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The casting breakdown for Marvel’s “Runaways” movie was released today. You can view the official casting website here and articles about the casting here and here.

The Runaways crew is pretty diverse as comic book teams go, at various points in the story there’s African American and Japanese American team leaders, a girl who has a BMI above 20, a Latino Catholic, and lesbian and genderqueer characters.

Fans of the comics will be familiar with the characters to be used in the adaptation…

Boy 1: Very smart, natural leader, in need of a father figure
Male, African American, must play 16-18
Must be at least 16 by January 2011
(Name not listed, assumed to be casting call for Alex Wilder)

Boy 2: A rebel, ignores rules and authority, wounded inside
Male, must play 16-18
Must be at least 16 by January 2011
(Name not listed, assumed to be casting call for Chase Stein)

Girl 1: Uniquely beautiful, nurturing but guarded
Female, must play 16-18
Must be at least 16 by January 2011
(Name not listed, assumed to be casting call for Nico Minoru)

Girl 2: Chubby oddball, smart and verbal
Female, must play 16-18
Must be at least 16 by January 2011
(Name not listed, assumed to be casting call for Gertrude Yorkes)

Girl 3: Conventionally beautiful, with an unchecked ego
Female, must play 15-18
Must be at least 16 by January 2011
(Name not listed, assumed to be casting call for Karolina Dean)

Girl 4: An innocent, wide-eyed and overprotected
Female, must play 8-10
Must be at least 9 by January 2011
(Name not listed, assumed to be casting call for Molly Hayes)
[source]

So these casting calls follow a lot of Hollywood conventions when it comes to breakdowns, such as emphasizing appearance for female characters rather than personality traits like for male characters, and also the idea that characters who are white don’t need ethnicity mentioned in the breakdown because it’s taken for granted that white actors will submit (but a character who is black, like Alex, does require specification.)

What’s particularly of concern is that the breakdown for Nico–who is explicitly featured in the comics as a several-generations Japanese American–does not mention that the character is Asian, or that Asian American actresses should submit. Nico is simply described as “uniquely beautiful” as opposed to the blonde Karolina’s “conventionally beautiful” descriptor.

Although Runaways is an ensemble, Japanese American Goth Girl Nico Minoru was the series’ predominant heroine, featured on the cover of the very first issue.

Runaways Vol 2. #28

If cast with an Asian American actress, Nico Minoru will be the first Asian American lead character in any Marvel film.

Nico as depicted by the primary artists of the Runaways series. Her character was designed by Filipino Canadian artist Adrian Alphona.

A Hollywood agent trawling casting breakdowns for an Asian American client would not likely stumble upon this role that is tailor-made for an Asian American breakout star. It certainly doesn’t sound like Marvel is prioritizing actresses of color in this search. And readers of racebending.com know that just recently, unclear and biased casting calls for The Last Airbender led to the erasure of characters’ ethnicities and reinforced Hollywood’s glass ceilings for lead roles.

Racebending.com will absolutely follow up on this casting breakdown. This looks like an easily corrected oversight, so we will contact the right people at Marvel about this issue. If you have an anonymous tip on this situation or contact information for the higher ups, please email us at mlee@racebending.com

Categories: Runaways
Tags: marvel, Runaways