Hey they casted Bill Dee in Burton's " Batman " 89, as harvey Dent..

 Most of you are missing the point! Its that they took an extablished white character and made him black just for the hell of it! Perry White is white in the comic! Changing him to black is a slap in the face to all the comicbook fans! If they wanted toi include a black character they could have done that easily without messing without any of the established characters! they're just F***ing with us because they can! Let them make the Black Panther white in a movie and I bet you wouldn't shutup about it! If they got Robert Downet Jr to play Black Panther I bet you'd all be crying how racist it was! But changing a white character to black isn't racist? You can't have it both ways! I say we keep all comic book characters the ethnicity they are inteded to be, whether it be white or black!

First off NotaFan that arguement holds no water whatsoever. Every time they change the race of a character, someone always brings up Black Panther. And its an idiotic statement given that T'Challa being balck has everything to do with his identity. He is an "African" king of a fictional " African" country. If he was South African and they made him white then that would be fine, but he's not. Africans are for the majority black. If they made Black Panther white then they would have to change his whole origin and story. He would no longer be Black Panther. Perry White's race has absolutely nothing to with his character. So sit down and shut up!

 Wow Ponyboy! No real Superman fan would be for this! SO I guess you're just worried about being PC! Your life must be a baffling document making sure never to utter a word that might upset people's delicate sensibilities! I feel sorry for the burden that you are carrying! You've bought into the Bulls**t! That racism is OK as long as its only against white people! Because they deserve it right! Hmmm I feel sorry for you! You're just another PC zombie! You don't know no better! Besides You are really talking out of your A$$! They wouldn't have to change Black Panther's origin much! All they would have to say is that he is his adopted son! Thats it! One line! Its the same stupid trick when they changed Bosley from Charlie's Angels from white to black saying that the white Bosley was adopted and Bernie Mac was his brother! I could even argue that it works better in some ways because it can be used to call his legitimacy to the throne into question! This makes for better dramtic conflict as he picks up his father's mantle, as he is conflicted as whether he deserves it and makes people challenge his right to the throne! Forcing him to prove to the people and his challengers that he should be king! It works better thematically then just having him straight up inherit it through blood! So should we make Black Panther white? NO? Why? Oh thats right you can only make white characters black but not black characters white! My mistake! Carry on!

Pony has a point regardless if he's PC or not.  Making BP white would change the character.  That doesn't happen with Perry White...and I grew up a fan of sups like everyone else.   I don't have a problem with this move whatsoever...though there is something to be said about changing the race on some characters whethers its white, black, yellow, green, or organge.  I don't want to see a white Blade for example or an Asian Captain America.  

Higgy I'll give you Reeves as Superman and give credit to Donnor for making what he had work but they don't hold up today.  I'm sure when Donnors version came out everyone looked at the old black and white as corny now with Snyders movie we can look at how Donners version doesn't hold up.  As far as Nolan, he is a God that you should bow down to and give thanks.  We would still have nipples batman if it weren't for him...he realized Frank Miller version and like Frank Miller, he saved the Batman franchise.  Unless you are one of those saps that thinks the movie made a billion dollars off a dead actor no one ever heard of.  I hope he does to superman exactly what he did to Batman, we can only pray.

Hobbs, I'll take Nolan's Batman over Scheumaker's any day.  I shouldn't have used the word ruin because Batman Begins was one of my favorite Batman's.  I was speaking more of TDK.  It was just too much realism for my taste.  But you can't compare how good a story it is to how much money it made.  I mean, look at Transformers 2 and 3.  Shitty stories with stupid comedy and it still made tons.  Anywho, I see what you mean by comparing it to the older stuff too.

I'm on your side Pony.  Changing BP race would be the same as changing Captain America's race.  You'd have to change the whole backstory because of the time it was in.  Realistically, back then, they would have never chosen a black man to do that.  But if they changed his story to something more modern, then you could do it.  But yeah...it's Perry White...who cares.  Same with Jimmy or Lois...I couldn't see a problem changing them to another race either.  Even Superman really, or Batman.  There's no reason they need to be white.  ESPECIALLY Superman.  I mean...he's suppose to be a friggen alien but LUCKILY he looks like a white human male.  Score.

Haha, imagine Superman was black or some other color. You wonder if Ma and Pa Kent found him, if they would have picked him up and adopted him, especially not in that time.

And saying a white BP was adopted does change his origin and if you knew anything about Wakandan history and their policy of isolation, I really don't see how that story would make sense. Its fundamentally changes his origin and the character. LIke Higgy stated, it'd be the same as changing Steve Rogers. It has nothing to do with being P.C. People like you use that as a justification. And there's no way giving Laurence the Perry White role is racism towards whites. That's just ridiculous.

Notafan, I'm a lifelong Superman fan, but I can't recall one single moment where my enjoyment of a Superman comic or film hinged on Perry White.  He's an established character, but his "whiteness" has never been important because he's a tertiary character.  I think we can all agree, that changing the race of MAJOR icons like Superman, Batman, Spiderman, etc. would throw people off, because these are MAJOR characters who've changed very little over the decades, but did Nick Fury being black ruin Iron Man? Was Michael Clarke Duncan's performance as Kingpin singlehandedly responsible for the Daredevil film being a turd?  I think not. 

You make the common mistake of citing Black Panther and asking what we'd say if they cast a white actor to play him.  This however wouldn't be a substitution of a black American for a white American since Black Panther is AFRICAN.  His name's T'Challa, he's from Africa, so no a white dude in the role just wouldn't work.  Not a good example.  Casting a white guy to play El Dorado or Apache Chief wouldn't work either.  Hiring a black actress to play the role of Black Widow wouldn't work because there aren't really a whole lot of black ex-soviet spies. 

Perry White's skin color is the product of being a character introduced in the 1930's, when you'd be hard pressed to find a person of color in the foreground of any comic book publication.  We're supposed to have grown a little since then.

There's been a struggle to get more people of color into comics over the last few decades, from Power Man, to Black Panther, to Blade, and even the Ultimates version of Nick Fury.  Some of these characters are more successul than others, but with so many established icons who are still thriving, there isn't all that much demand for a black Superman or Batman equivelent.

Film adaptations are a great place to start pushing those boundaries.  We're having to make concessions to story, timeline, etc. anyway. 

There are icons, and there are supporting characters.  Icons are on T shirts, lunch boxes, posters etc.  Supporting characters are there to support the story.  If you have concerns about Mr. Fishburnes' acting ability, let's here em', but the man's skin color will not inhibit his ability to play a Newspaper's Editor In Chief.  Nobody's got a Perry White Lunchbox or T shirt.  Nobody will care that he's being played by a black dude.

"hear" not "here".  Never type before coffee.

I do also think it's worth pointing out that 95% of superhero characters are white.  This is just a by product of the fact that the most iconic and timeless heroes were envisioned prior to the civil rights movment.  The argument that we'd get mad if they changed a black character to a white one, etc. is a very caucasian-centric argument.  People of color have been underrepresented in comics for years.  Giving an inch of ground here and there has nothing to do with being P.C.  I'm about as politically incorrect as they come.  But I've also got a healthy understanding of the history behind the cultural landscape of comic books because it's a mirror for the cultural landscape in America.  While I'm not in favor of going all retcon on major characters, I wonder if the world wouldn't be a better place if Superman or Batman HAD been black to begin with.