We recently got a trailer for Marvel’s upcoming Black Panther sequel Wakanda Forever, and first things first, it looks awesome. I love the focus on T’Challa’s family and their grief, and I think the decision not to recast T’Challa was the right one. I also enjoyed our first look at the Atlantean Prince Namor, and even though I know his Mesoamerican look has generated some controversy, he does look pretty cool in action. Of course, Namor’s casting and appearance are good fodder for a deeper discussion about translating superhero comics to screen:

Many of these heroes were created at a time with significantly less representation; most early superheroes are white men created by other white men. So when is it appropriate to change their races to more accurately reflect our world?

Every few years, we get a controversy around this topic. Some fans were mad when iconic comic redhead Mary Jane Watson was portrayed by Zendaya who is black. When redheads Iris West and Hawkgirl made their debuts on the CW, black actresses Candace Patton and Ciara Renée played the roles. Deadshot, who is white in the comics, was played by Will Smith, and the traditionally blonde-haired blue-eyed Aquaman was brought to life by Jason Momoa of indigenous Hawaiian and Pawnee ancestry. Heimdall of the Thor comics (traditionally drawn white) came to screen through black English actor Idris Elba. In 2022’s The Batman, Commissioner Gordon and Catwoman were portrayed by Jeffrey Wright and Zoë Kravitz respectively. And then there’s Agent Nick Fury of the Marvel films. Fury is a curious case because the traditionally-white character was redrawn in the comics to resemble actor Samuel L. Jackson in 2001, and then when the character made his big screen debut in 2008, Jackson portrayed him. The majority of these changes had little consequence for the characters’ personalities and served to better represent our diverse world, but not every case of racially diverse casting is so simple. (Also, side note: sometimes this practice is called “race bending”, but that term has been used in derogatory contexts, so I’m going to avoid it here.)

Marvel’s Asian Character Problem: The Ancient One, The Mandarin, and Wenwu
As adaptations of Dr. Strange and Iron Man moved forward, Marvel faced a problem: both of these heroes’ comics involve harmful Asian stereotypes from the 1960s. I will not post images of the early comic characters here because they’re pretty freaking offensive.

In the early comics, the Ancient One (who trains Dr. Strange) was an elderly Asian mystic with flowing robes and a long white beard— not exactly progressive representation. If Marvel went this route in their on-screen portrayal of the character, the company would rightly be accused of racial stereotyping, so the creative team made the controversial decision to cast white actress Tilda Swinton, who brought a Celtic feel to Dr. Strange’s teacher. Similarly, Marvel made the wise decision to modify the character of Wong who, in the early comics, serves as Dr. Strange’s sidekick and valet (yes, really). Over the years, Wong has been retooled into a competent sorcerer in his own right, and by the time he was introduced in the MCU, he was set up as more of a partner and voice of reason for Dr. Strange. During Strange’s absence after Infinity War, Wong even assumes the title of “Sorcerer Supreme” and maintains it after Strange’s return; rather than a sidekick, Wong has very much become his own character.

Marvel also had to make some heavy revisions with Iron Man’s nemesis in the comics: The Mandarin, a Chinese warlord/wizard in flowing robes with a pointed beard who was sometimes drawn with large protruding teeth. The Mandarin has such an enduring history as a racial stereotype that questions loomed around how to portray him from the moment the first Iron Man movie was announced in the mid-2000s. So how did Marvel handle it? Well, the concept of “The Mandarin” was introduced as something of a joke in Iron Man 3 as portrayed by actor Ben Kingsley; here, the character plays up “terrorist” stereotypes only to be revealed as a front for a white industrialist’s organization. Sure, many fans of the Iron Man comics got angry over this change, but the twist was a self-aware nod to the character without leaning into Asian stereotyping.

Elements of the comic Mandarin were eventually incorporated into Tony Leung’s Wenwu character in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. But it seems worth mentioning that Wenwu is also a heavily reimagined version of Shang-Chi’s father in the comics who is named —I wish I were making this up— “Fu Manchu.” Yeah, the 60s and 70s were not a good time for representation in comics.

Are There Times When a Character Really Needs to Stay White?
Of course, one of the reasons I’m talking so much about Marvel’s Asian characters has to do with one of their bigger casting controversies: the decision to keep Iron Fist white. Hoo boy Iron Fist is complicated!

Introduced to the comics in 1974 (one year after the release of Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon, which contributed to a boom of martial arts related characters across all media), the young Danny Rand vanishes during a Chinese mountain expedition only to be taken in by the warrior monks of K’un-L’un, a mystical city which is only accessible once every ten years. Danny grows up in K’un-L’un and is trained to become one of the world’s foremost martial artists. He even defeats a dragon to gain his signature “iron fist” ability before returning to New York City to avenge his family and reclaim their business empire. When the Iron Fist Netflix series was announced, there was a large online movement to cast an Asian actor in the role; after all, so many of the character’s skills and appearance are based around Asian motifs. Why not take the leap and just make him an Asian character? To answer this question, we have to at last get to the core argument of this whole article:

The only time it’s really not okay to change a character’s race is when that character’s race plays a key role in their story. T’Challa’s blackness is a significant aspect of who Black Panther is. Miles Morales’s black and Puerto Rican heritage are core to his character. Ms. Marvel would be completely different if she weren’t a Pakistani-American Muslim woman. Falcon, Storm, and Luke Cage need to be black. Shang Chi needs to be Asian. Wolverine needs to be Canadian. And so on.

And yeah, some characters really have to be white. Bruce Wayne benefits from massive intergenerational wealth and status due in part to centuries of white privilege in his family. Captain America’s whiteness fits his origin as a 1940s U.S. military spokesman, and his race later serves as a key plot point in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. And yes, Danny Rand carries himself with a sense of entitlement and ignorance that, while not necessarily requiring a white character, probably fit best with a white character. And the best Iron Fist writers take this into account and pair Danny with characters like Luke Cage, Misty Knight, and Colleen Wing who challenge his assumptions and make him see things from others’ perspectives.

But it’s also worth asking a second question: Does changing a character’s race enhance their story?

My favorite example here is Commissioner Gordon, who has always been the “last good cop” in the Gotham City Police Department. Gordon is traditionally portrayed as white, but the recent film The Batman cast black actor Jeffrey Wright in the role. As a black man, this version of Gordon would have experienced systemic corruption from a much earlier age, and his white colleagues likely view him with that much more suspicion because of his race. As a black police officer in the era of Black Lives Matter, a black Gordon is that much more complicated a figure, and his unwavering moral compass becomes that much more integral to Batman’s world. Casting a black Commissioner Gordon is brilliant and fits both the criteria we’ve just identified: (1) his whiteness was never crucial to his character, and (2) his blackness adds a rich new dimension to the story.

So now that we’ve established some criteria and looked at a positive example, let’s tackle what really sparked this whole article: Namor.

So, Who Is Namor the Sub-Mariner?
First of all, he’s not Aquaman. In fact, Namor debuted in Marvel Comics #1 a full two years before DC would create Aquaman, so he’s not a knock-off; he’s the original. And while Aquaman is most decidedly a good guy, Namor is a bit more nuanced. As the ruler of of the undersea kingdom of Atlantis, Namor focuses on what will benefit his people, and while this sometimes means partnering with teams like the Avengers, Defenders, and Fantastic Four, Namor also finds himself working against the heroes too. He’s not afraid to get his hands dirty, and he’ll partner with whoever is most likely to keep his oceans clean. In his first appearance in 1939, he invaded New York, but shortly after, he joined the Allies and fought alongside Captain America in WWII. In more recent years, he has served on the beneficent Illuminati, a team of the smartest Marvel heroes seeking to preserve world order, but at the same time, he joined the shadowy Cabal, a team of supervillains pursuing a similar goal but through more nefarious means. The guy’s a wildcard.

Personality-wise, Namor oozes cunning, confidence, and privilege. In the comics, he’s styled something like a European monarch (except buff and only wearing a speedo). In case there was any question about the inspiration here, his name is just “Roman” spelled backwards, and the closest thing he has to a catchphrase is his Latin battlecry “Imperius rex!” meaning “emperor king.” Namor’s ego defines him. Whatever team he’s with, he’s sure he could run it. Whatever woman he’s talking to, he’s certain he can woo her. If he considers someone an equal, he always does so begrudgingly. In short, Namor’s kind of a dick, but he’s a really charismatic and entertaining dick who livens up every scene he’s in.

Given how the first Black Panther movie was all about T’Challa reaching out beyond Wakanda’s borders and sharing their technology with the world, the more hawkish Namor makes for a great foil in a sequel. Though T’Challa is clearly deceased in Wakanda Forever, Namor can challenge his philosophy and make T’Challa’s heirs second guess his approach. Namor also poses a military threat to Wakanda since the Atlanteans are possibly the second most advanced nation in the MCU, and with his notorious womanizing and monarchial attitude, it stands Namor might even approach the Wakandans about an alliance through marriage (perhaps to the brilliant Princess Shuri?). There’s a lot Namor can bring to the MCU and to Black Panther specifically, but now it’s time for the elephant in the room, the purpose of this whole post:

Does Namor Need to Be White?
I’ll admit that I don’t know much about actor Tenoch Huerta and the energy he’ll bring to Namor, but from the concept sketches and early trailer footage, the character looks awesome. I love the way the designers have retooled some of Namor’s sillier elements (the ankle wings, the speedo, etc.) to fit logically into a Mesoamerican-inspired take on Atlantis. Additionally, I like the idea of modeling the “lost civilization” of Atlantis after real-life civilizations wiped out by unchecked European colonialism (also a prominent theme in the first Black Panther movie). There’s potential here for a Mesoamerican Namor to appeal to the Wakandans’ sense of loss and anger at the outside world. This Namor can say “surface dweller” in the same mocking way the Wakandans of the first film said “colonizer.” But are there any drawbacks to this redesign?

Namor’s attitude in the comics goes beyond white privilege; the dude is a European monarch styled after Roman emperors. He constantly believes himself to be right even when inhabiting moral gray areas, and he’s at his best when fighting other good guys (and maybe being knocked down a peg). Comic Namor is fairly quick to marshal his armies against the surface. He’s imperialistic. (Again, “imperius rex!”) And there’s a part of me that thinks comic Namor would be just another colonizer from the Wakandans’ perspective.

Changing Namor’s race alters his dynamic with the Wakandans. It sets up a more complicated relationship by separating Namor and his people from the whiteness that surrounds him in the comics; his race in Wakanda Forever gives him more in common with the Wakandans and their relationship to the rest of the colonizer-dominated world. If done right, this change has the potential to add so so much to the character of Namor.

So yeah, after thinking on it a while, I’m fully on board with the Namor redesign. While his race in the comics is certainly a factor (what with the privilege and imperialism and all), the benefits of the Mesoamerican redesign far outweigh the potential loss. Wakanda Forever looks like a story about grief and questioning legacy, and this Namor seems better equipped for this conflict than his comic counterpart.