J.J. Abrams And Ta-Nehisi Coates POC Superman Project Is Still Alive According To James Gunn
JB Augustine
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An important higher-up at DC Studios indicates a standalone DC project – that was considered ‘DCeased’ the last time it was checked on – still has life. Co-President James Gunn – who wrote and is directing a reboot of the Man of Steel in his image – recently gave a positive update on the stalled Superman film written by Ta-Nehisi Coates and produced by J.J. Abrams.
According to Gunn, the project still has legs. On Threads, he answered with a firm and simple “Yes” when queried on the status of the Abrams-led movie. This came as a surprise when the prevailing wisdom gleaned that it was canceled for a variety of reasons.
Number one, Gunn is working on his own Superman movie, so he might not want a competing project or vision to interfere with that. Second, there have been few updates about the latter’s status except that it was “cold turkey,” and that Coates had submitted just one draft of his script. That was a full year after the announcement in 2021.
All of that and the corporate upheaval leading to Warner Bros. passing from the hands of AT&T to those of David Zaslav and Discovery, followed by the total restructuring and rebranding of DC Studios that put Gunn in charge, seemed to kill Coates and Abrams’ chances for good.
Last year, Cosmic Book News Editor-In-Chief Matt McGloin and X scooper Thwipt declared the movie was dead. Though McGloin was more cautiously optimistic, he stood by his intel, which was based on what he heard coming out of San Diego Comic-Con in 2022.
RELATED: Elseworlds Black Superman Film From JJ Abrams And Ta-Nehisi Coates Said To Be Canceled
It seems as though now that they had it wrong, but to be fair, there are still few updates and details about the film’s development. Its producer, Abrams, has not even commented publicly on the matter as far as anyone knows, which is not a good sign regardless of what it portends.
What we know about the project is that J.J. Abrams and Ta-Nehisi Coates aspire to retell the origin story of Clark Kent’s path to becoming Superman. In their script, the Man of Tomorrow is Black and, as he’s possibly a new character entirely, won’t be an adaptation of either Calvin Ellis of Earth-23 or Val-Zod.
Still an Elseworlds tale like The Batman, a Black director is sought to helm it although no names have come up as attached to the director’s seat at all.
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