Alexandra Shipp is sailing into yet another storm of controversy for a casting decision made in her favor.
First, as fans know, the young actress rose to public awareness on the hype (and subsequent jeering) of the now infamous Lifetime ‘Aaliyah: Princess of R&B’ film, produced by talk show queen Wendy Williams. And, while her performance in the role was generally unaccepted by fans of the late diva, the publicity of said venture appears to have done little damage to her rising brand.
For, as if filling those one in a million shoes weren’t enough, this week brought with it reports that Shipp will find herself trying on the ever-fierce boots of fictional Marvel ‘X-Men’ character Storm. But, like news of her portrayal of the ‘Hot Like Fire’ singer, the news has sparked a firestorm of debates on social media.
Weigh in below:
Weeks ago, word hit the net that Shipp and her ‘Aaliyah: Princess of R&B’ predecessor Zendaya Coleman both tested to portray the ‘X-men’ diva in the next installment of the franchise. Well…we see who won the role.
After initial reports of the “young Storm’s” casting was met with disbelief, director Bryan Singer took to Twitter to confirm:
Fans were displeased with the news.
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Fans of the film have long cried “foul” over the portrayal of the “Mistress of the Elements” as the film franchise opted to cast Academy Award-winning actress Halle Berry to originally fill her boots (much to critic and fan chagrin).
Your thoughts?
Im so not here for that smdh. I like her. But idk about storm. Storm was darkskinned why couldn’t they get somebody else. Hollywood ain’t s***. Im brownskin. So no hate towards her complexion. I just think they weren’t true to storm character at all. But wateva its hollywood. I’ll be watching online when it leaks in the crib.
TIKA SUMPTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Perfect person
I oppose it. Isn’t storm supposed to dark skinned, so they couldn’t get a dark skinned girl for the role? Here’s a suggestion, what about Lupita Nyong’o, she would be perfect.
I agree
Congratulations non the less, I do love seeing my people do their thing.
Considering.
she is supposed be a younger version of halle berry as storm dummy thats why they picked a last skin
Really, “Name calling”, was that even necessary? Go have a seat, you’re embarrassing yourself.
Eh, BErry didn’t bring much to the character anyway.
true. love Halle but she wasn’t that great… although she was one of the best actresses in the X trilogy. which is why I don’t get why people are making a fuss I mean… it’s gonna be poorly acted anyway because X-Men movies are typical action film a lot of sfx and zero quality on dialogues and plot.
Yea, they had more screw ups than any other comic movie. But the last one and first class was great.
Berry wasn’t the problem they just messed up storm in general they made her a weak character and didn’t utilize all of her powers
Exactly
I’ve been saying that for years
That what I meant. They didn’t give the character much development. So why are people giving this girl crap?
we are giving her crap because her level of talent will never match up to the iconic image of STORM, she is a lightweight, and her casting just goes to show that our hopes of storm actually getting some sort of storyline -other than being in the backround doing special effects – are not going to be realised
You are so right…I say that about all of them they never use the heroes full potential of power i dont know why Thats why Im over the X Men franchise.
Wow girl, smh. She may be getting her coins but she’ll be hated for a while. Smh.
I don’t think the aaliyah movie is entirely her fault I blame the people behind the film
Ugh, I would’ve loved to see Tika sumpter do it.
mo shade but I don’t think tika or lupita could pull tennager off the new cast is supposed to play 15-18 characters
they wouldnt get a real actress cause that will require them to actually give Storm something to do… Storm and cyclops are the most sidelined characters in this franchise.
Exactly!!! They are 1st and 2nd lead of the the damn teams and they get nothing. But Wolverine gets all the screen time!?!
I’ve said it once and I will say it again…nobody but Angela Bassett will ever do the character of storm justice!!!
Angela is too old, they will never cast the team to her age.
They just need a black girl with actual acting talent, someone who can do justices to a goddess among basic humans.
lol so wait….Angela is too old to play a character that’s 1000s of years old? Girl bye. Movie magic is enough to make her look young.
How is one too old to play a gray haired superhero?
angela is too old because no ones to see a 50 year old flying around. The target market want to see 18 – 30 year olds. Tell me when last you saw a superhero movie where the hero was over 50? Even in the comics they never look so old
This is a result of nepotism. This girl can’t act to save her ass. Regardless if Aaliyah was a poorly directed movie or not, she still should’ve got down as an “actress.” She’s too bland for me. Kudos, but they could’ve easily casted someone else with more talent for this role.
zendaya 》》》》》》》》》 this thot
What the actual…..
..xmen has always been my favourite marvel series as a comic book reader, video game player and cartoon series watcher. But this has been the most BatShit movie franchise ever. They down play ALL female characters to make wolverine look cool.
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I’m. More bothered by the “who” playing jean grey than shipp. Jean grey/Phoenix was queen of the cosmos and they made her damn weak.
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My favourite part of the last X movie was when the sentinels killed storm
atleast they picked a chick that looks tough and can actually act. The only hope storm has is if that shipp chick blows up and they have no option but to give her a part to pull in her fanbase
That’s black people for you, never happy!
this has nothing to do with being black but being storm fans and wanting our character correctly represented.
Yes, definitely.
That’s white people for you, always with some self serving comment. When black people were casted to play white characters in Daredevil, Thor, Fantastic Four, Hunger Games, white people are up in arms, but when we try to preserve one of our few black noted comic book icons, you want to call us out! I STAN(D) FOR TALEN, go find your life!
I thought Lupita was supposed to be storm. I feel like everyones boxed and packaged her up with labels, before she even got a chance to play different roles.
lupita is an amazing actress but because she is dark skinned, she now has to shoulder everyone’s hope of seeing black/african characters (especially those as iconic as storm) being played by someone who looks black. Good news is lupita wont be too old by the time they decide to use an older cast
100% she will go far because she has undisputed talent. It’s funny because even though I’ve seen her explode onto the scene, I still remember her from ‘Shuga’ when my aunts would tune into the nollywood/african channels, and It’s a big transition to suddenly be thrown into the international spotlight. more than anything, I just want actresses of colour to get the opportunities to play dynamic commercial roles in hollywood. I’m not even necessarily referencing X-Men because we all know Storm is supposed to be black, but I want Lupita to play a character that happens to be black – if you get where I’m coming from.
Storm is a fictional character. SMH! Hollywood can cast whomever they want. It’s not like she is portraying Harriet Tubman or even Marilyn Monroe.
Man…. I’m not even here for the films anymore! Bring back the Xmen cartoons! They slay the films any day, and they don’t limit storms powers in the animated versions.
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The films are great, but they always somehow find a way to disappoint true Xmen fans. This casting is poor. And I agree that the character storm should come with an African decent and an authentic accent to match.
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Halle did what she could and she paved the way and made her coin. There was so much more they could have done with her acting as the storm character. But they missed it. I love my queen Halle Berry, but they made her scenes so mediocre.
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Storm is still the ONLY reason I enjoy Xmen, it’s such a childhood root that can never be taken away. But I have no more hope left for the films, I understand they want a younger cast and audience, but Chawld not if it takes away from the true story and aura behind each character to please Hollywood.
I’m done!
I don’t mind giving this girl a second chance though, I will go in with low expectations .
I have a question
Can anyone name a superhero that is of African descent that’s lightskinned?
No?
Because there aren’t any. Why? Because black people’s are always depicted with the same shade of brown when featured in ensembles with non blacks. The few instances of color diversity we see in animation or comics only comes about when their under a black creative team which is rarely the case outside of The Proud Family and Aaron McGruder productions.
So when people say, “ain’t she supposed to be dark skinned”, their right, but its because white artist have always failed to demonstrate black people as anything but the same shade of “this is obviously a negroe character” brown.
And before anyone rebuttals with, “but she African”…no…her mother is, her father is African American. Recessive genes have been dumping lightskins in families of browns for generations now so its not outside of reality that Ororo Munroe, whose father helms from NY, could be fairer in tone. Not to mention, her ancestral white mane and blue eyes are indicative of a melanin reduction within the genetics of the ancestors of Ashake.
Please stop being angry people, leave room to be pleasantly surprised by a newcomer. Jennifer Lawrence, Shailene Woodley, and Kristen Stewart all were given a chance…let Ms. Shipp have hers.
your argument would work against the average person who gets their history of the X-Men from the movies, but who the hell are you trying to sell that lame s*** to. The comic books have actually shown both of Ororo Monroe’s parents and they are both dark skinned individuals. In regards to the colour of her eyes and hair, it is a by-product much like the mutant gene, related to the bloodline of the women in her family, who have acquired deep rooted skill sets in magic.
There is no reference to recessive genes or mix in gene pools, this sounds like a lame attempt to attribute her popularity and influence to an injection of caucosoid dna.
I guess it always comes back to this. For almost a century we have bared witness to how Hollywood manipulates history for their own self interests, so don’t tell people to “stop being angry”, you only reinforce your ignorance.
The could have picked KeKe Palmer if the looking for a young actress.