OK, if these rumors are indeed true, then Marvel is out to pull off one of the most disrespectful shit that I’ve seen in recent memories. I’ve heard talks of Magneto and Professor X being POC in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t! It sounded too asinine to be true.
According to Full Circle Cinema, allegedly, Kevin Feige is considering having people of color portray both Magneto and Professor X in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Their goal apparently is to promote diversity and inclusion in the MCU! This is by far the worst way to promote diversity that I have ever come across. So many POC’s in the history of Marvel Comics available to them, and the best they can do is reskin characters. If the argument can be made that T’challa can not be replaced to a white guy due to his origins, then the same thing can be said for Magneto and to an extent, Prof. X for that matter.
If this ends up being true, I’m not going to support this insult to not only the legacy of these characters, but to me as well, as this basically screams “we can’t be bother to reintroduce actual POC or come up with new ones, so we’re going to reskin“. What’s pissing me off even more is that people are well aware of Magneto’s origins, but are choosing to ignore it, making idiotic reasoning to try and justify it. Magneto’s origins CAN NOT BE CHANGED! This is NOT how you accomplish TRUE diversity. I will not support this kind decision making if it ends up being true. So to answer the question, YES, Magneto HAS to be a white, jewish characters as his ORIGINS matter for his existence.
If you somehow disagree with me, I’d like to hear how you’d change the origins of a jewish character of polish origins that survived the Auschwitz concentration camp.