7 Times Hollywood Whitewashed (And Straightwashed) Comic Book Characters

by Ewan Paterson

1. John Constantine: Straightwashed

NBC

As opposed to Deadpool, whose creators willingly approached the idea of having a same-sex relationship depicted on the big screen in the future, bisexual Liverpudlian John Constantine has received no such luxury on either film or TV.

Created by Alan Moore as a guest character in a 1984 issue of Swamp Thing, England's premier occult detective has received not one, but two live action adaptations over the years. The 2005 Keanu Reeves feature was, while passable, just not a Constantine story in any sense of the word; never mind the fact they americanised the anti-hero and his pronunciation (it's Constan-tyne, guys), they totally erased any semblance of the character's canonical bisexuality too.

And then came NBC's much maligned though wholly enjoyable TV show, which starred Matt Ryan as the eponymous character. Produced by David S. Goyer, calls for the series to acknowledge some of the character's most iconic traits - including his chainsmoking and, y'know, the whole bi-thing - fell on deaf ears. Worse yet, Goyer (who's no stranger to unfaithful comic book adaptations, let's face it) straight up condescended fans who'd rallied behind the #BiBlazer hashtag, as did Daniel Cerone, who said that they'd maybe - potentially - get round to depicting the character properly "20 years from now". Nice.

Constantine is still waiting on Hollywood to acknowledge his sexuality, twelve years after they got it wrong the first time. Time will only tell if the long-gestating Dark Universe will go there (and there's really no excuse that it shouldn't), but still, the character's treatment exemplifies a worrying Hollywood trend that has not only afflicted comic book characters throughout the years, but wider literary figures too.

So yeah, stop with all this washing stuff, Marvel, DC, Dark Horse - whatever; follow in Ed Skrein's footsteps, and make sure that the marginalised characters of the genre get the respect - and indeed, the representation - that they so sorely deserve.

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Are there any other characters out there that we missed? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.