Michael B. Jordan is developing his own Black Superman project for HBO Max with his production company Outlier Society after leaving WB’s currently developing Black Superman film.
Jordan reportedly wanted to work on the Val-Zod storyline from the comics but WB denied giving him more control over the project. However, it looks like Jordan got his way in the end as the series will center Val-Zod’s story.
As reported first by Collider, sources said that Outlier Society hired a writer to work on the script for Val-Zod’s storyline. The project is being written as a limited series that Jordan is set to produce and possibly even star in, though the latter has not been officially confirmed yet.
News of Jordan working on a Val-Zod project comes as a relief to many fans who didn’t quite like racebending Kal-El.
Recently it was reported that J.J. Abrams and his company Bad Robot were producing a Black Superman film for Warner Bros., which will reimagine Clark Kent’s Superman (a canonically white character) as a black character.
Black Girl Nerds published a piece that explained why this was a tone-deaf move on Warner Bros. behalf. Instead of racebending a white character, they could easily have picked Black characters that already exist in the DC universe, like Calvin Ellis and Val-Zod.
Jordan was working on developing the film at one point. However, he recently denied rumors of starring in it.
The Val-Zod series is already a better choice (and something I’m personally looking forward to more) than the reimagined Kal-El for two reasons. One, it stays true to the comics, and two, it doesn’t erase an original Black character’s story.
Man of Steel producer Charles Roven spoke to ComicBook.com and said that multiple Superman projects can co-exist.
If they’re going to go along with a filmmaker’s vision, you have to allow for multiple visions. You can’t have it any other way. Not everybody’s going to think alike.
Charles Roven
So even if the JJ Abrams film becomes canon, there is hope for getting Henry Cavill back as Superman.
After all, The Flash movie will bring back Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton to play two Batmans (or Batmen). Whereas Robert Pattinson’s The Batman will be set outside the DCEU, similar to Joker (2019).
It is truly astounding how Warner Bros. manages to mess everything up for DC movies every single time. If WB genuinely wants to show that they are a diverse group who respect their black characters (and care about what the fans want), maybe they should start with bringing back Ray Fisher as Cyborg first.
About DC Movies
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book publishers. It produces material featuring numerous well-known superhero characters, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman, and Green Arrow. Most of this material takes place in a shared fictional universe, which also features teams such as the Justice League, the Suicide Squad, and the Teen Titans. The company has also published non-DC Universe-related material, including V for Vendetta, and many titles under their alternative imprint Vertigo Comics.
Film adaptations based on DC Comics properties have included serials, live action and animated films, direct-to-video releases, television films and documentary films.
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