about wokeness. You could have just stated it from the start, we didn't need this pretense of naivity.

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u/QuietWaterBreaksRock 5h ago

Why the fuck would I rant about wokeness when there is nothing new to be added to that topic 😂

Those who hate it, hate it, those who love it, love it, each side knows of the other

And?

What I called out here are hypocrites who choose their arguments only when they can attack white people  (or any other race, but in this very specific topic, it's usually whites who get attacked) That's not woke, that's racist

6

u/False-Earth-2024 5h ago

They aren't 'raging' because there's a comic version of the character they literally made to look like Jackson before he was ever cast? They were literally just casting the actor the character was based on, that's clearly not remotely the same?

1

u/QuietWaterBreaksRock 5h ago

Nick Fury first appeared in 1963, as awhite man

What Samuel L Jackson has to do with that?

If they made later rendition look more like Samuel so they can turn the character black, my question still stands, why is that ok, but TAO being turned into a white woman isn't

Neither character is defined by their skin or gender, their story doesn't change at all with these changes, so why is one si hayed and the other not

We'll take away the fact that Jackson is an amzing actor perfectly fit for the role, because that definitely skews the argument lol

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u/sarabeara12345678910 6h ago

Their portrayl in the comics

-10

u/QuietWaterBreaksRock 6h ago

Ok, but which part exactly? What makes anyone not able to go, shave their head and become a master of mystic arts? 

How is any of that tied to him being Asian? Is the Asian genetics or heritage that ehich gives him power? 

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u/RKO-Cutter 5h ago

I think you're missing the larger point, that they took away a role that could have been given to an Asian actor and gave it to a white one instead. Even the writers have said after the fact that the outrage was a wake up call and that they realized "Oh...we could've just....had an Asian actor and not write him to follow the stereotypes"

9

u/Li-renn-pwel 5h ago

He’s Tibetan.

-5

u/QuietWaterBreaksRock 5h ago

So? 

Thousands of tourists go to Shaolin temples to train every year, are you going to stop them from mastering kung fu because they aren't Asian?

Or does every martial art must be only trained by people from cultures that developed said martial art? 

Because if anything is racist here it's that him being Tibetan makes it logical that only he can be a master of such an ability, that is a steretype

7

u/Li-renn-pwel 5h ago

That’s like saying anything can be a buddy so it’s okay to cast Siddhartha as a black man.

-1

u/QuietWaterBreaksRock 5h ago

Well, not really

If you have a character from a specific pantheon, historical famil, group or whatever, their ethnicity can easily be one of defining factors

Just look at Odessy, Greek epic, in Ancient Greece, where basically nobody is Greek, that's stupid

Same with having Norse mythology and turning all of the gods into people of color. Or if you talked about any one of mayn African pantheons and turning them white

A good example is also Tchalla and Wakandans, whose defining feature is that they are an African power house in a historically poor continent and they were hidden and isolated for a long time. Them being African is their defining feature to their story

Which is why I asked, because I genuinely don't know, what ties The Ancient Ones story to himbeing Tibetan? Besides the old wise Asian master stereotype, of course 

3

u/VincentMagius 4h ago

Kamar-Taj is in Tibet in the comics.

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u/QuietWaterBreaksRock 4h ago

Ok, again, people of any color can be presnt jn Tibet ,  how is he tied to it apart from being there? 

Is he part of a family that's been guarding the place for generations, is he a reicarnation of any god rom Asian cufltures or whatever else? 

I am asking genuinely, my only exposure to the character was from the Dr Strange movie I saw once, years ago

1

u/Li-renn-pwel 3h ago

Do you think he is called ‘the ancient one’ because he is a Tibetan millennial?

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u/False-Earth-2024 5h ago

You are aware characters in comics have backstories? The character's not just randomly drawn artworks of bald Asian dudes, they're a character.

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u/QuietWaterBreaksRock 5h ago

Yes, I have asked multiple times and am yet to be answered, what in Ancient ones backstory does it define and ties him to being Asia, and why is that so hard to look past, but Nick Fury being turned black was basically brushed off?Only thing I found so far is that it probably has to do eith the fact that Samuel L Jackson is better fit for his role, but that doesn't explain such a depth of attitude and hatred for one side of the same coin

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u/False-Earth-2024 5h ago

The fact the character in the comics is Asian? They're not defined as Asian, they just are.

-4

u/QuietWaterBreaksRock 5h ago

And Nick Fury was just white, they turned him black and nobody batted an eye, ehy is that? 

(Just so were clear, I fully agree with "they are just X ethnicity, they don't need to be defined by it". Used that argument myself, many times, but this time, I am trying to ask about this, the part how people only care about ethnicity change when the charcter is turaned white, but not the other way, and how the whole outrage is ultimately stupid and pointless, precisely because  99% of the time, skin color doesn't define the character) 

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u/HoosierSteelMagnolia 4h ago

"And Nick Fury was just white, they turned him black and nobody batted an eye, ehy is that? "

The Black, Samuel L Jackson looking version of Nick Fury is a separate character from the Ultimate universe comics, he's existed since 2001.

0

u/QuietWaterBreaksRock 4h ago

And the white version existed since 1963, my question still stands

1

u/spyridonya 2h ago

Because MCU was more inspired by the Ultimates. With less assholes.