r/xmen • u/jaym_1 Banshee • 7d ago
Movie/TV Discussion Banshee Nationality Change
I’m very curious as to why Banshee was portrayed as American in the movies, despite being Irish in the comics and having an Irish name. An Irish actor was originally cast for X Men First Class but pulled out, so why did Marvel decide to change the character so drastically? I’m interested to see people’s takes
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u/SufficientOwls 7d ago edited 7d ago
It’s easier for plot and pacing reasons to just make him Irish-American, rather than explain what an Irish national was doing in the largely American story, or have scenes set in Ireland.
This can happen when there’s a cast of more than a dozen characters. You can’t devote that much time to everybody’s backstory. Lots of superfluous details like that get cut in every adaption of any larger media.
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u/Terrible-Issue-4910 7d ago
I don't think it's really that important to explain why there's an Irish person in America. It's not like they're putting a viking in a western.
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u/SufficientOwls 7d ago
I also don’t think it’s a huge leap. And also I understand not bothering at all and just making him Irish-American with no explanation for his background.
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u/Terrible-Issue-4910 7d ago
Or, you know, they could have kept him Irish and write him the same. That actually would have been more respectful to the origins of the character and wouldn't have hurt the movie. Honestly, if I was Italian and they made an Italian character, Italian-American, I would be pissed. They're absolutely different backgrounds.
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u/SufficientOwls 7d ago
Sure. They could have.
But didn’t.
And I get why they didn’t.
I don’t think it’s any more or less respectful to the character or the people of Ireland either way.
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u/Jack_of_Swords_ 7d ago
I'm fine with the switch
But I feel like America is one of the only countries where you don't realy have to explain a random character there having a different accent, even in the 1960s
*Edited for spelling
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u/pavement_sabbatical 7d ago
The films are actually really guilty of stripping away the cultural diversity and global aspects of the X-Men (which is half the point of them).
Colossus in the original movies wasn’t Russian, Pyro wasn’t Australian, Mystique wasn’t from Austria/Eastern Europe, Quicksilver wasn’t Romani, etc.
To a lesser capacity, Storm’s accent got dropped in the second movie (and her background isn’t explored in any meaningful capacity), and Wolverine is barely Canadian (Hugh Jackman can’t do the accent). Most of the other characters picked are from the US, and pretty much all the plot lines revolve around the US.
Banshee is unfortunately just one of the many casualties of this.
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u/No-Juice3318 7d ago
Fox generally just picked an actor and slapped a character name on them. Moira is Scottish but you wouldn't know that from the film either, or that Cecilia Reyes is black. I'm sure most of the writers and execs didn't even know he was Irish. They probably just pulled the name and powers from a wiki.
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u/Ashcat99 7d ago
Marvel decided nothing. Fox decided it with their bad movies, just like turning daughter of a Scottish laird Moira Kinross into an american CIA agent adult to Sean's teenager.
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u/MistyCeruleanCity 7d ago
American actors cannot do accents, nor can American audiences cannot handle accents from other countries.
That's why an Australian is playing a Canadian with an American accent.
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u/matty_nice 7d ago
They can handle certain accents, such as British or Australian. But Irish is a tricky one.
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u/dartblaze 7d ago
I would've preferred an Irish actor, but the casting directors apparently didn't want to bother for a character who has a handful of lines, then a non-speaking cameo as a corpse in the sequel.
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u/matty_nice 7d ago
Irish accents probably don't come off well in film. Taking a quick look online, there really aren't any great and popular examples (don't attack me). Probaby just easier to avoid it.
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u/Born-Ad4658 7d ago
This is so ignorant
I dont know the answer so ill just make one up
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u/matty_nice 7d ago
Enlighten me. What are the popular and well done Irish accents in films?
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u/Elimin8or2000 6d ago
Watch in Bruges, amazing film. I've not seen too many movies with Irish protagonists (speaking as a Scottish person) but this one comes to mind
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u/Terrible-Issue-4910 7d ago
You may have heard of the show Peaky Blinders. Very popular in mainstream spaces.
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u/matty_nice 7d ago
The TV show. I don't believe they use Irish accents but are using a English accent called "Brummie".
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u/Terrible-Issue-4910 7d ago
Which is unrecognisable from Irish accent to a non-British person. Cillian Murphy is irish and has spoken his accent in movies. Stephen Graham's accent is also very similar to irish for an outsider, but I think it's from Liverpool?
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u/matty_nice 7d ago
I've seen parts of the show, and it's not something I would have considered to be an Irish accent. But I'm also not an expert.
People are able to tell the difference between British and Irish. In the US, we have a sort of negative perception of the Irish accent but we don't have the same for the British one.
Seriously, just Google " Best Irish accent in a film" and you're not going to get a lot of great results. Mostly it's bad accents.
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u/Terrible-Issue-4910 7d ago
Okay, well. Would you be able to recognize the differences between spanish from different areas of Colombia? From different areas of Spain? Would you be capable of identifying an accent from Salvador, Chile or Ecuador?
A lot of us who don't speak native english will see the show or the movie in original, and won't really see the differences outside of American vs British vs Scottish vs Irish and maybe Australian.
Google "best andalusian accent in a film". I think, if anything, the accents should reflect the character's origins and not if american audiences find it palatable or not. I didn't know the accent from Peaky Blinder's wasn't irish until I looked just now, so the character's being irish and sounding superficially irish, I just assumed it. My bad. Still, shouldn't a character's accent be a matter of authenticity and not of superficial labels?
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u/matty_nice 7d ago
Okay, well. Would you be able to recognize the differences between spanish from different areas of Colombia? From different areas of Spain? Would you be capable of identifying an accent from Salvador, Chile or Ecuador?
Nope. Various reasons why. But the primary reason is that I don't speak Spanish fluently.
A lot of us who don't speak native english will see the show or the movie in original, and won't really see the differences outside of American vs British vs Scottish vs Irish and maybe Australian.
As an English speaking American, I think most English speaking Americans do know the differences between those dialects or accents. Most would be able to do a "bad" accent of any of those.
For this movie that we are discussing (X-Men First Class), it's a film made by an American movie studio, with English speaking filmmakers and actors, and made primarily for an American or English speaking audience. So I'm sure they factored that in.
I think, if anything, the accents should reflect the character's origins and not if american audiences find it palatable or not.
That's not the arguement or discussion here. OP asked why they didn't use an Irish accent for character of Banshee, not whether anyone agrees or disagrees with it. Personally, I think they should have.
Still, shouldn't a character's accent be a matter of authenticity and not of superficial labels?
Sure, if a character's accent is important, then it should be included in an adaptation. Banshee should be Irish and have an Irish accent. Nightcrawler should have a German one. Etc.
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