Amid all of the announcements in the last few years about the DC cinematic universe, there’s been little announced in relation to Superman.
The last standalone Superman movie was Man of Steel, starring Henry Cavill, who kept the part for the subsequent Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, and he will also appear in the upcoming “Snyder Cut” of the latter. It was reported in 2018 that Cavill was stepping down from the Superman role, but the actor said a year later that he wanted to continue in the part.
After a new Batman (Robert Pattinson) was named, along with other DCEU projects, but things were quiet on the Superman front. That is, until last week when it was announced that a new Superman movie was in the works.
Shadow and Act broke the story that Ta-Nehisi Coates, the National Book Award-winning journalist and author, is writing a new Superman movie. No director has been announced, but J.J. Abrams will produce. Abrams has a production deal with Warner Bros., which makes the DC movies.
“To be invited into the DC Extended Universe by Warner Bros., DC Films and Bad Robot is an honor,” Coates said in a statement to Shadow and Act. “I look forward to meaningfully adding to the legacy of America’s most iconic mythic hero.”
A subsequent report by The Hollywood Reporter stated that the film will feature a Black Superman. It’s not clear if Warner is planning to have multiple Supermans in different movies at the same time, although the company has said that going forward it is planning to feature multiple universes in its superhero movies.
It’s also not known what actor might play Superman. Michael B. Jordan at one point was working to set up a Black Superman movie at Warner, but it never got off the ground.
“There is a new, powerful, and moving Superman story yet to be told. We couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with the brilliant Mr. Coates to help bring that story to the big screen, and we’re beyond thankful to the team at Warner Bros. for the opportunity,” Abrams said told the site.
Coates, best known for his Obama-era book Between the World and Me, is no stranger to comic book work; he wrote a run of Black Panther, starting in 2016, and later authored a run of Captain America.
