6 Logical Reasons There Are Black People in THOR THE DARK WORLD [Movies]

Thor (2011) – Heimdall (Idris Elba)

Why is a black man playing a Viking? Aren’t all Vikings
blonde-haired and blue-eyed? Here are six good reasons that it makes
total sense to have a black man in Thor: The Dark World.

(This post is part of the Thor Love blogfest)

Race isn’t a major issue in the Marvel films, although two characters
stand out. Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Idris Elba as Heimdall.

When the Thor movie came out, there was
an uproar and backlash from people claiming it was wrong to change the
Thor character Heimdall from white to black. Mainly this was on racist
and white supremacist websites, but some in the media picked it up as a
real thing. In the end, the backlash was unfounded because as Harry
from Ain’t It Cool News said, “To those people who asked, ‘Why cast a
black man as a Viking’, every scene Elba is in is [a] resounding THAT
IS WHY!”
He’s incredible.

So, to end the controversy once and for all, here are reasons why it
makes sense for there to be a black man in Thor: The Dark World.

1. Vikings Visited Africa

The Viking ships are renowned
for their long voyages. These ships
allowed the Vikings to travel as far east as Constantinople and the
Volga River in Russia, as far west as Iceland, Greenland, and
Newfoundland, and as far south as Morocco.
Maps of the Viking travels
show them stopping in North Africa. The black African tribes were
mainly in subsaharan Africa, but trade routes were common. While the
Vikings were mainly traders, they would sometimes take people as soldiers, slaves
or wives. Some Vikings had “jungle-fever.”

2. Some Vikings Are Described as Black

There’s a rather controversial article at Rasta
Livewire
that suggests that all Vikings
were black. This is based on historical descriptions of the people. I’m
not going that far, but at least some of them must have been black.

“The Irish annalists were a lesson to
all with their division of Norse invaders into White Foreigners,
Norwegians(Finn-gaill), and Black Foreigners, Danes(Dubh-gaill), but it
was a lesson no one heeded; nor do we know why they distinguished them
by colour.” See A HISTORY OF THE VIKINGS by Gwyn Jones (1968)

“The Welsh chroniclers, for example, made no such clear distinction.
The Danes coming in by way of England and the Norwegians by way of
Ireland were pretty well all black: Black Gentiles(y Kenedloed Duon),
Black Norsemen(y Normanyeit Duon), Black Host, Pagans, Devils and the
like.”(CONT.) See A HISTORY OF THE VIKINGS by Gwyn Jones(1968)

“There was a man hight Thorvard; he married Freydis, a natural daughter
of Erik the Red; he went [219] also with them, and Thorvald the son of
Erik (100), and THORHALL who was called the hunter; he had long been
with Erik, and served him as huntsman in summer and steward in winter;
he was a large man, and strong, BLACK AND LIKE A GIANT, silent and
foul-mouthed in his speech, and always egged on Erik to the worst” See
SAGA OF THORFINN KARLSEFNI.

“According to Egils Saga, of the 2 famous sons of Kveldulf, Thorolf was
tall and handsome like his mothers people, but Grim took after his
father was black and ugly. Grim’s sons Thorolf and Egill, born out in
Iceland, repeated the pattern- Thorolf was the image of his uncle,
tall, handsome and sunny-natured, and many Egill was black, even uglier
than his father, totuous and incalculable,…..etc. craggy head, broad
nose, heavy jaw and swart visage.” See A HISTORY OF THE VIKINGS, GWYN
JONES pg 86

3. Black Asgardians Could Be Moors

The Moors were the medieval Muslim inhabitants of Morocco. In the movie The Long Ships (1964)
Sidney Poitier played a Moor, named Aly Mansuh, who worked with a Norse
king to find a treasure.  We know that the Vikings encountered the Moors, who were black. See there could be a Moor among the Vikings.

4. Lots of Actors of Color Have Played Scandinavians

Changing the ethnicity of a character happens in Shakespeare all
the time. In 2001, Adrian Lester played Hamlet in Paris. David Oyelowo
was the first black performer
in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s history to be cast as Henry VI.
“This is not a defining moment for black actors,” Hugh Quarshie, who
was the first black Hotspur on a British stage, said. “It is a lot
easier to have non-traditional casting with Shakespeare. In fact, this
seems only possible in the classics at all these days. The real
problems for black actors come with modern plays and the cinema.”
There’s no definitive evidence that William Shakespeare intended
Othello to be black, but most productions cast a black man in the role.
Director Kenneth Branagh often compared his Thor movie to Shakespeare, so why not follow the same casting rules?

5. The Asgardians Are Not Scandinavian

The Asgardians are not from Scandinavia. They’re from another dimension. When they showed up the people revered them as “gods.” That
means they aren’t required to be any specific race and don’t have to
look anything like the blonde-haired, blue eyed people in the history
books.

6. It’s a Movie

The most obvious reason is that it’s a movie. They can have Vikings
played by Latinos if they want to. The casting call for Thor: The Dark World said “any
ethnicity” so there’s not reason not to hire black people as
Asgardians. Thor 2 wasn’t the
only movie to do this. In the movie The Norsemen (1978) the late Deacon Jones played an African slave named Thrall.

MARVEL’S THOR: THE DARK WORLD releases in theaters on November 8, 2013! 

Marvel’s “Thor: The Dark World” continues the big-screen adventures of Thor,
the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms
from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself.  In the
aftermath of Marvel’s “Thor” and “Marvel’s The Avengers,” Thor
fights to restore order across the cosmos…but an ancient race led by
the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness.
To defeat an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor
sets upon his most dangerous and personal journey yet, forced into an
alliance with the treacherous Loki to save not only his people and those
he loves…but our universe itself.

Starring
Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård,
Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat
Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano and Jaimie
Alexander with Rene Russo and Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Marvel’s “Thor:
The Dark World” is directed by Alan Taylor, produced by Kevin Feige,
p.g.a., from a story by Don Payne and Robert Rodat and screenplay by
Christopher L. Yost and Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, and is
based on Marvel’s classic Super Hero Thor, who first appeared in the comic book “Journey into Mystery “ #83 in August, 1962.

“Thor:
The Dark World” is presented by Marvel Studios. The executive producers
are Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Craig Kyle, Alan Fine, Nigel
Gostelow and Stan Lee. The film releases November 8, 2013, and is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

What do you think? Does it make sense to have minorites in the world of Thor: The Dark World?

This post is part of the Thor Love blogfest hosted by ST Bende and Amalia Dillin. Sign up today!

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