When James Gunn set about launching DC Studios with Superman: Legacy, the assumption was that all other Superman projects would be put on the shelf. We had already seen them let go of Henry Cavill, and he had JUST returned to show up in Black Adam. But one project remains on track, and it’s the anticipated Black Superman project from JJ Abrams and Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Gunn confirmed the news himself on Threads, answering “Yes” when asked a question by a fan.
Obviously, that’s not a lot to go on, but Gunn has been a vocal supporter of the film in the past, calling it “an exciting movie”. Gunn would elaborate a bit in that io9 interview…
“I know that Chantal Nong, who is the executive on that project, is extremely excited about it,” Gunn said. “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.”
Coates is the exciting aspect of this Black Superman movie. The accomplished author, writer, and cultural critic came aboard in 2021 with Abrams producing through his Bad Robot banner. But up to this point, none of Abrams’ many planned DC Comics projects have seen the light of day, so there’s good reason to doubt this one will.
That said, the incredible potential of this particular film is such that Warner Bros. would be idiots to let it go. Rumored to be a period piece set at the height of the civil rights movement, it could be a film that offers audiences a new way of perceiving superheroes on the big screen. There’s also a Michael B. Jordan Superman miniseries that was announced a few years ago but seems to have vanished.
