But is Sandra Oh tall enough to play She-Hulk?

I want to do a superhero movie and what would be better than Wonder Woman? And it would be a very bold choice. A black Wonder Woman would be a powerful thing. It's time for that, right?

Beyoncé Knowles, in a Los Angeles Times interview

In the course of recent travels on the internet, I stumbled across an article announcing that Beyoncé Knowles had expressed her interest in playing the part of Wonder Woman in a movie. As I mentioned in a previous post, the election of Barack Obama provides a strong impetus for evaluating the role that race plays, and casting comic book characters provides an interesting proving ground.

That's because comic book fans, serious fans, can be a little bit insane about things. Adapting a comic book to another medium, such as movies or television, is like entering a dragon's den: the possible rewards for success are great (Spiderman, X-Men), but the punishment for failure is severe (Daredevil, Elektra). Comic book fans make Talmudic scholars look like dilettantes in the great search for truth and understanding through continuous examination of the sacred texts, and as such can make or break the movie adaptation of a comic book in the first moment of evaluation. Lord help the script writer who gets some minor detail wrong, like Peter Parker's middle name* - at that point, for the hard core it's all over, regardless of the quality of the rest of the material. And, with that sort of outlook on minutiae, the impact of the casting choice for a character can easily be imagined.

With that in mind, what does comic book canon require - or allow - for Wonder Woman's racial makeup?

Although in broad historical terms the Amazons are generally associated with Greece, Herodotus places the home of the Amazons on the border of Scythia, near the Caucasus Mountains. The comic book origins of Wonder Woman are somewhat different, and have changed a bit over time. Originally Wonder Woman lived on Paradise Island, presumably somewhere in the Mediterranean region, but an 80's reboot established the name as Themyscira, and subsequent events destroyed the original, then created a new Themyscira in the Bermuda Triangle. (Coincidentally, the latitude and longitude specified in the TV version of Wonder Woman placed Paradise Island near that area as well.) Does relocating Wonder Woman's home to the Caribbean allow comic book fans to accept a Wonder Woman of colour, or would they demand adherence to the character's Hellenic roots?

Regardless, there should be other factors in play here. Asian-American actor Tzi Ma has commented on racially generic casting by pointing out that a character does not have to be racially tagged as Asian in order to be played by an Asian actor. "The only thing we can do," says Ma "is to try and make them realize: 'This role does not have to be written Asian. The mere fact that you put me in that role makes the character Asian.' " Is there anything in the character of Wonder Woman that precludes a black actor playing the role - and thereby making it a black character, as per Tzi Ma? I would think not. In fact, I would think that it would add some resonance to the backstory of slavery symbolized by the bracelets worn by all Amazons.

So, Beyoncé as Wonder Woman. Ignoring the extensive preface above, my initial reaction is: why not? In addition to a long lineup of black heroes such as the Black Panther, Luke Cage, Steel, Storm and so forth, it wouldn't be the first time a long-standing comic book character has been racially re-imagined. There's been a black Green Lantern** since the 70's, and Nick Fury, who heads up SHIELD, became a black man at some point when I wasn't paying attention.

However, I think that there's a very basic element of this question that needs to be stated. I think it would be reprehensible if Beyoncé didn't get the role of Wonder Woman because she was black. It's equally wrong for her to get the role because she's black, though. In the ideal situation, everyone should be judged on their merits and abilities, not their colour. Personally, I'd rather see Angela Bassett get it, I think that she would bring a degree of depth to the character that Beyoncé might not.

And then, obviously, there's only one place for the idea to take us next.

- Sid

* Benjamin, from his Uncle Ben - what, did everyone not know that?

** It's an odd combination, that - the phrase "black Green" seems to be somehow contradictory, doesn't it.