Source: Kevork Djansezian / Getty
For comic book fans, a Black Superman is nothing new. But actor Michael B. Jordan is developing a Black Superman project that will surely bring the concept more visibility since it will be for HBO Max if all goes to plan.
The OG Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster has an eventual origin story that pegs the big blue-eyed farm boy as an alien refugee from the doomed planet Krypton and has him appearing as a typical, but cock-diesel, white guy from Kansas. The aesthetic has carried on to the big and little screen mostly, see: Christopher Reeves in 1978’s Superman or Henry Cavill in 2013’s Man Of Steel, for example.
Thanks to the concept of multiverses there has been a “Black” Superman in the DC Comics Universe. Collider reports that Jordan is developing his series around a character named Val-Zod, an aesthetically Black Kryptonian from Earth 2 who becomes its Superman. Reportedly, Jordan’s production company Outlier Society has hired a writer for what will be a limited series, but it’s still uncertain if the actor will star in the project himself.
The aforementioned is totally separate from the Black Superman project being developed by Warner Bros. and JJ Abrams that is to be written by renowned author Ta-Nehisi Coates. Abrams’ project, which is being created by his Bad Robot production company, will reportedly be a Black version of the well-known Clark Kent aka Kal-El character. Jordan previously deaded rumors of starring in the Bad Robot film.
So Michael B. Jordan is getting bags from Marvel and DC, and we can’t be mad at that. And although he did his thing as Killmonger in Black Panther, he still has to make up for the travesty that was 2015’s Fantastic Four.
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