So, upon reading your reblog, @crescent-coral-base , it turns out we are all both wrong and right.
I did some digging on Google, and as it turns out, the creator Marv Wolfman did not originally design Starfire with a Black woman in mind. He, in fact, originally wanted Raven to be Black, but felt cautious about naming a Black character “Raven.”
However, if this information can be found so easily, it is just as easy to learn from Professor Google that Rags Morales, who is responsible for her design in Identity Crisis (2004), did, in fact, model her after Naomi Campbell. And the intentions are quite obvious upon looking at some of the illustrations:
Also, I think it should be noted that this is how Ryand’r, her brother, has been illustrated in a recent continuity:
Also, Wolfman doesn’t seem to have any problem at all with the casting of a Black woman to play Starfire:
For the record, Marv also made sure to point out to me how ridiculous he felt the criticisms of Diop’s casting was, as he correctly notes that there aren’t any 6'7 golden-skinned people with feline eyes on Earth, so you were always going to have to pick someone who didn’t technically look like Starfire, so why would it matter what ethnicity they were?
And honestly, let’s say no one ever had a Black woman in mind when drawing Starfire. What if no one had Naomi Campbell in mind when designing her? What if Anna Diop was cast with no history of the illustrators ever having any intention of making her resemble someone like her? Would it really be a big deal? Is it really a problem if Black women and girls get to see themselves in a character like Starfire?
The answer, of course, should be obvious. So, regardless of the character’s history, there is still nothing wrong with the casting or Anna Diop for taking the part.
