Really depends

I don't mind Jackson as Fury because he's so great in the role, but on the other end of the spectrum I remember when the internet was in a tizzy over a white guy like Finn Jones being cast as Iron Fist, despite Danny Rand always being white in the comics. If anything I'd say the people crusading against it were being "racist" by suggesting that only someone of Asian descent can be a martial artist.

Finn Jones sucks in the role because his acting skills are mediocre at best and he barely bothered to learn a form of martial arts at even the most amateur level, despite portraying a kung fu master. Not because he's white.

We are getting into a tricky area. It's a matter of perspective. Criticisms from minority groups come into Hollywood casting because of a long, sustained history of the portrayal and complete absence of their race or ethnic group in film and television. I can understand an Asian being ticked off about yet another white martial arts aster, who learned in the "mysterious" East, as it perpetuates a stereotype that the white men were superior. In this case, the white Danny Rand was superior to every other contender in Kun-Lun. It fed into a long literary tradition of superior white guys bringing the secrets of the mystical East to the Western world. When Asians were represented in these stories, it was either as sadistic villains or servants; never as equals and rarely as noble people who achieve on their own.

The problem with comic book characters is that many were built around these stereotypes, so when you adapt it for film and tv, you face the issue of how to handle it. Do you just use the name and create a new, better character or do you lose the character? Do you cast the best actor or do you cast solely on ethnic lines? Hollywood is more about look than talent, at the best of times and that will always trump the best actor. So much political thought goes into casting, trying to attach "names" to help sell the project.

Comic fans want to see the characters as on the page, though some segments are willing to accept change as long as the actor and the character are good. Some never accept change. The rest of the audience has probably never seen the comic and doesn't care, so long as they are entertained. Some of the crusading types are just looking for attention to their cause and will latch onto these things to get the spotlight on their thesis. In the case of Iron Fist, casting a white man is not "whitewashing" the character; but, it does continue perpetuating the stereotype around which the character was built. Casting an Asian doesn't necessarily change the problem, as now you have a stereotypical Asian martial arts hero. However, casting is only one element and the characterization is where you break the stereotype. As with Idris Elba, a good performance quickly quiets the opposition.

I don't mind Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury; but, I still would have liked to have seen my Nick Fury done well, instead of cheesy, with David Hasselhoff. George Clooney was eyeing the project, until he saw the Garth Ennis material and washed his hands of it. Too bad, as he would have been a great Steranko Nick Fury. With Jackson, my only concern was if they were going to show him in WW2. The question was whether they would depict the segregation of the military or present a fantasy version where race isn't a factor. As it turned out, they kept Fury out of it, though they had Gabe. They pretty much ignored the reality of the war completely,as they fight HYDRA, rather than the wehrmacht and SS, so pretty much anything goes. AS a history buff, it kind of irks me; but, the film works well enough that it is a minor irritation.

I don't mind Hollywood trying to put more diverse casts together, if the roles don't require a specific ethnicity. If the character is a accountant, race isn't really a factor, unless your story involves overcoming prejudices or is a biographical piece. If your story is about Ghengis Khan, then don't cast John Wayne. The problem lies when you cast actors because of ethnicity and their characters basically serve as tokens, rather than well rounded figures. Comics in recent years have been guilty of it, as ethnic characters have been inserted, without ever developing them. Cyborg worked in the Teen Titans but hasn't in the Justice League, more due to characterization than anything else. Black Lightning was a better character to use, but he is mired in office politics (or was, then).

Hollywood's problem is less race than it is a focus on appearance, in all forms. It goes beyond race and gender, into focusing on a specific look, no matter how unrealistic that is. Until they move beyond that, they will never have balanced, realistic productions.

Especially since in the very same movie the PTB didn't cast Mordo as a Caucasian, as he is in the comic! It looks like what's good for the goose isn't good for the gander. (And no, I'm not calling Swinton a goose or anything  ). 

I liked the way both characters were depicted in the movie. Who cares what colour Mordo is, to begin with? Ejiofor did a great job with him, and that's all I ask. Having the Ancient One be a woman was an unexpected and interesting idea; especially one that doesn't seem to age. That's precisely the type of change I'm quite happy to see in an adaptation.

The "don't make this character white" argument would carry more weight, I think, if instead of shouting "whitewashing!" in an outraged fashion, the people who don't like to see Skrein play an Asian comic-book character simply said "we need more characters who aren't Caucasian, and turning a non-Caucasian character into one is not helping". It's not inflammatory, but I think it's more likely to generate an appropriate response than invoking some kind of pro-Caucasian semi-conspiracy.

Is that the same Ed Skrein that left the Game of Throwns tv show a few years ago because of internal politics, and they had to change actors for his role in the following season? I say let him play it (the Japanese-American character). They had Will Smith play a white guy's character in the Wild Wild West, and other white/caucasian characters played by black people and other races (i.e. Wally West and Iris West for example).

If the character introduced in the comic book is white OR black (or another) then that is the ethnicity that should be portrayed in the movie/tv series. I just don't like it when they change an established characters race just to fit some politically correct racially balanced ideology. I would be the first to be upset if they had Black Panther or Storm portrayed by white actors. It seems though that whenever an established white character is newly portrayed by a black actor (like Johnny Storm) that if you yourself are white and complain then you ARE a racist! People are always saying that it just doesn't matter, but if that is the case then just leave well enough alone??

Additional counterpoint: For some, even many, characters, their white ethnicity has little to no bearing on their character.  They are white by default.  It would be absurd to have a white person play Black Panther or Storm because their ethnicity is a significant part of their character and backstory.  There's nothing about Perry White or Nick Fury that requires them to be white.  In fact, there are some instances where it's more realistic that the character NOT be white.  Peter Parker?  Based on the demographics of modern Queens NY, he's more likely to be Hispanic, Asian, or black than white.  If he lived in Flushing, chances are high that he'd be Chinese or Korean.

Neither about comic-book movies nor ethnicity, but since this does touch on the subject of diversity...

A reboot of the film adaptation of Lord of the flies is being considered, with the twist that instead of an all-boy cast, the new version will have an all-girl one.

I like the idea, and think that the arguments from the nay-sayers ("women would never act like that" and "this story is all about male toxicity") are nonsensical. It will even be interesting to see how the writers intend to show the reactions and interactions of a group of girls instead of that of a group of boys. The competition and violence will probably be of a different nature, but has no reason to be any less real.