Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2013 June 27

= June 27 =

Comic book superheroes with weird skin colours who aren't white
The wacky superpowers that people get in comic books sometimes include a change of skin colour. Mystique is blue, as is Nightcrawler. She-Hulk, Beast Boy and Anole are green. The Purple Man is purple, and Cheetah is yellow with black spots. Does anyone know of any such characters who aren't white (as in "of European extraction")? Alien species can maybe count if that species' ordinary form looks exactly like humans (like the Kree), or if they spend a lot of time in a human form (such as the shape-shifting Skrull Xavin, whose human morph looks like a black human). --superioridad (discusión) 04:50, 27 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Are you limiting it to just Marvel fare? ☯ Bonkers The Clown  \(^_^)/  Nonsensical Babble  ☯ 05:04, 27 June 2013 (UTC)
 * No. Anyone from a publisher prominent enough to have a Wikipedia article. I mention Beast Boy and Cheetah in my question above, both of whom are DC characters. --superioridad (discusión) 05:45, 27 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Okay, I only read Marvel, so that's why I asked. I have noticed that the ratio of black superheroes to white ones is like 1:1000. When I think of "colour changing heroes", I think The Incredible Hulk, The Thing, and Nightcrawler, to name a few. Unfortunately, all of these are white. I guess black heroes do have lesser powers and ultimately get stuck with their black colour. ☯ Bonkers The Clown  \(^_^)/  Nonsensical Babble  ☯ 07:49, 27 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Well, there's Tombstone, but his colouring had nothing to do with him gaining powers; he was an African-American albino. Given how few non-whites there are in comics, I'm not surprised there aren't many to change their colour. Consideration of the potential blow-back of black characters changing their colour may also have played a part. Oh, here's one: Sunspot of the New Mutants. He looks kind of white bread in the profile pic we have, but that is not how he has looked in most of his appearances. Matt Deres (talk) 13:28, 27 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Ah, there's also Radioactive Man (the Marvel super-villain, not the Simpsons character). Matt Deres (talk) 13:32, 27 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Venus Dee Milo, Firestorm, Crispus Allen turned white when he was the Spectre, and Spawn. Black superheroes don't get "lesser" super powers (see Blue Marvel, Icon, Static, Jackson King and Storm), you just have a smaller sample size since there are fewer black superheroes. uhhlive (talk) 13:55, 27 June 2013 (UTC)

Japanese Oricon charts before 1995
Is there any online archive for Oricon charts of the 1980s and early 1990s? The current website does not have information on songs/albums of that period. 五代 (talk) 07:28, 27 June 2013 (UTC)

Nick Fury the second Michael Jackson?
Nick Fury is supposed to be... White, right? Then why is it that in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a black guy plays Fury? Is there any reason behind this? ☯ Bonkers The Clown  \(^_^)/  Nonsensical Babble  ☯ 07:51, 27 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Where do you get the idea that he is "supposed" to be white? The guy in the picture at Nick Fury, Jr. certainly looks black to me. --Viennese Waltz 08:09, 27 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Or maybe you're talking about Ultimate Nick Fury, it's hard to tell. If so, the article says "Originally an Italian American colonel with graying brown hair, Nick Fury was redesigned to look like actor Samuel L. Jackson with his permission, who went on to portray Fury in several Marvel movies." --Viennese Waltz 08:11, 27 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Nick Fury was white. They cast Samuel L. Jackson as the character, and releasted a new comic version of Nick Fury. Given how comic books can't even keep their characters as dead or alive - it's hardly a big deal that they redesigned the character to use the likeness of a hollywood great like Samuel L. Jackson. However, there will always be some who complain Worm TT( talk ) 14:20, 27 June 2013 (UTC)
 * That's backwards. Ultimate Nick Fury looked like Samuel L Jackson before Jackson was ever cast in a movie. In the first volume of The Ultimates they wanted to change up the Fury character and asked Jackson for his permission. He's a comics fan and agreed. When they started casting for the Iron Man movie, Jackson was of course a shoo-in for the part since it had been "him" for some time. Matt Deres (talk) 16:49, 27 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Weird racist nonsense and unsourced claims? What a great thread! μηδείς (talk) 22:03, 27 June 2013 (UTC)
 * The short answer is "Yes," as long as we're talking about the 616 version of the character. Fury first appeared in 1963, and in 1998 was still white enough to be played by David Hasselhoff in a TV film. The black version of the character first appeared under the "Ultimate" imprint in the early 2000s, in a separate continuity from the other character, based on Jackson's likeness, as has been mentioned above. So, over the majority of Marvel's history, "Nick Fury" has rather unambiguously referred to a white character, but of course it's their choice to decide what race their character "should" be. Nick Fury, Jr. just complicates things even further. Evanh2008 (talk&#124;contribs) 22:17, 27 June 2013 (UTC)

Law & Order quote
I recall watching one episode of Law & Order and hearing Jack McCoy or one of the other characters say something about killing one person to save a thousand. Which episode is this from? --Melab±1 &#9742; 20:52, 27 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Wow, that's obscure. And I doubt very much that idea originated with L&O. But have you tried a L&O forum page? At a place like that you are more likely to find persons who are deeply engaged in the series and who might know the answer. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:18, 28 June 2013 (UTC)
 * When you find out, you may want to contact the people over at TV Tropes so that they can update their page on The Needs of the Many. Dismas |(talk) 02:32, 29 June 2013 (UTC)