Despite Man of Steel 2 being in development, the Black Superman reboot of JJ Abrams and Ta-Nehisi Coates continues at Warner Bros. Discovery.
JJ Abrams and Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Black Superman reboot is reportedly still in active development at Warner Bros. Discovery. The DC brand had a major shake-up in 2022 when Warner Bros. Discovery completed its massive merger earlier this year. On the small screen, The CW lost multiple DC TV shows as the network gains a new majority shareholder. On the cinematic side for DC, Warner Bros. Discovery the batgirl despite the film having already finished shooting at the end of March.
While the DCEU continues to make progress, there has been a lot of uncertainty despite the promise of Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav that there is a 10-year plan for the DC IPs. Black Adamwhich hit theaters this week was the only DCEU episode for 2022, including: The flash, Shazam! Anger of the Gods and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom all were pushed back to 2023. Outside of key DCEU continuity, Warner Bros. Discovery: Joker: Folie à Deux getting ready to start head photography, and The Batman 2 is also actively developing. However, another non-DCEU project the studio has been working on is a Superman reboot, featuring a black version of the Man of Steel from filmmaker JJ Abrams and screenwriter Ta-Nehisi Coates.
While there have been few to no updates on the Black Superman project, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that the film is still moving forward at Warner Bros. Discovery. While Abrams’ role at the studio is unclear at this time, especially as several of his WB-produced projects have been canceled or are seeking new platforms, trade indicated that he is still on track to release Coates’ new Superman film. to produce. There’s still no update on where they are with the script and casting, nor who would be directing the Black Superman reboot.
Why there can be multiple Superman in live action at once
The news that a reimagining of Black Superman is still taking place comes at the same time as reports of the studio looking to develop Man of Steel 2 for Henry Cavill’s version of the DC icon. Even though there are no clear release dates for either project, there’s no reason why both movies couldn’t exist at the same time. One of the concepts that the DCEU is starting to lean more towards is the multiverse, which allows multiple DC franchises to use different characters from the DC universe, which will be a crucial aspect of The flash movie. Since Coates’ Superman movie is set to be set in a new Earth, it doesn’t conflict with the DCEU, allowing the reboot to explore a Black iteration of Krypton’s last son, while Cavill redo its iteration in Man of Steel 2.
It’s also worth remembering that The CW still has Superman & Lois on air, and HBO Max is developing a Val-Zod series with Michael B. Jordan as executive producer, focusing on another Man of Steel from Earth-2. In theory, if all these projects are underway in the next few years, there could be four different interpretations of Superman in live-action, both on the big and small screen. Everything can co-exist at the same time without one property suffering from the other because it allows consumers to choose what suits them. With the recent departure of DC Films boss Walter Hamada, time will tell whether Abrams and Coates’ Black Superman movie will happen, because things can still fall apart depending on what happens to Warner Bros. Discovery and their plans for the DC properties in the coming years.
Source: THR
