WB and Michael B. Jordan Planning A New Superman Project
Superman has been one of the most vexing heroes since the comic book film boom around the turn of the 21st century. There have been several attempts, with Bryan Singer’s 2006 love letter to the original Christopher Reeves movies fizzling, and the more recent Henry Cavill iteration getting stuck in development hell, even as his take on the character has been extremely well-received.
Recently it was announced that J.J. Abrams was developing a new take on the first superhero through his Bad Robot production company, and that acclaimed author and cultural critic Ta-Nehisi Coates would be scripting the project, which would see a black actor take on the role of Clark Kent/Superman.
This new iteration has been in the works for nearly a year now, and the most frequent name floated to star in the new take has been Michael B. Jordan (Creed, Black Panther). However, Jordan has been close lipped about his participation, even going so far as to deny the rumors of his casting. But while he doesn’t seem to have much inclination towards the Abrams/Coates version, it appears that the actor/producer a whole separate Superman production, this one focused on the Val-Zod iteration.
According to Black Girl Nerds, this has been planned for a while, with Jordan specifically not interested in the race swapped version currently in production, and would rather focus on the established character of Val-Zod, with the website explaining;
Jordan has not wanted to engage in conversations about racebending Kal-El for the same reasons many of the fans are pushing back on the current Warner Bros. re-imagined version of Clark Kent, but that he would be interested in engaging on a Black Superman project centering on the Val-Zod storyline.
In the comics, Val-Zod’s history is much the same as Kal-El, as he is a son of Krypton that gets sent to Earth to escape the destruction of a dying planet and is raised by a caring and well-meaning human. The big difference is that he hails from Earth 2. He winds up following in the footsteps of Kal and tries to help the planet by taking on the mantle of Superman.
The timeframe for this project is currently up in the air, as Jordan is getting ready to star in and direct Creed III, while also developing an adaptation of Static Shock. So, the Val-Zod/Superman production is a ways off, but is certainly exciting to see Warners focusing on characters of color that already exist in the canon of DC and giving their stories a chance to shine.
