Superman: Michael B. Jordan Reportedly Among Actors Being Considered to play superman

[Deleted]

It has disaster written all over it.

I don't believe it though. I'm sure Cavill is still their Superman.

It's just projects didn't materialise and Cavill wants to work on the Witcher. So, they delayed the project.

Last i heard Cavill had a contract to appear on yet another movie, so, it's just people going crazy with made up rumors.

[The Stormbringer]

they can have a black superman and have him look like part its just unlikely any one wants to see earth 2 superman.

I dunno, there's a lot of ladies in that group. I'd watch it.

[Sluvs]

Why not Steel, AKA John Henry Irons and the other Man of Steel? Not only is he tall, black, and muscular, but he's a genius who worked his ass off to take care of his family when his parents died, created his own super-suit of armor (super durability, super strength, flight boots, highly detailed scanning capabilities, a rivet cannon, and a crazy hammer), and then came onto the scene to fill the role of Superman when Superman died.

Probably because the name does not carry the same weight as superman and because of that it becomes way too hard to pitch to movie executives.

[unholytestament]

No there are not, there are few black heroes, and even fewer that are actually well known. The majority of heroes that are represented in movies are white, just take a look at DCCU and MCU. Sure, in the comics there are more, but they are nearly as iconic as their white counterparts. There has been a surge lately of more diverse heroes but we still have to see if they will stick.

I do agree with the blade point, but it does not detract, whatsoever from my previous points. If anything, I want more movies like Blade so we get to a point where we do not need to cast a black man as superman, or at least we can do it without it being news.

How many is "few"? It typically means three where I come from and I can soar past that number by pointing at a single comic series. There are tons of black superheroes. There were tons before you were born and there are even more now.

And them being unpopular is even more irrelevant since Blade has NEVER been popular but his first two movies were big successes that built us to where comic book movies are now plus the MCU took the relatively unknown Guardians of The Galaxy and made them a huge (even record breaking) success.

Your point is garbage. There are more than enough black superheroes out there for there to be films made about them and there is really no reason not to make the movies about existing characters. They could do Steel, the Crispus Allen version of Spectre (just make a nod to the past ones and the fans will be happy), Mr. Terrific...

Or, I don't know...

STATIC SHOCK!

A movie about Static Shock would KILL right now.

[The Stormbringer]

Or, I don't know...

STATIC SHOCK!

A movie about Static Shock would KILL right now.

Static Shock. Oh god, yes. I fucking loved that cartoon as a kid.

[Deleted]

Is the color of superman's skin important to the character's history and/or personality? I don't know shit about superman, but if it isn't, there shouldn't be a problem with this at all. All that should matter is if the movie is good or not.

Yes, it makes a difference. This is like making the ghostbusters women or for example making Blade white.

Characters were created and invisioned with a certain backstory that people grew fond of. To change that is to completely disrespect the source material the fans love.
So, no, no sex changing, no race changing. That does not work unless you got a really charismatic actor and the source material isn't as strong (nick fury / sam jackson case).

[Flarelaine]

You took me out of context....thanks. Guess English isn't your first language. Or were you trying to be witty with some random Latin phrase?

No, I was replying to the bolded quote with all the rest. And there is nothing random about the Latin phrase.

[Moralgy]

Yes, it makes a difference. This is like making the ghostbusters women or for example making Blade white.

Characters were created and invisioned with a certain backstory that people grew fond of. To change that is to completely disrespect the source material the fans love.
So, no, no sex changing, no race changing. That does not work unless you got a really charismatic actor and the source material isn't as strong (nick fury / sam jackson case).

So stuff irrelevant to the plot/personality of a character in media, such as having a dick or skin color, ruin films for you if they are different than how they were originally drawn up?

[Raelbo]

What part of the color of Superman's skin is relevant to who he is as a character? Can a dark-skinned guy not stand for truth, justice, and the american way?

Of course a black guy would be fine as Superman, and if our way of thinking 80 years had been as progressive as it is today that might even have been the case.

I would argue that the real issue here is one of immersion. So far every actor cast as Superman bore a close physical resemblance to the comic book character. Reeve, Cain, Welling, Routh, Hoechlin, Cavill - they aren't just white, they are also dark-haired, tall, well built etc.

Personally a black Superman would not be any kind of a deal breaker for me - certainly no more so than casting him as a blond or redhead. But I can't help but thinking that a better solution to making the genre more inclusive would be to create new characters.

Look at Star Trek for example: They didn't need to make Spock black, they introduced Tuvok.

[cubby]

You know what we REALLY need?

More Superman and Batman movies.

They really help cement DC's identity as a vast universe of diverse heroes.

Why in the holy fuck do they keep rebooting superhero franchises every five years? Nolan's batman trilogy should have been the end, just as an example.

[EyelessCrow]

Static Shock. Oh god, yes. I fucking loved that cartoon as a kid.

I'm a shock to your system!

[Deleted]

So stuff irrelevant to the plot/personality of a character in media, such as having a dick or skin color, ruin films for you if they are different than how they were originally drawn up?

Sex and skin color are part of the image for wich the established characters are known and recognised. So, yes, it's an important part of their identity.

[Sluvs]

How many is "few"? It typically means three where I come from and I can soar past that number by pointing at a single comic series. There are tons of black superheroes. There were tons before you were born and there are even more now.

And them being unpopular is even more irrelevant since Blade has NEVER been popular but his first two movies were big successes that built us to where comic book movies are now plus the MCU took the relatively unknown Guardians of The Galaxy and made them a huge (even record breaking) success.

Your point is garbage. There are more than enough black superheroes out there for there to be films made about them and there is really no reason not to make the movies about existing characters. They could do Steel, the Crispus Allen version of Spectre (just make a nod to the past ones and the fans will be happy), Mr. Terrific...

Or, I don't know...

STATIC SHOCK!

A movie about Static Shock would KILL right now.

Few compared to white superheroes, I should have been clearer. The majority of super heroes are white, i'm not denying that black heroes exists I'm telling you that their number are small when compared to white super heroes, that is undeniable.

About the bolded part, yeah, it matters, a lot actually. It's harder, way harder, to sell a movie about a unknown hero to a movie executive, but selling another superman movie? That is way easier. So yeah, popularity matters a lot. Just because a few superhero movies broke the mold (Blade, black panther) it does not mean that the mold itself does not exist. Very few movie executives want to take a chance with a no-name hero.

I do think that it would be better to do movies about original black heroes, but right now, that is kinda hard because hollywood, although they are taking chances, they are still holding back a little bit.

In short: Black heroes are still underrepresented in movies and there is way more well known white heroes than black heroes.
Popularity matter a lot when it comes to selling a movie to a studio.

[Ayirasi]

But they haven't covered all the demographics yet.... Up next Asian....then a Woman as SuperMAN!....then a lesbian then gay....then trans gendered....etc etc...

See 6 movies right there!!!

Don't forget Batman in the same light! 12 movies!! Then wait if we do them as Batman v Superman in all the permutations...its at least what 36 movies?

NO!! /shakesfist

Well... maybe I'd consider watching them -- good or bad -- if the movies acknowledged pandering in their titles, ie: Superblackman, Batmanuel Para Siempre, The Frash: Lun Fo Yo Rife!, Wonder Transwoman, Gay Fish -- er, Aquaman, etc.

[Clone]

they can have a black superman and have him look like part its just unlikely any one wants to see earth 2 superman.

The costume design are cool. Where is this from?

[ryanmahaffe]

Damn I wonder what would happen if they made a black lightning movie with a white actor. Something about the white mans world everyone is forced to live in.

Superman is not black. He is not asian, he is not green or blue. He is a white dude. God damn.

I can feel it, a powerful storm is coming to the next DC film with Superman. The storm whispers "get woke go broke"

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Yes, it makes a difference. This is like making the ghostbusters women or for example making Blade white.

Characters were created and invisioned with a certain backstory that people grew fond of. To change that is to completely disrespect the source material the fans love.
So, no, no sex changing, no race changing. That does not work unless you got a really charismatic actor and the source material isn't as strong (nick fury / sam jackson case).

It actually isn’t like making the ghostbusters women and they did make blade white once in a Spider-Man show. With how dc handles there multiverse they could make endless black supermen and even make it be the exact same person but dark skinned if they wanted to. Also in nick fury’s case the source material was very strong they just didn’t use the main line material they used the ultimate one where the character was made based off Jackson from the start.

- - - Updated - - -

The costume design are cool. Where is this from?

It’s earth2 I haven’t personally read the comics but I’ve heard good things about them for the most part.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth-Two

[Martymark]

I hope they do it. CRASHING THIS PLANE...WITH NO SURVIVORS!

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Damn I wonder what would happen if they made a black lightning movie with a white actor. Something about the white mans world everyone is forced to live in.

Superman is not black. He is not asian, he is not green or blue. He is a white dude. God damn.

I can feel it, a powerful storm is coming to the next DC film with Superman. The storm whispers "get woke go broke"

Superman is actually blue some times and black and some times even Asian so pretty much every thing but green. (Asian Superman Proabbly doesn’t count)

[AcidicSyn]

I'm all for it. I'm interested in seeing how this works especially if Jordan plays him. Let's be honest, Superman is always portrayed the same by every actor that's played him and just about all comic iterations of him are roughly the same. It would be nice to see how they can make that role different. Also, it could work if they focus on the actual Black Supermen. There were two from Pre Flashpoint and Rebirth timelines if I recall correctly. Kalel (who is also the president) and Val Zod (probably the better choice to adapt in a movie). I think the Val Zod version was a different character all together. Kalel might have just been typical Superman that just happens to be black.

I was pleasantly surprised that I only had to get to page two before someone mentioned at least one of the actual black Supermans from canon.

I also would love this though, specifically if they went with Val-Zod, which so far it seems they might actually be leaning towards. This announcement/leak/whatever was made around the same time (or at the same time) as it was mentioned that WB was not planning on revisiting Caville as big blue, choosing to focus on the Supergirl movie as well.

If that's the case, we can make connections. Val-Zod had a friendship with Kara Zor-El before the destruction, and connected with her again on earth. If world of DC plans to focus on Supergirl, it wouldn't be too crazy a thought that they'd be at least considering casting for Val too. I liked Val too, so I'd be totally okay with this.