10 Actors Who Have Taken Shots At The MCU
7. George Takei Takes On Marvel's Whitewashing Practice
“So let me get this straight. You cast a white actress so you wouldn’t hurt sales…in Asia? This backpedaling is nearly as cringeworthy as the casting. Marvel must think we’re all idiots.”
Why He Said It
Marvel is all about casting diversity. Now. There was a time when Marvel was afraid to add in Asian characters for fear of alienating audiences, and that time was as recent as 2016, when Tilda Swinton was cast in the role of The Ancient One in Dr. Strange, a character that in the comics was a Chinese Tibetan monk but who was played by a white Celtic woman in the movie because Celtic... Chinese... meh, they're both diverse choices, which apparently means they can be swapped out for each other when making a movie for a western audience.
George Takei was quick to denounce Sinwton's casting. When co-writer for the movie, C. Robert Cargill defended the studio's decision by calling the original comic book character a racist stereotype who would offend Chinese sensibilities, Takei was quick to call him out for his empty posturing. The actual issue seemed to be that in the comics, The Ancient One hails from Tibet, a region that the government of China refuses to acknowledge. Marvel did not want to associate their movie with Tibet in any way, which was why in the movie, The Ancient One is shown to be living in Nepal instead.