Well his comment being deleted would speak to Marvel thinking it was at least a marginally offensive comment if not a racist one.More to the point I always wonder how people that are so intolerant can actually be Marvel fans and read the same comics that are all about tolerance, getting along and doing the right thingAs for Headwall, for crying out loud, Historical accuracy? Thor can fly, has no red beard, doesn't have 100s of children with 100s of women (an exaggeration I know). Do these people even read Thor? Heard of The Warriors Three? Then you know Hogun? Not exactly an Aryan god is he? He isn't meant to be, why is he ok but not Elba? In Marvel the Norse gods are long lived aliens (although technically they may have originated on Earth long before us), so they could be any colour. The idea that you can make a film with aliens using Arthur C Clarke tech (as in any technology, significantly advanced is indistinguishable from magic.) and a "magic" Hammer, where somewhere else on the planet is a guy who gains a ton of mass and turns green whenever he gets angry; AND there's a guy frozen in Ice since WWII who was given the pinnacle of human strength and endurance by some super steroids in the 1940s; AND another guy who made a suit of armour that flies and has energy based weaponry, and can compact to the size of a (large) briefcase; AND a guy who is good at shooting arrows is a superhero / S.H.I.E.L.D agent, as is Black Widow, and apparently Maria Hill (ALL WHITE); AND potentially they will all team up in a year's time to fight of an ALIEN invasion, from shape shifting aliens no less; AND with ALL of that the problem, the one thing that's holding you back from willing suspension of disbelief is that some of the Asgardian aliens / gods ARE BLACK!?!?! That's the deal breaker? That’s what is stopping you from trembling with excitement that another of our favourite Marvel heroes, perhaps the most difficult to realise after Capt. America, is getting the big screen, full budget treatment? That there are black people in Asgard? That one of them, who happens to be one of the best actors around, is a black guy? I'm tempted to say grow up, but it belittles the point I'm trying to make here.Here's another one for you. Marvel, man I love Marvel. One of the reasons may be that growing up reading their comics I saw black people, and people of all races everywhere. In the background, all over the daily Bugle, and as heroes, Black Panther, Iron Man, War Machine, Power Man, Blade, Captain Marvel, Storm, Forge, Bishop; and in Ultimate land we have Nick "coolest spy in the universe" Fury too. Many other comic houses could barely manage non white people standing on street corners; unless they were committing some kind of crime. Even so I'm sure that could Stan Lee &Co go back in time, or more importantly if they were even freer to do what they wanted than they seemed to be, there may well have been even more black super heroes at Marvel.So here's an incomplete look at The Avengers:-Thor            White (technically not even human, but looks white)Iron Man        WhiteCaptain America White Hulk / Banner   Green / WhiteBlack Widow     WhiteHawkeye         WhiteWar Machine     Black (May not even be in the movie)Nick Fury       Black (People still moan about Ultimate Fury too!)Maria Hill      White (May not be Hill but Cobie is White so...)Loki            White (again technically alien but.....)   So the 9 or 10 major players we know are in the film consist of 7 or 8 white people and 1 or 2 black people. There are also only 2 females out of 9 or 10. No Asian character, no far Eastern characters (Chinese etc). Now I’m not pointing this out to cry over a lack of some random PC quota algorithm to make sure all movies have 33% or more female characters, and 45% or more non white; I know the Avengers and I know that, even excepting the lesser S.H.I.E.L.D characters etc, over the course of at least 3 films we’re going to see a massive diversity of Marvel heroes in The Avengers, from Black Panther & Wasp to who knows who else. I’m not worried about that at all. No. I point this out to say even with all this, with so many of these roles played by white guys and supported by so many white women (We’ve have Jim Rhodes / War Machine in 2 Iron Man films and NOTHING else) some white guys still feel the need to complain when the relatively small, if important, role of Heimdall goes to a black guy. Enough is never enough for some people is it?More to the point the casting is nothing to do with PC. You’re insulting Kenneth Branagh by even suggesting such a thing. Branagh casts by talent and suitability to the role. He wanted to work with Elba, a fellow Brit who is considered one of the finest actors on the planet, so he asked him if he would be happy to take the small, but important part. As Branagh is an actor respected by other actors Elba jumped at the chance to work with him. (Although he may inadvertently have ruined his chances of playing the Black Panther!) It isn’t PC anymore than? Branagh casting Denzel Washington in Much Ado About Nothing was. He wanted to work with a great actor who was perfect for the part. Theater actors tend not to see colour as traditionally anyone could play any character, no matter the race and historically no matter the size or sex either.Come on people, let’s get some of the Marvel spirit here!

Histrorical correctness in the Marvel Universe means The Thing is "Black Beard the pirate". This is not Norse Mythology this Neo-Norse Mythology Marvel style, If heimdell has to be white than thor should have to have red hair and a red beard. Kirby and Lee took artistic license on this series from the begining. This is no different and I applaud Marvel for this move. F.Y.I. norse Mythology has also been associated with white supremecy in the past and Marvel's Thor has Destroyed that idea That just because The Norse Gods were white that they can only be white. Heimdel being Black is great choice in modern mythology. "what's a nubian?" - Jason Lee in "Chasing Amy"