What I find most alarming in these discussions about why actors of color can't play "X" comic book character

is because some fans try to break it down to personality or social traits

“Johnny Storm is a cocky playboy?” Okay. I know a lot of black dudes who fit that.

“Peter Parker is a nerd that loves science!” so there are no poor black science nerds in queen?

“sue storm has to be white because…” because you can’t possibly imagine reed richards falling in love with a non-white woman?

because that’s what you’re saying

what you’re saying is that non-white people can’t be cocky, nerdy, attractive or happy

what you’re saying is that we don’t get to exist with the same fullness of being that white people do

fucking think about that racist ass bullshit you’re spouting and then walk into traffic

“It wasn’t perfect in the 60s when Ricardo Montalban was cast to play Khan (a character explicitly described in the episode script of Space Seed as being Sikh, from the Northern regions of India). But considering all of the barriers to representation that Roddenberry faced from the television networks, having a brown-skinned man play a brown character was a hard-won victory. It’s disappointing and demoralizing that with the commercial power of Star Trek in his hands, JJ Abrams chose not to honour the original spirit of the show, or the symbolic heft of the Khan character, but to wield the whitewash brush for … what? [...] It’s doubly disappointing when you consider that Abrams was a creator of the television show Lost, which had so many well-rounded and beloved characters of colour in it. Add to this the secrecy prior to release around Cumberbatch’s role in the film, and what seems like a casting move that would typically be defended by cries of “best actor for the job, not racism” becomes something more cunning, more malicious. Yes, the obfuscation creates intrigue around and interest in the role, but it also prevents advocacy groups like Racebending.com from building campaigns to protest the whitewashing. This happened with the character of the Mandarin in Iron Man 3, as well as ‘Miranda Tate’ in The Dark Knight Rises, who ended up being Talia al Ghul but played by French actress Marion Cotillard. This practice is well in effect in Hollywood; and after the negative press that was generated by angry anti-oppression activists and fans when Paramount had The Last Airbender in the works, studios are wising up. They don’t want their racist practices to be called out, pointed at, and exposed before their movies are released — Airbender proved that these protests create enough bad feeling to affect their bottom line.”

—Marissa Sammy on Star Trek: Into Whiteness.

—Angela Davis