J.J. Abrams Rebooting Superman With A Black Lead
2013's Man of Steel, starring Henry Cavill, was the last solo Superman film. The film may have been somewhat controversial, but the film made Cavill a star and launched the infamous DCEU, in which he has had additional appearances in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League. But there was no stand-alone sequel to Man of Steel whatsoever despite grossing a respectable $668 million worldwide.
The DCEU is going in a new direction, and Superman is going along for the ride. Entertainment outlets Shadow and Act and Deadline reported that Warner Bros. is planning to reboot Superman with a feature film being produced by J.J. Abrams.
The film will also reportedly be produced by Hannah Minghella and acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates drafting the screenplay.
But it’s being reported that a “Black Superman” will be making his silver screen debut.
According to Hollywood Reporter insider Borys Kit, the project has been in the works for a couple of years and even met with superstar act Michael B. Jordan about staring.
It's a possibility that this could end up being DC's first rendition of Calvin Ellis, a black Superman from another Earth, on the big screen. Kit explained that Warner Bros. has been "trying to find a way" for possibly a year or two to produce a black-led Superman film.
There is a lot of possible scenarios on what kind of character the new Superman might be, but it’s currently being pointed to the aforementioned Calvin Ellis Superman from a different Earth universe. Ellis was also President of the United States in his world too. But we’ll see what happens in the future.
Source(s): The Direct