This was reported in 2021 We were in power for eight years author Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote a new one Superman script described as “a 20th century piece” that would revolve around a black version of the Man of Steel. While details about the project were thin at the time, JJ Abrams as producer cemented the idea that it could actually come to fruition and become part of Warner Bros.’ (Discovery was not yet part of the picture) vision for the complicated future of the DCEU.
Between the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, the company’s internal reorganization and the debut of the new DC Studios, it was only natural that Gunn and co. wanted to kick off their era of IP stewardship with projects they developed. But according to Gunn, in the same way as Matt Reeves’ Batman and Todd Phillips’ joker films have been able to coexist in their own continuity outside of the studio’s primary film universe, something similar could be worked out for Coates and Abrams’ Superman if the circumstances are right.
In a recent interview with io9Gunn explained that despite being based on the same character, Superman: Legacy and Coates and Abrams’ future film “are completely unrelated”, but he described the project as “an exciting film” from what he has heard internally.
“I know Chantal Nong, the executive on that project, is extremely excited about it,” Gunn said. “So when it comes in and it’s great, I haven’t read the script, and if the timing is right, it absolutely could happen. That is completely separate. It would be an Elseworlds story joker.”
Gunn’s “if” and the fact that he hasn’t read the script yet doesn’t exactly inspire the most confidence that there’s any real momentum behind the Black Superman movie coming about. But its explicit naming of the “Elseworlds” imprint – DC’s comics set in widespread continuities and realities – at a time when the studio is going all in on the multiverse through The flash feels remarkable for what it could port to DC Studios’ future.
Until now, DC’s really just relied on fans to figure out for themselves which of its movies are meant to be canonical and which aren’t. But setting up an Elseworlds movie presence could be a way for the studio to more effectively telegraph to audiences how it likes it Joker: Madness for two and Max’s The penguin show should fit the bill alongside the new Robert Pattinson free Batman movie that DC is also working on.
Elseworlds movies could also be a way for The Rock and Henry Cavill to reprise their roles as Black Adam and Clark Kent as they’ve suggested, but if that’s the case, you hope Coates and Abrams’ Superman ends. also on the production list.