Clark Kent and Lois Lane's boss, Daily Planet editor Perry White, has been appearing on screen since the serials of the 40s and 50s. Always characterised as hard-edged, often frustrated but ultimately fair-minded, White has also always been, well, white. That is until the recent reboot with Man of Steel in which Laurence Fishburne appeared as the Planet editor. Giving non-white actors the roles of authority figures like this sets a positive example that this kind of character doesn't have to be a stuffy old white dude. Charlie Brooker lookalike Fishburne has made a career of bosses and mentor characters and brings that same solidly reliable gravitas to another similar role here (without ever uttering the character's catchphrase "great Caesar's ghost!"). While there were some inevitable objections from fans who wanted an entirely white, anglo-saxon cast for their movie adaptation of a couple of Jewish kids' comic about an alien illegal immigrant, Fishburne seems pretty established in the role of White. Set to appear in the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and contracted for many more movies in the DC Cinematic Universe, Fishburne could yet become the definitive on screen Daily Planet boss.
