Back in April 2022 rumors were that writer Ta-Nehisi Coates had submitted his script for the J.J. Abrams produced Superman movie about a black Kal-El/Clark Kent. Then, with everything that has happened since, it was assumed that the project was dead in the wake of the newly announced DC Studios. However that might not be the case…
Speaking with io9, co-CEO of DC Studios, James Gunn revealed that his new film “Superman: Legacy” doesn’t necessarily mean that that other film can’t still happen.
“Those two things are totally unrelated,” Gunn said. “That’s an exciting movie. I know that Chantal Nong, who is the executive on that project, is extremely excited about it. So if it comes in and it’s great, which I haven’t read the script, and if the timing is right, that could absolutely happen. That’s totally unrelated. It would be an Elseworlds tale like Joker.”
From what we know, the movie is supposed to be all about a black Kal-El/Clark Kent, with Michael B. Jordan as the actor long rumored connected with the role.
Can we just focus on getting this one right before we delve in to elseworlds supermen??
And I don’t want anything that JJ abrams has had his hands on. He’s a franchise killer.
I would rather see the movie feature Calvin Ellis or Val-Zod, each of whom deserves a live-action treatment. “What if Kal-El were Black” is interesting but too simplistic, which is why it would make sense to use existing canonical characters with different personalities and backstories. The same reason Kara provides contrast with Kal-El, since she has memories of Krypton and is trying to fit on Earth while her cousin thinks of himself as human.