Michael B. Jordan Developing Black Superman Series For HBO Max
Those clamoring for Michael B. Jordan to play DC Comics’ Superman may get their wish — though not quite as they expected. Jordan’s name initially emerged as a very qualified candidate to star in the Superman feature film that’s currently being developed by producer J.J. Abrams and writer Ta-Nehisi Coates. Although no details about the film have been officially announced, it’s been reported that the film will focus on a Black version of the iconic DC hero. But when asked about whether he’d be interested in playing the role in whatever film emerges from Coates’ script, Jordan said he was “flattered” to be considered, but that he would be “just watching on this one.”
Instead, Collider reports that Jordan and his production company Outlier Society are developing their own project about a Black Superman, this one based on an existing DC character named Val-Zod. Their sources claim it “is, in fact, being written as a limited series that Jordan will produce and possibly even star in, though he has yet to officially commit on the latter front.” These series is intended for the HBO Max streaming service.
As to why Jordan wouldn’t just team up with Abrams and Coates on their Superman film, their report quotes an article in Black Girl Nerds that claims, per their sources, that Jordan doesn’t want to play a version of Clark Kent who happens to be Black, and would rather work on a project about a character like Val-Zod, who is canonically Black in DC Comics. Val-Zod was introduced to DC Comics a few years ago as the Superman of “Earth-2,” an Earth of an alternate dimension populated by slightly different versions of familiar DC characters. He’s another Kryptonian orphan like Kal-El, but instead of being raised by a Kansas family, he’s taught by Terry Sloan, better known (at least on Earth-1) as the 1930s DC hero Mr. Terrific.
There’s no set timeline for Abrams and Coates or Jordan’s Superman projects. If they both wind up coming together, and premiere in theaters and on HBO Max around the same time as one another, that would really be something.