It has been an interesting study watching the reaction to X-Men: First Class. It seems to be a true fan of comic book movies, you have to profess hate for them before the film comes out. There has to be anger in the costumes, in the casting or the disregard to the canon material. If a thread is out of place, a look not right, or a relationship or dialog not ring true, and understand this is before the film has even screened, the project is rejected and vows to never watch a comic book movie echo through the Internet.

Yes I have been caught up in this debate. Halle Berry, while an accomplished actress, is too young to be Storm. Wolverine, with his short stature, would have been better portrayed by Glen Danzig, who was up for the part and naturally looks and acts like the comic book Wolverine. (Ask anyone who has walked passed him or talked to him at the San Diego Comic Con and they will agree). My latest nit pick is for Green Lantern, where Amanda Waller, the large and in charge black woman in charge of Cadmus is played by Angela Bassett. Bassett is a fine actress, but I would have preferred C. C. H. Pounder, who did such a fine job of doing the voice over for the character on Justice League Unlimited. To me, the change in character (and to be correct the character appeared in Smallville and was portrayed by Pam Grier) is like the 80s controversy of having models lip synch to the powerful voice of Martha Wash.

Truth be told, in the end it doesn't matter what I, or any fan thinks. It's a cruel thing to say but fans are only going to make up a fraction of the audience. We have a say, to be sure, but if the essence of the story, the characters and tone of the books are there, it will bring in regular people into the movie who don't care about the canon.

The problem with following canon in comics and science fiction is there is inherent blot in the material because of the amount of years the projects have been in existence. I have heard younger comic book fans talk about how a number of comic book film don't follow established story lines when those lines can be changed by writers at whim. I remember when Wolverine never had an origin. It was one of the mysteries of the character that he had lived for so long, and the trauma was so great, that his past was lost. Even how he received his adamantium skeleton was secret. I remember attending conventions in the early 80s where the creators of Wolverine vowed this would always remain a mystery. Now he has a history and fans know how he got the skeleton. When the series of comics were put out purist were outraged, but the books sold and it became part of canon.

Like I said, the nature of fictional characters is always change. Any medium can and will affect the other, even what could be described as source material. It was announced a few days ago that DC Comics would go for a major reboot and all of it's titles would start again. Even the bedrock characters like Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman would have alterations to their design and canon. Many fans became angry because they looked at this change as nothing more than to gain some movie fans into the comic book world. While in the old days of comics there wasn't as much coverage in the mainstream media over such events, but when John Byrne was given Superman and he decided to reboot the character and make changes fans were incensed. Lex Luthor was a mad scientist, not a power hungry businessman. Superman was depowered. You rarely hear fans complain about the new Superman because the changes were accepted.

Now, I'm not saying the new reboot of DC Comics or the reworking of characters and histories in movies like X-Men: First Class are always going to work. I'm not saying fans shouldn't be concerned by people in other media coming in to adapt characters. If you want to start a fight at a comic convention, just mention Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark and watch the fur fly. What I am saying is we cannot be strict gatekeepers to material we don't own. We are fans, yes, and to be perfectly blunt fans of comics and science fiction have endured taunts for years and this interest by non-geeks in our material is a bit unsettling to me, but we have to accept that if we are to become accepted some minor compromises have to be made. I'm not saying we have to go real crazy, like the time producers seriously wanted to have Eddie Murphy play Robin, or the infamous polar bear guards for the Fortress of Solitude in one of the new Superman scripts, we should be willing to see the final product before declaring something null and void. The changes made might be a welcome surprise.