The New Superman Will Be Black, Our Scoops Confirmed
Our exclusive scoop has been confirmed and the next Superman in the DC Extended Universe will be a black man. It's an exciting move
This article is more than 2 years old
Superman is getting a totally new look for a totally new time. It’s massive news that will shake up the comic book movie world for years to come. Now Giant Freakin Robot’s exclusive scoops have been confirmed and there’s a new Man of Steel in town. Henry Cavill is no longer taking over the role. That’s right, moving forward the new lead donning the suit and taking over the mantle in the DC Universe will be a black man.
This is just crazy news to drop, though something we’d been saying was in the rumor mill and pipeline for awhile now. For quite some time Michael B. Jordan had been in discussions to get into another superhero outfit and there were definitive rumblings that it was going to be Superman. Whether he’s cast or not, this will be the first time Superman will be played by a black man on screen and it represents a huge shift in DC’s approach to its catalog. The studio is clearly seeing it as time to get away from their current Justice League group and into a new look going forward.
Michael B. Jordan could be taking over the Superman role and Ta-Nehisi Coates is confirmed to be penning the script. It’s unclear which storyline they will choose to put out there. It could, of course, be another version of Clark Kent in a full reboot of that character. Or they could take a different route from the comic book pages and choose to use the Calvin Ellis story. The latter was a totally different look for the character with Ellis becoming President of the United States while also maintaining his Superman duties.
If it is Michael B. Jordan then we know he’s had some other superhero forays and superpower trials in his movie past. The actor started things off with Josh Trank’s Chronicle in which he, Dane DeHaan, and Alex Russell all stumble on an alien entity that gives them increasing powers. It was a new look at the genre. Then teamed up with Tranks again in 2015’s Fantastic Four playing Johnny Storm. That film bombed spectacularly with both critics and at the box office. And finally, he took the villain turn with Erik Killmonger in Black Panther. Playing Superman is a completely different thing. This is the most iconic character ever. It’s very cool.
As confirmed, the new Superman script will be written by Ta-Nehisi Coates who has an extensive and award-winning bibliography. He’s published a number of non-fiction works which have gained him enormous critical acclaim. But he also has worked in the comic book space as well. In addition to writing a number of different storylines for Black Panther, he also has worked on Captain America stories as well.
Putting Michael B. Jordan and Ta-Nehisi Coates together for this new Superman movie would place two prominent and talented black men at the helm of a character who will now see a totally new look with a completely new story. It’s an exciting time for DC Comics as they begin a new chapter in the on-screen portrayal of the iconic character. Regardless of the character casting, we know this will be a strong new voice for Superman and an exciting time for superhero movies in general.
