History RaceLift / UncertainDepictions

* Although Sulu's exact ethnicity was never made clear in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', he was played by the Japanese-American Creator/GeorgeTakei and there are hints in a few episodes that Sulu also has Japanese ancestry. Meanwhile in [[Film/StarTrek2009 the reboot]], Sulu was played by Creator/JohnCho, who is Korean-American. The casting was a minor controversy until Takei himself gave his blessing, as the character of Sulu had been intended to represent all Asian people at a time when the continent was riven by war.

* Pre-''Comicbook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', Ocean Master was Aquaman's fully human half-brother, the son of Thomas Curry and his second wife, Maureen. Post-Crisis, he was half-Inuit, half-Atlantean (but still Aquaman's half-brother, since Aquaman's parentage had also changed). In most adaptations and the ''ComicBook/New52'', he is white but is also a full Atlantean, meaning he went from a member of a real minority group to a fictional one.

* Keith in ''Literature/TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents'' doesn't get a description beyond "the stupid-looking kid", but [[https://i.imgur.com/HZwhdBr.jpg early concept art]] for the Sky Cinema animated adaptation showed him as white and blond. When Himesh Patel was cast in the role, [[https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2021/11/the-amazing-maurice-posters-offer-first-look-at-the-animated-terry-pratchett-adaptation/the-amazing-maurice-character-posters-7/ the design was reworked]] to make him South Asian.

** A strange case in Christian art history is St. Maurice (Mauricius or Mauritius), an Egyptian Roman soldier. The earliest depictions of him from the Middle East and elsewhere just have him look like the locals. But in the 13th century, he began to be depicted as a black African man in European depictions, pointedly different from the usual mold, because people erroneously thought his name was linked to the "Moors", a term whose meaning itself had mutated over the centuries, originally referring to North Africans such as Berbers but then as a generic term for Arabs, Muslims and/or Sub-Saharan "pagan" Africans, ultimately with the connotation of dark skin (as in Spanish ''moreno''). But the closest ethnic group today to St. Maurice's own is probably the Copts, the most direct descendants of the Egyptians of antiquity, and he's understandably big in the Coptic churches.

* UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} is mostly portrayed as a white European though many believe he would be darker-skinned as he was from the Middle East. Jesus has been given different races depending on the congregation, including African and Asian.
** Same thing with his mother, the Virgin Mary. Not only is she portrayed as being multiple races (depending on the congregation), but she ''always'' conforms to the then-current ideals of feminine beauty in that culture, presumably because BeautyEqualsGoodness.

* Pre-''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'', the Ocean Master was Inuit. In most adaptations and the ''ComicBook/New52'', he is white but is also an Atlantean, meaning he went from a member of a real minority group to a fictional one.

* ComicBook/{{Blade}} has always been drawn as a dark skinned Black man in the comics. In ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'' he has brown hair, racially ambiguous features and in every appearance his skin is a different shade of brown, in one instance being barely darker than the Caucasian characters. He could be anything from a light skinned Black man to biracial to a white guy with a tan. Confusing things further, comic book Blade ''is'' actually mixed-race, he just doesn't look it (his father was a white man named Lucas Cross), although this was {{retcon}ned in long after his animated appearances.

* ComicBook/{{Blade}} has always been drawn as a dark skinned Black man in the comics. In ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'' he has brown hair, racially ambiguous features and in every appearance his skin is a different shade of brown, in one instance being barely darker than the Caucasian characters. He could be anything from a light skinned Black man to biracial to a white guy with a tan. Confusing things further, comic book Blade ''is'' actually mixed-race, he just doesn't look it (his father was a white man named Lucas Cross).

* ComicBook/{{Blade}} has always been drawn as a dark skinned Black man in the comics. In ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'' he has brown hair, racially ambiguous features and in every appearance his skin is a different shade of brown, in one instance being barely darker than the Caucasian characters. He could be anything from a light skinned Black man to biracial to a white guy with a tan.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Advertisements for Captain Eightpanther's Travellers' Digestives in ''The Compleat Ankh-Morpork City Guide'' and the ephemera that comes with the stamps shows a label that's a pastiche of 19th century British advertising, featuring a Victorian-looking naval officer with muttonchop whiskers, presumably intended to be the captain himself. The only appearance of the biscuits in the books was in ''Literature/TheColourOfMagic'', where they were part of Twoflower's provisions, which coupled with Eightpanther's name structure suggests he should probably be Agatean (that is, Asian). This may or may not be an in-universe example.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Advertisements for Captain Eightpanther's Travellers' Digestives in ''The Compleat Ankh-Morpork City Guide'' and the ephemera that comes with the stamps shows a label that's a pastiche of 19th century British advertising, showing a Victorian-looking naval officer with muttonchop whiskers, presumably intended to be the captain himself. The only appearance of the biscuits in the books was in ''Literature/TheColourOfMagic'', where they were part of Twoflower's provisions, which coupled with Eightpanther's name structure suggests he should probably be Agatean (that is, Asian). This may or may not be an in-universe example.

* Pre-''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'', the Ocean Master was Inuit. In most adaptation and the ''ComicBook/New52'', he is white but is also an Atlantean, meaning he went from a member of a real minority group to a fictional one.

* Pre-''ComicBook/Flashpoint'', the Ocean Master was Inuit. In most adaptation and the ''ComicBook/New52'', he is white but is also an Atlantean, meaning he went from a member of a real minority group to a fictional one.

* ComicBook/{{Blade}} has always been drawn as a dark skinned Black man in the comics. In every appearance in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'', his skin is a different shade of brown, in one instance being barely darker than the Caucasian characters. He could be anything from a light skinned Black man to biracial to a white guy with a tan.

* ComicBook/{{Blade}} has always been drawn as a dark skinned Black man in the comics. In every appearance in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'', his skin is a different shade of brown, in one instance being barely darker than the Caucasian characters. He could be anything from a light skinned Black man to biracialmto a white guy with a tan.

* ComicBook/{{Blade}} has always been drawn as a dark skinned Black man in the comics. In ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'', he has racially ambiguous features, his skin is varying shades of brown and he has Comic!Blade’s flattop hairstyle but his hair is brown rather than black. He could be anything from a light skinned Black man to biracialmto a white guy with a tan.

* Carlos Ezquerra originally designed the title character of ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' to be hispanic; other artists drew him as either white or black in early issues. Since these issues were black and white, nobody noticed. After the series began appearing in color, Dredd was consistently drawn as a white man.

[[folder: Newspaper Comics]]
* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' has the character of Asok, the naive young work experience intern who isn't even getting paid for what he does. Asok was originally intended to be an East Asian character to lampshade his ethnicity, its reputation for diligent conscientious hard work, and how this eventually becomes corrupted by contact with Americans like Wally and the corrosive effect of working at a succession of nonsensical non-jobs for the PointyHairedBoss. Unfortunately, the monochrome nature of newspaper publication meant this subtle point was lost (Asok's face and hands do become darker in the colour reprints) and the character was taken to be a white man with an odd name.

[[folder:Religion and Mythology]]
* UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} is mostly portrayed as a white European though many believe he would be darker-skinned as he was from the Middle East. Jesus has been given different races depending on the congregation, including African and Asian.
** Same thing with his mother, the Virgin Mary. Not only is she portrayed as being multiple races (depending on the congregation), but she ''always'' conforms to the then-current ideals of feminine beauty in that culture, presumably because BeautyEqualsGoodness.

[[folder: Western Animation]]