Actor Michael B. Jordan fires back at criticism over a Black man playing a ‘Fantastic Four’ hero

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Michael B. Jordan is firing back at critics after landing his recent role as Johnny Storm – a.k.a. The Human Torch – in the newest chapter of the “Fantastic Four” film series.

He has a message for those who believe a black person shouldn’t play the hero : get over it.

The New Jersey born and raised actor, who wrote in a op-ed piece posted on Entertainment Weekly, said he recognized that the Storm character was initially portrayed as being blonde and white, but said his casting was a reflection of the differences in today’s society.

“I can see everybody’s perspective, and I know I can’t ask the audience to forget 50 years of comic books. But the world is a little more diverse in 2015 than when the Fantastic Four comic first came out in 1961. Plus, if Stan Lee writes an email to my director saying, ‘You’re good. I’m okay with this,’ who am I to go against that?,” he wrote.

“Some people may look at my casting as political correctness or an attempt to meet a racial quota, or as part of the year of “Black Film.”

Or they could look at it as a creative choice by the director, Josh Trank, who is in an interracial relationship himself – a reflection of what a modern family looks like today.”

Jordan went on to say that he understood that his race would be a topic of conversation in debates about the casting of the role, but hoped that the conversation might make it easier for other minority actors in the future.

For those bringing up the subject in hopes of getting a reaction, he had a different message.

“To the trolls on the Internet, I want to say: Get your head out of the computer,” he said.

Photo: Michael B. Jordan (Photo by Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)