Diversity for Dollars

NPR had an article about Hollywood Heroes Losing the Fight for Diversity with author John Ridley. Ridley complained that the various movie adaptations of white comic book characters should replace those characters with Black & Hispanic actors to kinda mix it up & get a more diverse audience.
Ridley suggests:

"But for a real leap, how about casting Will Smith as Superman; Denzel Washington as Superman's father, Jor-El; and Michelle Rodriguez as Lois Lane? I guarantee you non-stop chatter until the film opens."

A kind of stereotype there I think. Black males & Hispanic females...
Ya want real flips John? How about Gina Torres as General Georgette Patton portrayed as a vampire prostitute that preys on children? How about a hard drinking, hard fighting, hard loving, gun totin' Mother Theresa played by Tom Selleck? How about Brad Pitt as Dutty Boukman?
Or howabout you do what Robert Rodriguez did & create your own damn hero as in Machete? Or Disney with The Incredibles?
If your aim is parody, fine. Weapon Brown and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies were both great as parodies. If you want to do an adaptation, do it straight. I think maybe Ridley has been in Hollywood too long.
As Bruce Campbell pointed out:

"If you go to Hollywood, you've already sold out. By the sheer act of going there, you're saying, 'I need to go there because this is the only way I can get my movie made.' Baloney! Indiana's the place to make your movie. Pontiac, Michigan. Whatever. Then you're just making it on the merits of the movie."

.
Disney knows that it's characters are it's main asset. Ya don't fuck with 'em. Valerie D'Orazio brought this up on her now locked down blog, The Occasional Super Heroine. If Marvel or DC want to piss away their characters (and Marvel definitely seems to) that's their choice. The comic book reader is pretty conservative, tho, and while the illiterate popular movie audience may go for it today, it's not a good long term strategy. If you just want some money for your next fix, whoring could be the way to go. I suggest getting creative, however.