DC Films and Warner Bros. are developing a Superman feature from Ta-Nehisi Coates, J.J. Abrams
Film Features Films
Here’s a Superman movie finally worth getting excited about.
Shadow And Act’s Trey Mangum reported on Friday that Ta-Nehisi Coates is writing a Superman feature film for Warner Bros. and DC, with J.J. Abrams tapped as producer. The movie’s very early in development, and no director nor actor is attached to the project yet. The Hollywood Reporter also shared that according to sources, the movie is “being set up as a Black Superman story.”
In a statement given to Shadow And Act, Coates expressed his gratitude towards the opportunity to write the script: “To be invited into the DC Extended Universe by Warner Bros., DC Films and Bad Robot is an honor. I look forward to meaningfully adding to the legacy of America’s most iconic mythic hero.”
Abrams also gave his own statement, saying, “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.”
Coates is a journalist and author, who is best known for writing the hit non-fiction book Between The World And Me, a powerful look at being a Black man living in the United States. He also wrote the recent comic book series for Black Panther and Captain America, so he’s a great fit for this project.
We haven’t gotten a decent Superman movie in decades, but with Coates and Abrams involved, it’s looking pretty hopeful.
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It’s gonna be weird to see Cavill in blackface but hey, whatever gets him back in the role
As long as he doesn’t have a mustache. That would be offensive.
OR
Good news for everyone who wanted Jon Hamm to play Superman – he’s the star of the film.Bad news, he’s playing his 30 ROCK character playing Superman. . .
………….BANJO!!!
I’MA KILL YOU! *smashes you with chair*
John Stewart: “I may be a soldier and a Green Lantern, but I don’t believe in using violence unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
Superman: “and I believe you can catch a rainbow in your hat!”
John Stewart: “I’LL KILL YOU, WHITE DEVIL!”
Before or after the hand transplant?
Welp that headline was a rollercoaster of emotions
Ta-Nehisi Coates is writing a Superman feature film for Warner Bros. and DC,
Oh cool!
with J.J. Abrams tapped as producer
Oooh, that’s too bad.
But it comes with a free frogurt!
We haven’t gotten a decent Superman movie in decades, but with Coates and Abrams involved, it’s looking pretty hopeful.
Depends if it’s Mission Impossible Abrams or Rise of Skywalker Abrams.
Also, probably unpopular opinion, but the Krypton portion of Man of Steel (especially the music) was some of the best movie sci-fi in the past decade, and my favorite Russell Crowe performance.
I mean, Abrams has always been better as a producer rather than as a director in my opinion. Just look at 14 Cloverfield Lane.
I think Abrams is an excellent director. What he’s not excellent at is writing.
Yeah JJ is a fantastic director, there’s a reason he keeps getting picked to direct these mega blockbusters. Even with his Star Wars movies there are very few complaints about the directing besides minor shit like “too much lens flare” or whatever. I’d be fully on board with JJ directing this as long as Coates (what a fucking get for DC btw) is in charge of the script.
A reminder that way back when Superman Returns development was flailing around, Abrams’ treatment involved Lex Luthor as a kung-fu fighting secret Kryptonian CIA agent.So I will remain cautiously optimistic as long as he doesn’t go near any writing implements.
the Krypton portion of Man of Steel (especially the music) was some of the best movie sci-fi in the past decadeEspecially the scene with the phantom zone ships. They remind me of something, I just can’t quite put my finger on it.
Repurposed buttplug machine gun ammo from a Sucker Punch deleted scene.
Go ahead. Put your finger on it.
No, he’ll go blind!
I remember this one Snyder Tribalist defending this by claiming it was a tribute to HR Geiger’s death. Ignoring the fact that Geiger has nothing to do with Superman outside of one or two crossovers with the Alien franchise, Man of Steel came out in 2013 and Geiger died in 2014.
They were so pumped to pay tribute to HR Geiger they couldn’t even wait for him to die.
I’m seeing bald medieval priests in long robes.
Daleks?
Oh you mean these?
I’ll need to rewatch the Krypton bit through that lens. All I remember at the time was thinking “FUCK did Krypton have more warfighting than I remember!”
The entire OST from Man of Steel is by far the best thing about that movie.
I need to give it a listen. I’ve never heard it outside of the few times I’ve seen the movie itself.
I have long insisted I would watch the shit out of the Kick-Ass Adventures of Jor El of Krypton starring Russell Crowe.
Oh, even though that would be too long for the marquee, that needs to be the exact title: “The Kick-Ass Adventures of Jor El of Krypton starring Russell Crowe.”
His voice over in the first Man of Steel trailer is so good, probably one of the best teasers/trailers ever
the Krypton portion of Man of Steel (especially the music) was some of the best movie sci-fi in the past decade,It’s pure sci fi pulp and I really enjoyed. Liked Zod and Faora (should have been a breakout role for that actor) too. I have lots of issues with Man of Steel but I’m completely willing to admit that there were a lot of cool entertaining elements in it. And Costner and Lane were phenomenal casting for the Kents, even if I was dissatisfied with how the script treated them.
my favorite Russell Crowe performanceOf which period? Better than “Les Mis” and that road rage flick he starred in last summer? Sure. But better than “Gladiator,” “LA Confidential,” “Master and Commander,” “A Beautiful Mind,” or even “Cinderella Man?” Them’s fighting words.
They’re great performances, and his Jor-El is my favorite. There’s room for both.
I wonder how much this will tread the same ground as Milestone’s Icon.
But a story of a black Kryptonian baby landing in the United States in the early 20th century would definitely be a very different story than the Superman we know.
Cautiously excited.
If it’s written like his books it will be peotry that I won’t understand.
“There is a new, powerful and moving Superman story yet to be told.
No! No! No! Why do the studios mutilate these characters just to please the sheep of the internet? I want to say it here where everyone can see and understand it. You are completely destroying the Superman character by associating him with JJ Abrams. I’m okay with everything else.
Coates
My souring on Abrams is only about half my enthusiasm for Coates, so this is a net positive for me.
So they are pretty much junking the whole DC universe they spent six movies on, plus the new flash is taking forever movie?Trying to reboot properties so quickly after the last one has a pretty mixed record. Some of them make money, but creatively? Meh.
Its kind of always been the WB approach to just throw shit at the wall and see what sticks. Pre-Nolan they had Superman Lives (Burton), Superman v Batman (Wolfgang Peterson), Batman: Year One (Aronofksy), Justice League (Miller), a DIFFERENT Abrams Superman project (directed by Ratner!), Superman Returns…. all in the pipeline overlapping each other at some point.Basically if you have an iota of industry cred and a Batman or Superman idea, WB will hand you a briefcase full of cash and tell you to get to work until the idea loses momentum or another one gains momentum.
Flash is going to basically say “Hey, look! Multiverse!” so they can put it all under a different worlds of DC banner. They’ve been saying that in PR labels for awhile but the Flash movie will be the gateway to “Hey, look at all these different Supermen!”
I don’t understand why people think that the only way to get stories like this told with Black superheroes are to change established heroes to Black characters. Why not tell a Green Lantern John Stewart story, or a make a serious movie about Steel? It comes off like DC thinks the only way to get a Black superhero onscreen is to make Superman or Batman Black, which in a post-Black Panther world is frankly insane.(Mind you I don’t give a rat’s ass if Superman is portrayed as Black, he’s an alien it’s not like he has European lineage, it just seems a little insulting that that’s the only way DC seems to think something like this can be done).
100%
These characters were created to look a certain way, and behave a certain way. They have histories that have been cultivated for decades. Simply race-swapping them to appease the twitter-mob is insane, and at its worst, downright disrespectful to the artists and creators that originally brought these characters to life.
Also, there are so many amazing Black heroes that seemingly never get to the silver screen. You mentioned John Stewart and STEEL. Both awesome characters that totally deserve a movie. Would love to see those characters brought to life 😀
You do, though, or you wouldn’t have written this post in the first place
No, I don’t. It’s not that a superhero (or any character) is lessened by a change in skin color. It’s insulting that people think that’s the only way to tell stories about other races and people of other backgrounds. PoC deserve better than “this old character, but Black now.”
But remember that Superman and Batman are basically cultural archetypes in a way that even heroes like Spiderman or Captain America are not. So I think writing a Black Superman is a great storytelling opportunity, not a desperate attempt to appear woke or whatnot. I think you’re coming from a good place here, so I hope it doesn’t look like I’m giving you shit.
Nope, all’s well!
You don’t think it would be super exciting for black kids to see a black Superman?
I’m sure it would! Into the Spiderverse was a masterpiece. But it seems like T’Challa & Nakia were even more exciting.
I really like Miles Morales in general, but Into the Spiderverse was sooooooooooooooooooo overrated.COME AT ME, BRUH
Oof, we’re gonna have to agree to disagree on that one!
You do, though, or you wouldn’t have written this post in the first placeCalling DC’s choices lazy and disagreeing with their choices because of bigotry aren’t the same thing. Making Clark Kent black is lazy. If they do it then whatever, that’s fine, but it is sort of offensive in a backdoor sort of way that they can’t be bothered to create a new and interesting black character in the D.C. world that isn’t just black Clark Kent.
But this seems myopic in terms of thinking. No where in the press release is it saying “We’re making Superman black, so we don’t have to worry about doing another black hero!” Static, Stewart, Victor Stone, Mr. Terrific, Vixen can also coexist with a black Superman. However, a black superman means you have a definitive leader of various teams who is black, a character who would be the FOCUS of a team movie and not a secondary character.
DC literally owns the whole Milestone line right now. Icon is a What If? kind of Black Superman. Make a movie with Icon and Rocket and start over with the shared universe but do it right this time.
I mean it’s fine, and so is this. I have no objection. I just think people of other races and backgrounds deserve kickass superheroes that aren’t just a switch of something white people already know. It halfway seems like that’s a way to make it more appealing to white people.
Racism is the only rational explanation I have why it is 2021 and no Static Shock film or big budget tv show adaptation has been made. WB is fucked
You have no idea what the filmmakers are doing with this story. Just like there is a black Green Lantern named John Stewart, DC has several black versions of Superman who are not Clark Kent. I don’t care if they go in that direction or not, but given the success of Miles Morales Spider-Man, it’s highly likely it was considered.
They’ve had lots of alternate versions of Superman, I don’t see why race would matter more than any other biographical element that has been played with over the years. They could use a black character who’s like Superman, but using “Superman” carries a cultural weight that another character wouldn’t.
The real issue is the best use of character backgrounds. Immigrant sent by parents on dangerous journey, loyal to adopted people, feared by some, does work no one else can do, has to wear more traditional outfits to fit in at work? Superman is Latino.Now, parents killed in Crime Alley, spends life solving community problems outside the law, often attacked by police, inspires fear just by how he looks and dresses? Batman is black.
using “Superman” carries a cultural weight that another character wouldn’t.And there it is, the default white character who’s been on top for almost a century is the one that carries the “cultural weight.” And that’ll never change unless we start building up original Black characters ASAP.
Why can’t we build up a Superman who’s black for a century? Why is that not a valid Black character? Would you argue against a black Romeo & Juliet? Or a black Hamlet? Or a black Pride & Prejudice? I don’t think you would.
I think there’s a difference between the types of stories you’re telling too. Hamlet is a play about the human condition that applies to anyone in any time, it just happened to be set in Denmark.Pride and Prejudice is set against the very specific rigid social norms and hierarchy of aristocratic Regency England, so having black characters seems more out of place. Either their being black has no impact on their character or the story, in which case what’s the point? Aside from box ticking that doesn’t add anything to black representation or actual black stories. Or it IS part of the story, and you’re whitewashing the very real prejudice of the period by allowing a black Mr D’Arcy to get the girl.
Their being black having no impact on the story would be very much the point.
You don’t think there’s any other cultures that have existed that had/have “very specific rigid social norms and hierarchy”? I’m pretty sure that would be just about every culture ever. Do Clueless and Bride & Prejudice not count? You don’t think black filmmakers can tell stories about the black experience using Austen?
Did I say that? I was talking specifically about Pride and Prejudice, but it would apply equally to a show about ancient China or the court of Mansa Musa.Clueless and Bride & Prejudice are massive re-writes, and great examples of how the material can be adapted to tell different stories. I was talking about shows like Bridgerton or recent adaptations of Wuthering Heights that faithfully adapt the book, but have characters of colour in the main roles.
Aside from box ticking that doesn’t add anything to black representation or actual black stories.
Or it IS part of the story, and you’re whitewashing the very real
prejudice of the period by allowing a black Mr D’Arcy to get the girl.
If I understand you correctly (and I might not), you’re saying Bridgerton and Wuthering Heights (recent one) are examples of the above description? Or they’re examples of well-integrated diversity?Here’s what I would say about this, and maybe I’m not getting something and am too dumb, in which case: fine. Not the first time.Great stories are a combination of classic story arcs (the idea that you can break every story down to one of ten or so classic narratives i.e. protagonist vs. god, protagonist vs. society, etc) and personal specificity (the details that the author brings to make the story human).Essentially, the stories that become remembered versions, are the best told versions of the classic narratives. So why use the titles Pride & Prejudice or, in this article’s case, Superman, when they’re classics because of their specificity, and a new version of the old narratives don’t need the titles? Because of what the titles, names, and details mean to our culture – because of our specificity.So using those signifiers is tying a new adaptation of the old narrative to our current perception of a loved version. It’s commenting on that version as much as where we are now. So making a black version of Pride & Prejudice, wherever it’s set, puts it in a cultural place for us that say, He’s kind of a dick, She’s got some preconceived notions wouldn’t. And the black cultural elements the filmmakers would bring would have different context with the Austen characters.
I don’t know if I’m explaining it well, or if I missed your point.
While you have a point that POC deserve their own original heroes that are given as much weight as traditionally “white” characters, it’s important to remember that these are fictional ink-people who lack any real world connection to race. I think making Superman or Batman canonically Black would be awesome. It would open up whole new storytelling opportunities for the characters. Why the hell not?
Who ever said it was the only way? It’s certainly one way. A way that can let you re-invigorate a story (if you want) by playing with archetypes. Given how reluctant studios are to invest in new IP, it’s also a way to diversify story telling in genres that have marginalized POC characters, preventing them from being the cultural touchstones that characters like Superman or Wonder Woman are. Look at how white and male the Avengers were. It doesn’t preclude other methods of diversification, like bringing less established characters to the fore, such as centering Into the Spiderverse on Miles Morales rather than Peter Parker, or creating new characters. Look at Marvel, they both have racebent characters like Nick Fury and Heimdall, as well as established POC characters like Black Panther. On the DC side, Justice League had an established POC character and a racebent one.
Not sure I follow – John Stewart was pretty much the first time they “made a white superhero black.”
The Green Lantern is a mantle worn by thousands of beings throughout the galaxy, so it’s not quite the same thing.
I would love to see a Steel movie with Mike Colter.
Well, if nothing else it’s a good chance to send the 4chan/8chan/#gamergate crowd into a tizzy. If they expend their “I’m not a racist I just happen to act like a racist 100% of the time” fury on a superhero movie, maybe they’ll have less time and energy to harass real people who are just trying to live their lives.
& Dwayne McDuffie’s ICON is right fucking there. It sickens me there isn’t a milestone cinematic universe even in the works at WB
It matters because these characters have an elemental power that transcends race, yet somehow are always thought of as inherently white. Like someone wrote down below, if you look at the lived experiences of Batman and Superman, a compelling case could be made for re-casting them as black and Latino, respectively. You can create new characters and they, too, can be aspirational (i.e. ‘Black Panther’) but suggesting that Superman can be Black as easily as he can be white, and can bring that cultivated with him, is a different and important thing.
WORD.
As long as Abrams’ involvement is largely hands-off in terms of plot and direction, this has the potential to be pretty great. And even if he gets more involved than I’d like, it’s still gotta be ten times better than another Snyder flick.
Dan Levy should get his own Superman film.
Black Superman?
Blooperman. He experiences numerous pratfalls.
Of all the things that define who Superman is and what he stands for, I personally think you can get rid of 99% of his backstory. At the end of the day the key is simple. He is an alien orphan raised by good people who has power that make him a god among men, yet his upbringing makes him a good morale person who’s sole purpose in life is to help others. Snyder failed because he never understood that what makes Superman stand out is not his power but his compassion
Snyder doesn’t understand compassion or heroism period. Superman is a god with the humility to live as a man. Batman is a man with the will to forge himself into a god. Both of them use their abilities to protect people. It’s pretty simple.
He already showed his true colors with that “Brightburn” movie— which was disturbing in its own right. I feel like that was the Superman movie be really wanted to make until WB/DC said “uh, Superman isn’t evil.”
Brightburn wasn’t Snyder, that was David Yarovesky (and produced by James Gunn)
Oh bleh, I’m an idiot— don’t know why it was stuck in my head that it was him— disregard… Carry on with the Martha, Martha bashing and whatnot
The crazy part about Snyder’s take on Superman is it shows that, whether conscious of it or not, he actually has a spot-on grasp on Lex Luthor as a character, particularly with regards to his attitude towards Superman.
I question his conscious awareness of it since, despite personally having nailed that ‘No one who’s THAT powerful is THAT good’ sense through his storytelling, his Lex was a hopped up college kid fresh off his first semester determined to show how smart he was.
How long before Abrams passes it off to Kurtzman? Is Akiva Goldsman involved? Come on. I need to know this stuff. IS THERE A MYSTERY BOX INVOLVED IN SOME CAPACITY?! ..
“Jor-El, you’re theory is insane. Our love of Slusho could never doom Krypton.”
Even better. Its a mystery mother box.
I’m hopeful for this one. Abrams isn’t a visionary director or anything, but he’s competent and can at least direct/produce something watchable. Has anyone read Coates’ run on Black Panther? I keep meaning to read it but never seem to get around to it. It’s been interesting to watch his transition from pundit to fiction writer.
With the terribly half-baked return of Kahn, and the completely deus ex machina return of the Emperor, what’s the over/under on how lazy an approach Abrams takes to bringing Zod into the story?
Since we have already lost Superman to the Brits, I’m just going to fancast John Boyega.
Ta-Nehisi Coates. Oh, joy.
My guess would be they are telling the story of Calvin Ellis, instead of Clark Kent. Calvin is the Superman of Earth-23. He is also President of the US on Earth-23.
I really hope he got elected because so many people just wrote in “Superman” on the ballot
I love President Superman, in part cos I love Final Crisis and Multiversity, but also cos he’s pure, uncut hero.
He is a really good character that I wish they would do more with.
Imagine getting excited about a JJ Abrams project
Yo, someone at WB and/or DC with the power to do so, please kill this project. Go work on a John Stewart Green Lantern movie or something if you want some alien action film loaded with visual effects. Stop trying to destroy the Superman mythos with your dumbass ideas.
I don’t trust Abrams, but I think I trust Coates, so I’m holding off judgment until I see who they cast as Superman. If it’s Idris Elba or Michael B. Jordan, cool.
They’re giving it to Shaq
Alright, more work for Robert Downey, Jr.
Woulda been better with Snyder instead of Abrams. Much darker, much fewer lens flares.
Terrance Howard for Lex Luthor